Know What's Happening in GovTech
Know What's Happening in GovTech
The NHS has approved a six‑month extension of its Digital Document Solutions (DDS) framework, a £6 billion (≈ $7.6 billion) contract that now runs until 31 March 2027. The framework, operating since October 2021, engages 46 suppliers across nine lots covering internal and external print, scanning, electronic record management and related digital services. Extending the agreement prevents disruption to multi‑phase digital transformation programmes, avoiding costly re‑procurement, delays and risk to anticipated savings. The extension does not alter the original scope or economic balance of the deal.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick announced a new agreement between the NTIA and AT&T that will reduce FirstNet’s costs by roughly $1 billion while securing an additional $1 billion in network investments. The deal, valued at about $2 billion in total, aims to...
Smart‑city initiatives across the Gulf are accelerating, but Salience Consulting’s Smart City Reality Check 2026 finds telecom and digital infrastructure, not technology hype, determines success. The whitepaper compares retrofitted cities with Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 greenfield giga‑projects, highlighting that early decisions...
The U.S. regulatory gap lets automakers market Level 2+ (or Level 2++) driver‑assistance systems without dedicated safety oversight, despite their robotaxi‑like capabilities. A proposed liability rule would presume any crash caused by non‑malicious driver inattention to be a product defect, shifting the...
ATM, Milan’s public transport operator, has issued a tender exceeding €100 million (≈$108 million) for 110 electric buses. The order comprises 80 low‑floor city buses with three doors and 30 intercity variants with two doors, plus a ten‑year full‑service maintenance agreement beginning...
South Africa’s Auditor‑General flagged the State IT Agency (Sita) as a systemic risk after 41 government ICT projects, worth R12.1 billion (≈ $653 million), failed to meet objectives. The audit of 191 entities revealed 27 vacant CIO positions (14% vacancy) and 156 unfilled...
Germany’s Federal Network Agency announced it will publish the first framework for future electricity network fees in late May or early June 2026. The guidance will outline how fees apply to battery energy storage systems (BESS) and interact with flexible...
France’s Association Environnement Juste has urged the government to mandate on‑site energy storage for any renewable project larger than 10 kW, aiming to embed flexibility directly at the source. The proposal highlights sodium‑ion batteries as a cost‑effective, metal‑independent solution, with cell...
The UK Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) is hiring a new Director General for Digital Foundations, a senior civil‑service role paying £174,000 (about $221,000) per year. The post will lead government cybersecurity policy, the Government Cyber Unit, and...
Char.gy has secured a contract with the Isle of Wight Council to install more than 1,500 public electric‑vehicle chargepoints across the island. The rollout is funded by £1.625 million of public money—about $2.05 million—and private investment, with no direct cost to the...
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection will launch an online portal to refund tariffs struck down by the Supreme Court, initially covering about 63% of the 53 million import entries at issue. The first phase will process only non‑final duties, leaving...
The U.S. Department of Commerce announced a renegotiated FirstNet contract in which AT&T will invest $1 billion and simultaneously cut $1 billion in project costs, creating a $2 billion value proposition for public‑safety communications. The deal accelerates deployment of a dedicated 5G Core...
Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani announced a citywide parent survey that will run from March 31 to April 13, gathering input for New York’s upcoming universal child‑care rollout, which includes 2,000 free 2‑K seats and over 1,000 new free 3‑K seats this fall....
U.S. District Judge Rita Lin issued a temporary injunction stopping the Department of Defense from labeling AI firm Anthropic a supply‑chain risk after the company refused to weaponize its technology. The ruling, issued on March 26, underscores a clash between...
NIST completed its first three post‑quantum cryptography standards in August 2024 and the NSA announced a phased migration deadline ending in 2035. The combined mandates are projected to drive a $15 billion market, with QSE unveiling its QPA v2 platform to...
WebCE announced it is the first insurance continuing‑education provider to push completed credit hours to the NAIC State Based Systems platform in real time. The service, now active in 28 states, eliminates the multi‑day reporting lag that has long hampered...
Baidu's Apollo Go robotaxi service suffered a system‑wide malfunction in Wuhan that immobilised at least 100 of its roughly 500 city‑wide vehicles. Passengers were left on busy expressways for up to two hours, prompting police intervention and fresh scrutiny of...
Oracle announced the Oracle AI Data Platform for U.S. federal agencies, a secure foundation that links generative AI models with agency data, applications, and workflows. The platform combines Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, Autonomous AI Database and Enterprise AI services to break...
California regulators discovered that AI‑powered platforms CiviClick and Speak4 were used to flood public‑comment systems with thousands of fabricated submissions opposing clean‑air rules. Over 20,000 fake comments, many bearing real residents' names without consent, were submitted to the South Coast...
A RAND‑led study introduces a modular logic model for evaluating wastewater and environmental surveillance (WES) programs, built on analysis of 151 evaluations from 2016‑2025. The model aligns with Kellogg Foundation principles and maps inputs, activities, outputs, and outcomes to three...
You won’t believe this 🇹🇭 But in Thailand, they have a Policehub. They are cracking down instead of logging in.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has launched an anti‑money‑laundering, counter‑terrorism financing pilot targeting a select group of virtual asset service providers (VASPs). The pilot includes prominent fintechs such as Paystack, Flutterwave, KuCoin and others, and will require monthly AML/CFT...
Lloyd’s Register (LR) has signed a contract with Echo Marine Group to deliver Western Australia’s first fully electric passenger ferries, introducing five battery‑electric vessels to Perth’s Swan River. LR will provide class certification, safety oversight, and on‑site surveyor support during...
The United Kingdom has placed artificial intelligence at the core of its new Defence Industrial Strategy, unveiling a £330 million (≈$413 million) strategic investment fund and committing £86 billion (≈$108 billion) to R&D through the 2025 Spending Review. The military budget was also boosted...
Nigeria's central bank has issued a circular requiring banks, fintechs and other financial institutions to complete a new Cybersecurity Self‑Assessment Tool (CSAT) within 21 days for deposit banks and five weeks for other entities. The move follows a surge in...
New Hampshire became the first U.S. municipality to issue a Bitcoin‑backed municipal bond, receiving a Ba2 rating from Moody’s on April 1, 2026. The bond is the inaugural public‑finance instrument backed by cryptocurrency assets and is classified as upper‑medium‑grade, reflecting moderate credit...
The London Care Record, launched in 2020 by the OneLondon programme, now underpins more than 100 million care interactions across London and neighboring areas. An independent study estimates it has saved health and social‑care staff roughly £190 million (about $242 million) in time,...
ViaPlus, the Texas‑based tolling arm of Vinci Highways, secured two contracts to install and operate multi‑lane free‑flow tolling systems on the Delhi–Jaipur Expressway and the Delhi‑Faridabad Skyway. The projects, awarded through Indian banks under IHMCL, will deploy ViaPlus’s Alpha back‑office...
UKROEd has appointed public‑sector IT specialist Cranmore to build a new Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system, a core component of its Management Application (MApp) modernization program. The nonprofit oversees the National Driver Offender Retraining Scheme, delivering courses to more than...
CGI has secured a £20 million (approximately $25 million) contract to support the Mining Remediation Authority (MRA) for up to eight more years, extending a 15‑year partnership. The deal makes CGI the MRA’s strategic delivery partner, responsible for the Enterprise Mining Information...
Ninehundred Communications has received Network Rail approval for its Incident Watch Camera, the first system certified under the new NR/L2/TRK/1055 Section 11.2.2 remote‑watchperson standard. The camera provides real‑time video of trackside defects, allowing inspections to be performed from a tablet or...
The Transport Accident Commission (TAC) partnered with creative agency Taboo to launch Vanessa’s Place, a transportable tiny‑home road‑safety platform aimed at young Victorians. Inside, more than 200 behavioural nudges are hidden in everyday objects to address drink‑driving, distraction, speeding and...
Thomson Reuters, a global information provider, has been identified as a key data source for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), supplying personal identifiers such as names, addresses, vehicle registrations, Social Security numbers, and ethnicity data through its CLEAR brand....
The Office of Management and Budget issued a memo requiring chief information officers of major federal agencies to report every IT contract they approve each month from May through October, creating a centralized view of government technology spending. The directive...
Australia is overhauling its privacy framework with the 2024 Privacy and Other Legislation Amendment Act, tasking the OAIC with a new Children’s Online Privacy Code. The draft, now open for public comment until June 5, extends to all digital services that...
India will issue a new tender for more than 3,000 electric buses by June, following the closure of its largest e‑bus tender of over 10,000 units six months earlier. The procurement will be administered under the PM e‑bus seva scheme,...
Ghana's Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources announced a country‑wide digital mapping rollout, funded by 67% of the Lands Commission’s internally generated revenue. The initiative, overseen by a new Land Banks and Digitisation Secretariat, seeks to digitise legacy records, cut...
Every elected representative should use social media to explain their votes on the day’s public business to constituents
Wireless Emergency Alerts on Android now include a map, making it easier to see how affected you are. https://t.co/ekkbBySVoo
The Government of Saskatchewan is allocating up to $5 million CAD (approximately $3.6 million USD) through eHealth Saskatchewan to deploy a fully integrated perioperative information system from Picis Clinical Solutions. The two‑year contract, beginning in fall 2026, will automate anesthesia management and...
The Future Is Already Here: Street Cleaning #Robots in Shenzhen by @Robo_Tuo #Robotics #Technology #RPA #Innovation https://t.co/y2TSQxBl73
Many thanks to Legislator @dAAAb for hosting me at the Legislative Yuan to speak on Nation-state Bitcoin Adoption Strategies for Taiwan. Dr. Ko is a great ally & works to advance Bitcoin adoption in Taiwan, engaging with the Central Bank...
Singapore's Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) issued Letters of Caution to two major social‑media platforms, placing them under Enhanced Supervision for failing to detect and remove child sexual exploitation material and terrorism‑related content. The action stems from the Code of...
JUST IN: The US is urgently setting up a refund portal to return $166 billion in Trump tariffs after the Supreme Court's February ruling declared them unconstitutional.
There's a decent chance you have an https://t.co/A6q3Fkidky account for digital interactions with the IRS, DMV, and popular ecommerce sites. They moved from legacy architecture to @googlecloud and supports 160 million members with a better/faster stack. https://t.co/pFGhUtVgaQ https://t.co/hljWAZ1rnO
Vietnam has approved a major project to boost its national cybersecurity protection force, aiming to rank among the top 15 in the Global Cybersecurity Index by 2030. The plan targets training 10,000 specialists, with 20% achieving international certification, and seeks...
Milpitas city council approved a $60,000 budget to distribute free smart doorbell cameras to residents on a first‑come, first‑served basis. Homeowners can voluntarily upload video clips to a police‑managed database, but officers have no automatic access to the footage. The...
Will California fund or kill its thriving virtual power plant program? #energysky -- via Canary Media: https://t.co/jWMDx0bSMq
New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani announced the reversal of the 2023 TikTok ban, permitting city agencies to post on the platform under strict security protocols. The policy change follows TikTok's agreement to spin off its U.S. operations, addressing federal...
Scranton City Council approved five resolutions authorizing the city to pursue more than $7.7 million in federal and state grants. The funding request includes $1 million to modernize the police department’s real‑time crime center, $3 million for a streetscape overhaul on Pittston Avenue,...
