ALBUQUERQUE, NM - The New Mexico Technology Council and State Auditor Tim Keller are presenting an informative panel on "Information Technology and the Economic Impact of Out-of-State Spending." The panel will discuss the findings of a new report from the Office of the State Auditor (OSA) that shows the information technology industry has the highest percentage of government contracts that are awarded to out-of-state firms. In a one-year period, $40 million dollars out of $48 million dollars in large state and local government contracts for information technology goods and services went out of state. Many of those contacts were non-competitive "sole source" purchases, never giving local firms a shot.

"In the information technology sector, 84 cents of every public dollar goes to companies outside New Mexico," stated State Auditor Tim Keller. "Awarding more of those contracts to homegrown businesses would go a long way towards creating local jobs and helping our economy."

The panel will be moderated by Nyika Allen, President and CEO of the New Mexico Technology Council and will include a brief presentation of the IT contracting report from State Auditor Tim Keller. Panelists include Katherine L. Ulibarri, Vice President for Finance and Operations of CNM; Mark Fidel, Co-Founder and Head of Corporate Development of RiskSense; Andrew Baca, President and CEO of Abba Technologies; and Steve Schroeder, President of Real Time Solutions.

"We are excited to come together for an important conversation with local leaders about how government can better support and grow the information technology job sector through purchasing," stated Nyika Allen. "We will discuss solutions for keeping more dollars here where they can transform the economy."

The panel will be hosted by EC Council on Wednesday, April 12 from 8:00 am to 10:00 am. The address is 101 C Sun Ave NE, Albuquerque, NM 87109. The event will kick off with complimentary breakfast courtesy of the EC Council. RSVPs are required and you can sign up here: http://holdmyticket.com/event/277498.

The full report on out-of-state contracting in the information technology sector is available here: https://www.saonm.org/media/uploads/IT_Transparency_Report_-_FINAL.pdf