Executive Summary
New Hampshire is a small, fiscally conservative, centralized-IT state — a high-touch, relationship-driven market rather than a big-dollar one. Governor Kelly Ayotte signed a $15.9B two-year budget (HB1/HB2) on June 27, 2025, that trimmed agencies (including a roughly $51M cut to Health & Human Services and reductions to the University System), so technology spend will favor consolidation, modernization, and security over net-new expansion. Three things shape the motion for a Dell seller. First, the Department of Information Technology (DoIT) runs a fully consolidated, agency-wide IT model and just ratified its 2025–2029 statewide IT strategy ('Digital Transformation is the Business') in December 2025. Second, cybersecurity is the dominant theme: a string of 2025 ransomware and breach incidents hit counties, courts, and school districts, and the state is pushing a 'whole-of-state' security posture under new CISO Pamela McLeod. Third, buying runs through the DAS Bureau of Purchase & Property statewide contracts, with DoIT approval required on IT purchases over $500.
- Whole-of-state cybersecurity — endpoint, identity, backup/recovery, and resilience for state agencies plus counties, courts, and K-12 hit by 2025 attacks.
- Infrastructure modernization and data-center consolidation under DoIT's 2025–2029 strategy (PowerEdge, storage, networking, services).
- Client/endpoint lifecycle refresh across a fully consolidated state IT estate that DoIT manages centrally.
- Research-computing and AI infrastructure at the University of New Hampshire (HPC, NSF/NVIDIA-funded multimodal AI work).
Dell Action Plan
- Make DoIT the anchor account: map Dell ISG, client, and services offerings to the 2025–2029 statewide IT strategy and engage on modernization/consolidation planning, not one-off buys.
- Lead with whole-of-state cybersecurity — endpoint, identity, immutable backup/recovery, and resilience for state plus the counties, courts, and K-12 districts hit in 2025; build the relationship with CISO Pamela McLeod's team.
- Confirm Dell and reseller coverage on current DAS statewide contracts, and bake the DoIT >$500 IT-approval step into every deal path so it doesn't stall at close.
- Engage the University of New Hampshire independently for HPC and AI-infrastructure (NSF/NVIDIA-funded research computing) outside the central state-agency motion.
- Position governed, private/on-prem AI for PII-sensitive workloads consistent with DoIT's responsible AI-use policy, rather than open public-model approaches.
Budget & Fiscal
New Hampshire budgets on a two-year (biennial) cycle running July 1 to June 30. The FY2026–27 budget — HB1 (operating) and HB2 (trailer/policy) — totals roughly $15.9B and was signed by Governor Ayotte on June 27, 2025. It is a constrained budget that trimmed several agencies, so there is no large standalone 'state IT budget' line; technology spend is centralized under DoIT and distributed across agency operating budgets, with security and modernization prioritized over expansion.
- Budget figures are biennial (two-year) totals.
- There is no published single statewide 'IT budget' number — IT is consolidated under DoIT and funded through agency operating lines.
- Broadband dollars are predominantly federal (BEAD/BIL) and may face federal program changes — confirm current status before forecasting.
All funds, legislative appropriations (HB 1 operating budget expenditure line items, TYPE=E) Statewide: $15.05B → $16.46B (+9.4%). Top 12 movers of 39 agencies.
| Agency | Prior | Current | Δ $ | Δ % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Health and Human Svcs Dept. | $6.37B | $7.04B | +$666.2M | +10.5% |
| Treasury Dept. | $231.1M | $496.4M | +$265.3M | +114.8% |
| Environmental Services Dept. | $577.7M | $714.7M | +$137M | +23.7% |
| Education Dept. | $3.07B | $3.18B | +$107.4M | +3.5% |
| Transportation Dept. | $1.54B | $1.6B | +$56.9M | +3.7% |
| Safety Dept. | $503.2M | $536.2M | +$33M | +6.6% |
| University System of NH | $190M | $164M | −$26M | -13.7% |
| Judicial Branch | $238M | $263.9M | +$26M | +10.9% |
| Justice Dept. | $93M | $115.9M | +$22.9M | +24.6% |
| Veterans Home | $85.4M | $103.4M | +$18M | +21.0% |
| Administrative Services Dept. | $316.3M | $298.4M | −$17.9M | -5.7% |
| Information Technology Dept. | $265.3M | $280M | +$14.7M | +5.5% |
- Amounts are biennium totals of legislative appropriations, all fund sources. Funding-source (TYPE=F) rows mirror expenditure totals, providing an internal consistency check.
- Departments new or reorganized between biennia show as large swings; NH reorganized several agencies in the 2026-27 budget.
Source: NH LBA, HB 1 Final FY2026-27 (Excel, chaptered 7/22/25) · NH LBA, HB 1 Final FY2024-25 (Excel)
Initiatives & Policy
2025–2029 Statewide IT Strategy6
Ratified Dec 2025The NH IT Council ratified the statewide 2025–2029 IT Strategy & Implementation plan in December 2025 under the theme 'Digital Transformation is the Business.' It sets the mission, goals, and actions driving technology across state government — the blueprint for infrastructure modernization, service delivery, and security investment over the biennium. Aligning Dell offerings to its goals is the way into multi-year planning.
Whole-of-State Cybersecurity7
Active priority2025 brought a wave of incidents — Hillsborough County systems offline, Strafford County court disruptions, and ransomware/breaches at Pelham/Hudson school districts and Coös County health services. The state's 2025 and 2026 Cyber Threat Assessments push a 'whole-of-state' posture spanning state, county, and local entities. Under new CISO Pamela McLeod, this is the strongest near-term security tailwind: endpoint, identity, backup/recovery, and resilience.
Broadband Expansion (BEAD / BIL)4
In executionNew Hampshire received roughly $196.6M in federal broadband funds and its BEAD Final Proposal was approved by NTIA in November 2025; the state has also awarded ~$90M across two rounds to connect ~48,000 homes/businesses by end of 2026, run by the Office of Broadband Initiatives within Business & Economic Affairs. Mostly a connectivity build, but it expands the digital surface DoIT must secure and support.
Responsible AI Use Policy5
In effectDoIT maintains a statewide policy on AI and Automated Decision Systems setting principles for responsible, ethical use across agencies, with strong emphasis on protecting Personal Identifying Information (PII). NH is taking a measured, governance-first approach rather than a funded AI program — an opening to lead with governed, private/on-prem AI for sensitive state data rather than open public models.
Procurement & Competition
Procurement is centralized. The Department of Administrative Services (DAS) Bureau of Purchase & Property runs most state goods and non-construction services through statewide contracts, and most buys post there rather than agency-direct. The Department of Information Technology (DoIT) is the central technology authority: it coordinates, reviews, and approves statewide IT activities, and any IT equipment purchase over $500 requires DoIT review and a DoIT approval number.
| Vehicle / gate | What it means for Dell |
|---|---|
| DAS Statewide Contracts (Bureau of Purchase & Property) | Primary vehicle for state goods and services, including IT. Confirm Dell and reseller coverage is on current statewide contracts (e.g., software value-added reseller and hardware vehicles). |
| DoIT IT approval (>$500) | Not a contract — a required gate. IT equipment purchases over $500 must carry a DoIT approval number; engage DoIT early to align purchases with the statewide strategy. |
| Cooperative / NASPO ValuePoint | NH participates in cooperative and NASPO ValuePoint vehicles for certain categories — useful where a statewide contract does not exist. |
| Key buying entity | Role |
|---|---|
| DoIT | Central, consolidated IT authority — owns statewide strategy, approvals, infrastructure, and cybersecurity. The single most important account. |
| DAS Bureau of Purchase & Property | Runs statewide contracts and the procurement process for nearly all state buying. |
| Health & Human Services (DHHS) | Largest agency and a data-heavy modernization buyer, despite this biennium's cut. |
| University System of New Hampshire (UNH) | Independent research-computing, HPC, and AI-infrastructure buyer with its own ET&S IT organization. |
New Hampshire is a small, centralized, relationship-driven market where price discipline and statewide-contract presence matter more than scale. Because DoIT consolidates IT and gates purchases, the winning motion is fewer, deeper relationships — aligning to the 2025–2029 strategy and the whole-of-state cyber agenda — rather than chasing many independent agency deals.
Power Structure
| Decision-maker | Why they matter |
|---|---|
| Kelly Ayotte1 Governor · State of New Hampshire | Signed the $15.9B FY2026–27 budget June 27, 2025; fiscal-discipline agenda; backs broadband expansion. |
| Denis Goulet2 Commissioner & State CIO · Department of Information Technology (DoIT) | Long-tenured CIO (since 2015); recognized by NASCIO in 2025 for a decade of service. Owns statewide IT direction. |
| Pamela McLeod3 Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) · DoIT | Took the role April 2025 from ACT and the Concord School District; leads the whole-of-state cyber push. |
| NH Information Technology Council6 IT governance body · State of New Hampshire | Ratified the 2025–2029 statewide IT strategy in Dec 2025; sets technology direction across agencies. |
News & Signals
Sources
- New Hampshire Bulletin — Ayotte signs two-year state budget
- NASCIO — Honors New Hampshire CIO Denis Goulet with Decade of Leadership Award
- StateScoop — New Hampshire names Pamela McLeod as new state CISO
- Governor Ayotte — New Hampshire secures new federal funding to advance broadband expansion
- NH DoIT — Use of Artificial Intelligence Technologies Policy
- NH DoIT — Strategic Planning (2025–2029 IT Strategy)
- NH DoIT — 2026 New Hampshire Cyber Threat Assessment
- NH DAS — Procurement & Support Services (Statewide Contracts)
- NHPR — As Nottingham addresses data-center backlash, what does NH law say? (June 2, 2026)
- NHFPI — Happy New (State Fiscal) Year, New Hampshire! (SFY2026 surplus outlook, June 26, 2026)
- DysruptionHub — Colebrook, New Hampshire cyber incident disrupts town services (March 2026)
- DysruptionHub — Cyber incident disrupts Milford, New Hampshire, services (July 2026)