MISSISSIPPI IS getting a $27.5 million brain transplant.

Rather, its brain - the agency that oversees all of the state’s critical functions - is being moved.

In 2009, the state Department of Information Technology Services (ITS) is moving from the Robert E. Lee Building in downtown Jackson to two new multimillion dollar facilities on Lakeland Drive.

Executive Director David Litchliter eagerly awaits the move, because the department’s current facilities don’t lend themselves to information technology. “The Robert E. Lee Building used to be a hotel,” he said. “Our operations are housed in what used to be the kitchen.”

The project, once completed, will offer the department larger, safer and more secure facilities.

He said the building that will house critical and communication systems will be able to withstand an F4 tornado. According to the National Weather Service’s Web site, an F4 tornado has winds between 207 and 261 miles per hour.

Kym Wiggins, the spokesman for the state Department of Finance and Administration, said the project is slated to be completed in August 2009.

It is being funded through two bond authorizations. During the 2006 Mississippi legislative session, lawmakers passed House Bill 1634, authorizing the spending of $17.5 million. In 2007, the Legislature passed another $10 million in spending.

ITS now takes up three floors and what was once the kitchen of the Lee Building, a former Jackson hotel. The agency is also housed on three floors in the 301 Building across the street.

The Lee Building is in need of serious renovations. The last time contractors were hired to do work there, though, a small fire broke out.

ONE OF THE new buildings will be used for employees and the other for computer equipment. The future of the Robert E. Lee Building, though, is still up in the air.

District 62 Rep. Tom Weathersby, the chairman of the House Public Property Committee, said the committee has decided not to sell the building like originally intended, but is now considering renovating the facility for future use.

“Time is on our side if we do decide to sell it,” he said.