GOVERNOR Ralph DLG Torres on Tuesday issued Executive Order No. 2021-09 transferring the Agricultural Quarantine Section of the Department of Lands and Natural Resources to the Department of Finance-Division of Customs Services.
The governor, through his EO, declared that “the integration of various related functions of the Commonwealth government and the strengthening of the tools and resources to fulfill the needs of the people of the CNMI to adapt to a rapidly evolving world requires the reorganization of the Department of Finance in order to achieve effective and efficient government administration so as to better serve the interest of the Commonwealth and its people.
“Under Finance, the new office will be called the Division of Customs and Quarantine, which will have all statutory authority, powers, duties, functions, and responsibilities found in Title 2, Division 5, Chapter 3, Article 1 of the Northern Mariana Islands Commonwealth Code, and any regulations promulgated thereby (except Title 85, Chapter 85-20 of the Northern Marianas Administrative Code).
“On the effective date of the executive order, the director of Customs Services shall become the director of Customs and Quarantine.
“All records and property (real or personal) of the Agricultural Quarantine Section and all personnel used in the administration of the Agricultural Quarantine Section (including employees whose chief duties relate to such administration) are hereby transferred to the Division of Customs and Quarantine of the Department of Finance. If applicable, personal property transferred shall maintain its grant identity and shall be used exclusively to support and enhance specific project objectives. All personnel transferred pursuant to this executive order shall maintain their current positions and status in the classified civil service or in the excepted services as the case may be. The Office of Personnel Management shall ensure an orderly transfer of personnel.
“The unexpended balances of appropriations, allocations, allotments, or other funds available for use by the Agricultural Quarantine Section on the effective date of the transfer are hereby transferred to the Division of Customs and Quarantine/Department of Finance on the effective date of this transfer. In the transfer of such funds, an amount shall be included for the liquidation of obligations incurred prior to the transfer. Subsequent to the transfer, Division of Customs and Quarantine operations shall be reflected in the annual budget of the Department of Finance. The Department of Finance shall maintain accounts for the established Division of Customs and Quarantine.
“All rules, orders, contracts and agreements relating to the functions transferred to the Department of Finance and the Division of Customs and Quarantine lawfully entered into prior to the effective date of this executive order shall continue to be effective until expired, revised, amended, repealed, or terminated.”
Office of Information Technology
The executive order also directs the establishment of the Office of Information Technology within Finance.
In the executive order, the governor said, “Also on the effective date of the order, the Finance secretary shall establish an Office of Information Technology within the Department of Finance, which shall be headed by the chief information officer or CIO who shall serve under and report directly to the Finance secretary.
“The CIO will be a person with extensive experience in best practices of IT management and the protection of critical technological infrastructure against cybersecurity threats.”
As outlined in the executive order, the CIO will have the following powers, duties and responsibilities:
(1) Management, operation, and security of critical data centers.
(2) Focus on creating and implementing a cyber-security plan for the entire CNMI.
(3) Formulate, recommend and implement local policies, plans and programs and guidelines that will promote the development and use of technology with due consideration of emerging technologies.
(4) Provide an integral framework in order to optimize all local government systems and applications.
(5) Provide support to CNMI-wide mission critical applications.
(6) Support all Government agencies.
(7) Manage and secure employee email accounts.
(8) Manage virtual desktop connections.
(9) Manage and support all government issued laptops, computers, tablets, cellular and mobile devices and secure and support private devices as long as they are connected to government servers and data centers.
(10) Coordinate with all existing IT plans and initiatives to ensure knowledge, information and resource-sharing, database-building and agency-networking linkages among government agencies.
(11) Perform IT Training for government staff across departments and agencies.
(12) Establish and maintain a unified and internal government IT network
(13) Data storage and processing.
(14) Develop new services and innovative applications in support of citizens, business, and government agencies.
(15) Identify prohibited acts and use of resources which shall include but not limited to uses contrary to laws, customs, morals and ethical behavior, uses for personal benefit, business or partisan activities, games and entertainment, acts that damage the integrity, reliability, confidentiality and efficiency of the systems, acts that encroach upon the rights of the users, acts which violate privacy and acts that waste resources.
(16) Work with vendors to ensure that hardware and software is cross-compliant and readable across all agencies.
