The Minnesota Commission on Service Innovation has been purposed with finding ways to stretch the State’s economy through the strategic “use of new technologies, shared facilities, centralized information technologies, and other means of improving efficiency”. They recently published a report – and according to it…

Even if all these recommendations were collectively able to achieve a mere 1% reduction in the cost of government, this would generate at least $250 million in annual savings.

The Commission started out by looking at the state of the State. Minnesota’s population is getting older and more diverse. State revenues are decreasing as the job market decreases. The earner/dependency ration is becoming less favorable. Minnesota’s budget is dominated by K12 and health care spending – those expenditures are growing. So what we need is transformative change – and the key is innovation and a focus on increased efficiency and effectiveness.

The have a pretty concise list of recommendations, which I’m going to make even more concise.

1. Consolidation led by one entity and supported by financial incentives
2. Reduce bureaucracy to encourage innovation
3. Create a NEW budget – not just modify last year’s budget
4. Separate public policy from service delivery
5. Focus on outcomes and increase flexibility for departments that can increase outcomes
6. Increase Lean strategies – noting Enterprise Minnesota as a resource to help
7. Establish an entity to oversee innovations, such as Lean
8. Make state public information available in open source type formats to allow data mashing
9. Develop and improve e-government services (such as universal profiles/logins)
10. Establish a Good Government User Group
11. Continue to meet

Technology seems to be an undercurrent of the report although it’s mentioned just a few times. Obviously it’s a cornerstone of the e-government plan, telecommuting is mentioned as a way to increase efficiency and they mention a web site to increase communication.

I hope that policymakers run with this new report – I think there are some excellent ideas. I just hope that it goes hand in hand with a plan to extend broadband access. Without access some folks will fall even farther behind. Although maybe an increase in services online will encourage greater adoption – especially if they plan to use technology to serve older folks with health care services, which seems likely since they mention the need to reach that audience and provide the service.

You can keep up with the Minnesota Commission on Service Innovation on their Facebook Page.