New York state is working to stretch its technology dollars further, giving agencies more AI and cloud tools for less money.
The New York State Office of Information Technology Services (ITS) has signed a new agreement with IBM that will give participating state agencies access to the company’s AI and hybrid cloud software. It is expected to generate $6 million in savings over the next three years. Rather than having agencies pursue these capabilities individually, the enterprise agreement gives them access to a shared portfolio of IBM technology.
That toolbox covers a wide range of potential gov tech needs, including AI-assisted productivity and automated workflows, application development and modernization, hybrid and multicloud management, cybersecurity and data protection, data management, asset and facilities management, and financial and technology investment planning.
The state announced the agreement Thursday but said it had been signed during the second quarter of 2026.
The $6 million in expected taxpayer savings is part of a larger strategy the technology agency has been pursuing. ITS has now negotiated 14 enterprise-level agreements, leading to $58 million in annual savings, according to the state’s announcement.
Scott Reif, ITS chief communications officer, said the IBM deal combines the state’s purchasing leverage with its broader technology goals, allowing it to “lock in better pricing that protects taxpayers” while continuing to “innovate and drive fundamental change across dozens of agencies.”
The pact adds another chapter to IBM’s relationship with New York, which stretches back more than a century and has included work in research, manufacturing and technology. Frank Attaie, IBM’s general manager for U.S. public sector, said in a statement that New York has been “central to IBM’s journey” as the company and state have worked together in those areas.
For a state technology organization serving more than 50 agencies and entities and providing tech tools to more than 130,000 state employees, the agreement is also about finding ways to make technology investments work across a varied workforce.
In a statement, Dru Rai, state CIO and ITS director, said the deal will help “modernize our offerings” while finding “cost-effective solutions that work across multiple agencies.”
The IBM agreement will give agencies more tools to modernize their operations and expand their use of AI, Rai said. The state sees the contract as a way to move agencies toward those capabilities more quickly, according to Reif.
“Participating agencies will be onboarded over time, but this new enterprise agreement will speed up that process and ensure state employees have new tools and capabilities that will allow them to deliver even more for the residents of New York,” Reif said.
For IBM, the arrangement also deepens its relationship with its home state. IBM’s flagship office is in Manhattan and its corporate headquarters is in Armonk. IBM Research is in Yorktown Heights and its mainframe manufacturing and advanced enterprise computing operations are in Poughkeepsie.
The agreement, Attaie said, will help agencies “modernize operations, responsibly expand the use of AI and improve productivity and resiliency.”
