The 1997-98 budget provides $4.5 million for a new initiative entitled, Technology Investment Program. This program will implement a series of local area networks and desktops computing technology in the Executive Offices of the Commonwealth agencies with a gradual expansion of these systems to other departments. As a means of accomplishing this, the administration will hire consulting services who will advise existing commonwealth personnel in defining long-term telecommunications requirements. Obviously, the Administration saw the need to expedite this program by increasing this appropriation by $3 million. Therefore this program will be funded in the 1997-98 fiscal year at $7.5 million. All in all this new program will allow most of the state agencies to better electronically communicate with each other. This means that data will be communicated between departments much more efficiently.