Public sector and higher education
Agency and campus IT is asked to tighten security, improve service and show a return, with a team that has not grown to match. We work inside that constraint, and we write the oversight case before the purchase.
Updated October 19, 2026
Public money earns trust when the system it buys can be explained to the people who paid for it.
Your mandate is clear, your backlog is visible, and your budget cycle is fixed. Leadership wants AI in service delivery, and the security office wants nothing new until it is authorized. In a public university the questions are the same, with student records in place of case files. In a transit authority they arrive as rider questions, every minute the system runs.
Security mandates
FedRAMP for cloud services, state security programs, the CJIS Security Policy for criminal justice data and IRS Publication 1075 for federal tax information each set their own bar, and each keeps moving.
What waiting costs: an auditor finds the gap before you do, and every purchase behind it stalls.
Service failures
Licensing queues, benefits delays, rider information gaps and financial aid backlogs are public problems, not only operational ones, and new accessibility rules for state and local government websites now cover the digital front door too.
What waiting costs: trust that takes years to rebuild.
Budget scrutiny
Investments that cannot show lower cost or better service are deferred or canceled in the next cycle.
What waiting costs: a program that never reaches its second year.
| Segment | What oversight is looking at | What it means for an agent |
|---|---|---|
| Federal agencies | FedRAMP authorization for cloud services. FISMA, with NIST SP 800-53 controls. The NIST AI Risk Management Framework, and OMB direction on agency use of AI, including extra practices for high-impact uses. | Agents run on authorized services. Each one is in an inventory with an owner. Uses that affect people's rights or safety get extra review before and after go-live. |
| State and local agencies, including transit authorities | State cybersecurity and cloud security programs, many built on StateRAMP. The CJIS Security Policy for criminal justice data. IRS Publication 1075 for federal tax information. The Department of Justice rule on web accessibility under ADA Title II. State AI use policies. | The data an agent touches sets the controls it needs. Logs are kept for the period your records law requires. Resident-facing answers meet the accessibility standard. |
| Higher education | FERPA for student education records, state student privacy laws, and the same ADA Title II accessibility rule for public colleges and universities. | Student records stay within the uses FERPA allows. Every answer to a student is logged. A person decides anything that affects a student's record. |
Legacy systems, a procurement calendar and a small team make another year of the current system look safe. It is not: the old system carries its own risk, and it is the one nobody can explain. The same is true on campus, where student services often run on a system older than the students using it.
If an oversight board asked what this system costs, who can see into it and what happens when it fails, who answers?
One service, two lanes, one log
We put one governed service in front of residents first, and it becomes the standard every later project is measured against.
Governed APIs and access control on Google Cloud services authorized for public sector use, with the documentation your security office asks for.
You hold: an authorization-ready architecture and its control descriptions.
Security and responsible AIAgents on Gemini Enterprise that answer and route resident, rider or student requests, hand judgment calls to staff and log every step.
You hold: one service agent in production with a decision log your auditors can read.
Gemini Enterprise and agentsA cost baseline and a service measure agreed before work begins, and reported at every demo.
You hold: the numbers your budget office will ask for, from the start.
How work reaches productionState and local agencies in these states can buy our work through purchasing routes they already use. Public colleges and universities can often use the same state routes. Tell us your state and we will tell you which route fits.
Ask us how to buy through a contract your agency already uses.
Easy to start
Choose one workflow, name one owner, and give us time with the people who sign it off.
We bring engineers and the gateway design, we work inside your environment under your security rules, and we write the review pack alongside the build.
A good first workflow is one resident-facing service with a visible queue, one rider information service, or one student service such as admissions or financial aid questions. See the fixed-price ways to start.
What the work feels like
One workflow is chosen and one person owns it. The questions your reviewers will ask are written down before any build starts. Your security office reviews the controls in the first week.
Governance goes in before the first agent does: the gateway, the audit trail and the access rules. Your risk team sees them working.
A working demo you can show your own review board, not a status slide.
A decision log that can rebuild any action, and a go-live date that was agreed at the start.
Seen it before
Production readiness check
A short readiness check on a live or planned agent workflow. You get a score and the principles worth another look.
Take the readiness checkWe build on Google Cloud services that carry the authorizations public sector buyers ask for, such as FedRAMP. We confirm the exact service list and authorization level against your requirement in the first week, before anything is built.
Often, yes. We can help agencies buy in the ten states listed on this page, and the right route depends on the contracts your agency already holds. Tell us your state and we will tell you which one fits.
No. Decisions that need judgment go to staff, and the agent logs why it handed them over. Routine questions, such as office hours or document checklists, are answered at once.
Yes. Student records sit under FERPA and state student privacy laws instead of case rules, but the controls are the same: a gateway, an audit trail, one named owner and a person who decides anything that affects a record.
Yes, in the API, data and AI layer: rider information, trip and service data, and assistants for staff. Train control and safety systems stay where they are.
We agree a cost baseline and one service measure, such as time to answer, before work begins. Every weekly demo reports against them, so the board sees the numbers grow with the work.
Tell us what you are working on. Our Customer Partnership Team will reply to arrange a conversation.
Get answers to your questions
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