GovTech News and Headlines
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The U.S. Department of Transportation announced over $21 million in FY2025 Tribal Transportation Program Safety Fund grants, supporting 84 projects across 61 tribes in 13 states. Funding will enable safety plans, roadway‑departure countermeasures, infrastructure upgrades such as guardrails and multi‑use pathways, and data‑collection initiatives. The grants target the leading cause of tribal fatalities—roadway‑departure crashes, which account for 63% of deaths. The initiative reflects a federal push to improve mobility and reduce fatalities on Native American and Alaska Native lands.
The UK Cyber Monitoring Centre (CMC) is preparing a US‑based operation to quantify the financial fallout of cyber incidents, targeting a 2027 launch after proving its model in Britain. In its first year, the CMC rated two 2025 attacks –...
The Brazilian Ministry of Ports and Airports has opened a public consultation to draft a National Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) policy that will regulate drones and electric vertical take‑off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft for cargo and passenger transport. The consultation...
Korea Airports Corporation (KAC) and the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) will build a dedicated urban air mobility (UAM) vertiport test hub at the KINTEX exhibition center in Goyang, northwest of Seoul. The facility, slated for completion by 2027, is...
Parliament’s home affairs oversight committee has urged the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) to urgently accelerate its digital transformation after a Special Investigating Unit (SIU) report exposed large‑scale visa fraud and collusion among officials. The investigation highlighted that manual, paper‑based...
New Castle County EMS has transformed a retired frontline ambulance into a dedicated mobile community outreach vehicle. The repurposed truck now houses tables, tents, CPR mannequins and informational materials, allowing the outreach team to drive straight to events without additional...
PHM Technology and SYPAQ Systems have formed a strategic partnership to deliver PHMT’s MADE software to the Australian Defence Force. The collaboration will establish a Digital RAMS Backbone and create Digital Risk Twins that enhance engineering analysis traceability across the...
Seven South West Integrated Care Boards will launch the NEC Rego electronic referral service in 2026, extending to Dorset in 2027. The platform will handle about 160,000 dental referrals annually across 12 pathways, covering 5.5 million residents, 900+ practices and 1,000...
New Zealand’s Govt.nz mobile app will soon let users display a digital driver’s licence and other photo IDs from a built‑in digital wallet. From the end of March, the app will enable digital credentials to be presented at police checkpoints,...
The UK’s Office for Product Safety & Standards is conducting hands‑on tests of AI‑enabled toys to gauge their safety before any new restrictions are introduced. Findings could trigger enforcement under the Product Safety and Metrology Act, which gives the government...
Australian Public Service (APS) assistant minister Patrick Gorman told the Institute for Public Administration Australia ACT’s AI summit that artificial intelligence is now a practical reality for government. He announced that service‑wide guidance on AI consultation will be issued imminently....
The Winter 2026 issue of FedTech Magazine surveys the federal government’s tech agenda, spotlighting AI‑enabled zero‑trust, cloud‑first modernization, and legacy hardware like NASA’s GRiD Compass. It features a Q&A with Palo Alto’s Eric Trexler on identity‑first, AI‑secure cyberdefenses, and examines whether...
Star Systems International is supplying its Chara transponders for Thailand’s new M‑Flow tolling system, which seeks to replace manual cash payments with electronic toll collection (ETC). The transponders, OmniAir‑certified and engineered for high‑speed, extreme‑temperature environments, will work in tandem with...
The Mandarin Live: Future Ready Public Service summit will take place on 17 June 2026 in Canberra and online, gathering senior Australian Public Service (APS) leaders to address the next phase of digital reform. The event emphasizes stewardship, systemic integrity and scaling...
Singapore and Japan have signed a Memorandum of Cooperation to mutually recognise each other’s IoT cybersecurity labelling schemes. The agreement lets devices certified in one country obtain the other’s Level 1 label through a streamlined process, cutting duplicate testing. It also...
Digital government in Australia is a patchwork of progress and lag, with basic services still relying on paper and fax while some regions experiment with AI. Victor Dominello, former NSW minister, outlined a four‑stage evolution—Government 1.0 to 4.0—culminating in agentic...
Australian authorities in New South Wales have issued guidelines for deploying facial‑recognition systems in venues that host electronic gaming machines. The technology is intended to verify identities in real time, enforce self‑exclusion registers, and bolster broader financial‑crime monitoring. Advanced AI...
Cyprus has issued a legal order that obliges all organizations to treat identity documents presented through the Digital Citizen mobile app as equivalent to their physical counterparts in face‑to‑face transactions. The decree, signed by the Deputy Ministry of Research, Innovation...
The White House is set to deliver a legislative AI framework to Congress on Friday, outlining federal standards that would preempt conflicting state laws and address child safety, creators, and censorship – the so‑called “four C’s.” Republicans are looking to...
Federal agencies are confronting a dual challenge: AI‑enabled attackers are slashing attack timelines to roughly 11 minutes and dramatically lowering malware development costs, while defenders must integrate AI into their security stacks. Zero Trust principles—continuous verification, least‑privilege access, and micro‑segmentation—remain...
U.S. Customs and Border Protection is advancing its Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries (CAPE) system, a four‑step digital platform designed to refund importers for Trump‑era tariffs that were recently nullified. The agency reports the project is between 45 % and...
The Australian government is commissioning a detailed mapping of its Digital ID System (AGDIS) to evaluate how it can interconnect with private‑sector identity exchanges. The effort follows a closed procurement that will produce diagrams, risk assessments, and technical options ahead...
Sen. Marsha Blackburn unveiled a draft bill that obliges public companies and selected private firms to report AI‑related layoffs, role changes, and other workforce effects to the Labor Department each quarter. Non‑compliance could trigger civil penalties of up to $1 million...
Australia’s public service held its annual APS Data Awards gala on March 20, 2026, honoring top data‑driven projects across government. Treasury Assistant Minister Andrew Leigh opened the ceremony, stressing that data turns opinions into accountable outcomes. Winners were celebrated for advancing productivity, competition...
Los Alamos County, New Mexico, has signed contracts with four partner ISPs—XMission, Anthem Broadband, Intellipop and LANet—to launch the county‑wide “Atomic Fiber” open‑access network. Construction is slated to begin in spring 2026, with initial residential connections expected by fall 2026...
Missouri reported a drop in traffic‑related fatalities from 955 in 2024 to 910 in 2025, marking the first sustained three‑year decline since 2019. The state transportation department (MODOT) is turning to Cambridge Mobile Telematics' platform to collect granular driver‑behavior data...
The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency is operating with roughly one‑third of its staff as the DHS shutdown sidelines 1,500 employees and leaves the agency without a permanent director. Despite the staffing squeeze, CISA continues to issue critical alerts—such...
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has launched a new public‑idea portal under its Comprehensive Regulations to Uncover Suspicious Healthcare initiative. CMS Chief Operating Officer Kimberly Brandt invited citizens, providers, and industry experts to submit suggestions for strengthening...
The Office of Personnel Management is launching the first cohort of its Tech Force initiative, placing several hundred technologists into federal roles through a new shared‑certificate system. The program centralizes hiring, using a three‑phase, skills‑based assessment to create a cross‑agency...
Quecon, an 8(a) service‑disabled veteran‑owned firm, secured a potential $295 million, seven‑year Second Level Engineering Support contract for the FAA William J. Hughes Technical Center. The award, selected from three proposals, covers a broad portfolio including engineering studies, system assurance, safety...
Comtech has delivered the first batch of Enterprise Digital Intermediate Frequency Multi‑Carrier (EDIM) modems under a $48.6 million U.S. Army contract signed in 2023. The units are still in development and will undergo final acceptance testing this summer before fielding. The...
City leaders warned at the National League of Cities conference that a lapse in FirstNet’s authority could leave first responders without interoperable communications during disasters. The First Responder Network Authority, set to expire in February 2027, is backed by a...
The FAA issued a new safety directive that ends visual separation for helicopters and airplanes in Class B and Class C airspace, requiring radar‑based spacing after a deadly 2025 Blackhawk‑jet collision. Using AI analytics, the agency identified high‑risk mixed‑traffic airports and mandated...
The Pentagon terminated its $200 million contract with Anthropic after the company demanded safeguards against mass surveillance and autonomous weapons, while the DoD insisted on unrestricted model access. In response, the Defense Department has moved to integrate OpenAI’s GPT and xAI’s...
Colorado lawmakers are considering House Bill 1148, which would impose a 5% fee on microtransactions such as loot boxes in online games. The fee is projected to generate more than $20 million annually for public schools, while the broader bill tightens...
The White House released President Trump’s Cyber Strategy for America in mid‑March, outlining six policy pillars that target critical‑infrastructure protection, emerging‑technology superiority, and a broadened offensive cyber posture. Notably, the strategy calls for securing supply‑chain integrity, promoting U.S.‑made hardware, and...
SpiderOak has been awarded a contract by the U.S. Army Unmanned Aircraft Systems PMO to conduct supply‑chain analysis and cybersecurity assessments for vendors in the Drone Dominance Program. The company will apply its Advanced Cyber Threat & Resilience Assessments (ACTRA)...
Microsoft, the Cyber Readiness Institute and CCTI ran a 2023‑2025 pilot to boost cybersecurity at small and medium water utilities. Of 113 utilities that expressed interest, 72 enrolled and only 43 completed the program, but utilities that received a dedicated...
Governor Mikie Sherrill announced her backing of a suite of New Jersey bills aimed at tightening online safety for minors. The proposals would bar targeted advertising to children, impose black‑box health warnings on social‑media apps, and set default privacy settings...
Fire and EMS agencies are confronting soaring apparatus prices—often exceeding $1 million—and supply‑chain delays that can stretch delivery to five years. To offset costs and shorten acquisition cycles, many are turning to Garage, an online resale marketplace that connects departments nationwide...
The U.S. Department of War, through its FutureG programme, has become a founding member of the Linux Foundation’s Open Centralised Unit Distributed Unit (OCUDU) Ecosystem Foundation. OCUDU aims to create production‑ready, open‑source software stacks for Centralised Units (CUs) and Distributed...
Poland's air traffic control agency PANSA activated two new radars on Thursday, one near Katowice and another near Pułtusk, to sharpen radiolocation data and operational security. The installations are part of a 1.4 billion‑zloty modernization program running from 2024 to 2029....
India’s UIDAI quietly asked the IT ministry to explore pre‑installing its Aadhaar biometric ID app on all smartphones sold in the country, a move championed as a way to boost accessibility. The proposal met immediate resistance from Apple, Samsung, Google...
The Defense Health Agency (DHA) has launched a five‑year data strategy to create a secure, interoperable AI ecosystem for the Military Health System. Partnering with Red Hat, DHA is building cloud‑native infrastructure, data lakes, and governance frameworks that can safely scale...
Howard County’s Department of Fire and Rescue Services held a regional training session at Howard Community College focused on electric‑vehicle (EV) fire response. Firefighters practiced using a crane to lift and relocate a burning EV from a parking garage, employing...
Bath has launched a city‑wide small‑cell rollout, partnering with Virgin Media O2, Ontix and the local council to bolster 5G capacity on busy shopping streets and tourist hotspots. The cells, mounted on existing lampposts, aim to alleviate network strain during...
Gartner forecasts that by 2028 at least 80 % of governments worldwide will deploy AI agents to automate routine decision‑making, boosting efficiency and service delivery. The firm highlights a shift toward decision intelligence, where governance focuses on the decisions themselves rather...
The Tax Code Analysis Tool (CAT) models the U.S. federal tax code as a graph, linking the text of Title 26 to the entities and concepts it governs. By treating over 1,900 sections as interconnected nodes, CAT can surface cross‑references, map...
A £1.1 million government‑funded pilot will test the SAVVI and Open Referral UK (ORUK) data standards in Greater Manchester Combined Authority and Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council. The standards aim to spot early signs of vulnerability—such as housing instability or health...
A Mandarin Talks webinar titled “Government 3.0 – Smarter systems, sharper minds” explored how AI can reshape public services without undermining human judgment. Former NSW minister Victor Dominello and ex‑White House AI adviser Carmem Domingues argued that speed‑focused metrics are insufficient and...
