A new
report from McKinsey reads like a tract on how our Gov, from the Feds all
the way down to the East Bumpkinsville City Council, can save money by
increasing productivity and eliminating waste. We at OhMyGov! have compiled
an easy-to-read top 5 list for your bite-sized enjoyment.
1. Mandating productivity from the top levels of government. A constant complaint of government antagonists and
private-sector advocates is that the public sector doesn't have to compete, and
so there's no real incentive for government managers and employees to do the
absolute best job they can. There's just no real competition for government
services — it's not like people can get Swedish health care here (although
those Canadian pharmaceuticals are another matter entirely). Mandates need to
come from the top levels because individual agencies have practically no
incentive to innovate that exceeds their desire to not be publicly castigated
for innovative failures.
2. Keep actual performance metrics. Part of the problem with productivity is that it's
hard to measure. Frequently, productivity is lost just because standards are
unclear about what a “good” job is or there's no incentive to find out what a
“good” job is. By developing specific, quantifiable measurements about what is
expected to be done at government positions, productivity can increase for the
cost of a few TPS reports.
3. Keep track of what's actually necessary. An example cited in the McKinsey report is the U.S.
security clearance process. At its worst, it took 446 days to obtain a security
clearance, costing the government $1 billion a year in backlogs. Now, after
doing a thorough and objective analysis of the process and eliminating all
unnecessary or non-value-adding steps to the process, the time required has
been reduced to a tenth of that time (around 40 days). This is something that
can be applied in all areas of government.
4. Change government employee mindsets. Government employees have different challenges than
private-sector employees. Absent a competitive environment, focusing on the
customer is less of a priority. Bureaucratic “silos” create redundant jobs and
inter-departmental tension. Risk-taking is often unrewarded and occasionally
punished. Turning these mindsets around by incentivizing customer service and
innovation and creating inter-departmental teams working toward the same goal
would create huge gains in productivity and save the government stacks of
long-term cash.
5. Make smarter public sector purchases. Government purchasing is typically spread across
several departments. Consolidating and streamlining the purchasing process not
only reduces time, money, and potential mis-communication between departments,
but also allows to make government purchasing more transparent and easily
audited. Strengthening the centralized purchasing organization by giving it
power to do thorough product assessments and work closely with relevant
agencies will also lead to more targeted (and thus less wasteful) purchasing.
Now, perhaps these 5 weren't exactly what you were
expecting, but the truth is that there is so much the government can do to save
money that doesn't require them to make choices between raising taxes and
reducing the workforce. Targeting these “soft saving” areas can help
substantially reduce overhead at a fractional short-term cost, resulting in a
far lesser long-term burden on the American taxpayer.
Also Interesting:
[+] Illinois town saving on gas money in unlikely way
[+] Writing an annual report for government: The essentials
[+] A little studying saves city big bucks