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Please welcome OTIS to the department

ITD’s planning program was formally christened the Office of Transportation Investment System (OTIS) after a department-wide call to give it a name.

A trio of employees – Nathan Hesterman, Patty Harris and Christine Lambing – pooled their talents to forward OTIS as part of a recent "name-that-program” contest. It wasn’t like sharing lottery winnings, but submitting the best entry earned the trio a gift basket from the Office of Transportation Investment, which is part of the Division of Administration.

Reggie Phipps suggested the name “Idaho Budgeting, Obligating and Programming System, (IBOT) and was crowned first-runner up in the contest.

Now that the program has a name, it needs a face.

Program managers are soliciting logo designs to complement the new system name. The final logo selection entrant will be awarded a gift card to an area restaurant.

In the next 15 months, the project will work to modernize current data management systems to integrate, enhance and streamline OTI efforts in budget and obligation planning, tracking and reporting to facilitate seamless project management.

Anyone interested in submitting a logo design, learning more about the project or in being added to the OTIS Quarterly Update e-mail distribution list, is asked to contact Valerie Fend-Boehm at Valerie.Fend-Boehm@itd.idaho.gov.

The Office of Transportation Investment (OTI)
The Office of Transportation Investment establishes, develops and maintains the five-year highway, aeronautics, and public transportation development programs for ITD. Responsibilities including managing and facilitating the processes for budgeting, programming obligating funds and related policy development and management. Its staff is responsible for interpreting and applying all of the federal requirements for eligibility and obtaining federal funding.

OTI manages the process that develops and oversees the Idaho Transportation Investment Program (ITIP). In this effort, OTI assists the transportation board, Executive Management, district staffs, metropolitan planning organizations, and the Local Highway Technical Assistance Council to assess the planning implications of project scheduling related to budget. It also ensures that Idaho can use all federally available funds and obligational authority through a carefully monitored schedule and apportionment management system.

The Project Tracking System (PJT) and the accompanying ITIP application is the system of record for TIP planning, approval and management; obligational authority, apportionment, and other project obligation management for federal and state funds.

In its use of PJT and ITIP, OTI does not assess needs, priority, or non-budget planning considerations of district or program projects, but can assist other ITD staff in finding unused funds for TIP approved projects, or in finding eligible projects for unused or expiring funds.

OTI business processes and the use of management systems such as PJT and ITIP ensure that all available funding is used in the best interests of the citizens of Idaho.