Illinois to Host Measuring and Sustaining Government Savings Workshop
Illinois to Host Measuring and Sustaining Government Savings Workshop
The State of Illinois Department of Central Management Services will host Measuring and Sustaining Government Efficiency, March 9 to 10, 2006, in the State of Illinois Building/James R. Thompson Center, Chicago, IL.
Citizens across the country are demanding more efficient, higher quality and less expensive services from their state governments, at a time when many of those state governments are enduring budget shortfalls. The combination of these factors, along with a shrinking workforce, has placed many legacy government programs at risk.
This outlook has led several states to begin organization-wide programs to transform state government. These improvements have required states to evaluate and implement change throughout the government structure including new legislation, budget restructuring, and organizational realignment.
Unfortunately, incremental change let alone transformational change rarely involves follow-up programs to monitor the financial impact of efficiency measures. Yet savings validation that is, performance management measures where official and verifiable financial documents prove the specific financial results of change is critical for organizations hoping to prevent resolved problems from recurring, as well as to institute new competencies and to sustain efficiencies over time.
When faced with significant budget pressures in 2003, the State of Illinois began a program to assess and consolidate services into a shared services model, in which vital administrative functions such as procurement, information technology and property management are coordinated centrally by a single agency. The goal was to quickly implement a number of measures that would make the state operate more efficiently and generate positive financial results during the 2004 and 2005 fiscal year budget periods.
A key area of concentration for improvement in the State’s efficiency concerned its purchasing process. Illinois evaluated its commodity-type contracts to identify areas for improvement and began reviewing its use of vendors and master contracts, comparing prices to benchmarks, and introducing purchasing techniques such as buying in greater bulk and using lower-cost product substitutions – in other words, strategic sourcing.
Recently, the Illinois Department of Central Management Services (CMS) teamed with Deloitte Consulting LLP to develop a rigorous and comprehensive methodology – a calculator, if you will – to validate and document the savings achieved through its efficiency initiatives: in total, those savings exceeded $529 million over two fiscal years.
Now the methodology and process developed in Illinois can help you document the success of your efficiency efforts and strengthen your states existing performance management measures.
There is no cost to attend this workshop, which will be held Thursday, March 9, 2006 in Chicago, with optional tailored discussions with State of Illinois experts on Friday, March 10, 2006. However, attendees are asked to come prepared to share their experiences with the group. Please contact CMS Acting Director Paul Campbell at 217/782-2141 if you wish to attend.
