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Industry Insider — Texas will not be sending a morning newsletter on Monday, Jan. 19, in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The next newsletter will hit your inbox on Wednesday, Jan. 21.
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What to Know:
- The UT System's Supply Chain Alliance represents 14 individual institutions.
- The preferred platform is a comprehensive, scalable, cloud-hosted payment platform for all 14 institutions.
- The chosen vendor is required to provide the necessary hardware components, implementation support, onboarding, configuration and training.
What to Know:
- TDA CIO Chris Bunton and Dallas College Director of Workforce Development LaKesha Raynor spoke at a panel at the Texas Digital Government Summit in Austin.
- TDA has rolled out several AI-enabled tools, including a chatbot for its Farm Fresh program and a new internal HR bot.
- Dallas College serves more than 130,000 students each year and is expanding sector-based partnerships designed to meet the unique upskilling and reskilling needs of public agencies.
What to Know:
- Texas Department of Public Safety CIO Jessica Ballew spoke at an Industry Insider — Texas member briefing on July 23.
- The agency is moving away from maintaining internal support teams for every system in favor of managed services contracts to free up and refocus DPS staff.
- Ballew is eyeing a new internal automation capability aimed at streamlining administrative workflows and improving customer-facing services.
What to Know:
- The Enhanced Surveillance System for the Early Notification of Community Epidemics tracks public health threats across the state.
- The vendor will be required to provide not only software licensing but also installation, updates, defect remediation and enhancements to the existing system.
- The vendor will also help with SQL query support, build analytical cubes for operational efficiency and maintain the system’s API.
The project, a collaboration between the North Central Texas Council of Governments' TXShare arm, the Alliance for Innovation and Civic Marketplace, provides an AI tech purchasing platform with already vetted vendors.
What to Know:
- State Rep. Giovanni Capriglione, the most prominent Texas legislator on tech issues in recent sessions, announced the end of his tenure in the Texas House after 14 years.
- In the 89th Legislative Session alone, Capriglione authored or co-authored five tech-related bills that were signed into law by the governor.
- The Southlake Republican has not yet indicated his next steps.
What to Know:
- The city is interested in AI-powered interpretation and translation tools for a potential pilot program.
- The four-month pilot would support live AI interpretation and captioning services during both virtual and in-person public meetings and events.
- The city wants to understand how tools might support in-person settings and hybrid formats.
Sen. Parker authored legislation to establish the Texas Cyber Command and spearheaded the state’s first AI governance framework for public agencies.
What to Know:
- Nearly 90 percent of the projected IT spending will be focused on modernizing the George Bush Intercontinental Airport’s Automated People Mover (APM) System.
- The next largest project is a $13 million implementation of the SAP S/4HANA enterprise resource planning system.
- The city has plans to migrate at least two systems to the cloud.
What to Know:
- The district is seeking vendors to deliver an enterprise-scale solution across thousands of endpoint devices.
- The effort is part of the Federal Communications Commission’s three-year Schools and Libraries Cybersecurity Pilot Program.
- The initiative centers on patch management, identity protection and network access controls.
What to Know:
- Verizon has donated $100,000 to support search and rescue efforts.
- AT&T has announced that its Mobile Connectivity Center will remain at The Hunt Store for the next three weeks if weather permits.
- Gov. Greg Abbott directed the Texas Division of Emergency Management to activate state emergency response resources ahead of expected weather threats.
What to Know:
- The county aims to gather details on available technologies and best practices for an integration platform that could support a wide range of justice system stakeholders.
- The judicial web system currently serves as the central system for more than 100 courts and multiple agencies.
- The county processes more than 70,000 civil cases annually and over 30,000 criminal cases through the platform each month.
What to Know:
- H-GAC requires a solution that will replace the council’s current system and support a full life cycle of project tracking
- The new platform is intended to be mobile compatible, support multiple user roles across agencies and integrate with existing systems.
- The selected contractor will provide hosting, configuration and annual technical support.
What to Know:
- A report produced by the Texas Association of Business (TAB) shows significant population and economic growth in Collin County.
- Plano hosts major business and technology companies like Toyota, JPMorgan Chase and Hewlett-Packard.
- AI usage is surging among Texas businesses, fueling growth in productivity and profitability.
What to Know:
- The library is looking to modernize its information security via the Federal Communications Commission’s three-year Schools and Libraries Cybersecurity Pilot Program.
- The library seeks a managed solution to safeguard about 1,000 public-facing Windows machines used by patrons.
- Identity and access management services will also play a key role.
What to Know:
- The city's proposed budget includes $166 million for Austin Technology Services (ATS).
- Two-thirds of ATS' proposed budget would be allocated to its information and technology fund.
- $12 million has been transferred from the city's Information Security Department to ATS.
The analyst will monitor security alerts, perform forensic investigations and help guide response to cybersecurity threats.
What to Know:
- The preliminary budget includes nearly $1 million for IT operations and maintenance.
- $550,000 has been allocated for enterprise resource planning software.
- The budget includes funding for a new assistant director of IT position at an annual cost of $133,000.
What to Know:
- Workforce Solutions Cameron (WFSC) provides employment and training services under the Texas Workforce Commission’s workforce network.
- WFSC's website was last updated in 2017.
- The chosen contractor is expected to conduct a full content audit, optimize user experience and ensure compliance with federal accessibility standards.
What to Know:
- The budget bill for Fiscal Years 2026-2027 grants DPS a $133 million IT capital budget.
- Jessica Ballew, who assumed the role in September 2024, is the department’s chief information officer.
- Ballew will headline an Industry Insider — Texas member briefing July 23.
What to Know:
- Intel informed the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) on Wednesday that it would lay off 110 workers in its Austin office.
- IBM informed the TWC last week that it will close its facility in Coppell, laying off 59 employees.
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