Gov Tech Today

On Gov Tech Today, host Jennifer Saha talks with Amanda Renteria, CEO of Code for America, about bridging technology and government to help residents access safety-net benefits like food assistance, school lunch programs, healthcare, SNAP, and Medicaid. Renteria argues modernization should start with real user experience—watching people apply at kitchen tables—and emphasizes “no wrong door” access across phone, in-person, and mobile, plus culturally competent language and iterative design tailored to each state. They discuss why the “apply once” vision is constrained by shifting policies such as new renewal and work requirements, and how better data sharing and common definitions across agencies are still lacking. Renteria outlines Code for America’s values-first approach to AI, warning it requires infrastructure and should be tested carefully with humans in the loop, while highlighting promising uses like document verification and caseworker support.00:00 Welcome to Gov Tech Today00:32 Meet Amanda Renteria00:58 Code for America Mission02:46 Modernization That Works05:48 No Wrong Door Access07:59 One Time Data Dream11:17 Progress Since COVID13:26 AI Values First Approach18:11 Where AI Helps or Hurts22:52 Lightning Round Trends24:53 Modernization Mistakes27:17 Predictions and Dashboards30:49 Wrap Up and Thanks

On this episode of Gov Tech Today, hosts Russell Lowery and Jennifer Saha step back from day-to-day procurement details to examine what California’s public data reveals about technology spending trends. Jen shares analysis comparing FY 2024–25 to 2025–26 across major contract vehicles, finding a sharp decline in IT services: about $3.8B down to $2.59B, nearly a 30% drop, with notable decreases in interagency agreements (down roughly 50%), formal competitive bids, and non-competitive bids. At the same time, IT goods spending is steadier and slightly up—from about $2.3B to $2.7B—suggesting continued purchases of software, hardware, and cloud while agencies reduce reliance on long-term vendor-managed services. They discuss policy changes enabling implementation services through the Software Licensing Program and consider political pressures, budget constraints, and potential pent-up demand ahead of the next administration. 00:00 Show Intro 00:14 Why Spend Is Down 02:28 Services Spending Drop 05:07 Interagency Declines 06:33 Competitive Bid Slowdown 09:09 SLP Services Surge 11:49 Goods Mostly Flat 13:51 What Counts As Goods 16:26 Big Picture Outlook 19:21 Wrap Up And Contact  

On Gov Tech Today, host Jennifer Saha speaks with Chris Given, California’s new state CIO and director of the California Department of Technology, about his first 10 weeks in the role and priorities for the state’s tech organization. Given shares his background across 10 federal agencies via the U.S. Digital Service and work with several states, then discusses how CDT must adapt as departments modernize away from legacy data center services, reshaping CDT’s budget and service model. He outlines CDT’s push to act as a broker of services through SITES (Statewide IT Shared Services), aiming to consolidate common software purchases, reduce duplicative negotiations, and expand beyond initial AI contracts such as Anthropic’s Claude. They also cover Poppy as a safe AI experimentation tool, updates to California’s AI risk assessment process (5305F) with tiered review, leadership transitions including state CISO Vitaly Panich, and CalSecure 2.0 and CalNet’s expanded managed security offerings. 00:00 Welcome and Introductions 00:28 New CIO Hot Seat 00:48 Career Journey to California 01:51 GovOps and Federated IT 03:55 Meeting Departments Where They Are 05:37 Early CIO Priorities 06:31 Budget Shifts and Data Centers 08:25 CDT as Service Broker 11:09 What SITES Means 11:36 SITES vs SLP Explained 12:13 First Deal Anthropic Claude 12:47 What’s Next for SITES 14:14 Poppy AI Sandbox 15:09 Power Users and Community 15:54 Power Users Scale AI 16:39 Responsible AI Guardrails 18:04 Risk Tiers and 5305F 19:50 Communicating Policy Changes 21:51 Cybersecurity in AI Era 23:17 Leadership Turnover and CalSecure 25:51 CalNet Adds Managed Security 27:04 Modernization and Vendor Flexibility 29:39 Budget Cycles and Agile Reality 31:46 Pre-Solicitations Build Trust 33:07 Transition Plans and Closing  

In this episode, Jennifer Saha interviews Jordan Burris, who leads Socure’s public sector business using AI to verify identity and predict fraud risk, drawing on his prior work in digital trust and as chief of staff to the U.S. CIO. Burris argues fraudsters—helped by digitized services and modern AI tools—are outpacing government, making old identity-proofing standards and “bouncer-at-the-club” checks insufficient at scale. They discuss how pandemic-era “pay and chase” benefit delivery created losses that are often unrecoverable once funds move overseas, and why agencies must shift to layered, preventative controls that reduce friction for legitimate users. Burris cites efforts in California (EDD, CalHEERS/ACA enrollment, DMV) and other states, and emphasizes sharing risk signals across agencies and with transparent vendor partners without broad PII transfer. He predicts success will mean manageable fraud rates and better citizen experience, with accountability led by senior agency leadership and organization-wide vigilance similar to cybersecurity. 00:00 Welcome and Guest Intro 00:28 Jordan Burris Background 02:55 Why Fraud Is Surging 05:43 How Identity Checks Fail 07:49 Pay and Chase Breakdown 11:42 Building Prevention Programs 13:47 States Leading the Way 17:58 Breaking Data Silos 23:32 Five Year Fraud Outlook 26:06 Who Owns Fraud Risk 29:31 Closing Thanks and Wrap

On this episode of Gov Tech Today, host Jennifer Seha talks with longtime public-sector consultants Heide Cassidy and Eugene Martinez about why government IT procurement—especially in California—so often feels slow, expensive, and overly burdensome. They argue that the system is built for checks and balances, but growing complexity, centralized control, and shifting definitions of “success” drive up vendor risk and cost. The guests point to Washington State reforms as promising models, including master contracts with prequalified vendors, greater use of national cooperative agreements, and more consistent pre-procurement dialogue with industry. They also critique California’s heavy reliance on resumes and references, suggest weighting interviews more, and propose asking vendors to disclose project failures and lessons learned. The conversation closes with the launch of their new AI-native, women-owned public-sector firm, Lynxar. 00:00 Welcome and Mission 00:27 Meet Heide Cassidy 01:01 Meet Eugene Martinez 02:39 Why Procurement Goes Wrong 04:03 Why Government Costs More 05:42 Centralization vs Autonomy 06:48 Washington Master Contracts 07:44 Rolling Admissions and Vendor Pools 11:28 NASPO and Cooperative Buying 12:33 Vendor Dialogue Before RFPs 14:34 Making Vendor Days Useful 16:17 Ongoing Relationships and Timing 17:19 Timing the Funding Cycle 17:51 Why Budget Transparency Matters 18:55 Sharing Spend Limits 20:05 Policy Myths and Procurement Reform 20:46 Reference Checks Overload 22:48 AI and Interview Scoring 23:56 Scoring Trust and Vendor Risk 25:19 Ask About Project Failures 26:47 Launching Lynxar 28:30 Current Projects and Wrap Up