Government Software Development Company: Custom Software and Apps for Federal, State and Local Agencies

Updated October 2026 · Written and maintained by the Progression Agency strategy team

A government software development company builds the systems agencies run on: resident portals, permitting and licensing workflows, inspection and field apps, case and records tools, payments and the integrations that tie them to systems of record. Public-sector work differs from commercial software in five ways: how it is bought, accessibility law, security review, records retention and how long the system must last. We build custom software and apps for counties, cities, state agencies, special districts and the contractors that serve them, in all 50 states, delivered remotely and quoted after a written scope. This page explains what we build and how a project is bought, built and owned.

What does a government software development company build?

It builds and modernizes the software an agency uses to serve residents and run itself. Government software development is ordinary software engineering carried out under public-sector rules, and most of the difficulty is in the rules.

What is government software?

Government software is any system an agency uses to deliver services or run its own operations. Some of it is packaged and bought as a product; some is built to order for one agency. Most agencies end up with a mix, joined by integrations that carry data between them.

What software does government use?

Finance and ERP systems, permitting and licensing, records management, case management, GIS, CRM and 311 request systems, payment processing and the ordinary tools every employer uses. A county might run a packaged finance system, a permitting product, a custom field app for inspectors and a portal that sits on top of all three.

How public sector software development differs

Public sector software development shares tools with commercial work but is shaped by five conditions, set out below.

Government software solutions we build

Government software solutions start from a function the agency performs, not a technology. The table lists the systems we are most often asked about, who uses them and what they usually have to connect to. Government software services of this kind are scoped from the agency’s own list of systems.

Citizen portals and service requests

A resident portal lets people report a problem, track it, pay a fee and see the status of an application without calling. Citizen portal development is mostly about the account model, the queue behind the screen and the staff view of the same request. Our web portal development page covers the general build.

Case, records and licensing tools

These are the back-office systems where a clerk, caseworker or licensing board keeps files, notes, decisions and deadlines. The design questions are who may see which file, how changes are logged and how long the record must be kept.

Payments, dashboards and open data publishing

Card details should stay with the payment processor, an approach explained on our payments and integrations for public sites page. Dashboards turn operational data into reports managers and council can read; see dashboards. Open data publishing adds a clean export and a documented format.

Permitting software for governments: buy, build or extend

Permitting software for governments is a mature product category, so the first question is whether a packaged product already fits. Custom work earns its place where the agency’s rules are unusual.

When a packaged permitting product is the right answer

When your process matches how the product works, configuration beats code. You get a vendor that carries updates, a user community and a lower first cost. We say so plainly when that is the case, and our custom software or off the shelf page explains the trade-off.

When custom permitting workflows pay off

Custom pays off when fee rules do not fit the product, when several agencies must review one application in a set order, or when old data has to stay searchable in a new form. In those cases a custom layer on top of the product is often cheaper than bending the product.

Connecting permits to inspections, payments and maps

A permit touches the inspection schedule, the fee ledger and the map. Interfaces to those systems are where schedules slip, so they are defined in the written scope. Our API development page covers the interface work.

State and local government software we build

State and local government software covers many different bodies with different needs. Local government software solutions for a small town and a large county share rules but not scale, so the scope changes more than the technology.

Software for cities and counties

The clerk’s office, building and code enforcement, public works, assessing and courts administration each run on records and workflows. Software for county government is often a set of small systems joined by one portal and one identity.

State agency systems

Licensing boards, benefits intake and grants administration need long forms, careful eligibility rules and audit trails. Volumes are higher and the statute behind each rule can change, so versioned rules matter.

Water, transit and library districts, and schools

Special districts run the water, transit, port and library services residents use daily, often with small staffs. Their public websites are a different project; see government website design, school websites and community websites. This page is about the software behind the service.

Government app development for residents and field staff

Government app development splits into apps for residents and apps for staff in the field. Government mobile app development for the field is usually the stronger case.

Resident apps worth building, and ones a mobile site does better

A resident app earns its place when people use it often, such as reporting issues or following a bus. For an occasional task such as paying a fee once a year, a well-built mobile website usually does the job. A progressive web app can sit in between; see progressive web apps.

Inspector and crew apps that work offline

Basements, culverts and rural roads have no signal. A field app keeps forms, photos and signatures on the device and sends them when a connection returns, with clear handling when two people edit the same record. See enterprise app development for the related build.

Mobile apps fall under the ADA Title II rule too

The Department of Justice’s rule, codified at 28 CFR 35.200, applies to a state or local government’s web content and to its mobile apps. The ADA.gov web rule page says it covers apps a government provides or makes available, including apps a private company runs for the government, and gives a parking payment app as its example.

Government IT modernization without a big-bang rewrite

Government IT modernization works best as a series of small replacements, each live before the next begins. Government legacy system modernization that tries to switch everything on one weekend carries the most risk.

Assess the old system before replacing it

List what the system does, what data it holds, which systems it talks to and who uses it. Some functions turn out to be unused. Others hold rules that only one retired employee understood. The assessment ends in a written plan.

Replace one function at a time

Martin Fowler’s description of the strangler fig pattern is a good model: build new behavior beside the legacy code, move pieces across in increments and let the old parts fade out. Putting APIs in front of the legacy system lets new screens and services use its data while it is still running.

Data migration and parallel running

Moving records is the part agencies fear most. Reconciliation reports compare counts and totals between old and new, and agreed cutover rules say when the new system becomes the system of record. Running both side by side for a period catches gaps before residents do. See cloud migration, legacy Java systems and backend development.

Why is government software so hard to build and modernize?

Because the conditions are harder than they look from outside: fixed scope, old data, many users and rules that change. Understanding those conditions is cheaper than being surprised by them.

Procurement fixes the scope before discovery

An RFP often has to describe the system before anyone has talked to the users. Then discovery finds things the document missed. A written scope with room for change orders gives both sides a way to adjust.

Systems of record that are decades old

Older agencies still depend on mainframe-era data formats and nightly batch files. Getting data out cleanly takes patience, and the cost is mostly in understanding what each field has meant over time.

Many users, many rules, little room for error

A permit, a benefit and a license each follow statutes that differ by case and change by year. The software needs versioned rules so that a decision made under last year’s law can still be explained.

Does Section 508 apply to software?

Yes, when the software is information and communication technology that a federal agency develops, buys, maintains or uses. Section 508 compliance software is a phrase vendors use loosely, so read the law and ask what is meant.

Who does Section 508 apply to?

The statute, 29 U.S.C. 794d, reads as applying to federal departments and agencies that develop, procure, maintain or use electronic and information technology. It is meant to give federal employees with disabilities access comparable to other employees, and members of the public seeking information or services the same, unless that would impose an undue burden. The Section508.gov site describes the program. A state’s own accessibility law is a separate matter that depends on the state.

What the ICT standards require of software

The Access Board’s ICT standards page shows the Revised 508 Standards, in which electronic content must meet Level A and Level AA of WCAG 2.0. Chapter 5 deals with software, including how software works with assistive technology, applications and authoring tools.

ADA Title II for state and local web content and mobile apps

Title II of the ADA covers state and local governments. The rule at 28 CFR 35.200 requires web content and mobile apps to meet WCAG 2.1 Level A and Level AA. As the Department of Justice page reads in October 2026, the date is April 26, 2027 for governments with a population of 50,000 or more and April 26, 2028 for smaller governments and special district governments, after an interim final rule published on April 20, 2026. Ask counsel how the dates apply to your body. For websites see accessible website remediation and the ADA section of our government website guide.

Testing an application, not just a website

An application has more states than a page: forms that fail, tables that change, dialogs, generated PDFs. Ask any vendor how it tests keyboard use, screen reader output, error messages and the documents the application produces, and ask to see the results. Automated tools alone do not cover all of it.

Security and cloud requirements for government software

Security rules depend on the agency and the data. Government software security compliance is set by the agency’s own security office, so the first task is learning which rules apply to which data.

FedRAMP for federal cloud services

FedRAMP publishes a marketplace, described on fedramp.gov as a searchable database of FedRAMP certified cloud services, authorizing agencies and recognized assessors. When a federal agency needs a cloud service, that is where its status can be checked.

GovRAMP, formerly StateRAMP, for state and local

StateRAMP announced in February 2025 that it was rebranding as GovRAMP, saying the old name no longer captured its scope across state, local, tribal and education bodies. The GovRAMP site describes a membership organization that brings governments and technology providers together, with verification levels built on NIST controls. Public bodies can use it in procurement.

NIST SP 800-53 controls and criminal justice data

NIST’s SP 800-53 Revision 5 is a catalog of security and privacy controls for information systems and organizations, and agencies often draw their requirements from it. Some data classes, such as criminal justice records, come with extra rules from the agency that owns the data, so the agency’s security office should say which apply.

What we build into the software

Single sign-on through your identity provider, role-based access with least privilege, encryption in transit and at rest, access and change logs, and hosting in your own cloud tenancy. Those are the same controls described on our enterprise app development page. Ask every vendor for evidence of any authorization it names.

Records, privacy and public records requests

Agencies keep records for set periods and must be able to produce them on request. The software should make both easy.

Retention schedules built into the data model

Each type of record carries a retention period and a disposal rule, and the system needs to apply them without a developer. For federal records, the National Archives lists its General Records Schedules and agency records control schedules on its records management pages; state and local schedules vary by jurisdiction.

Making public records requests easier to answer

Search across the system, export in a standard format and fields that can be redacted are what staff need when a request arrives. Building them in from the start is far cheaper than assembling them for each request.

Resident data and privacy

Collect the minimum a function needs and keep it only as long as the schedule requires. State privacy laws vary, so confirm the rules with the agency’s counsel. For software that touches protected health information, see HIPAA compliant software.

How do agencies buy custom software?

Through the purchasing rules of their own jurisdiction: a formal RFP above a set threshold, quotes below it, or a contract the agency already has. Thresholds vary, so confirm with your procurement office.

RFPs, written quotes and cooperative contracts

For federal buyers, FAR 2.101 defines the thresholds that separate small purchases from larger ones; state and local buyers use their own purchasing rules. We answer RFPs and quote requests with a written scope, the same way we do for public websites.

Fixed-price or time and materials

FAR Part 16 sorts federal contract types into fixed-price and cost-reimbursement, and describes time-and-materials and labor-hour contracts as not fixed-price. The table below is a plain-language summary for software, not legal advice.

What a software proposal should contain

Scope and assumptions, the approach to accessibility, the approach to security, who owns the data and code, and the support terms. If any of those is missing from a proposal, ask for it before signing.

Can government use open source software?

Yes, and in several places policy encourages sharing custom code. Whether a particular agency may publish or reuse code depends on its own rules and on who owns the code.

Federal policy on sharing custom code

OMB’s 2016 Federal Source Code Policy, memorandum M-16-21, says new custom-developed federal source code should be made broadly available for reuse across the federal government, and sets up a pilot that requires agencies commissioning custom software to release at least 20 percent of new custom code as open source for three years. State and local bodies make their own policies.

Licenses to check before code is reused

Open source code comes with licenses that set conditions on copying, changing and redistributing it. Before an agency reuses a library or publishes its own, someone should read the license and confirm it fits.

The agency owns the code, data and accounts

On our projects you own the code, data and accounts. Ownership is what makes publishing a choice for the agency instead of a negotiation with a vendor.

Government software development process: what the agency receives

The government software development process we follow is the same one described across our software pages, shaped for public work: a written scope, sprints, a pilot and a launch with onboarding.

Discovery that ends in a written scope

Discovery means talking to the people who do the work and mapping the system as it really runs. It ends in a written scope with priorities, and a recommendation in writing before the estimate.

Building in sprints with builds you can install

Every sprint ends with a build you can install, so the agency sees working software and not a status report. See agile delivery for how that works.

Pilot, launch and onboarding

A pilot with a few users finds problems while they are cheap to fix. Launch follows with onboarding for the wider staff. What happens after launch is written into the scope. See software development life cycle.

Build versus buy for government software

Buy when the product fits and build where it does not. Plenty of agency software is better bought than built.

When packaged products are right

Payroll, email and ticketing are standard processes that packaged products handle well. Buy and configure them. Our custom software or off the shelf guide sets out the test.

Custom layers on top of packaged systems

The best answer is often both: keep the packaged system of record and build a custom portal, integration or report on top. That adds what is missing without replacing what works. See custom software development.

Total cost over the life of the system

Think beyond the first year: licenses per seat, change requests, hosting and the cost of leaving. A cheap product with a costly exit is not cheap. We quote after a written scope and give no figures on this page.

GovTech companies, vendors and integrators: who does what

The government technology market has several kinds of supplier. Knowing the difference helps you write a better RFP and avoid paying a product vendor for custom work. A government IT solutions provider is not always a software builder.

What is govtech?

Govtech means technology made for governments and the public services they provide. Govtech companies range from product vendors to consulting firms. Searches for govtech solutions mix them all together, so ask what a company has actually built.

Product vendors versus development partners

Government software vendors sell a product you configure. A development partner builds what the product does not do and hands over the code. Many agencies use both.

Government IT solutions providers and system integrators

Government IT solutions cover hardware, networks and staffing as well as software. A government IT solutions provider may be strong in those areas and still not build software. Ask which part of the work the firm does itself.

How AI assistants answer questions about government software vendors

Procurement staff increasingly ask ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini, Copilot and Google’s AI Overviews to shortlist vendors and explain rules. Assistants repeat what pages state plainly, so a clear page helps a government software development company get named for what it really does.

What procurement teams ask

Typical questions are who builds permitting portals for counties, whether Section 508 applies to software, and what a good RFP should contain. The answers cite primary documents and vendor pages that state their scope clearly.

What an agency can check on any vendor page

Look for capabilities stated in plain words, authorizations named with evidence you can verify yourself, and ownership terms for the code and data. A page that names a program without evidence deserves a question.

How much does government software development cost?

It depends on scope, and we quote after a written scope. A government software development company that gives a figure before reading your requirements is guessing.

Why we quote after a written scope

Integrations, data migration, accessibility testing, the security review and the number of users set the price more than any feature list. The written scope makes those visible, so the quote and the change process refer to the same document.

Budget cycles and phased delivery

Many agencies fund work by fiscal year. Phasing the project lets each year’s money buy a release that stands alone, even if the next year’s funding is late.

Hosting and support costs to plan for

Hosting in the agency’s own cloud account keeps those bills in the agency’s control. We list the cost categories in the scope and give no figures here. To price your project, ask for a free proposal.

How do I choose a government software development company for a public project?

Pick the firm that can show how it will meet your accessibility, security and ownership requirements in writing. Compare proposals on those points before price.

Questions to put in the RFP or quote request

How will you test accessibility? What security documentation will you provide? Who owns the code and data? Which references can we call? Each answer should be specific enough to check.

Warning signs in a public-sector software proposal

A vague scope, code that the vendor keeps, no accessibility plan, and claims of authorizations with nothing to check. Any one is a reason to ask more.

More software and public-sector services

These pages cover the work around a government software project.

• Government marketing: agency communication and outreach
• Marketing for government contractors
• Web portal development
• Enterprise app development
• Custom software or off the shelf
• Custom software development
• ADA compliant website design
• Cloud migration
• API development
• Software consulting
• Software development outsourcing
• Dedicated developers
• Education software
• Kiosk software
• DevOps
• Digital transformation
• AI integration
• Healthcare software
• UI and UX design
• Utility and energy software
• A first release
• Web applications

Frequently asked questions