Powers and duties of department.

The department is hereby authorized and empowered to exercise such duties and powers necessary to effectuate the purposes of this article, including the following:

(1) Provide effective management of state telecommunications resources and implement annual plans and procurement;

(2) Manage, plan and coordinate all telecommunications systems under the jurisdiction of the state. This centralized management function shall be provided through the following activities:

a. Administration of existing systems including coordination of activities, vendors, service orders and billing/record-keeping functions;

b. Planning of new systems of services;

c. Design of replacement systems;

d. Project management during specification writing, bid letting, proposal evaluation and contract negotiations;

e. Implementation supervision of new systems and ongoing support;

f. Implementation of long-term state plans;

g. Management of telecommunications networks.

(Acts 1990, No. 90-553, p. 907, §4.)