Virginia VITA EA400 AI Utilization Policy (Executive Branch AI deployment standard, 2026)

Virginia VITA Enterprise Architecture Standard EA400 — Artificial Intelligence (AI) Utilization Policy (updated June 2026). AUTHORITY: Virginia IT Agency (VITA) under Va. Code § 2.2-2005 et seq. (VITA IT governance authority for Executive Branch). SCOPE: All Executive Branch state agencies and institutions of higher education (colleges/universities that use state IT systems). DEPLOYMENT CONDITIONS — before deploying any AI capability, the agency must demonstrate: (1) POSITIVE CITIZEN OUTCOME: AI use must result in a positive outcome for citizens; (2) OPTIMAL SOLUTION: AI must be the optimal solution for the identified problem; (3) REGULATORY IMPACT ANALYSIS: agency must complete a regulatory impact analysis prior to deployment. REGISTRY REQUIREMENT: all AI use cases must be registered with VITA prior to deployment; VITA maintains a central AI registry for analysis and approval of new AI use cases across state government. GOVERNANCE MECHANISM: policy is implemented through VITA's Enterprise Architecture standards program; compliance is mandatory for all covered entities under VITA's IT governance authority. LIMITATIONS: this is an internal government IT governance policy; it does not create private rights of action for citizens, does not apply to private entities, and does not carry independent statutory penalty provisions beyond VITA's existing IT governance enforcement authority. SOURCE: vita.virginia.gov official PDF (EA400 standard document).