Cross-Jurisdiction Collaboration: A Formula for the Future

Local, state and regional governments are finding a way forward, out of the recession and into better services for citizens.

The solution for the future is based on cross-jurisdiction collaboration, a model in which government and its partners work across the boundaries that have historically separated policy-making, program management, production and provision of citizen services to increase public value. This future, enabled by the combination of network-enabled business models, has the potential to not only dramatically reduce the cost of government, but also preserve and improve local decision-making and service provision to citizens.

The benefits of this new formula are impressive. Governments can reduce costs while improving local decision-making and services to citizens. And there are more than financial benefits. Agencies can collaborate to better focus their resources on outcomes, provide more equity and transparency in services and enhance citizen-engagement. The collaboration will also bring more agility to meet future demands and enable progress from a regional perspective.

With this new formula, public service leaders won’t have to choose among options that only solve part of the problem—they can move forward in a sustainable way.

To help practitioners move forward, Leadership for a Networked World, in collaboration with Accenture, presents the white paper, Cross-Jurisdiction Collaboration: A Formula for the Future. This paper brings forward research, analysis and insights from the 2010 Shared Services in the Public Sector Summit: Moving Forward in Today’s World, held July 14 - 16 at Harvard University.

Despite where a community or person falls on the political spectrum, a central demand has been for government leaders to provide a high level of “public value”—a measure of how effective and efficient a government is in achieving outcomes. This calculation, along with the transparency of our institutions, legitimizes a government.

Over the years, jurisdictional boundaries have expanded, as have the crossing curves of economic trends and structural cost, and citizen entitlements and demands. These fundamental elements are reshaping government.

There are three major components at play:

1. The United States (and many other developed countries) enacted policy and programs in geographic layers: by state, county, parish, municipality, locality and other boundaries. Historically this was valuable; communities could allocate resources and accountability “within a day’s horse ride.” But the growth of jurisdictions has led to unsustainable costs. Layers upon layers of government are creating policies without working across jurisdictions to align regulations and services. These layers of government are developing largely soloed institutions and programs that are losing sight of aligned and integrated services for constituents.
   
   
2. The long-term economic forecasts are less than optimistic. According to the U.S. General Accounting Office, there will be a fiscal imbalance for state and local governments for the next 50 years. And government debt as a percentage of the gross domestic product has ballooned to 90.4 percent, the highest it has been in decades.
   
   
3. Long-term citizen entitlements, and demand from constituents across the age spectrum are creating a need for more, newer and updated services. The direct pressure from entitlements stems from issues in U.S. state and local government pension plans. Older citizens are consuming public services at an increasing rate. The swelling number of retirees will impact not only government’s employee and tax base but also the level and scope of services government provides.
   
   

Clearly, the old model doesn’t work anymore. Yet there are elements of the old model that society needs to retain: People want local and customized services. They want accountability. They want equity. They want responsiveness. And government appears ready to respond. So how can govern-ment leaders change the equation?

The new way forward is with cross-jurisdiction collaboration: a model in which government and its partners work across traditional boundaries to increase overall capacity, efficiency and effectiveness. This formula enables the growth of capacity at both the organizational level and the system level. From an organizational view—a single agency—the primary levers a leader has in increasing the organi-zation’s operational capacity are in the internal value chain: the people and culture, management and operational processes, and capital and technology that enable it to perform. When an organization improves capacity and successfully achieves its mission and outcome goals, it solidifies legitimacy and support—that’s what keeps the organization “in business.”
 
From a system view—across jurisdictional and organizational boundaries—the primary levers to increase capacity are to align policies and goals “horizontally” across organizations. In concert with this, governments need to improve the managerial and operational processes and divisions of labor “vertically” by leveraging capital (infrastructure, systems, tools and technologies) and human resources. When leaders can balance and optimize these levers system-wide across agencies, the government will become not only more efficient and effective but also improve its ability to deliver new services and outcomes com¬munities, groups and individuals most desire.

This paper serves to help leaders understand and move toward cross-jurisdiction collaboration by providing an understanding of the Public Service Value Chain:

• Policy: The principles and directives put into effect by an authorizing legislature or entity to achieve desired outcomes or conditions within a jurisdiction.
  
  
• Program: The service, product or regulatory initiative designed to fulfill policy directives, goals, and outcomes within a jurisdiction.
  
  
• Production: The set of human resources, processes, systems, materials and facilities that factor into the development and management of a program.
  
  
• Provision: The combination of human resources processes, systems and transactions that ultimately deliver services to a customer or regulate an entity.

Leaders can implement cross-jurisdiction collaboration by looking in depth at four strategic steps:

• Creating a Vision: Form and solidify a partnership among organizations to increase capacity of operations, create new value and generate support for the collaboration.
  
  
• Setting a Strategy: Define the desired outcomes and identify areas for collaboration by looking across the public service value chain with a cross-jurisdiction view.
  
  
• Developing a Business Model: Develop a business model based on one or a mix of coordinating, merging, contracting and creating a new entity.
  
  
• Launching the Collaboration: Finalize governance and business models, secure funding and support, establish a workforce and formally launch the collaboration.
  
  

Accenture helps states, counties, cities and higher-education institutions develop cross-jurisdiction collaboration strategies that provide a blueprint for emerging as a stronger, more flexible organization that is well equipped to handle the challenges of today and quickly adapt to the changes of tomorrow.

Find out more about Cross-Jurisdiction Collaboration:

• Cross-Jurisdiction Collaboration Models for State, Regional and Local Governments
  
  
• Cross-Jurisdiction Collaboration: Innovative Operating Models for Governments and Institutions
  
  
• “Joining Forces” article from Outlook Journal, winter 2011
  
  
• Shared Services in the Public Sector