The city department won the 2025 Utah Information Technology Award for “Best Partnership” after leading the launch of the Utah Local Government IT Mutual Aid Agreement.

Established to improve community resilience and cybersecurity preparedness, the agreement will allow local agencies across the state the legal ability to share IT personnel, expertise and resources if a cyber security or natural disaster emergency arises.

Over 25 Utah municipalities, counties or other local agencies partnered in the agreement. According to Provo, signed participants include Bountiful, Centerville, Central Utah 911, Cottonwood Heights, Davis County, Draper, Eagle Mountain, Orem, Provo, Riverton, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake County, Spanish Fork, St. George, Unified Fire, Utah County, VECC, Weber Area 911 and Weber County.

Dozens more are expected to join, according to a release.

“In research I came across, there’s only a few examples of where there’s a mutual aid agreement between a couple of organizations within local government, but nothing that has been this widespread or of this scope,” Information Systems Division Director Joshua Ihrig told the Daily Herald in April.

Provo accepted the award during the Utah Digital Government Summit on June 24 in Salt Lake City.

“This historic agreement positions Utah as a national leader in collaborative IT resilience,” Mayor Michelle Kaufusi said in a release. “At Provo City, we believe strongly in being proactive and thorough — crossing every T and dotting every I — so that when our neighbors need help, we’re ready to respond with clarity and confidence. It’s our hope this initiative inspires similar partnerships across our nation, enhancing cybersecurity and resilience everywhere.”

Ihrig explained to the Daily Herald in April that in case of a cyber emergency that would knock critical IT systems offline for the public, cities or agencies traditionally have to hire expensive contractors or go through a specific process to get assistance fixing an issue.

The new agreement allows IT staffers from other cities or agencies to immediately mobilize in case of an emergency to help recover systems in a timely fashion.

“Right now, without the agreement, if I were to try to respond to another area, I could be at some legal risk trying to respond within their jurisdiction,” Ihrig said. “Under this agreement, we’re able to do that together because we have a framework to do that.”