Earlier this year, the city and county of San Francisco released its 2026-2035 Capital Plan, outlining the major projects the jurisdiction has on its radar screen in the coming decade.
Despite the long-term spending outlook, the city and county government faces the same budgetary strains that many other jurisdictions are navigating. Local leaders had to navigate an $800 million two-year deficit on their way to the final approval of the $15.9 billion budget that includes programmatic and spending reductions.
The Department of Technology (DT), for its part, is looking at a $168.6 million budget for the fiscal year — a 1.35 percent increase over the previous year.
Among the many transportation and infrastructure projects in the plan, two IT enhancement projects stand out, including fiber for affordable housing and expansion of the city’s high-speed fiber network.
The former will focus on 43 affordable housing sites, navigation centers and homeless shelter sites in the 2025-26 fiscal year to take advantage of the limited term of the Last Mile Federal Funding Account Grant from the California Public Utilities Commission. So far, $12.5 million has been funded through the General Fund, with an anticipated $22.5 million in additional costs in the next three years.
The latter will expand on the existing network used by the city and its departments and neighborhood institutions along critical routes. The remaining work on this project is expected to cost more than $20 million.
In addition to several wastewater- and power-related technology projects that fall just slightly out of the standard IT bounds, the Police Facilities Retrofits and Improvements project (page 178) noted the need to close “technical inadequacies” in facilities such as the Tenderloin and Central stations. Similarly, the Backup 911 Call Center project (page 180) is listed as an emerging project that is expected to cost between $5 million and $10 million.
The City College of San Francisco (CCSF) District-wide IT Infrastructure Improvements project, meanwhile, has a $9.2 million budget through 2035 to “address district-wide technology data center improvements [and] area network connections,” among other goals.
Interested vendors should review the full list of ongoing and planned projects, as many of the undertakings in the coming years will likely have IT components not listed in the descriptions at this time. For example, new facilities or traffic management projects could come with heavy IT lifts behind the scenes.
Deep Dive Resources
Proposed Capital Plan, FY2026-FY2035
Proposed Budget, FY2026 and FY2027
Tech on the Horizon: Inside SF’s Capital Improvement Plan
What to Know:- San Francisco is investing in key tech initiatives for the next decade, despite navigating an $800 million budget deficit.
- Two major fiber projects will expand high-speed Internet to affordable housing and strengthen the city's digital infrastructure.
- IT components are woven throughout broader infrastructure plans, presenting ongoing opportunities for tech vendors.
