Updated 12/6/11 5 p.m.

Modernizing Hawaii state government’s information technology infrastructure will take 11 years and substantial resources. But the state’s chief information officer told lawmakers to “stay tuned” for a price tag.

Sonny Bhagowalia, the state’s CIO, said he’s working on a 10-year strategic plan as part of Gov. Neil Abercrombie‘s goal to transform the state’s antiquated IT infrastructure.

Just putting that plan together will cost $1 million, which will be paid for using private grant money ¹, Bhagowalia said.

He gave an update Tuesday before the Senate committees on Ways and Means and Economic Development and Technology.

“We are unfortunately decades behind,” Bhagowalia said. “But, the good news is we can leap frog and catch it up.”

He explained that the “I” in CIO doesn’t stand for IT alone, but for information. He likened his postion to being a broker providing the information needed for people to get their jobs done.

Bhagowalia’s plan calls for seven phases over 11 years to bring Hawaii up to speed. “We’re talking about transforming a state,” he said. “That’s not a small deal.”

The first phase was completed earlier this year when his office released a “baseline assessment” in September.

The 220-page report revealed a system suffering from lack of investment and multiple inefficiencies. More specifically, the report noted a number of specific state processes that were “paper-driven in many cases” and “extraordinarily labor intensive and therefore drove users to create one-off solutions.”

At that time, Bhagowalia had estimated the transformation would take eight to 10 years. He told lawmakers Tuesday he intends to submit a strategic plan to the Legislature by July 1, 2012 that will outline his goals and costs.

On Tuesday, Bhagowalia told lawmakers he’s already run into some tough situations, where employees are accustomed to doing things a certain way even if it the process is arduous or creates more work in the end.

“I can’t tell them not to do it, unless we give them something different,” he said. “So we’re in this odd area — I’ve never experienced this before, where we don’t have the resources, per se, nor the authority in a way. But even if we did, we don’t have an alternate system set up to change it, so we have to really balance this in a very careful manner.”

Sen. Glenn Wakai asked Bhagowalia how much it will cost to “take the state to the promised land.”

“Stay tuned to July,” he replied. “I obviously have some numbers in mind … I will say that it’ll take some resources. We’re trying to make sure it’s not just a number for the sake of a big number. We believe that there’s a combination of innovation and efficiency and pragmatic transition-sequencing that will allow us to get that answer.”

Senate Ways and Means Chairman David Ige expressed a willing attitude toward funding the plan, saying the Senate — which went paperless in 2008 — is anxious to get started.

“The anxiety (from) the Senate perspective is that you not have to wait, that you be given the resources to move forward,” Ige said. “We understand that business processes need to change and there needs to be infrastructure to support it, and we’ve been anxious to see transformation … Whatever we can do to help you accelerate, we definitely would be encouraged to do that.”

UPDATED Here’s a copy of the presentation Bhagowalia shared Tuesday.