(a) The General Assembly finds and declares information and information resources to be strategic assets of the State of Arkansas and that procedures must be established to ensure that:

(1) Information resources are used in an efficient manner;

(2) Departmental resources are used unless an exception is authorized;

(3) Information is administered and shared, consistent with requirements for security, privacy, and confidentiality;

(4) Information technology acquisitions meet state needs and are consistent with coordinated efforts to maximize standardization and cost effectiveness;

(5) State officials have timely access to information in useful forms; and

(6) The Department of Information Systems complies with applicable state and federal statutory and regulatory provisions.

(b) The General Assembly further declares its intent to create a state agency to:

(1) Provide design and management services for the state's core information technology infrastructures;

(2) Provide information technology services;

(3) Implement appropriate technologies to exchange and share information; and

(4) Develop technical standards and specifications and provide technical leadership and guidance to support the state's enterprise architecture.

(c) It is also the intent of the General Assembly that the department achieve certain objectives that will better support information technology utilization by other state agencies. These objectives are to:

(1) Implement increased capabilities for communication and exchange of information; and

(2) Develop and publish mechanisms for more timely acquisition of information technology.

(d) (1) The General Assembly further finds and determines that:

(A) Information technology services are readily available in the private sector;

(B) The public interest would be well served by competition for the provision of such services to the state;

(C) Public-private partnerships or joint ventures for the provision of such services may be appropriate in certain instances; and

(D) Emphasis will be given to encouraging and enabling competition among:

(i) Suppliers of such services whenever possible in the administration of this chapter; and

(ii) Women-owned and minority-owned suppliers of such services whenever possible in the administration of this chapter.

(2) The department shall consider in the development of the department plan and the Joint Committee on Advanced Communications and Information Technology shall emphasize in its recommendations and policies the availability in the private sector of information technology resources upon a competitive bid basis with a view to assuring the state of the highest reasonable quality of resources at the lowest reasonable cost.

(e)

(1) In exercising its authority under § 25-4-105, the department shall competitively procure information technology except as provided in this subsection.

(2) The department is not authorized by § 25-4-105 to provide information technology services, including telecommunications and broadband services, to the general public, other than nongovernmental first responder entities, in competition with private sector telecommunications and cable communications providers.

(3) Customers of the department are not authorized to use information technology facilities and services provided by the department to provide telecommunications and broadband services to the general public in competition with private sector telecommunications and cable communications providers.