Emerging Technology Expo 2026 - UPDATED

STATE OF TENNESSEE
DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATION, STRATEGIC TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS
REQUEST FOR INFORMATION
FOR
EMERGING TECHNOLOGY EXPO 2026
RFI # 31701-03851
July 9, 2026
1. STATEMENT OF PURPOSE:
The State of Tennessee, Department of Finance and Administration, Strategic Technology
Solutions (STS) Division, issues this Request for Information ("RFI") for the purpose of identifying
vendor capabilities in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and emerging technologies for agency-specific
initiatives in preparation for this year's Emerging Technology Expo being held in Nashville on
October 1, 2026. The theme is centered around empowering government leaders and public
servants to responsibly harness emerging technologies that enhance operations for improved
government outcomes, strengthen security, and deliver measurable value for the citizens of
Tennessee. We appreciate your input and participation in this process.
2. BACKGROUND:
STS is preparing to host the 3rd Annual AI Technology Partner Expo, now branded as the
Tennessee Emerging Tech Expo 2026. The Expo is designed as a convergence event that brings
together State and local government leaders and employees, technology providers, startups,
academic institutions, researchers, and innovation partners and consultants to accelerate
responsible innovation across Tennessee government.
Expo success will be powered by you - the vendors, innovators, and solution-builders bringing
practical ideas and meaningful solutions to the table. Your expertise in emerging technology
solutions will help shape its value, which will be measured by:
* Awareness of emerging technologies and government use cases
* Enhanced learning and technology literacy among state employees
* Practical skills and hands-on applicable knowledge
* Innovative mindset for identifying transformation opportunities
* Meaningful collaboration across agencies
* Responsible adoption grounded in governance, security, and ethics
Post-Expo objectives include:
* Improving citizen services and access
* Strengthening public safety capabilities
* Modernizing government operations end-to-end
* Reducing taxpayer costs through smarter technology
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For 2026, the Expo is organized into five focused Pathways, each designed around measurable
government outcomes and practical applications of emerging technologies, rather than product
categories. Vendors are invited to submit solution responses to up to three (3) distinct
Transformative Pathways found in Table 1: Citizen Experience, Public Safety, Future of
Government, Government Operations, and Technology Foundations.
The Tennessee Emerging Tech Expo is an educational and innovation-focused event, not a
traditional sales conference. Vendor participation should emphasize demonstrating emerging
technology capabilities, sharing successful government and industry use cases, and illustrating
how these technologies have transformed business processes, service delivery, or mission
outcomes. Sessions should focus on practical possibilities, lessons learned, and responsible
adoption rather than product marketing or sales presentations.
Responses may include use-case examples, test scenarios, technical demonstrations, working
sessions, or other creative approaches to highlight emerging technology capabilities in the related
Pathway. Where applicable, vendors are encouraged to identify solutions involving Physical AI,
including technologies that sense, interact with, or influence the physical world, such as drones
and aerial systems, robotics, smart sensors, and computer vision. As emerging technologies
increasingly cross the boundary between digital and physical environments, the Expo seeks
solutions that can help government responsibly govern, deploy, and realize mission value from
both.
Table 1: Transformative Pathways for Vendor Proposed Solution Responses
PATHWAY 1: CITIZEN EXPERIENCE - Reimagining Citizen Interactions
Objective: Explore how Recommended proposal focus areas:
emerging technologies can - Conversational government: AI-powered assistants that answer
replace outdated, questions, process requests, and guide citizens through complex
burdensome processes services in plain language
with intelligent, accessible,
- Digital service delivery: Mobile-first experiences that reduce wait
and proactive services.
times and eliminate unnecessary paperwork
Expected Outcomes:
- Accessibility and inclusion: Approaches that help every
Faster, simpler, more
Tennessean access government services regardless of ability,
accessible services for
language, or location
Tennesseans.
PATHWAY 2: PUBLIC SAFETY - Technology Supporting Safer Communities
Objective: Recommended proposal focus areas:
Explore how emerging - Emergency response coordination and dispatch
technologies can help first - Situational awareness and real-time data fusion
responders and public - Drone technologies: Search, rescue, surveillance, disaster
safety professionals response, perimeter security, contraband detection and interdiction,
manage more data, rapidly escape or emergency response, and related mission needs
evolving threats, and - Computer vision: Threat detection and incident awareness
higher stakes while
- Cybersecurity for critical infrastructure
making better decisions
- Predictive risk detection and early warning systems
faster.
- Physical AI and autonomous government operations:
Expected Outcomes: Demonstrate how drones, robotics, autonomous vehicles, smart
Faster decisions, better
sensors, and computer vision can augment the government
information and safer
workforce, improve safety, inspect infrastructure, monitor facilities,
outcomes for Tennessee
and perform repetitive or hazardous tasks with appropriate human
communities. oversight
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PATHWAY 3: FUTURE OF GOVERNMENT - Transforming How Government Will Operate
Objective: Recommended proposal focus areas:
Explore how government - AI-powered digital workforce: AI agents that assist employees,
may operate differently automate administrative work, coordinate across agencies, and
over the next decade execute multi-step government processes with human oversight
through AI agents, digital - Digital twins: Virtual representations of infrastructure, facilities,
twins, predictive operations, or communities used for simulation, planning, emergency
governance, and preparedness, and predictive maintenance
enterprise knowledge - Predictive government: Using AI and data to anticipate citizen
capabilities. needs, infrastructure failures, public health trends, workforce
Expected Outcomes:
demands, and operational risks before they occur
Practical, forward-looking - Enterprise knowledge and decision intelligence: Capturing
solutions that prepare institutional knowledge, policies, and expertise to support faster
Tennessee to lead the onboarding, informed decision-making, and continuity across
country over the next government
decade of government - Next-generation government workplaces: AI-enabled
transformation. collaboration, immersive training, digital assistants, and augmented
work environments that improve productivity and employee
experience
- Scenario planning and simulation: Using AI, digital twins, and
synthetic data to model policy decisions, disaster response,
infrastructure investments, and operational changes before
implementation
PATHWAY 4: GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS - Driving Efficiency at Scale
Objective: Recommended proposal focus areas:
Focus on eliminating - Procurement: Intelligent sourcing, contract review, vendor
unnecessary management, purchasing automation, performance monitoring and
administrative burden compliance
across government - Financial and grants management: Streamlined budgeting, grant
operations so public administration, reporting, audit support, and financial operations
servants can focus on - Customer and employee support: AI-powered contact centers,
mission-critical work. virtual assistants, knowledge management, and self-service
Expected Outcomes: experiences that improve response times and satisfaction
Greater efficiency, - Workforce productivity: AI assistants, meeting intelligence, content
reduced costs, and better generation, research support, and workflow tools that help
employee productivity employees work more effectively
across common, critical
government functions.
PATHWAY 5: TECHNOLOGY FOUNDATIONS - Building for Responsible Adoption
Objective: Recommended proposal focus areas:
Ensure Tennessee - Data architecture: Clean, governed, accessible data as the
technology ambitions are foundation for every intelligent system
grounded in security, - AI governance and responsible AI: Frameworks, policies, and
governance, data integrity, oversight mechanisms for ethical, accountable AI deployment
and long-term architectural - Cybersecurity: Protecting citizens, employees, and critical systems
thinking. from evolving threats
Expected Outcomes: - Infrastructure modernization: Replacing legacy constraints with
Responsible, secure, flexible, cloud-ready platforms that can scale
scalable adoption of - Post Quantum readiness: Preparing cryptographic and
emerging technologies. computational infrastructure for the quantum era
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2.1. Ground Rules and Expectations
a. Vendors may submit proposed solution responses for no more than three (3)
Transformative Pathways, as described in Table 1. Responses should focus on proposed
content for the Expo and demonstrate how the vendor's capabilities address meaningful
government problems, improve outcomes for Tennesseans, and support responsible
adoption grounded in governance, security, and ethics.
* If responding to multiple Pathways, vendors must clearly delineate between each
proposed Pathway response submission.
* A single solution may apply to multiple Pathways, but vendors must clearly
explain the alignment for each Pathway identified. For purposes of the three (3)
Pathway limit, a single proposed solution that applies to multiple Pathways will
count as one (1) Pathway response provided the solution can be applied to each
identified Pathway without customization, modification, or separate Pathway-
specific content. If customization or distinct content is required for one or more
Pathways, each customized Pathway response will count separately toward the
three (3) Pathway limit.
b. Vendors are not limited to the recommended proposed solution focus areas listed in
Table 1. Responses may include other emerging technologies, provided the vendor
clearly identifies the applicable Pathway and explains how the solution supports the
Pathway objective and expected outcomes.
c. To ensure high-value engagement, a limited number of vendor partners will be selected
to participate in the Expo. Vendors should respond to Pathways where they have
demonstrated expertise and can provide insightful value to the State of Tennessee and
its citizens. The State may consider factors such as Pathway alignment, relevance to
Tennessee government outcomes, clarity and practicality of the proposed use case,
maturity of the solution, demonstration value for Expo attendees, responsible adoption
considerations, and the vendor's ability to provide meaningful, educational engagement.
d. Selected Expo vendor participants will be notified by August 18, 2026, and will be
required to participate in a pre-Expo virtual alignment presentation to demonstrate their
solution(s) to State representatives by September 3, 2026, as outlined in Section 4. RFI
Schedule of Events. The purpose of the virtual presentation is to confirm alignment with
proposed solutions and agency objectives. An agenda and assigned virtual meeting invite
will be provided after participants are selected.
e. There is a strict ten-page proposed solution response limit, excluding the cover page and
one page introduction, regardless of responding to one, two, or three Pathways.
f. Reaching out to agencies and/or State stakeholders or representatives for use case
examples or to discuss the event is strictly prohibited and could result in disqualification
from participating in the Expo.
3. COMMUNICATIONS:
3.1. Please submit written questions and RFI responses to:
Shannon Keefe | Contract Specialist
Finance and Administration, Strategic Technology Solutions
901 Rep. John Lewis Way North
Nashville, TN 37243
Shannon.Keefe@tn.gov
3.2. Please reference RFI # 31701-03851 with all communications regarding this RFI.
3.3. Please limit all questions to one submission per vendor.
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4. RFI SCHEDULE OF EVENTS:
EVENT TIME DATE
(Central (all dates are State business
Time days)
Zone)
1. R FI Issued July 9, 2026
Vendor Written Questions and Comments 2:00pm
2. July 16, 2026
Deadline CST
State Response to Written Questions and
3. July 28, 2026
Comments
2:00pm
4. R FI Response Deadline August 6, 2026
CST
Selected Vendor Expo Participants
5. August 18, 2026
Notified
Selected Vendors to Provide
6. P resentations to the State to Ensure August 24 - September 3, 2026
Alignment
7. E merging Tech Expo October 1, 2026
5. GENERAL INFORMATION
5.1. Please note that responding to this RFI is not a prerequisite for responding to any future
solicitations related to this project and a response to this RFI will not create any contract
rights. Responses to this RFI will become property of the State.
5.2. The information gathered during this RFI may be used to inform future procurements. In
order to prevent an unfair advantage among potential respondents, the RFI responses will
not be available until after the completion of evaluation of any responses, proposals, or
bids resulting from a Request for Qualifications, Request for Proposals, Invitation to Bid or
other procurement method. In the event that the state chooses not to go further in the
procurement process and responses are never evaluated, the responses to the
procurement, including the responses to the RFI, will be considered confidential by the
State.
5.3. The State will not pay for any costs associated with responding to this RFI.
5.4. Any services or products proposed in this RFI must be in compliance with the following
security policy: All State data must remain in the United States, regardless of whether the
data is processed, stored, in-transit, or at rest. Access to State data shall be limited to US-
based (onshore) resources only. Configuration or development of software and code is
permitted outside of the United States, however, software applications designed,
developed, manufactured, or supplied by persons owned or controlled by, or subject to the
jurisdiction or direction of, a foreign adversary, which the U.S. Secretary of Commerce
acting pursuant to 15 C.F.R. 7 has defined to include the People's Republic of China,
among others are prohibited. Any testing of code outside of the United States must use
fake data. A copy of production data may not be transmitted or used outside the United
States.
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a. It is encouraged that vendors consider the following State Policies and Procedures as
they may apply to future solicitations:
* http://tn.gov/generalservices/
* http://tn.gov/generalservices/section/central-procurement-office
* http://tn.gov/finance/section/office-for-information-resources
* Enterprise Information Security Policy
* Enterprise Artificial Intelligence Policy: 200-POL-007
* http://www.ada.gov
5.5. The State may request oral demonstrations from RFI respondents.
5.6. Responses should be prepared, with emphasis on completeness and clarity, and must
NOT exceed ten (10) pages in length. The cover page and a one-page introduction are
excluded from the ten (10) page proposed solution response limit. Responses, as well as
any reference material presented, must be written in English, and must be written on
standard 8 12" x 11" pages and all text must be at least a 12-point font. All pages must be
numbered.
6. INFORMATIONAL FORM:
The State is requesting the following information from all interested parties. Please fill out the
following form:
RFI #31701-03851
TECHNICAL INFORMATIONAL FORM
1. RESPONDENT LEGAL ENTITY NAME:
Include your State of Tennessee Supplier ID # if already registered to do business with
the State of Tennessee.
2. RESPONDENT CONTACT PERSON:
Name, Title:
Address:
Phone Number:
Email:
3. As part of the one-page introduction required under Section 5.6., vendors should identify any
prior public-sector experience related to the proposed solution(s), including any
demonstrations or proposals previously presented to the State and the agency or agencies to
which they were presented.
4. Identify up to three (3) Transformative Pathways that align with your proposed Expo solution
response. Detailed expectations are found in Section 2.1. For each selected Pathway, provide
a clearly labeled response that includes:
a. Pathway name;
b. Proposed solution and proposed format, including presentation, technical
demonstration, working session, or other Expo format;
c. Government problem, opportunity, or use case addressed;
d. Intended audience or user group, if applicable;
e. Expected government outcomes or mission value;
f. How the solution supports responsible adoption, including governance, security,
privacy, accessibility, ethics, or data integrity, as applicable;
g. Current maturity or readiness of the solution; and
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h. Where applicable, identify any Physical AI component, including technologies that
sense, interact with, or influence the physical world, such as drones and aerial
systems, robotics, smart sensors, or computer vision.
5. Are your proposed solutions available for purchase through public-sector cooperative
agreements (NASPO, GSA, etc.)? Please identify the solution, applicable Pathway and
cooperative agreement.
6. Would your organization be amenable to paying a conference participation fee to cover State
expenses, if selected to participate in the Expo? (Food and refreshments, conference room
reservations, etc.). STS estimates the cost range of the participation fee to be between $500 -
$1,500.
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