OpenGov, which sells budgeting, planning and procurement tools to state and local agencies, has signed a pipeline inspection deal with ITpipes, a Washington-based company that sells inspection and asset management software.
The partnership “brings together” offerings from ITpipes with the Cartegraph Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) tool from OpenGov — a result of a gov tech acquisition.
In 2022, OpenGov bought Iowa-based Cartegraph, whose cloud-based software focuses on helping governments, utilities and schools manage their assets and their maintenance. Clients use the software for capital planning, safety, service requests and permitting rights of way, among other tasks.
Clients will have access to ITpipes’ “advanced inspection capabilities” and Cartegraph’s “comprehensive asset management features,” according to a statement.
Together, the two companies will manage more than 100,000 storm and wastewater pipe assets, totaling nearly 21 million feet of infrastructure, an OpenGov spokesperson told Government Technology.
Indeed, the deal was announced as attention focused on a new White House goal of replacing lead pipes in the U.S. because of their public health risks — underscoring the importance of robust infrastructure and the technology that helps maintain it.
“Underground pipes are an unexplored place that is an often ignored area,” Mark Grabowski, business development manager at ITpipes, told Government Technology. “People tend to do the bare minimum with them.”
The bare minimum, though, can result in sinkholes, overflows and sewage spills among many other problems, he said, impacting traffic and housing and water use — and a government’s finances and reputation.
“People get sick,” Grabowski said.
ITpipes also works with such companies as Tyler Technologies, CentralSquare Technologies and Esri.
