Arizona Government Technology Efficiency Effort Will Expand

Initial efforts to save money by making state agencies more efficient have yielded $3.6 million in immediate savings opportunities for the state of Arizona. The Efficiency Review Initiative team released an interim report that examines potential savings in three pilot agencies—the Departments of Corrections, Economic Security, and Revenue.

Contact: Paul Kalomiris
Economic and Technology Policy Studies NGA Center for Best Practices

Initial savings identified include $800,000 by changing how the Department of Economic Security purchases supplies and $300,000 by reducing that department’s vehicle expenses.

The report includes long-term recommendations for the pilot agencies, and lists changes that the agencies already have undertaken, including:

* The Department of Corrections has used telemedicine to reduce off-site medical travel, provided new inmate work programs to local governments through intergovernmental agreements, reduced or eliminated cell phone and pager use, and reorganized bureaus to eliminate work duplication.

* The Department of Economic Security has expanded use of its website to improve customer service and reduce costs (in areas such as unemployment insurance claims processing and supervisory case reading and reporting processes), reduced fleet operations costs, and used an automated interface that provides direct access to the Department of Health Services’ vital records system.

* The Department of Revenue initiated the Business Reengineering/Integrated Tax Systems project. Begun two years ago, the project will integrate the department’s tax systems and databases and make core departmental processes more efficient and customer-friendly. The project costs about $130 million, but is being funded through an innovative gain-sharing agreement where the vendor is paid from increased revenues generated from technology and other improvements it supplies. It is estimated that improvements resulting from the project will generate about $430 million in additional state revenue over the next 10 years.

The Efficiency Review Initiative will be expanded beyond the three pilot agencies to include six more—the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System and the departments of Health Services, Transportation, Public Safety, Juvenile Corrections, and Game & Fish. Governor Janet Napolitano signed an executive order directing all state agencies to identify ways they can become more efficient in areas such as travel expenses, fleet management, staff training, purchasing, and energy use. To spur greater savings in energy consumption, the Governor signed a law requiring all state agencies to reduce energy consumption in their buildings by 10 percent beginning July 1, 2008 and by 15 percent beginning July 1, 2011.
Related Links:

* Efficiency Review Initiative Interim Report
(pdf) http://www.governor.state.az.us/press/0304/03_04_30.pdf

* Energy Conservation Law (HB 2324)http://www.azleg.state.az.us/FormatDocument.asp?inDoc=/legtext/46leg/1r/laws/0114.htm

* Gov. Napolitano’s Press Release
(pdf)http://www.governor.state.az.us/press/0304/03_04_30a.pdf

* Governor’s Executive Order
(pdf) http://www.governor.state.az.us/eo/2003_14.pdf

http://www.nga.org/center/frontAndCenter/1,1188,C_FRONT_CENTER%5ED_5430,00.html