Government solutions: Overview · AI · Security Systems · IT Services · Cybersecurity & Compliance · Communications

AI for Government Agencies: What Works, What It Costs and Where to Start

Agency leaders are searching for the same things: how other agencies are using AI, what is safe, and what it will really cost. Staff are already experimenting with AI chat tools, often on personal accounts, which is exactly where resident data and draft public records leak. Software vendors are pitching AI add-ons in every application. And headlines about large-company layoffs and record profits make it feel like everyone else has figured AI out. Most mid-sized agencies have not, and many are supported by an IT provider that has not either.

BTI is your Guided Automation Partner: a managed and co-managed IT partner that makes AI practical. We help you decide where to start, govern and secure what staff already use, and connect AI to the systems you already own, so you get results without a new license for every application. BTI supports many government agencies, and the same team runs their security systems, IT, cybersecurity and phones.

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How Agencies Are Using AI Today (With Sources)

Real, public examples from federal, state and municipal government:

AI is the top state IT priority. AI ranked first on the NASCIO State CIO Top 10 Priorities for 2026 for the first time. The 2026 NASCIO State CIO Survey found that 98 percent of states have enterprise policies on AI use and 78 percent of state CIOs have adopted an AI governance framework.
Measured staff time savings. Pennsylvania ran a year-long generative AI pilot with 175 employees across 14 agencies. Participants reported saving an average of 95 minutes per day on days they used the tool, for work like drafting emails, summarizing long documents, analyzing contracts and researching policy, and they emphasized that human review remains essential (Commonwealth of Pennsylvania).
City guardrails. Boston requires employees to complete basic training before they get access to city generative AI tools, keeps employees responsible for their work product, and prohibits using generative AI to determine eligibility for services or to evaluate job candidates (City of Boston).
Local policy you can borrow. San José, California published a formal AI policy covering governance roles, risk reviews, prohibited uses and vendor requirements (San José AI Policy, via MRSC), and hosts the GovAI Coalition, which shares AI policy and data sharing agreement templates with other agencies (GovAI Coalition templates).
Federal scale. Federal agencies publicly reported 3,611 AI use cases in the 2025 Federal Agency AI Use Case Inventory compiled by OMB.

The lesson across all of them: write the policy, pick a few high-value use cases, keep people reviewing the output, and log everything.

Where AI Helps Public Agencies

Records and Knowledge Search

Clerks, planners and HR staff spend hours hunting through ordinances, policies, past permits and meeting minutes. A secure, agency-controlled AI workspace can search and summarize approved document sets and show its sources, so staff verify instead of starting from scratch. Sensitive records stay in your tenant, with access controls that mirror existing permissions.

Resident Service Requests

AI can draft first responses to common questions, categorize 311-style requests and route them to the right department. People still approve what goes out, so you get faster answers without handing decisions to software.

Custom Analytics on Your Own Data

BTI writes custom analytics that pull from the systems you already run, such as work orders, permits, call volumes, tickets and camera events, so leaders can see backlogs, trends and staffing needs without buying another dashboard product.

AI Call Routing and Self-Service

An AI receptionist answers after hours and during overflow, handles routine questions such as office hours and permit steps, and routes callers to a live person when needed. Calls are logged and transcribed under your retention policy. → Government communications

AI Video Analytics for Public Facilities

Integrated, real-time analytics on city halls, courthouses, public works yards and parks detect after-hours intrusion, loitering and vehicles in restricted areas. License plate recognition, pattern detection and custom-tuned analytics reduce false alarms, and thermal and radar cover large, dark sites. Facial recognition is used only where your policy and applicable law allow it. → Government security systems · Video analytics

Automated IT and Security Operations

BTI's 24/7 NOC/SOC, delivered with a SOC 2 audited NOC/SOC partner, uses automation to triage noise and correlate threats across endpoints, identity and email: 10,000+ alerts handled, zero missed. Patching and device health checks run overnight so departments start the day on working systems. → Government IT services

An Honest Take on SaaS AI Add-Ons and Token Costs

Most of the software agencies already pay for now sells AI as an extra: per-user add-ons, prepaid usage credits or metered tokens. Salesforce, for example, announced in 2025 that its Agentforce add-ons start at $125 per user per month on top of its Enterprise and Unlimited Editions (Salesforce). These tools can be useful. The challenges for a public agency are practical:

Each vendor's AI sees only its own data, so you pay several times for assistants that can't answer a question that spans systems.
Usage pricing is hard to budget when your budget is set a year in advance and staff adoption is unknown.
Licenses go unused when nobody shows staff how to make the tool relevant to their actual work.
Governance is fragmented across vendors with different data terms, logging and retention.

Gartner predicted in 2024 that at least 30% of generative AI projects would be abandoned after proof of concept by the end of 2025, citing poor data quality, inadequate risk controls, escalating costs or unclear business value (Gartner). None of that means agencies should wait. It means AI should be planned like any other piece of infrastructure.

BTI's Approach: Governed AI on the Systems You Already Own

Connect, don't multiply. BTI connects governed AI and workflow apps to the email, files, records, ticketing, phone and security systems you already own, instead of adding an AI license to every application.
You own what we build. The AI agents, workflows and analytics BTI builds are owned by your agency, with no royalties or license fees to SaaS providers. Where a third-party tool does cost money, such as model usage or a secure workspace, it is quoted as an itemized line item.
Custom analytics and workflow apps. We write the analytics and build the workflows that tie AI to operations and security, for example routing a resident request into the right work queue, or turning a camera analytics event into a notification for the on-call supervisor.
Governance, security and continuity built in. Policies aligned to the NIST AI RMF, logging that supports public records requests, access controls that mirror your permissions, and a plan that keeps working if a vendor changes its pricing or terms.

Where Are You With AI?

Just getting started

Start with an AI Opportunity Assessment. We inventory the AI already in use, rank three to five use cases by value and risk, draft an AI use policy and show what your current systems can do today.

Already using AI

You need governance, security and continuity: an approved toolset, data boundaries for resident data and criminal justice information, logging and retention for public records, monitoring for misuse, and backup plans for every AI-dependent workflow.

Looking for an outsourced partner

BTI provides fully managed IT for agencies without an IT department and co-managed IT for agencies that have one. Guided Automation advisory services are included in every managed IT plan at no extra cost, so AI planning is part of how your IT is run, not a separate project.

Governance First: What Agencies Need Before Rolling Out AI

An AI use policy that names approved tools, data categories that may never be entered, required human review and public disclosure expectations
Framework alignment with the NIST AI Risk Management Framework, covering how to govern, map, measure and manage AI risk
Data boundaries that keep criminal justice information, personnel files and resident data out of public AI tools, with controls designed to the FBI CJIS Security Policy where police, courts or sheriffs handle CJI
Cloud choices checked for GovRAMP (formerly StateRAMP) or FedRAMP authorization of the cloud service where your policies require it
Records and transparency: logging and retention settings that support public records requests and audits

→ AI security, governance & risk · Government Cybersecurity & Compliance

How to Buy from BTI

State, county and municipal agencies and special districts can buy this service from BTI. (Federal agencies work with BTI on phone systems and security systems.)

California public buyers: CMAS and TESMA contracts (California only). → Contract details
Outside California: we work with your procurement process, including RFPs and bids, written quotes under your purchasing thresholds, and piggyback purchasing where your rules allow it.
GSA Schedule: governed AI is delivered as part of BTI managed IT, which state and local agencies can order through GSA contract 47QTCA21D00BA where GSA Cooperative Purchasing allows.
Grant-funded projects: scopes, quotes and documentation organized to match your grant budget and reporting.
Funding: 100% financing covers hardware, licensing and labor.

AI, IT or Cybersecurity?

This page covers how to use AI productively and safely. For threat monitoring, CJIS controls and audit evidence, see Government Cybersecurity & Compliance. For day-to-day support of the systems AI runs on, see Government IT Services.

Why BTI

One partner for AI, security systems, IT, cybersecurity and communicationsOver 40 years in business98% client retentionISO 27001 compliantSOC 2 audited NOC/SOC partneradvisor reply within one business dayGSA Schedule holder

Government: Overview GSA, CMAS and TESMA contracts Security Systems IT Services Cybersecurity & Compliance Communications

AI at BTI: AI services AI for business leaders Converged AI and technology AI Opportunity Assessment

Other industries: Healthcare AI Utilities & Critical Infrastructure AI Financial Services AI

Frequently Asked Questions

How are government agencies using AI?

Common uses are drafting and summarizing documents, records and policy search, categorizing resident requests, AI call routing and after-hours answering, video analytics at public facilities, and automated IT and security operations, all with human review. NASCIO ranks AI as the top state CIO priority for 2026.

Where should a small city or county start with AI?

Start with an AI use policy and an AI Opportunity Assessment that ranks a few use cases by value and risk. Most agencies begin with document drafting, records search and after-hours call handling, using systems they already own.

Do we need to buy AI add-ons from every software vendor?

No. BTI connects governed AI to the systems you already own and writes custom analytics on your data. The AI agents and workflows we build are owned by your agency, with no royalties or license fees to SaaS providers. Any third-party tool that does cost money is quoted line by line.

How do you keep resident data out of public AI tools?

We deploy secure, agency-controlled AI workspaces with access controls and logging, and set an AI use policy that defines which data may never be entered into any AI tool.

Is your approach aligned with the NIST AI RMF?

Yes. Policies, risk reviews and controls are mapped to the NIST AI Risk Management Framework so leaders can show how each tool is governed.

Can AI be used with criminal justice information?

Only inside environments and services that meet the FBI CJIS Security Policy. BTI designs those boundaries and keeps CJI out of tools that do not meet the requirements.

Can BTI support our IT team instead of replacing it?

Yes. Under co-managed IT, your staff stay in charge and BTI adds AI governance, helpdesk, 24/7 monitoring and project engineering. Guided Automation advisory services are included in every managed IT plan at no extra cost.

How can our agency buy AI services from BTI?

California public buyers can use CMAS and TESMA. Outside California, we work with your procurement process, including RFPs, written quotes and piggyback purchasing where your rules allow it. Because governed AI is delivered as part of BTI managed IT, state and local agencies can also order it through GSA contract 47QTCA21D00BA where GSA Cooperative Purchasing allows.

Talk to a BTI Advisor

Not sure where to start, or want a partner to run IT and AI for you? An advisor replies within one business day. Book an AI Opportunity Assessment · Talk About Managed or Co-Managed IT · Call 800-435-7284

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