Governor Jan Brewer signed an Executive Order, this week, establishing the Government Transformation Office. Housed within the Arizona Department of Administration, the Government Transformation Office is tasked with improving government processes by identifying best practices that eliminate inefficiencies and redundancies and increase the quality of services provided to Arizona taxpayers.
The Governor says this is part of an ongoing effort to improve and modernize State government operations. “With budgets tight, it has never been more critical that State services be conducted in a manner as efficient and cost-effective as possible,” said Governor Brewer.
The Government Transformation Office will assist agencies in: identifying and implementing process improvements; training supervisors in management strategies that eliminate waste and enhance innovation within the workforce; developing consistent toolkits, resources and other materials for agency use; and communicating process improvements to the public, among other tasks.
In conjunction with the establishment of the Government Transformation Office, Governor Brewer has created a Government Transformation Committee to guide and oversee the Office’s operations and conduct regular performance reviews of State agencies. The Committee will consist of the Arizona State Treasurer, a Director or designee of six major agencies and two representatives from the private sector.
“Arizona taxpayers deserve a State government committed to maximizing every dollar spent on their behalf,” said State Treasurer Doug Ducey. “This Government Transformation Office and Committee will create an extra measure of accountability while ensuring all State agencies are focused on improvements that will ultimately translate into savings.”
Abdul Mansour, Director of Process Improvements for Scottsdale Healthcare, is one of two private-sector representatives named to the Government Transformation Committee.
“As part of becoming more effective and efficient, the establishment of the Government Transformation Committee is a very positive step forward to the future sustainability of our State,” said Mansour. “Applying the Lean/Process Improvement methodology has been proven to be one of the most successful and least costly approaches.”
According to the Governor’s Office, the Lean methodology advocated by the Government Transformation Office has already begun to show benefits. For example: the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality is employing these strategies to dramatically reduce the timeframe required for issuance of Title V air-quality permits. Rather than having these permits reviewed by one staff member after another – the paperwork shuttled from office to office, day after day – the new process calls for each of the needed personnel to gather together with the applicant for a single meeting. What was routinely a 60-day administrative review process can now be completed in a one-hour session.
Across the board, ADEQ expects it will be able to trim permitting wait times by 30 percent. That means reduced red tape and fewer delays for businesses looking to grow and companies hoping to hire.
As required by the Governor’s Executive Order, the Government Transformation Office will prepare and submit by September 30 of each year an annual report summarizing its accomplishments, benefits to the State and the public, process improvements and fiscal savings realized.