Executive Summary
New York enters its FY2027 fiscal year (April 1, 2026 – March 31, 2027) with a record $268.5B enacted budget and a technology agenda anchored by AI infrastructure. The marquee asset for any infrastructure seller is Empire AI — a more than $500M public/private consortium standing up one of the nation's most powerful academic AI supercomputers at SUNY's University at Buffalo. Its 'Beta' phase, funded with $40M in 2025, runs NVIDIA Blackwell (DGX GB200 / SuperPOD) and the permanent center is slated for completion in 2026. Centralized buying runs through the NYS Office of General Services (OGS) and the Office of Information Technology Services (ITS), the consolidated state IT agency under CIO Dru Rai. On security, New York's Joint Security Operations Center (JSOC) and a $30M+ county shared-services program (free EDR to 50+ counties and five cities) define the cyber motion. The RAISE Act — frontier-AI transparency rules effective Jan 1, 2027 — is the headline AI policy. And on July 14, 2026 Hochul signed the nation's first statewide data-center moratorium by executive order, pausing new hyperscale builds above 50MW for up to a year; a broader legislative bill at 20MW is still awaiting her decision. That constraint sharpens rather than removes the opportunity: with commercial hyperscale frozen, the state's own sanctioned AI capacity — Empire AI and the SUNY/CUNY research estate — becomes the primary place large-scale compute can still land. For Dell, the strongest pull is AI/HPC infrastructure tied to SUNY/CUNY and Empire AI, plus endpoint and lifecycle refresh across a record state budget; Dell already holds an OGS IT Umbrella centralized contract.
- Empire AI and SUNY/CUNY research-computing buildout — the single largest AI-infrastructure pull in the state (GPU compute, PowerEdge, networking, storage, services).
- Endpoint, client, and lifecycle refresh across executive agencies on a record $268.5B budget, purchased through OGS centralized contracts where Dell already holds an IT Umbrella award.
- Cyber infrastructure tied to ITS/JSOC and the county shared-services (EDR) program — secure compute and managed-service attach for state and local entities.
- Governed, on-prem / private-cloud AI for agencies as New York operationalizes AI policy ahead of the RAISE Act.
Dell Action Plan
- Lead with AI/HPC infrastructure into Empire AI, SUNY, and CUNY research computing — map Dell ISG / AI Factory offerings to the UB supercomputing buildout and expanding campus access.
- Leverage Dell's existing OGS IT Umbrella centralized contract to accelerate endpoint, client, and lifecycle refresh across executive agencies on a record FY2027 budget.
- Engage ITS and the State CIO/CAIO on governed, private/on-prem AI for sensitive agency workloads ahead of the RAISE Act and broader AI policy.
- Attach secure compute and managed services to the JSOC and county cyber shared-services (EDR) motion at both state and local tiers.
- Plan for OSC (STF §112) approval timelines on large deals and confirm Dell/reseller centralized-contract coverage is current for each target agency.
Budget & Fiscal
New York budgets annually; its fiscal year runs April 1 to March 31. The FY2027 budget (April 1, 2026 – March 31, 2027) was enacted at $268.5B — a record high, signed in late May 2026 after a 57-day delay, the latest budget in 16 years. There is no single consolidated 'state IT budget' line; technology spend is distributed across agencies, the consolidated ITS agency, and named initiatives such as Empire AI, ConnectALL broadband, and county cyber shared services.
- Empire AI's $500M+ total blends state capital (up to ~$340M), SUNY operating funds, and private/philanthropic backing — confirm which pool funds a given purchase.
- ConnectALL broadband dollars are largely federal (BEAD); deployment projects begin in 2026 and run up to four years.
- FY2027 (governor's proposed Jan 20, per NASBO): $126.8B general fund, +0.4% vs FY2026; $260.0B all funds. The budget was later enacted in May 2026 at a record $268.5B; reserves of $14.6B including $10.8B in rainy day funds.
State Operating Funds cash disbursements by agency (each year's own Enacted Budget Financial Plan, as-enacted projection for its budget year) Statewide: $146.1B → $161.13B (+10.3%). Top 12 movers of 78 agencies.
| Agency | Prior | Current | Δ $ | Δ % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Health, Department of | $39.2B | $43.66B | +$4.46B | +11.4% |
| Education, Department of | $41.7B | $44.14B | +$2.44B | +5.8% |
| Children and Family Services, Office of | $3.41B | $5.55B | +$2.14B | +62.8% |
| Long-Term Debt Service | $1.58B | $3.21B | +$1.63B | +103.5% |
| General State Charges | $8.77B | $10.27B | +$1.5B | +17.1% |
| State University of New York | $9.56B | $10.76B | +$1.2B | +12.5% |
| Miscellaneous Financial Assistance | $40.6M | $850.1M | +$809.5M | +1995.6% |
| Temporary and Disability Assistance, Office of | $3.48B | $2.86B | −$617.8M | -17.8% |
| People with Developmental Disabilities, Office for | $6.73B | $6.2B | −$529.6M | -7.9% |
| Mental Health, Office of | $4.9B | $5.28B | +$381.3M | +7.8% |
| Judiciary | $4.02B | $4.36B | +$348.2M | +8.7% |
| Transportation, Department of | $5.73B | $6.06B | +$329.5M | +5.8% |
- Amounts are cash disbursement projections from each fiscal year's own Enacted Budget Financial Plan (FY2026 column of the FY26 plan; FY2027 column of the FY27 plan), not appropriations. Converted from thousands to dollars.
- Each agency figure is the agency's total State Operating Funds disbursement (local assistance + state operations + agency general state charges components as printed on the agency line).
- Non-agency functional rows are included as printed so the list reconciles exactly to the plan totals: General State Charges, Long-Term Debt Service, Miscellaneous, and local government assistance lines (Aid and Incentives for Municipalities, County-Wide Shared Services Initiative, Miscellaneous Financial Assistance, Municipalities with VLT Facilities, Small Government Assistance).
- Agency sums reconcile exactly to the printed TOTAL STATE OPERATING FUNDS SPENDING rows: $146,103,252,000 (FY2026) and $161,125,566,000 (FY2027).
- NY fiscal year runs April-March. All Funds spending is larger (~$268.5B FY2027); this dataset uses the State Operating Funds basis, which excludes federal operating aid and capital projects funds.
Source: NY DOB, FY 2027 Enacted Budget Financial Plan (Cash Disbursements by Function, State Operating Funds) · NY DOB, FY 2026 Enacted Budget Financial Plan (Cash Disbursements by Function, State Operating Funds)
Initiatives & Policy
Empire AI4
Operational (Beta fully online Sept 2026); permanent Gamma facility now completing end of 2027A $500M+ public/private consortium (SUNY, CUNY, Columbia, Cornell, NYU, RPI, Flatiron, Rochester, RIT, Icahn/Mount Sinai) building one of the nation's most powerful academic AI supercomputers at UB. The 'Beta' phase ($40M, 2025) runs NVIDIA Blackwell DGX GB200 / SuperPOD — ~11x training and ~40x inference uplift — with the permanent center on schedule for 2026 and SUNY-campus access expanding in 2026. The strongest AI-infrastructure pull in the state.
ITS Consolidation & State AI Leadership6
ActiveThe Office of Information Technology Services (ITS) is New York's consolidated executive-branch IT agency under CIO/Director Dru Rai. In Jan 2026 ITS named its second-ever Chief AI Officer (Eleonore Fournier-Tombs) and a new Chief Digital Officer, signaling sustained focus on governed AI and digital modernization across agencies — an opening for private/on-prem AI on sensitive workloads.
Cyber Shared Services & JSOC7
ScalingNew York's Joint Security Operations Center (JSOC) provides a statewide threat-intelligence and incident-response hub, with state and NYC personnel co-located. A $30M+ shared-services program offers free endpoint detection and response (EDR) to most counties and five major cities; 50+ counties and all five cities have adopted it. Secure compute and managed-service attach opportunities at both state and local tiers.
RAISE Act — Frontier AI Governance5
Effective Jan 1, 2027The Responsible AI Safety and Education Act (signed Dec 2025) imposes transparency, safety-protocol publication, and 72-hour incident reporting on large frontier-model developers, enforced by the AG with penalties up to $1M/$3M and an oversight office within DFS. It targets developers rather than buyers, but it reinforces the state's appetite for governed, auditable AI — favorable framing for private/on-prem AI in government.
ConnectALL Broadband8
DeployingThe ConnectALL Office administers more than $664M in federal BEAD funding, with $644M released to expand affordable high-speed broadband to unserved/underserved locations. Projects commence in 2026 and run up to four years — a long-horizon infrastructure and edge-compute backdrop rather than a near-term server motion.
Procurement & Competition
New York centralizes most technology buying through the Office of General Services (OGS), which maintains statewide ('centralized') contracts that state agencies, local governments, and school districts can purchase against without running their own solicitations. The Office of Information Technology Services (ITS) is the consolidated executive-branch IT agency setting statewide direction. Large purchases above the STF §112 threshold require Office of the State Comptroller (OSC) approval.
| Vehicle / gate | What it means for Dell |
|---|---|
| OGS IT Umbrella Contracts (Manufacturer & Distributor) | Primary vehicle. Dell holds a Manufacturer-Based IT Umbrella centralized contract (aggregate hardware buy); authorized users can issue POs against pre-established configuration pricing without a separate RFQ. Confirm Dell and reseller agreements are current and correctly scoped. |
| OGS Centralized Contracts (statewide) | Broad catalog of ~1,500 commodity/service/technology contracts open to state agencies, local gov, and school districts. |
| OSC approval (STF §112) | Not a contract, but a gate: purchases above the threshold require Office of the State Comptroller approval — plan timelines accordingly. |
| Key buying entity | Role |
|---|---|
| OGS | Central procurement authority; owns statewide/centralized contracts including IT Umbrella awards. |
| ITS | Consolidated executive-branch IT agency; statewide technology and AI direction under the State CIO. |
| SUNY / CUNY & Empire AI | Largest independent research-computing and AI-infrastructure buyers; Empire AI center at UB. |
| Office of the State Comptroller (OSC) | Approves large contracts and expenditures — a procurement gate, not a buyer. |
New York is a contract-driven market with incumbents across OGS centralized vehicles. Dell already holds an IT Umbrella centralized contract, which de-risks the buying motion; differentiation comes from AI/HPC infrastructure capability mapped to Empire AI and SUNY/CUNY, cyber/EDR-adjacent secure compute, and lifecycle services rather than price alone.
Power Structure
| Decision-maker | Why they matter |
|---|---|
| Kathy Hochul15 Governor · State of New York | Champions Empire AI and the state's AI agenda; signed the RAISE Act and the record FY2027 budget. Won the June 23, 2026 Democratic primary uncontested; faces Bruce Blakeman (R) in the Nov 3, 2026 general election. |
| Dru Rai6 State CIO & ITS Director · NYS ITS | Appointed Oct 2023; leads statewide digital transformation and cyber posture. Confirmed in role as of June 2026. |
| Eleonore Fournier-Tombs6 Chief AI Officer · NYS ITS | Named Jan 2026 (state's second CAIO); shapes governed-AI direction across agencies. Her office issued the updated NYS-P24-001 AI policy (June 24, 2026). |
| Chris DeSain6 State CISO · NYS ITS | Chief Information Security Officer since June 2022; leads state cyber defense including the JSOC, which now supports 57 state agencies, the five largest cities, and nearly every county. |
| John B. King Jr. SUNY Chancellor · State University of New York | SUNY/UB host Empire AI — the state's flagship AI-infrastructure buyer. |
| Office of the State Comptroller (OSC) Contract & fiscal oversight · State of New York | Approves large contracts (STF §112) — useful for forecasting deal timelines. |
News & Signals
Sources
- Governor Hochul — Agreement on FY 2027 State Budget
- Governor Hochul — FY 2026 New York State Budget
- Empire AI — Beta launch (one of the most powerful academic AI supercomputers)
- Governor Hochul — $40M to launch Empire AI Beta supercomputer
- Governor Hochul — Nation-leading legislation requiring AI frameworks for frontier models (RAISE Act)
- NYS ITS — Office of Information Technology Services (CIO Dru Rai; executive team)
- Governor Hochul — $30M shared services program to enhance county cyber defenses
- Governor Hochul — ConnectALL accepting applications for $644M broadband expansion (BEAD)
- Governor Hochul — Empire AI SUNY campus partnerships (Jan 30, 2026)
- NYS OGS — Award 22802, Information Technology Umbrella Contract (Manufacturer-Based, Dell)
- NASBO — Summaries of FY2027 Proposed Budgets (June 2026)
- StateScoop — New York's IT office partners with AWS for cloud and AI services (June 15, 2026)
- Bisnow — New York proposed data center moratorium awaits Hochul (June 16, 2026)
- NYS ITS — Acceptable Use of Artificial Intelligence Technologies (NYS-P24-001; updated June 24, 2026)
- Ballotpedia — New York gubernatorial election, 2026 (primary June 23; general Nov 3)
- WAMC — Hochul draws cheers, jeers over statewide data center moratorium (July 14, 2026)
- EdTech Innovation Hub — New York brings $40m Empire AI Beta supercomputer online
- Government Technology — IBM Enterprise Deal Gives New York State AI, Cloud Tool Access
- POLITICO — Amid AI angst, New York moves forward with implementing landmark AI legislation
- Office of the Governor — Governor Hochul Announces Strongest Community Investment Framework in the Nation to Protect Communities from Exploitative Data Center Development
- Commercial Observer — Hochul Adds New Restrictions to Data Center Development in New York