In Pursuit with Mike Vichich — Government Technology & Public Sector Sales

In Pursuit #12 | Mike Vichich & Art Thompson — IT's Role in Vendor Selection & Budget Decisions

Detroit CIO Art Thompson breaks down how cities actually buy tech — RFPs, pilots, IT's role, and what gets vendors rejected. Visit pursuit.us Timestamps: 00:00 Cold open: why government deals are a long-haul game 00:52 Meet Art Thompson, Detroit CIO & CISO 01:39 How a family tip led Art into city government 02:46 A day in the life of a city CIO 03:44 Working with the mayor and department leaders 04:44 When IT should get involved in a project 05:27 Does IT have veto power over a purchase? 06:13 Why integrations are a top priority 06:34 HIPAA, CJIS, and the compliance patchwork of government IT 07:19 Who owns integration work: city or vendor? 07:37 The rise of shadow IT 09:25 The "two wins": technical win vs. procurement win 11:14 How departments and IT divide responsibility 12:38 How Detroit pressure-tests vendors in demos 13:11 Pilots, proof of value, and why timing matters 14:05 How a 30-day RFP pilot actually works 14:38 Budget basics: department vs. enterprise purchases 16:13 IT's expanded role in multi-department deals 16:48 Cooperative contracts: NASPO, Sourcewell, Omnia 18:05 Detroit's RFP threshold and ordinance rules 18:29 How long an RFP cycle really takes 19:08 What happens after the award: city council process 20:24 Mapping the full procurement timeline 20:45 Contract negotiation: how long it takes 21:06 Toughest contract terms: indemnification & termination 21:50 When the city accepts less-favorable terms 22:21 How often Detroit negotiates with multiple vendors 22:21 Should agencies merge multiple RFPs into one? 24:25 OEMs vs. resellers/SIs: Art's preference 26:18 The best (and worst) way for vendors to engage 27:33 Why low RFP win rates make sense to Art 29:47 How early vendor meetings quietly shape RFPs 30:59 SaaS vs. capital vs. consumption: which model wins 32:11 Why credit-based AI pricing makes Art nervous 34:16 Per-user caps: do they solve the problem? 34:42 Revenue-aligned vendor models (the DMV kiosk example) 36:11 Case study: the Detroit body camera program 36:54 The DOJ consent decree that started it all 38:17 Officer pushback and how it was managed 40:48 Inside the body cam procurement and pilot 42:01 Installing and testing on real squad cars 43:06 How the testing team evolved over time 44:04 Pricing transparency during vendor evaluation 44:42 How body cams improved de-escalation 46:04 From body cams to the Real-Time Crime Center 47:45 Project Greenlight: private camera integration 48:03 Where AI fits into video review today 49:17 Data licensing and what the city can analyze 50:41 Inside the Real-Time Crime Center 51:36 How RTCC connects to 911 and dispatch 54:09 Setting the agenda with the police chief 55:36 Piloting new tech inside an existing contract 56:09 IT org growth: 2016 to today 57:34 Detroit's geospatial and GIS data initiatives 59:28 Where AI ranks among CIO priorities now 01:00:13 Detroit's AI guardrails and vendor risk reviews 01:02:02 How Art prioritizes which AI projects to pursue 01:03:22 AI red flags: what gets a vendor rejected 01:04:24 Art's biggest mindset shift after 10 years in gov 01:06:08 Closing thoughts

In Pursuit #11 | Mike Vichich & Glenn Caldwell — Running a Township: Staffing, Unions & Culture

Glenn Caldwell shares how Northville Township funds $45M projects, negotiates 5 unions, and runs lean government without raising taxes. Visit pursuit.us [http://pursuit.us] Timestamps: 0:00 Intro 0:35 Glenn's Origin Story: Co-op at 16, Straight to Government 3:26 The Arc of Township Budgets: Pre-Recession to Recovery 4:41 How a Township's Budget Works: Revenue Sources 5:16 Shared Services & Intergovernmental Agreements 9:02 Roads, the County, and Navigating What You Don't Own 11:28 Public Works: Water, Sewer & the $4M Water Tower 14:56 Procurement Philosophy: Why Low Bid Isn't Always Right 17:13 Township Governance: Charters, Ordinances & State Law 18:29 The Central Services Complex: $45M Without Raising Taxes 21:55 Capital Budgeting & the 6-Year Improvement Plan 29:05 Leadership Philosophy: Hire Well, Then Get Out of the Way 31:37 Managing Directors: Weekly 1-on-1s & Accountability 34:35 Five Unions: How Northville Negotiates Without Attorneys 42:41 Discipline & Progressive Counseling in Local Government 45:54 Leadership Transitions & Staff Turnover 47:59 Public Sector Incentives: What Actually Drives Performance 50:46 The Government Value Proposition: Pensions, Benefits & Balance 52:32 How Government Pensions Actually Work 55:06 AI in Local Government: Efficiency, Governance & Data Privacy

In Pursuit #10 | Mike Vichich & Jim Weaver — The Real Role of a State CIO: Beyond Managing IT

For this episode of In Pursuit, we sat down with Jim Weaver — former State CIO of Washington, CIO and Cabinet Secretary of North Carolina, CTO of Pennsylvania, and past president of NASCIO. If you've ever wondered why a deal that seemed solid just stalled, or why timing your outreach to a state matters as much as your pitch — Jim explains the mechanics that most vendors never see from the inside. Visit pursuit.us [http://pursuit.us] Timestamps: 00:00 Intro 01:11 Meet Jim Weaver: 37 Years on the Buying Side 01:57 What a State CIO Actually Does (It's Not Running IT) 05:30 The State IT Org Chart: Centralized vs. Decentralized 11:11 Trade-Offs of Centralization — and Why Cybersecurity Is the Exception 13:39 Growing Up in Human Services: Why Business Context Matters 17:02 How Agency IT and Central IT Learn to Coexist 20:08 Taking Over Washington State IT: An Agency Graded F-Minus 25:38 Building Trust With Your Team After a Turnaround 28:00 How Initiatives Get From Idea to Funded Budget 31:20 Stack Ranking Projects Across an Entire State 36:05 What Happens to Initiatives Under a Continuing Resolution 40:50 The Annual State Budget Cycle, Step by Step 43:22 How Federal Budget Uncertainty Cascades Into State IT 45:11 How Vendors and Lobbyists Fit Into the Budget Cycle 48:49 The Mainframe-as-a-Service Deal That Saved Washington Millions 54:39 Mainframes in 2024: Still Relevant? GenAI and COBOL 57:17 NextGen 911 in North Carolina: Building Statewide Resilience 01:00:14 Hurricane Helene: When the System Got Tested for Real 01:03:16 AI in Government: Cost of Ownership and the Human-in-the-Loop 01:09:23 Closing Thoughts

In Pursuit #9 | Mike Vichich & Jocelyn Benson — Modernizing Government with Data

Michigan's Secretary of State turned around the DMV and broke voter turnout records. Here's the data-driven playbook she used to modernize government. Visit pursuit.us [http://pursuit.us] 00:00 Intro 00:35 Meet Jocelyn Benson — from civil rights to running Michigan's DMV 04:32 What was actually broken at the DMV 07:35 Was it a funding problem, a process problem, or neglect? 09:08 Why government incentives don't work like the private sector 12:28 Moving transactions online: from 28% to 60% 15:27 Kiosks in grocery stores — meeting citizens where they are 17:41 Government tech procurement: the right way to structure a vendor contract 19:19 What didn't work: why one-size-fits-all solutions fail in government 21:06 Building a feedback loop with an Office of Continuous Innovation 22:10 Michigan election security: from 34th to 2nd in the nation 24:43 How to distill a complex goal into two words: "turnout up" 25:22 Annual strategic planning — the one thing no other state agency does 27:37 Why Jocelyn is running for governor: costs down, wages up, rights protected 29:10 What it means to invest in "place" — and why Michigan's talent is leaving 30:51 Clean energy, AI, and the economic case for Michigan's future 34:23 Closing vision: high-speed rail and keeping Michigan's kids home

In Pursuit #8 | Mike Vichich & Milton Dohoney — 40 Years in Public Service: What Vendors Must Know

Milton Dohoney, Ann Arbor City Administrator, shares 40 years of public service insight on how cities buy tech, what vendors get wrong, and how government really works. Timestamps: 00:00 Intro 00:21 Milton's 40-year career across five cities 01:34 Council-manager vs. strong mayor government 02:41 Writing "It Always Begins With Leadership" 04:06 The four layers of city law: charter, ordinances, resolutions & policy 06:09 Who's the "Supreme Court" for a city? 07:46 How charter amendments get proposed and approved 09:23 Administrative regulations and how policy gets changed 13:50 When well-intentioned rules create unintended consequences 15:27 How Milton shortened council meetings from 7 hours to 3 18:57 How cities buy technology: the ideal procurement process end to end 22:56 The role of finance in a tech purchase 23:38 When to bring in procurement (and when it's too early) 25:16 Co-op contracts and piggybacking on existing RFPs 28:21 Budget reality: what happens when you don't have the money 31:40 How grants factor into purchasing decisions 33:45 Vendor win rates and the myth of the predetermined bid 36:00 The #1 mistake vendors make: going straight to the city administrator 38:06 When it does make sense to reach out to the city administrator 41:31 When should a department actually pull in procurement? 42:57 Do your homework: why 50 of 60 vendor emails get deleted 45:43 Travel approval and bureaucratic sign-off chains 47:17 How Ann Arbor builds its brand without local TV 49:11 The city's relationship with the University of Michigan 52:32 Practical advice for vendors selling into local government 56:27 The RFP cutoff: when vendor engagement must stop 57:58 What happens when a vendor implementation fails 59:37 Where to find Milton's book