Inside SSA’s Digital First Strategy to Modernize Services
The Social Security Administration’s Digital First initiative is overhauling service delivery through automation, expanding 24/7 online access and cutting call wait times. The my Social Security portal now supports continuous access, pushing total accounts past 100 million and generating 287 million transactions in FY 2026, a 43% rise from FY 2024. Call‑center automation reduced average wait time to eight minutes, a 69% drop, while 75% of routine inquiries are resolved without agents. Automated payment processing has issued over 3.1 million payments worth $17 billion ahead of schedule, tightening fraud controls.
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ClearPoint vs Excel in Health Departments | ClearPoint Strategy Blog
Health departments are abandoning Excel for ClearPoint Strategy as strategic plans grow in complexity and regulatory pressure mounts. While spreadsheets are familiar and flexible, they falter when multiple stakeholders, PHAB accreditation, and community health assessments demand real‑time ownership and reporting....
Will Iowa Use AI to Analyze School, County Budgets?
Iowa House leaders are weighing a multi‑million‑dollar (estimated $5 million) contract with Tyler Technologies to deploy artificial‑intelligence tools that analyze school and county budgets. The AI platform would ingest publicly available spending data, normalize it by size and geography, and present...
Iran Demands Bitcoin For Ships Passing Hormuz During Ceasefire
Iran's Oil, Gas and Petrochemical Products Exporters' Union announced that any oil tanker transiting the Strait of Hormuz during a two‑week cease‑fire must pay a toll of $1 per barrel in Bitcoin. Ship owners must email cargo details, receive a...
CISA Orders Feds to Patch Exploited Ivanti EPMM Flaw by Sunday
CISA has placed Ivanti Endpoint Manager Mobile (EPMM) in its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog and issued a Binding Operational Directive requiring federal agencies to patch the critical CVE‑2026‑1340 flaw by April 11. The code‑injection bug enables unauthenticated remote code execution on...
DHA Starts the Bidding for $300M Tech Deployment Support Contract
The Defense Health Agency (DHA) has opened a five‑year, $300 million multiple‑award contract to fund technology deployment support across its health‑care delivery network. Companies will compete for task orders that cover site preparation, training, change management and post‑installation services for electronic...
Oakland County, Mich., Weighs Flock Drones Amid Privacy Concern
Oakland County commissioners will review a nine‑month pilot with Flock that provides seven drones for case‑related investigations. The pilot is free, but if not terminated by Dec. 15, 2026, a two‑year contract worth about $2.5 million automatically activates. Each flight’s route, duration and...
Arizona Task Force Roadmap Prioritizes Virtual Power Plants and Distributed Solar to Cut Energy Costs
Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs’ Energy Promise Taskforce issued a 31‑point roadmap urging rapid deployment of virtual power plants, distributed solar and 2,000 MW of battery storage by 2025 to absorb an anticipated 40% surge in peak demand. The plan streamlines permitting...
Some Epic Health Systems Now Connect to SSA Through TEFCA
Epic Systems announced that health organizations using its EHR can now exchange patient records with the Social Security Administration instantly through the Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement (TEFCA). The move adds five health systems—AltaMed, Citizen Potawatomi Nation Health Services,...
Federal Reserve Board Invites Public Comment on Proposal that Would Allow U.S. Banks and Credit Unions to Use Intermediaries to...
The Federal Reserve Board has opened a 60‑day public comment period on a proposal that would permit U.S. banks and credit unions to route payments through intermediaries on the FedNow Service. Currently, FedNow transactions can involve only two domestic banks,...
TRAI Launches Consultation on Satellite Communication Network Authorisation and Spectrum Framework
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) released a consultation paper outlining a new licensing and spectrum framework for Satellite Communication Networks (SCNs). The proposal defines eligibility, authorisation periods, technical and security standards, and introduces a Satellite Communication Network‑as‑a‑Service (SCNaaS)...
Virginia Grid Utilization Bill Set to Become Law
Virginia’s pending legislation will compel Dominion Energy and Appalachian Power to submit detailed distribution‑grid utilization metrics to the State Corporation Commission and propose ways to tap existing capacity. The commission will then publish its own analyses and evaluate non‑wires alternatives...
Navigating Urgent Global E-Invoicing Mandates: March 2026 Regulatory Alert
In March 2026 governments worldwide moved e‑invoicing from policy discussion to enforceable law. Spain approved a Royal Decree that bans PDF invoices and requires real‑time payment reporting, with implementation starting 2027. The Netherlands, Hungary, Norway, Latvia and several other EU...
Minnesota PUC Approves Utility Battery Program While Deferring VPP Decisions
The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission approved Xcel Energy’s CapacityConnect Phase 2, authorizing up to 200 MW of utility‑owned battery storage. The order obliges Xcel to submit a technical and financial benefits evaluation within 180 days and detailed distributed‑resource estimates by November 2027. While...
OpenAI Puts ‘Stargate UK’ on Hold in Blow to Britain’s AI Ambitions
OpenAI has placed its "Stargate UK" compute project on hold, citing an unfavourable regulatory landscape and the United Kingdom’s high energy costs. The initiative, which would have leased up to 8,000 Nvidia GPUs from data‑center operator Nscale starting in early...
DICT Meets with Superannuation Fund on SevisPass Integration
Executives from Papua New Guinea’s Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) signed a Memorandum of Understanding with NASFUND, one of the nation’s largest superannuation funds, to integrate the fund with the SevisPNG digital ID and wallet platforms. The partnership...
USPS to Shift some Volume as It Installs New Sortation Equipment
The U.S. Postal Service is installing new package sortation equipment at several processing facilities this month, temporarily rerouting volume to alternate sites during the transition. The upgrades raise daily processing capacity to about 88 million packages, up from 60 million, and add...
Spain High-Speed Crash: Possible Rail Break Detected 22 Hours Before Accident, but No Alert Triggered
Spain’s high‑speed network suffered its deadliest crash in a decade when an Iryo train derailed near Adamuz, killing 46. A Civil Guard report reveals that Adif’s signalling system detected an electrical disturbance consistent with a rail break 21 hours and 57 minutes...
New Ofcom Boss Ian Cheshire’s In-Tray Is Full but One Issue Will Dominate
Ian Cheshire, former Kingfisher chief and Channel 4 chair, becomes Ofcom chair amid a sprawling 2026‑27 plan that spans telecoms, broadband, postal services and media. The regulator’s top priority will be the Online Safety Act, a 2023 law aimed at curbing...
NERC Is ‘Actively Monitoring the Grid’ Following Iran-Linked Cyber Threat
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) warned that Iranian‑linked hackers are exploiting programmable logic controllers (PLCs) used in U.S. power, water and government facilities. The attacks manipulate software configurations and human‑machine interfaces, causing operational disruptions and potential financial loss....
FDA Launches BRIDGE Project to Modernize Food Facility Inspections
The FDA has launched the Better Regulatory Inspections for Dynamic Government Efficiency (BRIDGE) Project to overhaul how domestic food facility inspections are planned, executed, and coordinated. The initiative introduces a data‑driven, risk‑based framework that aligns federal and state oversight, aiming...
What Ukraine’s Wartime Tech Ecosystem Can Teach the Rest of the World
Ukraine’s wartime experience has turned its defense sector into a rapid‑innovation laboratory. Since the February 2022 invasion, the country expanded from seven drone manufacturers to over 500 and built the Brave1 cluster, now linking more than 3,000 firms with frontline units....
Greece Proposes Law to Keep Kids Off Social Media
The Greek government has drafted a law that would bar anyone under 15 from using social‑media platforms, with parents required to install a monitoring app on all devices. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced the measure via a TikTok video, citing...
TSA Quietly Sharing Passenger Data With ICE, Leading To Arrests At U.S. Airports
The Transportation Security Administration has been feeding passenger information from its Secure Flight program to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, resulting in more than 800 arrests since the start of President Trump’s second term. Over 31,000 travelers’ data were shared, repurposing...
GDS-Run Spend Controls Retired as Departments to ‘Fully Own and Manage Their Own Approvals Processes’
The UK Government Digital Service (GDS) has retired its digital and technology spend controls after 16 years, replacing them with the Digital Assurance Playbook that devolves approval authority to individual departments. Under the old regime, any digital spend of £100,000...
Cloud Control
In early 2025 the Pentagon demanded Anthropic drop its terms‑of‑service limits that barred government use of its Claude model for mass surveillance and autonomous weapons. Anthropic refused, forfeiting a lucrative defense contract and filing a First Amendment lawsuit that a...
DHSC Outlines Future of Fingertips Health Data Repository in £1.25m Contract
The UK Department of Health and Social Care has awarded a £1.25 million (≈ $1.59 million) contract to Marvell Consulting to build a public‑beta "Find Public Health Data" service that will replace the aging Fingertips platform. Hosted on Microsoft Azure, the new service...
Prague to Roll Out 150 ‘EV-Ready’ Street Lamps for Charging Network
Prague’s city council approved a €4.1 million (≈$4.5 million) project to retrofit 150 streetlights with built‑in electric‑vehicle (EV) charging capability. The “EV‑ready” lamps are part of a broader e‑mobility strategy that anticipates up to 180,000 EVs in the capital by 2030, requiring...
NHS Grampian Highlights 12 Digital Priority Programmes for Delivery in 2026/27
NHS Grampian has mapped out twelve digital priority programmes for 2026/27, spanning the MyCare.scot front‑door portal, a national child health record, Microsoft 365, Windows 10 replacement, PACS and RIS imaging platforms, INFIX theatre scheduling, LIMS, GP IT and core infrastructure upgrades....
Volunteer Responder App Piloted Across 46 Community First Responder Schemes in Scotland
The Scottish Ambulance Service piloted a new volunteer responder app across 46 Community First Responder schemes from November 2025 to February 2026. The trial delivered a 36% increase in volunteer incident responses, equating to 786 more patients assisted, and saw...
Roll-Out of Digital Eye Care Programme Continues Across Wales
The Welsh Government has completed the rollout of the OpenEyes electronic patient record and OPERAi electronic referral systems across all health boards, enabling real‑time clinical data sharing and standardized referral pathways. Glaucoma modules are now live in several boards, with...
Insights From Our RunwaySafe Webinar
SkeyDrone has launched RunwaySafe, an airport‑focused drone threat assessment platform built with input from airport operators and air traffic control. Unlike conventional detection systems, it evaluates each flight in real time and surfaces only those that pose an immediate safety...
Utah Lets an AI Chatbot Renew Some Psychiatric Prescriptions in New Pilot
Utah has signed a mitigation agreement with Legion Health to let an AI chatbot renew a limited set of psychiatric maintenance medications. The pilot, part of the state’s AI Learning Laboratory, restricts renewals to non‑controlled drugs such as SSRIs and...
Locals Are Using AI to Fight Data Centers Being Built in Their Backyards
Ohio residents are turning to AI tools like ChatGPT to bolster their opposition to new data‑center projects slated for their neighborhoods. Activists such as Jessica Sharp and realtor Jessica Baker use the technology to draft legal requests, transcribe meetings and...
Some Advocates Concerned As States Push for Cameras in Special Education Classrooms
A wave of legislation in Florida, Iowa, Maryland, South Carolina and Tennessee seeks to install surveillance cameras in self‑contained special‑education classrooms, following earlier laws in Texas, Louisiana, West Virginia, Georgia and Alabama. Proponents argue cameras provide objective evidence to curb...
Broadband for All Still a Distant Goal in SA
South Africa’s regulator ICASA reports that only 4,377 of 21,878 public schools, clinics, libraries and traditional authority sites – about 20% – were linked to broadband by October 2025, far short of its universal‑access goal. Mobile network reach is near‑ubiquitous (99.5%...
UK Eyes Deeper “Sovereign” Space Surveillance Capabilities
The United Kingdom is advancing its sovereign space agenda by initiating a procurement process for a new space‑surveillance radar system, with a possible deployment in Antarctica. The effort aims to bolster the nation’s ability to track low‑Earth‑orbit objects and protect...
Alstom Delivers Romania’s First Next-Gen Traxx Electric Locomotive
Alstom has delivered the first of a 16‑unit Traxx Passenger electric locomotive programme for Romania’s Railway Reform Authority, marking the start of a €150 million ($165 million) contract that includes 20 years of maintenance. The four‑axle unit, ARF002, arrived on 7 April at Bucharest’s...
Egypt to Regulate Social Media for Minors with Special SIM
Egypt’s telecom regulator will roll out special SIM cards for minors within 60 days, embedding app and content restrictions at the network level. In Nigeria, the South East Development Commission aims to build a $200 billion economy by 2035, launching a...
In Safety Infrastructure, the Shift From Steel to GRP
Traditional steel guardrails are increasingly being replaced by glass‑reinforced plastic (GRP) systems due to corrosion concerns, especially in coastal and humid environments. Engineered Composites’ Engrail 51 mm box‑section modular guardrail offers a lightweight, pultruded GRP solution with a load‑bearing capacity of...
Inverter-Based Resource Performance History Leads to US Regulatory Change
North American Reliability Corp. (NERC) has issued three new standards—PRC-028-1, PRC-029-1 and PRC-030-1—to tighten inverter‑based resource (IBR) performance after a series of disturbances, notably the 2022 Odessa event that shed 2,555 MW of solar and synchronous generation. PRC-028-1 mandates high‑fidelity disturbance...
PhD Talk Asks How to Avoid Colonialist Structures in Digital Public Infrastructure
A recent UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose talk featured PhD candidate Nai Lee Kalema, who critiques the World Bank’s Global Digital Transformation initiative and proposes a decolonizing framework for digital public infrastructure (DPI) in Kenya and Uganda. Kalema...
EMT Madrid Orders 120 More E-Buses, Vehicles Awarded to Irizar, Daimler and Solaris
EMT Madrid announced a contract for 120 new battery‑electric buses, including the first 18‑metre articulated models in its fleet. The order splits into 90 standard 12‑metre buses – 50 Irizar ie bus units for €30.75 million (≈$33.5 M) and 40 Mercedes eCitaro...
New Digital Funding for Transport Improvement Projects
The UK Department for Transport has allocated roughly $51 million (£40 million) to help local authorities trial digital solutions that streamline travel, cut congestion and reduce disruption. A $7.6 million (£6 million) pilot in the Peak District will synchronize rural bus services with train...
Highway Licence Application Forms Digitised at TfL
Transport for London (TfL) has digitised all highway licence application forms, moving from paper and Word‑based processes to an online system built on the FixMyStreet Forms platform. The new workflow guides applicants, validates data, and redirects fee payers to Paybylink,...
TDOT Is Widening Tenn.'s Tourism Corridor
The Tennessee Department of Transportation is completing the third phase of a $64 million widening project on U.S. 411 near Pigeon Forge, expanding the corridor to five lanes with a center turn lane and 12‑ft shoulders. The 9.3‑mile effort, funded 80% by the...
Data Centers and the Abuse of Secrecy
Big‑tech firms are using nondisclosure agreements (NDAs) to conceal critical details of new data center projects from local communities, as illustrated by a contested Google‑linked facility in Pine Island, Minnesota. These NDAs mask the owner’s identity, water and power consumption,...
Home Office Seeks Trio of £100k-Plus Leaders to Support Police Tech Transformation
The Home Office is recruiting three deputy delivery directors to steer a major police technology transformation, each offering a six‑figure salary of £100,000‑£117,800 (approximately $127,000‑$150,000). The roles cover legacy services transformation—including the £900 million (≈$1.14 billion) Law Enforcement Data Service that will...
New Research Institute to Ramp up Efforts as Hong Kong Pursues ‘AI for All’
Hong Kong announced a HK$1 billion AI research institute, slated to convene its first meeting by May, to drive a full R&D chain from academic research to industrial applications. The institute will integrate the locally‑developed large language model HKChat, a Cantonese‑focused...
New OMB IT Policy Memo Rings Familiar, but Signals Major Shifts
On March 31 the Office of Management and Budget issued memo M‑26‑10, tightening transparency and oversight of federal IT spending. The guidance forces CIO‑covered agencies to manually report every IT contract, including delegated public‑facing systems, within 30 days and to...