Raising the IQ of government
Identity, payments and data exchange are becoming the roads and bridges of the twenty-first-century state. Four systems show what the new public works look like, and what they cost to get wrong.
23 Oct 2026
The General Services Administration (GSA) has signed a OneGov agreement with US AI. Nextgov reports that US AI is a North Bethesda, Maryland, company and that it is GSA's first direct-to-government OneGov deal with an 8(a) certified small business. GSA's listing offers federal agencies up to 30 per cent off eligible software licences, plus two-week proof-of-value pilots for $1, on a FedRAMP High-authorised platform. GSA describes the offer as a limited-time offering that expires on 30 September 2028. The entry shows no signing date. GSA lists these terms under the US AI entry.
Richmond · 23 Oct 2026
Governor Abigail Spanberger signed Executive Directive 6 on 23 October. It tells the Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security to set up a Cyber Consortium, which must adopt a statewide cyberattack prevention and response plan and an infrastructure-hardening plan that address AI-related risks. AI companies are to be asked to share with the Cyber Consortium the confidential briefings and reports they give other government bodies, including New York's Department of Financial Services under the RAISE Act and the European AI Office. The secretary is to aim for briefings on AI risks at least quarterly, and a tabletop exercise at least yearly. Other states will be invited to join.
22 Oct 2026
Japan's Digital Agency said on 22 October that data may have leaked after a third party accessed the cloud environment of Studio, whose service ran part of its website. The agency lists five categories of potentially affected contact-form submissions, each a maximum, together at most 13,323, including up to 3,661 enquiries about its vaccination certificate app, plus 35 staff or contractor accounts. The agency says the scope is being examined and no misuse has been confirmed. Aomori Prefecture said on 21 October that data on 206 event applicants, collected by its contractor on Studio, may have leaked.
22 Oct 2026
Oman has launched the second phase of its National Digital Economy Programme, for 2026–2030, a release on the Foreign Ministry's website says. It focuses on digitalising strategic sectors, expanding e-commerce and electronic payments, and accelerating artificial intelligence adoption. The release gives its targets as a contribution of 1.5 billion Omani rials to gross domestic product (GDP), 300 million rials in technology investment and 3,000 new direct jobs a year. The programme's Strategic Intelligence Platform, built with the World Economic Forum, was also launched. An official survey cited in the release puts the digital economy at 9 per cent of GDP.
Lima · 21 Oct 2026
Peru's Presidency of the Council of Ministers (PCM), through its Secretariat of Government and Digital Transformation, has approved guidelines on the profile and duties of public entities' AI officer. The officer identifies uses for AI, drafts an AI action plan within the entity's digital government plan and oversees risk management, Andina reports. Candidates need a university degree, professional experience, AI knowledge and ethical suitability. The ministerial resolution that approved the National AI Strategy 2026-2030 requires public entities to designate the officer before drafting that plan. Luis Galarreta, President of the Council of Ministers, called the directive another milestone in modernising the state.
London · 21 Oct 2026
The UK's National Audit Office (NAO) says the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) "is experimenting in valuable ways across the organisation", including using AI to keep child maintenance payments flowing. Reviewing six case examples, the NAO found DWP has many of the necessary building blocks in place, but should apply good practice more consistently and share learning more effectively. It wants lessons shared even from innovations not taken forward, Global Government Forum reports. DWP estimates that actions prompted by one child maintenance model have prevented an additional 715 cases a month from moving into arrears and saved staff time equivalent to 49 full-time employees, the NAO report says.
20 Oct 2026
Japan's Digital Agency has started its "My Number Card on Android" service, it announced on 20 October 2026. According to Keitai Watch, it works on phones running Android 12 or later that have a separate hardware security chip, and lets users show details such as their name, address and photo on the phone. Until now, Android phones could use only functions of the card's chip, Keitai Watch reports, while an iPhone version started in June 2025. Keitai Watch says users can show just that they are 20 or older, without revealing their name or address.
Washington · 20 Oct 2026
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published an order in the Federal Register on 20 October that bars products and services of DeepSeek, an AI company in China, and its affiliates from civilian federal agency procurement. Agencies must also remove DeepSeek products, and third-party products built using DeepSeek, from their IT, except national security and secure compartmented information systems. Exclusion and Removal Order #2026-01, issued under the Federal Acquisition Supply Chain Security Act of 2018 and signed by Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, was first released on 24 July 2026. It cites DeepSeek servers in China and the possible transfer of sensitive data there.
An attack on a Córdoba company that runs tax and administrative software for local governments halted payments and procedures at town halls from Santa Cruz to Corrientes. The full number of councils affected is not yet known.
Public bodies in Australia and Europe pulled sites while they patched two flaws in software that runs much of the web. Accounts of whether attackers are already using the flaws differ.
The Digital Agency is rolling out one agent tool to ministries, plans a more powerful one for December, and has published standards that keep staff answerable for what the agents do.
The identity authority wants non-resident Indians and overseas citizens to enrol and authenticate without a trip home. The details are not yet public.
Asked to deliver something new? See who has done it before from where you are starting, what it took and what went wrong.
I need to deliver for a country with digital infrastructure.
India
Live2009 to now
A 12-digit identity number linked to biometric data, used to reach residents at national scale.
What went wrong. Its use was challenged over privacy and exclusion; in 2018 India's Supreme Court upheld it but limited where it can be made mandatory.
The lesson. Keep a fallback for people whose authentication fails, and set legal limits on where the ID is required.
Singapore
Live2003 to now
A national digital identity used by government agencies and private businesses alike.
What went wrong. Because public and private services both depend on it, an outage or account takeover reaches far beyond government.
The lesson. Open the identity to private services; everyday use is what keeps people enrolled.
Denmark
Live2021 to now
A replacement national eID, run jointly by the state and the banks, that took over from NemID.
What went wrong. Moving a whole population to a new login is a hard deadline for every service that depends on it.
The lesson. Plan the migration as carefully as the product: users of the old system must all arrive on the new one.
318m
Pix payments in Brazil on 4 September, a one-day record
The Rio Times
2m+
people who used the Pentagon’s GenAI.mil in a single week
Nextgov/FCW
24 of 27
EU member states still without a digital identity wallet, three months before the deadline
Brussels Signal
72%
of OECD countries with the cloud capacity to support AI in government
OECD
He replaces Greg Barbaccia, who returned to Palantir in August, and has argued that most agency problems do not need AI.
Fake invitations to advise on AI and export controls led researchers to a counterfeit login page. One lure used the name of an Anthropic employee.
How every UN member state scores on digital government, with the people and public servants behind each score. Turn the globe, zoom in and tap a country or city for its figures.
New · Step inside
Scroll into a capital made of glass: one chamber for each part of the state, and a dome that gives your own government a first look.
Enter the rotunda01
EU law says every member state must offer citizens a digital identity wallet by 24 December 2026. Most will not make it. Here is what the deadline requires, and why it is proving so hard.
02
In 2017 Estonia signed the world's first agreement to host government data in another country with the protections of an embassy. How the idea works, and why others are copying it.
03
A fraud-risk system flagged families by nationality, tens of thousands were wrongly pursued, and a government resigned. As agencies adopt AI, the Dutch case is the one to study.
01
Brazil's central bank built a free payment system in 2020. By 2025 it handled 79.8 billion transactions a year. What other governments can learn, and what Brazil is still fixing.
02
In May 2019 attackers locked about 10,000 of Baltimore's computers and demanded 13 bitcoin. The city refused to pay. Recovery cost around $18 million.
01
Two East African governments put their services behind a single portal and a single way to pay. What they built, and why a phone code matters as much as the website.
02
Three quarters of the world is now online. The quarter that is not includes many of the people who most depend on the state. How governments are designing for them.
01
The UAE and Saudi Arabia have moved most of their public services online, built around a national login. The numbers, and the questions that come with them.
01
Seoul has modelled its entire 605 square kilometres in 3D, above and below ground. The city uses S-Map to test policies before it builds them.
02
Identity, payments and data exchange are becoming the roads and bridges of the twenty-first-century state. Four systems show what the new public works look like, and what they cost to get wrong.
Special report, in 4 parts
Who controls the servers, models and backups a modern state depends on, and what it costs to keep that control.
Both countries have now named who will police digital identity wallets. Only one of them looks ready to issue one by January.
The group carried out about 1,000 attacks since 2024, many through badly secured cloud storage, and hit government bodies among others.
USDA's "one farmer, one file" record, which ends duplicate paperwork across agencies, is due to move under the new federal front door.
The deadlines, launches and meetings our readers are working towards.
24 December 2026
EU member states must offer citizens a digital identity wallet
European Union
Source: Brussels SignalJanuary 2027
Pilot of India’s National Digital Tourism Stack begins
India
Source: ThePrint1 February 2027
Hybrid boleto and Pix billing comes into force
Brazil
Source: The Rio Times31 March 2027
Hosting infrastructure for the national digital ID due
South Africa
Source: Biometric Update1 July 2027
Pix Automático can be paid from salary accounts
Brazil
Source: The Rio TimesDates as announced by the bodies involved; check the official timetable before planning around them.
Almost everyone in Libya can get online, yet its government offers almost no services there. No country in the UN survey has a wider gap between its networks and its online services.
Free standards and guides that practitioners use, from the governments and institutions that publish them.
3
Nov 2026
Barcelona
Congress and expo, three days
The largest annual gathering on cities and urban technology, including governance and digital public services.
3 to 5 November 2026
14
Dec 2026
Nairobi
UN forum, five days, hybrid
The UN's annual multistakeholder forum on internet policy, held in Kenya under the theme of governing the internet in the age of intelligence.
14 to 18 December 2026
Digital government, worldwide. 30 Sept 2026
Our launch issue: how shared rails for identity, payments and data became the new public works, and who gets to build them.
The last word
“No, I cannot guarantee that.”
What governments launched, bought and fixed this week, in a ten-minute read every Monday.
