Know What's Happening in GovTech
Know What's Happening in GovTech
The 3GPP Technical Specification Group meetings in December 2025 marked the freeze of Release 19, shifting all development effort to Release 20 and the initial study of 6G. The FirstNet Authority participated to ensure public‑safety requirements are embedded, reporting progress on high‑priority features across the Radio Access Network, Service & System Aspects, and Core Network work items. Release 20 will deliver 5G‑Advanced enhancements while advancing AI‑native, energy‑efficient 6G concepts, with normative work slated for Release 21. These activities lay the groundwork for resilient, interoperable communications for first responders and broader commercial markets.
ICEYE launched a dedicated deforestation monitoring solution on March 3, 2026, using its synthetic aperture radar (SAR) constellation. The SAR‑based service delivers near‑real‑time, cloud‑penetrating imagery for the Amazon, Congo and other tropical basins, filling the gap left by optical satellites....
The UK Department for Science, Innovation and Technology has launched a 62‑question consultation titled “Growing up in the online world” to gather evidence on child safety across the internet, with a particular focus on gaming platforms. It probes legal age...
Western and Indo‑Pacific allies launched the Global Coalition on Telecoms (GCOT) at Mobile World Congress, uniting the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Japan, Australia, Sweden and Finland. The coalition released a set of voluntary security and resilience principles designed to...
Washington signaled it will retaliate if the EU adopts a Space Act that favors European satellite operators over U.S. firms. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr warned that the United States would mirror any restrictive EU measures, potentially barring European satellites from...
Romanian qualified trust services provider certSIGN has partnered with German digital‑identity specialist Lissi to bring the European Digital Identity (EUDI) Wallet to Romania. The deal combines certSIGN’s PKI‑based trust services with Lissi’s EUDI Wallet Connector API, offering eIDAS‑compliant integration for...
The Italian Ministry of Defence has awarded BAE Systems OneArc a five‑year contract to replace legacy VBS3 with the newer VBS4 virtual desktop platform and to deploy the Mantle terrain‑generation suite. The upgrade will deliver multi‑weapon, multi‑domain simulation for armored,...
Sterling Heights Fire Department launched a peak‑demand EMS unit staffed by EMTs to handle low‑acuity 911 calls, freeing paramedics for high‑severity incidents. The initiative pairs with a new five‑color dispatch system that prioritizes calls by medical urgency. Since its October...
The U.S. Treasury’s FinCEN has launched the Residential Real Estate (RRE) Rule, mandating reporting of all‑cash residential property transfers to entities or trusts starting March 1, 2026. The rule closes a long‑standing AML loophole that let shell‑company purchases evade scrutiny, requiring title...
The Lee County Fire Department in Saltillo moved into a brand‑new standalone station last week, giving the city two fire stations and freeing its old facility for volunteers. Simultaneously, the county launched two full‑time strike teams—one in Saltillo, one in...
New York City announced a $4 million investment to deploy 20‑30 modular public restroom units later this year. The initiative, separate from the Parks department’s 45‑new‑toilet build‑out, targets faster delivery by avoiding the deep‑underground utility clearances that stalled earlier projects. Bids...
In this episode, business administrator Christine Veda discusses how the Epping, NH School District transformed its operations by replacing manual, paper‑based processes with Tyler Technologies solutions. She highlights the shift toward automation in HR, finance, and onboarding, which improved accuracy,...
The article argues that court case management systems (CMS) are the bottleneck preventing courts from leveraging their massive data streams, citing an Oklahoma pilot where a simple middleware layer cut jail time for low‑level defendants. It explains that most CMS...
On 23 March 2026 the EU‑backed 3D‑4CH Competence Centre will host an online Stakeholder Forum on AI for 3D digital twins in cultural heritage. The event, part of the European Commission’s Apply AI Strategy, will showcase projects that accelerate 3D capture, enrich models...
NHS England has set a firm deadline to retire the CIS1 authentication service, removing access on 28 February 2027 after reducing its SLA to silver on 1 October 2025. The move forces NHS trusts and other European hospitals to adopt the newer CIS2 platform,...
Zscaler will address the growing workload identity crisis at RSAC 2026, focusing on AI agents and other non‑human identities that span multi‑cloud and on‑prem environments. The session will expose prevalent insecure practices such as static IP mapping and unrotated keys, and...
A UK High Court has declared the government’s proscription of Palestine Action unlawful, prompting human‑rights groups to demand immediate guidance from Ofcom on how platforms should handle related content. The government’s appeal leaves uncertainty over whether online material supporting the...
California Assembly Bill 2047 would require every 3D printer sold in the state to embed software that scans and blocks files capable of producing firearms or restricted parts. The Department of Justice must define detection standards by July 2027, with certification...
A federal immigration crackdown has driven ICE and CBP to contract heavily with major tech firms. From 2023 onward, Palantir received roughly $122 million from ICE, while Microsoft, Amazon, and Google together earned over $300 million from both agencies. The contracts fund...
European journalists face a sharp rise in violence and intimidation, highlighted by a car bomb targeting Italian reporter Sigfrido Ranucci and four media workers killed in Russia’s war. The Council of Europe’s safety platform recorded over 2,300 alerts across 40...
East Cheshire NHS Trust announced five strategic aims for 2026 following a smoother‑than‑expected Meditech EPR go‑live in June 2025. The plan includes a major system upgrade in March, digitising the top 50 high‑priority clinical documents, and expanding internal referral orders...
The Off‑Broadway play “Data” dramatizes a tech firm’s secret project to build a government‑contracted immigration database, exposing the persuasive language tech leaders use to justify authoritarian‑leaning AI. Its protagonist creates a hyper‑accurate predictive algorithm, echoing real‑world advances where startups like...
The Public Accounts Committee has labeled the National Savings and Investments (NS&I) digital modernisation a “full‑spectrum disaster” after four years of a £3 bn programme that lacks an integrated plan, has seen costs triple and deadlines disappear. Parliament found the project...
European governments are accelerating AI adoption, but readiness hinges on data foundations. Capgemini research shows 90% plan AI pilots within three years, yet only 21% have progressed beyond experiments. Persistent gaps in data sharing, quality, and sovereignty create a readiness...
After the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Trump administration barred eleven ICC judges and prosecutors from using U.S.-based payment cards, email services and e‑commerce platforms. The sanctions effectively cut off access...
Across Africa, governments are rolling out biometric digital ID systems to streamline access to voting, healthcare, education and social protection. A new report by the African Digital Rights Network, based on ten country case studies, finds millions excluded due to...
The Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) and Swansea University are using artificial intelligence and machine learning to create metal alloys that resist corrosion in harsh marine environments. Backed by a £42.5 million Defence Materials Centre of Excellence partnership that includes...
The UK government has issued guidance confirming that Trust Framework‑approved digital identity services satisfy Money Laundering Regulations (MLR) for customer due diligence. This clears a regulatory uncertainty that has slowed digital onboarding, especially for estate agents and other high‑value‑goods sectors....
TecSAFE, a Home Office‑backed mobile safeguarding service, is now deployed by 39 police forces across the UK, offering victims of violence a discreet way to summon help and share their real‑time location. The platform supports communication in 43 languages, reflecting...
Legislators in Tennessee and Georgia are introducing bills modeled on ALEC's Researcher Access to Data Act, mandating criminal‑justice agencies to share data with qualified researchers. The push follows a 2025 Tennessee comptroller report exposing severe data gaps, such as missing...
Transport for West Midlands (TfWM) has partnered with Citymapper, the Via‑owned travel app, to launch an upgraded journey planner that aggregates buses, trains, trams and cycling routes across the region. The integration adds nBus mobile ticket purchasing directly within the...
Vietnam is accelerating a nation‑wide push to create a high‑quality science and technology workforce under Politburo Resolution 57‑NQ/TW, yet persistent talent gaps threaten its strategic goals. The country’s researcher density sits at roughly 1,300 per million people, far below regional...
SecureNet Solutions Group, a Florida‑based patent assertion firm, has sued the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, alleging that DHS agencies infringed five of its surveillance patents. The complaint links the patents to DHS’s...
The FDA has mandated electronic submissions to the FAERS database using the ICH‑endorsed E2B(R3) standard, beginning January 16 2024 for post‑marketing drug and biologic reports and April 1 2024 for pre‑marketing IND safety reports. Companies have until April 1 2026 to transition fully, after which only...
The event showcased how Red Hat and Microsoft intend to build the digital foundation for the Golden Dome, President Trump’s proposed layered air and missile defense system. It emphasized modern software integration, resilient infrastructure, and automation to enable faster decision‑making and...
Defense officials at the GovCIO Defense IT Summit urged a shift from technology‑first to problem‑first AI development, emphasizing real‑world data over synthetic sets. The Marine Corps is redefining its acquisition process to start with clear operational problems before applying machine‑learning...
The FBI’s cyber division, led by Brett Leatherman, has launched Operation Winter SHIELD to boost preparation for Chinese cyber threats, improve adversary contestation, and accelerate threat‑intelligence sharing with industry. The campaign spotlights ten practical security controls and combines regional events,...
Hill Climbers, founded by former House staffer Omar Awan, consolidates decades of congressional staff salary and role data into a single, searchable platform. The tool introduces the Hill Climbers Index, which rates offices on capacity, stability, and structure, offering benchmarks...
A federal judge ruled that the GSA OASIS+ solicitation unambiguously required two qualifying projects, disqualifying CWS FMTI JV and Mainsail-OASIS JV for submitting only one. The court rejected the joint ventures' claim that a protégé‑specific clause overrode the general two‑project...
V2X is deepening ties with Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, and IBM to fuse its proprietary warehouse and mission data with hyperscaler AI and process tools. The AWS deal brings computer‑vision models to government‑run smart warehouses, while Google supplies generative...
Incode’s Deepsight liveness detection software passed iBeta’s Level 3 presentation‑attack detection tests on both iOS and Android, achieving zero errors for APCER and BPCER. The evaluation, based on ISO/IEC 30107‑3, involved 900 sophisticated attacks, including advanced masks and AI‑generated faces. Incode previously...
BankID Norway, serving 4.7 million users, processed nearly 901 million transactions in 2025. Since mid‑2024 it has layered NFC‑based biometric ID verification with iProov’s liveness check, completing one million activations that now represent about half of all new enrollments. The combined approach has...
New research shows 76% of talent development professionals view a significant skills gap in government, yet 72% of agencies still depend on traditional classroom instruction. The article outlines four modern approaches—mission‑aligned buy‑in, targeted pilot programs, creative cross‑agency resourcing, and training...
Artificial intelligence is being positioned as a "force multiplier" to address the chronic housing affordability crisis in U.S. and Canadian cities. Rochelle Haynes of Bloomberg Philanthropies’ What Works Cities initiative urges municipalities to invest in local data and AI to...
Peru secured an $80 million loan from the Inter‑American Development Bank to modernize its National Registry of Identification and Civil Status (RENIEC). The financing, complemented by $20 million in Peruvian counterpart funds, will expand in‑person and mobile access to civil registration, deploy...
Senators Tim Sheehy and Jeff Merkley introduced bipartisan legislation requiring the FAA to equip more than 90 federal contract towers with Airborne Position Reference Tools (APRT). The Air Traffic Situational Awareness Enhancement Act mandates installation within a year and provides...
Virtual Crisis Care (VCC) programs give rural law enforcement instant video access to behavioral health clinicians, allowing real‑time assessment and de‑escalation of mental‑health emergencies. In South Dakota, the model has been active for over five years across more than 30...
Do you know why this matters? Yes - Interesting right? No - Some ideas for you. 1. How your data has a "Shelf Life" - Even if a "Quantum Hack" is 10 years away, hackers are practicing "Harvest Now, Decrypt Later." 2. Y2Q...
Amadeus IT SA is in advanced talks to acquire Idemia Public Security for an estimated €2‑3 billion, a move that would combine the airline‑tech group’s travel‑focused biometric suite with Idemia’s law‑enforcement and border‑control capabilities. Idemia PS brings core biometric algorithm IP...
Arctic Wolf identified a year‑long espionage campaign, dubbed SloppyLemming, that targeted government agencies and critical infrastructure in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka starting in January 2025. The group delivered malicious PDFs containing the BurrowShell backdoor and Excel files with keyloggers, using 112 Cloudflare‑hosted...
