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How State and Local Governments Can Reduce CyberSecurity Risk With Duo

State and local government agencies are targets for cyber criminals recently. To aid state and local governments, the federal government has introduced a new bill in June: State and Local CyberSecurity Act of 2019. The bill aims to improve coordination between the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and state and local governments by creating channels for sharing threat intelligence and providing resources for threat prevention and recovery. State and local government agencies collect and store valuable citizen data such as social security numbers, birth certificates, driver’s licenses, voter registration, immunization history, medical records, bank account and credit card numbers of millions of people and businesses. However, these agencies often lack the resources to protect this data.

Spotlight

City of Jersey City

The City of Jersey City was incorporated by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on January 28, 1820. Known as America’s Golden Door, Jersey City is the second-most populous city in New Jersey and one of the most diverse cities, if not the most diverse, in the entire country. As an employer, the City of Jersey City strives to lead the public sector in innovative, ethical best practices in a way that honors and respects Jersey City’s roots while decidedly moving it towards its ever brighter, prosperous future.

OTHER ARTICLES
Government Business

Coronavirus Relief Blows Up the Federal Budget

Article | July 14, 2022

We’re starting to get the first independent analysis of the impact of the measures the U.S. Congress has passed to provide relief will have on the U.S. government’s fiscal situation. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget is first out of the gate with its preliminary findings, here is their main takeaway: Our latest projections find that under current law, budget deficits will total more than $3.8 trillion (18.7 percent of GDP) this year and $2.1 trillion (9.7 percent of GDP) in 2021. We project debt held by the public will exceed the size of the economy by the end of Fiscal Year 2020 and eclipse the prior record set after World War II by 2023. Keep in mind that prior to the coronavirus pandemic, the U.S. government was planning to spend $4.8 trillion in its 2020 fiscal year, borrowing $1.1 trillion. With the CRFB’s estimate of $3.8 trillion, the U.S. government will be borrowing more than the $3.7 trillion it had hoped to collect in taxes for the year.

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Emerging Technology, Government Business

How Computer-Aided Design Is Used in Government

Article | October 7, 2022

Federal agencies design a wide range of tools, equipment, vehicles and even rockets. Computer-aided design (CAD) technology allows agencies and users to create digital designs more efficiently. CAD is used for a lot more than designing buildings, but is a basic building block of a more advanced tool known as Building Information Modeling, or BIM. CAD can be used to render 2D digital models of products, equipment and buildings. BIM takes those efforts to the next level and serves as a 3D design tool to “create and simulate how a building would operate,” says Andrew Friendly, associate vice president of government affairs at Autodesk, a leading CAD and BIM firm.

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The Deadly Coronavirus Crisis is Also an Opportunity

Article | May 26, 2021

Unless America and China assume joint leadership for global economic recovery, reconstruction of the post-coronavirus world could take years, with unimaginable consequences for the world’s 7.8 billion inhabitants, including unprecedented levels of global unemployment, famine, and even war. In the pre-coronavirus world, suggestions for a partnership between the world’s two superpowers would have been met with gales of laughter. But now, despite the two leaders’ daggers drawn posture, hundreds of doctors and scientists in the U.S. and China are already working together on clinical trials of potential coronavirus drugs; and one of China’s biggest property developers has funded a five-year $115 million project between Harvard University and the Guangzhou Institute for Respiratory Health. But the window of opportunity for acting together is short. The Covid-19 pandemic continues to decimate the world’s economies. Unemployment in the U.S. now tops 22 million, a level not seen since the great-depression of the nineteen-thirties; while China’s economy stopped growing for the first time in four decades as half a million small and mid-size businesses, the backbone of China’s economy closed; and Italy, the second largest manufacturing economy in the EU watches helplessly as the pandemic axe dismembers its economy. Were India and Africa were unable to control the coronavirus the results could be catastrophic. So, are there issues of such import and mutual benefit that they would convince President’s Trump and Xi Jinping to work together? I believe there are. My two cents worth below. The two superpowers could leverage China’s vast, trillion-dollar global infrastructure project—the Belt and Road Initiative or BRI, that aims to build infrastructure in over 120 countries of Asia, Europe, and Africa. The BRI is designed to act as a conveyer belt to transmit Chinese investment and technology into these countries to improve their economies, and to link them to China. But now Covid-19 has crimped China’s ability to sustain BRI’s trillion-dollar underwriting tab and President Xi Jinping’s grandiose vision is at risk. On the other hand, the United States, which has been searching for a counter to BRI, has settled on an initiative called the Blue Dot Network or BDN. The idea behind the BDN is the U.S. would rigorously vet infrastructure project applications in developing countries to ensure high levels of transparency, sustainability, and economic viability before seeding them with startup funds from the U.S. Government. The BDN hallmark would then inspire confidence in the projects to attract private U.S. funding. But the relatively paltry BDN budget of $60 billion (versus China’s 1000 billion or trillion-dollar BRI budget) and developing countries’ skepticism of Western (read U.S.) dominated standards for infrastructure construction have hobbled the BDN. If the U.S. and China could find a way to combine BRI and the BDN it would ensure a stream of dollars from private U.S. companies into BRI and ensure its projects remain on track to create jobs and raise living standards around the world. The compromises required by America and China to weld BRI and BDN together would ensure the U.S. gets a seat at the table to influence the adoption of standards for starting and executing BRI projects. Here’s another idea: The U.S. military is especially qualified to help fight natural disasters. In 2004, for instance, 3,000 U.S. military personnel were deployed to West Africa to help combat a deadly Ebola epidemic. Their work included constructing 17 hospitals, field training, and deploying assistance by air to remote villages. Today the U.S. military is being used to rapidly set up hospitals in U.S. cities to handle the burgeoning coronavirus caseload. The People’s Liberation Army meanwhile seems determined to play a more active global role in peace-keeping projects around the world. Coronavirus-aid projects delivered to less-off countries through joint U.S.-China military teams would double what the U.S. and China could do on their own. And help establish the military to military connections that the U.S. has tried to foster with China for some time. A working relationship between the two nations’ militaries might even lead to a more stable geopolitical balance of power. The Chinese word for crisis contains two characters. One signals danger, the other opportunity. Presidents Trump and Xi Jinping should boldly find a way to join forces to convert the deadly Covid-19 crisis into an opportunity that would supercharge global economic recovery and might well change the course of the 21st Century. It is a once in a lifetime opportunity that ought not to be squandered.

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Transit, mobility projects to play vital role in economic recovery

Article | July 15, 2020

As the country battles to recover from COVID-19, transit leaders are calling for the next federal relief package to appropriate substantial funding to allow public transit to play its critical part in the economy’s recovery. In the interim, many of these transit and mobility authorities throughout the nation are moving forward with capital improvement projects already in the pipeline and in various phases of development. They will soon be announcing large projects, especially in quickly growing regions, and their planning documents list upcoming initiatives that range from mid-size construction projects to sprawling billion-dollar programs that focus on aging infrastructure. The following are just a few examples of upcoming projects from tollway and mobility authorities. California Just east of San Francisco, the Tri-Valley-San Joaquin Valley Regional Rail Authority in late June approved $46.8 million in funding for the next stage in Valley Link, a 42-mile light-rail line. This project will connect a planned train station in North Lathrop to an existing station in Pleasanton. Another $13 million previously dedicated to the project paid for conceptual design work that is near completion. Also, elsewhere in the state, the Transportation Corridor Agencies, in coordination with Caltrans, is proposing a $180 million project to add a direct 241/91 Express Connector linking the northbound 241 Toll Road to the eastbound 91 Express Lanes and the westbound 91 Express Lanes to the southbound 241 Toll Road. The connector will alleviate traffic and improve access to toll lanes in Orange and Riverside counties. Texas The Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority has several forthcoming procurements and will be soliciting bids in early August for the third phase of the 183A extension project. This $180 million project will create a 6.6-mile extension of the busy tollway north from Leander to east of Liberty Hill. Construction is expected to begin in early 2021. New Jersey The New Jersey Turnpike Authority has $24 billion in various road and infrastructure projects in its Proposed 2020 Capital Improvement Program released in March 2020. The authority has outlined 24 projects that provide system solutions and upgrades. One of the largest initiatives is a $2.9 billion project to replace approximately 200 bridge decks. Another large undertaking, projected to cost about $1.4 billion, is described as raising a section of Garden State Parkway above a revised 100-year floodplain. Florida Florida’s 2021 budget earmarks $90 million for an ambitious tollway project spanning hundreds of miles. The Multi-use Corridors of Regional Economic Significance, or M-CORES, plan calls for construction of 340 miles of new toll roads by 2030. M-CORES outlines new road infrastructure for three corridors: the Suncoast Connector from Citrus County to Jefferson County; the Northern Turnpike Connector from the northern terminus of Florida’s Turnpike northwest to the Suncoast Parkway; and the Southwest-Central Florida Connector from Collier County to Polk County. Initiated by a state Senate bill in 2019, this is a $10 billion project. Kansas The city of Overland Park and the Kansas Turnpike Authority are conducting a study that could lead to a $300 million project for U.S. 69. City leaders turned to the Turnpike Authority for help with widening the highway which has become the most congested in the state. The collaborative effort would include widening the highway to six lanes, with two of them being tolled. Illinois The Illinois Tollway Authority is closing its bid filing period for a more than $100 million project to reconstruct a section of Interstate 294, and numerous other projects are slated to occur in the next several years. A project to reconstruct the northbound C-D Road has a cost projection of between $25 and $50 million. Another planned project includes demolishing and rebuilding the Southbound Mile Long Bridge with a cost of more than $100 million. Another interesting project outlined involves building ongoing ramps from 75th Street to Interstate 55 which will also cost approximately$100 million. Pennsylvania The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (PTC) released a request for information to determine how best to structure procurements to replace and enhance the commission’s tolling Customer Service Center system and customer service operations. A number of contracting opportunities will result from this initiative. The commission is inviting responses from software application development companies with innovative products in the customer relationship management, customer account management, and customer experience spaces. System integrators and/or software developers with expertise in CRM, customer account management, call centers, customer contact systems and CX, and transactional/financial processing and billing systems also are also encouraged to respond. PTC is also interested in input from customer service firms specializing in the design and integration of innovative customer contact systems with new or existing applications. In addition to construction and engineering projects, numerous tollway authorities are moving toward all-electronic toll collections. The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission moved from toll collectors to all-electronic this year, and the Bay Area Toll Authority suspended in-person toll collecting in March because of COVID-19. This trend will provide numerous opportunities for IT companies in the near future as transit and mobility authorities search for technology solutions to modernize the driving experience on toll roads. Mary Scott Nabers is president and CEO of Strategic Partnerships Inc., a business development company specializing in government contracting and procurement consulting throughout the U.S. Her recently released book, Inside the Infrastructure Revolution: A Roadmap for Building America, is a handbook for contractors, investors and the public at large seeking to explore how public-private partnerships or joint ventures can help finance their infrastructure projects.

Read More
Government Business

Revitalization of Economies: Government Supporting Start-ups

Article | July 14, 2022

We’re starting to get the first independent analysis of the impact of the measures the U.S. Congress has passed to provide relief will have on the U.S. government’s fiscal situation. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget is first out of the gate with its preliminary findings, here is their main takeaway: Our latest projections find that under current law, budget deficits will total more than $3.8 trillion (18.7 percent of GDP) this year and $2.1 trillion (9.7 percent of GDP) in 2021. We project debt held by the public will exceed the size of the economy by the end of Fiscal Year 2020 and eclipse the prior record set after World War II by 2023. Keep in mind that prior to the coronavirus pandemic, the U.S. government was planning to spend $4.8 trillion in its 2020 fiscal year, borrowing $1.1 trillion. With the CRFB’s estimate of $3.8 trillion, the U.S. government will be borrowing more than the $3.7 trillion it had hoped to collect in taxes for the year.

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Emerging Technology, Government Business

How Does Government Operations Continuity Help Them Perform Better?

Article | October 7, 2022

Federal agencies design a wide range of tools, equipment, vehicles and even rockets. Computer-aided design (CAD) technology allows agencies and users to create digital designs more efficiently. CAD is used for a lot more than designing buildings, but is a basic building block of a more advanced tool known as Building Information Modeling, or BIM. CAD can be used to render 2D digital models of products, equipment and buildings. BIM takes those efforts to the next level and serves as a 3D design tool to “create and simulate how a building would operate,” says Andrew Friendly, associate vice president of government affairs at Autodesk, a leading CAD and BIM firm.

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Creating Public Value using the AI-Driven Internet of Things

Article | May 26, 2021

Unless America and China assume joint leadership for global economic recovery, reconstruction of the post-coronavirus world could take years, with unimaginable consequences for the world’s 7.8 billion inhabitants, including unprecedented levels of global unemployment, famine, and even war. In the pre-coronavirus world, suggestions for a partnership between the world’s two superpowers would have been met with gales of laughter. But now, despite the two leaders’ daggers drawn posture, hundreds of doctors and scientists in the U.S. and China are already working together on clinical trials of potential coronavirus drugs; and one of China’s biggest property developers has funded a five-year $115 million project between Harvard University and the Guangzhou Institute for Respiratory Health. But the window of opportunity for acting together is short. The Covid-19 pandemic continues to decimate the world’s economies. Unemployment in the U.S. now tops 22 million, a level not seen since the great-depression of the nineteen-thirties; while China’s economy stopped growing for the first time in four decades as half a million small and mid-size businesses, the backbone of China’s economy closed; and Italy, the second largest manufacturing economy in the EU watches helplessly as the pandemic axe dismembers its economy. Were India and Africa were unable to control the coronavirus the results could be catastrophic. So, are there issues of such import and mutual benefit that they would convince President’s Trump and Xi Jinping to work together? I believe there are. My two cents worth below. The two superpowers could leverage China’s vast, trillion-dollar global infrastructure project—the Belt and Road Initiative or BRI, that aims to build infrastructure in over 120 countries of Asia, Europe, and Africa. The BRI is designed to act as a conveyer belt to transmit Chinese investment and technology into these countries to improve their economies, and to link them to China. But now Covid-19 has crimped China’s ability to sustain BRI’s trillion-dollar underwriting tab and President Xi Jinping’s grandiose vision is at risk. On the other hand, the United States, which has been searching for a counter to BRI, has settled on an initiative called the Blue Dot Network or BDN. The idea behind the BDN is the U.S. would rigorously vet infrastructure project applications in developing countries to ensure high levels of transparency, sustainability, and economic viability before seeding them with startup funds from the U.S. Government. The BDN hallmark would then inspire confidence in the projects to attract private U.S. funding. But the relatively paltry BDN budget of $60 billion (versus China’s 1000 billion or trillion-dollar BRI budget) and developing countries’ skepticism of Western (read U.S.) dominated standards for infrastructure construction have hobbled the BDN. If the U.S. and China could find a way to combine BRI and the BDN it would ensure a stream of dollars from private U.S. companies into BRI and ensure its projects remain on track to create jobs and raise living standards around the world. The compromises required by America and China to weld BRI and BDN together would ensure the U.S. gets a seat at the table to influence the adoption of standards for starting and executing BRI projects. Here’s another idea: The U.S. military is especially qualified to help fight natural disasters. In 2004, for instance, 3,000 U.S. military personnel were deployed to West Africa to help combat a deadly Ebola epidemic. Their work included constructing 17 hospitals, field training, and deploying assistance by air to remote villages. Today the U.S. military is being used to rapidly set up hospitals in U.S. cities to handle the burgeoning coronavirus caseload. The People’s Liberation Army meanwhile seems determined to play a more active global role in peace-keeping projects around the world. Coronavirus-aid projects delivered to less-off countries through joint U.S.-China military teams would double what the U.S. and China could do on their own. And help establish the military to military connections that the U.S. has tried to foster with China for some time. A working relationship between the two nations’ militaries might even lead to a more stable geopolitical balance of power. The Chinese word for crisis contains two characters. One signals danger, the other opportunity. Presidents Trump and Xi Jinping should boldly find a way to join forces to convert the deadly Covid-19 crisis into an opportunity that would supercharge global economic recovery and might well change the course of the 21st Century. It is a once in a lifetime opportunity that ought not to be squandered.

Read More

Transit, mobility projects to play vital role in economic recovery

Article | July 15, 2020

As the country battles to recover from COVID-19, transit leaders are calling for the next federal relief package to appropriate substantial funding to allow public transit to play its critical part in the economy’s recovery. In the interim, many of these transit and mobility authorities throughout the nation are moving forward with capital improvement projects already in the pipeline and in various phases of development. They will soon be announcing large projects, especially in quickly growing regions, and their planning documents list upcoming initiatives that range from mid-size construction projects to sprawling billion-dollar programs that focus on aging infrastructure. The following are just a few examples of upcoming projects from tollway and mobility authorities. California Just east of San Francisco, the Tri-Valley-San Joaquin Valley Regional Rail Authority in late June approved $46.8 million in funding for the next stage in Valley Link, a 42-mile light-rail line. This project will connect a planned train station in North Lathrop to an existing station in Pleasanton. Another $13 million previously dedicated to the project paid for conceptual design work that is near completion. Also, elsewhere in the state, the Transportation Corridor Agencies, in coordination with Caltrans, is proposing a $180 million project to add a direct 241/91 Express Connector linking the northbound 241 Toll Road to the eastbound 91 Express Lanes and the westbound 91 Express Lanes to the southbound 241 Toll Road. The connector will alleviate traffic and improve access to toll lanes in Orange and Riverside counties. Texas The Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority has several forthcoming procurements and will be soliciting bids in early August for the third phase of the 183A extension project. This $180 million project will create a 6.6-mile extension of the busy tollway north from Leander to east of Liberty Hill. Construction is expected to begin in early 2021. New Jersey The New Jersey Turnpike Authority has $24 billion in various road and infrastructure projects in its Proposed 2020 Capital Improvement Program released in March 2020. The authority has outlined 24 projects that provide system solutions and upgrades. One of the largest initiatives is a $2.9 billion project to replace approximately 200 bridge decks. Another large undertaking, projected to cost about $1.4 billion, is described as raising a section of Garden State Parkway above a revised 100-year floodplain. Florida Florida’s 2021 budget earmarks $90 million for an ambitious tollway project spanning hundreds of miles. The Multi-use Corridors of Regional Economic Significance, or M-CORES, plan calls for construction of 340 miles of new toll roads by 2030. M-CORES outlines new road infrastructure for three corridors: the Suncoast Connector from Citrus County to Jefferson County; the Northern Turnpike Connector from the northern terminus of Florida’s Turnpike northwest to the Suncoast Parkway; and the Southwest-Central Florida Connector from Collier County to Polk County. Initiated by a state Senate bill in 2019, this is a $10 billion project. Kansas The city of Overland Park and the Kansas Turnpike Authority are conducting a study that could lead to a $300 million project for U.S. 69. City leaders turned to the Turnpike Authority for help with widening the highway which has become the most congested in the state. The collaborative effort would include widening the highway to six lanes, with two of them being tolled. Illinois The Illinois Tollway Authority is closing its bid filing period for a more than $100 million project to reconstruct a section of Interstate 294, and numerous other projects are slated to occur in the next several years. A project to reconstruct the northbound C-D Road has a cost projection of between $25 and $50 million. Another planned project includes demolishing and rebuilding the Southbound Mile Long Bridge with a cost of more than $100 million. Another interesting project outlined involves building ongoing ramps from 75th Street to Interstate 55 which will also cost approximately$100 million. Pennsylvania The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (PTC) released a request for information to determine how best to structure procurements to replace and enhance the commission’s tolling Customer Service Center system and customer service operations. A number of contracting opportunities will result from this initiative. The commission is inviting responses from software application development companies with innovative products in the customer relationship management, customer account management, and customer experience spaces. System integrators and/or software developers with expertise in CRM, customer account management, call centers, customer contact systems and CX, and transactional/financial processing and billing systems also are also encouraged to respond. PTC is also interested in input from customer service firms specializing in the design and integration of innovative customer contact systems with new or existing applications. In addition to construction and engineering projects, numerous tollway authorities are moving toward all-electronic toll collections. The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission moved from toll collectors to all-electronic this year, and the Bay Area Toll Authority suspended in-person toll collecting in March because of COVID-19. This trend will provide numerous opportunities for IT companies in the near future as transit and mobility authorities search for technology solutions to modernize the driving experience on toll roads. Mary Scott Nabers is president and CEO of Strategic Partnerships Inc., a business development company specializing in government contracting and procurement consulting throughout the U.S. Her recently released book, Inside the Infrastructure Revolution: A Roadmap for Building America, is a handbook for contractors, investors and the public at large seeking to explore how public-private partnerships or joint ventures can help finance their infrastructure projects.

Read More
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Spotlight

City of Jersey City

The City of Jersey City was incorporated by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on January 28, 1820. Known as America’s Golden Door, Jersey City is the second-most populous city in New Jersey and one of the most diverse cities, if not the most diverse, in the entire country. As an employer, the City of Jersey City strives to lead the public sector in innovative, ethical best practices in a way that honors and respects Jersey City’s roots while decidedly moving it towards its ever brighter, prosperous future.

Related News

Government Business

Indigov Receives $25 Million in Series B Funding

Indigov | May 31, 2022

Tusk Venture Partners, 8VC, Wicklow Capital, Align Ventures, and Valor Equity Partners participated in a $25 million Series B investment round for Indigov, the premier constituent service platform for public officials. This takes the total amount raised by the company to more than $38.3 million. Indigov is a multi-channel constituent experience management platform that helps public officials organize, respond to, and engage those they serve proactively. It was launched in 2019. Officials may get real-time insight into the pulse of their constituency thanks to the platform's rich reporting and analytics. Indigov is also used by the federal, state, and local governments to manage casework and triage incoming communications that might otherwise clog their inboxes. Indigov presently helps hundreds of congressional, state, and municipal leaders who represent more than 150 million people in the United States. Americans have relied on their government for aid more than ever in the last two years during the pandemic, from obtaining COVID and unemployment resources to expressing political expression. In general, the number of contacts with public authorities has gone up five times in the last ten years. This is partly because people now have more ways to get in touch, such as through email and social media. Staffing, budgets, and technology, on the other hand, have stayed unchanged. This has put a lot of pressure on employees, as well as disillusionment among voters and a loss of faith in our government. The U.S. government receives close to 53 billion requests a year from the public, the vast majority of which are managed in spreadsheets, email, physical paper, and outdated legacy databases. No company could function managing the level of communications public officials receive with the tools they use - when they fail, we all fail." Alex Kouts, CEO and Founder of Indigov Alex further added that these touch points are the democratic user experience, and they must be improved. Every day, they collaborate with government authorities to provide a service that not only meets but exceeds, private market expectations. They are making a whole new category of software to change the way people interact with the government from the ground up.

Read More

Emerging Technology

SDI Presence Announces Enhanced Advisory Services Delivery Model and Practice Leadership Promotions

SDI Presence LLC | May 16, 2022

SDI Presence LLC (SDI), an IT consultancy and managed services provider (MSP), announces the update of its technology-focused delivery model to best meet the changing needs of its government technology clients. These new positions – along with a new team structure and expanded delivery methodologies – will allow SDI to better share our depth of knowledge in government enterprise technologies by leveraging our broad experience working with municipalities, special districts, counties, and state government agencies." Jonathan Gair, Vice President of Operations at SDI Presence SDI's shift toward a horizontally focused practice model is designed to best position the firm's subject matter expertise to directly impact customer value. Issues with designing, configuring, and testing systems tend to re-occur across technology partners, leading to frustration, inefficiencies, and sometimes flawed deployments. With its new model, SDI is positioning its expert Practice Leads to deliver industry-specific and well-honed methodologies, content, test cases, and design planning services, supported by the SDI consultant team. "SDI is growing," Jonathan Gair added. "We did not want to lose sight of what makes us unique: our local presence. Now, our directors will be more available to help clients improve services, while our practice leads maintain ownership of the day-to-day project oversight role." To lead this enhanced Advisory practice, SDI has promoted four experienced SDI personnel to the newly created positions of Practice Leads, with each serving as the leader of a specific technology area: IT Strategic Planning: Project Manager Lee Curtis will build on his over 40 years of experience leading over 50 IT Strategic Plans and Assessments, and previous experience as a public sector IT Director and CIO. Land Management Systems (LMS): Project Manager Rick Keyes, a 30-year veteran who specializes in IT and vendor management with state governments and holds PMP and Prosci OCM certifications, will lead the Land Management System (LMS) practice. Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP): Project Managers David Gougis and Wendell Yacur will co-lead SDI's ERP practice, building on their combined half century of experience working as advisors to the public sector space. Wendell Yacur is a 30-year IT professional with a focus on management consulting for state governments, while David Gougis has more than 30 years of experience in both technology and finance consulting and as held Lead roles for public sector agencies. Supporting each Lead will be a regionally focused Director of Operations that is dedicated to client success. "I truly believe that Rick, Lee, David and Wendell represent one of the strongest, most experienced teams available to organizations," said Hardik Bhatt, President and Chief Growth Office of SDI Presence. "Their backgrounds in procurements, implementations and strategic planning make them subject matter experts in systems that often touch all departments within an organization, meaning they can help facilitate even the toughest, most challenging projects." These promotions occur as SDI Presence is seeing substantial growth in its government and utilities practices. Seasoned cloud and IT managed services industry leaders Hardik Bhatt, Prasad Alavilli, and Sunil Thomas recently joined SDI, as the firm aggressively builds out legacy IT modernization solutions. In 2021, SDI announced that the firm secured an infusion of private equity capital with Abry Partners, a Boston, Massachusetts-based private equity firm, to fund its growth. About SDI Presence LLC SDI Presence LLC is an IT consultancy and managed services provider (MSP) that leverages its strong team presence to advance our clients to a secure digital enterprise. With a 25-year corporate resume, SDI delivers strategic managed services, IT consulting, and hybrid infrastructure solutions to optimize our clients' technology environments. SDI is a certified Minority Business Enterprise (MBE), with a portfolio of clients that includes some of the nation's largest airports, utilities, commercial real estate portfolios, and government agencies.

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Cybersecurity

Carahsoft Receives Exclusive 2022 BlackBerry NALA Distributor Partner of the Year Award at BlackBerry Partner Cybersecurity Sales

Carahsoft | April 19, 2022

Carahsoft Technology Corp., the Trusted Government IT Solutions Provider announced that it has been named the 2022 BlackBerry NALA Distributor of the Year. On April 5-6, 2022, BlackBerry hosted a virtual partner sales event with the theme “The Power of…”, which highlighted the power of partnership and vision, joint market opportunities, and technical strategy. The virtual event attracted more than 300 global solution providers, MSSPs, and distributors. We value our long-standing partnership with Blackberry and are honored to be named the Distributor Partner of the Year for North America and Latin America for 2022.” Michael Shrader, Vice President of Innovative and Intelligence Solutions at Carahsoft BlackBerry recognized winners in four categories, and three regions representing North America and Latin America; Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA); and Asia-Pacific (APAC). Award winners were selected from among the thousands of BlackBerry partners based on their commitment to innovation and differentiation of BlackBerry cybersecurity products and brand in the market. The award winners also align with BlackBerry’s strategy and commitment to driving exponential new business growth. “We are thrilled to honor these outstanding partners and extremely proud to work with the Carahsoft team to ensure our customers are both secure and protected amidst a threat landscape that continues to increase in both scale and complexity. We look forward to building on our shared success in the months and years to come.” Colleen McMillan, Vice President, Global Channel Sales, Cybersecurity. About Carahsoft Carahsoft Technology Corp. is The Trusted Government IT Solutions Provider, supporting Public Sector organizations across Federal, State and Local Government agencies and Education and Healthcare markets. As the Master Government Aggregator for our vendor partners, we deliver solutions for Cybersecurity, MultiCloud, DevSecOps, Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, Open Source, Customer Experience and Engagement, and more. Working with resellers, systems integrators and consultants, our sales and marketing teams provide industry leading IT products, services and training through hundreds of contract vehicles.

Read More

Government Business

Indigov Receives $25 Million in Series B Funding

Indigov | May 31, 2022

Tusk Venture Partners, 8VC, Wicklow Capital, Align Ventures, and Valor Equity Partners participated in a $25 million Series B investment round for Indigov, the premier constituent service platform for public officials. This takes the total amount raised by the company to more than $38.3 million. Indigov is a multi-channel constituent experience management platform that helps public officials organize, respond to, and engage those they serve proactively. It was launched in 2019. Officials may get real-time insight into the pulse of their constituency thanks to the platform's rich reporting and analytics. Indigov is also used by the federal, state, and local governments to manage casework and triage incoming communications that might otherwise clog their inboxes. Indigov presently helps hundreds of congressional, state, and municipal leaders who represent more than 150 million people in the United States. Americans have relied on their government for aid more than ever in the last two years during the pandemic, from obtaining COVID and unemployment resources to expressing political expression. In general, the number of contacts with public authorities has gone up five times in the last ten years. This is partly because people now have more ways to get in touch, such as through email and social media. Staffing, budgets, and technology, on the other hand, have stayed unchanged. This has put a lot of pressure on employees, as well as disillusionment among voters and a loss of faith in our government. The U.S. government receives close to 53 billion requests a year from the public, the vast majority of which are managed in spreadsheets, email, physical paper, and outdated legacy databases. No company could function managing the level of communications public officials receive with the tools they use - when they fail, we all fail." Alex Kouts, CEO and Founder of Indigov Alex further added that these touch points are the democratic user experience, and they must be improved. Every day, they collaborate with government authorities to provide a service that not only meets but exceeds, private market expectations. They are making a whole new category of software to change the way people interact with the government from the ground up.

Read More

Emerging Technology

SDI Presence Announces Enhanced Advisory Services Delivery Model and Practice Leadership Promotions

SDI Presence LLC | May 16, 2022

SDI Presence LLC (SDI), an IT consultancy and managed services provider (MSP), announces the update of its technology-focused delivery model to best meet the changing needs of its government technology clients. These new positions – along with a new team structure and expanded delivery methodologies – will allow SDI to better share our depth of knowledge in government enterprise technologies by leveraging our broad experience working with municipalities, special districts, counties, and state government agencies." Jonathan Gair, Vice President of Operations at SDI Presence SDI's shift toward a horizontally focused practice model is designed to best position the firm's subject matter expertise to directly impact customer value. Issues with designing, configuring, and testing systems tend to re-occur across technology partners, leading to frustration, inefficiencies, and sometimes flawed deployments. With its new model, SDI is positioning its expert Practice Leads to deliver industry-specific and well-honed methodologies, content, test cases, and design planning services, supported by the SDI consultant team. "SDI is growing," Jonathan Gair added. "We did not want to lose sight of what makes us unique: our local presence. Now, our directors will be more available to help clients improve services, while our practice leads maintain ownership of the day-to-day project oversight role." To lead this enhanced Advisory practice, SDI has promoted four experienced SDI personnel to the newly created positions of Practice Leads, with each serving as the leader of a specific technology area: IT Strategic Planning: Project Manager Lee Curtis will build on his over 40 years of experience leading over 50 IT Strategic Plans and Assessments, and previous experience as a public sector IT Director and CIO. Land Management Systems (LMS): Project Manager Rick Keyes, a 30-year veteran who specializes in IT and vendor management with state governments and holds PMP and Prosci OCM certifications, will lead the Land Management System (LMS) practice. Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP): Project Managers David Gougis and Wendell Yacur will co-lead SDI's ERP practice, building on their combined half century of experience working as advisors to the public sector space. Wendell Yacur is a 30-year IT professional with a focus on management consulting for state governments, while David Gougis has more than 30 years of experience in both technology and finance consulting and as held Lead roles for public sector agencies. Supporting each Lead will be a regionally focused Director of Operations that is dedicated to client success. "I truly believe that Rick, Lee, David and Wendell represent one of the strongest, most experienced teams available to organizations," said Hardik Bhatt, President and Chief Growth Office of SDI Presence. "Their backgrounds in procurements, implementations and strategic planning make them subject matter experts in systems that often touch all departments within an organization, meaning they can help facilitate even the toughest, most challenging projects." These promotions occur as SDI Presence is seeing substantial growth in its government and utilities practices. Seasoned cloud and IT managed services industry leaders Hardik Bhatt, Prasad Alavilli, and Sunil Thomas recently joined SDI, as the firm aggressively builds out legacy IT modernization solutions. In 2021, SDI announced that the firm secured an infusion of private equity capital with Abry Partners, a Boston, Massachusetts-based private equity firm, to fund its growth. About SDI Presence LLC SDI Presence LLC is an IT consultancy and managed services provider (MSP) that leverages its strong team presence to advance our clients to a secure digital enterprise. With a 25-year corporate resume, SDI delivers strategic managed services, IT consulting, and hybrid infrastructure solutions to optimize our clients' technology environments. SDI is a certified Minority Business Enterprise (MBE), with a portfolio of clients that includes some of the nation's largest airports, utilities, commercial real estate portfolios, and government agencies.

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Cybersecurity

Carahsoft Receives Exclusive 2022 BlackBerry NALA Distributor Partner of the Year Award at BlackBerry Partner Cybersecurity Sales

Carahsoft | April 19, 2022

Carahsoft Technology Corp., the Trusted Government IT Solutions Provider announced that it has been named the 2022 BlackBerry NALA Distributor of the Year. On April 5-6, 2022, BlackBerry hosted a virtual partner sales event with the theme “The Power of…”, which highlighted the power of partnership and vision, joint market opportunities, and technical strategy. The virtual event attracted more than 300 global solution providers, MSSPs, and distributors. We value our long-standing partnership with Blackberry and are honored to be named the Distributor Partner of the Year for North America and Latin America for 2022.” Michael Shrader, Vice President of Innovative and Intelligence Solutions at Carahsoft BlackBerry recognized winners in four categories, and three regions representing North America and Latin America; Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA); and Asia-Pacific (APAC). Award winners were selected from among the thousands of BlackBerry partners based on their commitment to innovation and differentiation of BlackBerry cybersecurity products and brand in the market. The award winners also align with BlackBerry’s strategy and commitment to driving exponential new business growth. “We are thrilled to honor these outstanding partners and extremely proud to work with the Carahsoft team to ensure our customers are both secure and protected amidst a threat landscape that continues to increase in both scale and complexity. We look forward to building on our shared success in the months and years to come.” Colleen McMillan, Vice President, Global Channel Sales, Cybersecurity. About Carahsoft Carahsoft Technology Corp. is The Trusted Government IT Solutions Provider, supporting Public Sector organizations across Federal, State and Local Government agencies and Education and Healthcare markets. As the Master Government Aggregator for our vendor partners, we deliver solutions for Cybersecurity, MultiCloud, DevSecOps, Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, Open Source, Customer Experience and Engagement, and more. Working with resellers, systems integrators and consultants, our sales and marketing teams provide industry leading IT products, services and training through hundreds of contract vehicles.

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