July 2007 - Page 2 of 2 - Pioneer Institute

In 2000, the Florida state legislature approved funding for an online e-procurement portal called MyFloridaMarketPlace. The project was overseen by Florida's Division of Management Services (DMS), which contracted with Accenture in the fall of 2002 to create and manage the portal.

Reducing Unnecessary Institutionalization of Senior Citizens

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July 1, 2007

This proposal involves collecting and integrating existing data on the health of elderly patients. This information would be used to construct patient profiles to help predict and prevent unexpected incidents. A data-driven coordination of programs and services would aid in early interventions, and also help evaluate how different strategies, programs, and agencies could reduce unnecessary nursing home institutionalization.

What Glenn glosses over – GIC and better coverage for teachers (2 of 4)

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July 1, 2007

Odd that, in his letter to the Globe editor (6/30/07), Glenn…

Extending the Stat Model Across the Commonwealth

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July 1, 2007

After nearly a decade of evolution, municipal Stat programs, such as NYPD'sCompStat and Baltimore's CitiStat, have proved very successful in improving city service delivery and cutting unnecessary spending. Though slightly different in each implementation, all Stat programs involve frequent meetings at which key decision-makers and department heads review data on operational performance, identify problems and solutions, and track follow-up. The City of Baltimore reported $70 million in savings attributable to CitiStat in its first three years of operations. In Massachusetts, Somerville has run its successful SomerStat initiative for close to three years, and reports $10 million in realized or anticipated savings. Expansion of the Stat program holds tremendous potential for the Commonwealth's cities and towns, as well as state government.

Repair, Replacement, Renovation and Maintenance Program

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July 1, 2007

The Repair, Replacement, Renovation and Maintenance (R3M) Program concept is a strategy for managing Hillsborough County's physical assets. The purpose of the R3M Program is to protect investment in infrastructure, reduce the maintenance backlog, control and reduce costs, minimize waste, and to maintain public buildings and facilities in a safe and efficient condition.

Transforming Urban School Districts through Choice

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July 1, 2007

The Foundation for Education Reform & Accountability (FERA), based in Albany, New York, has been implementing a school-choice initiative — the Albany Project — that has created high-quality charter schools to serve more than half of the local public school student population in the state's capital city. FERA believes that a district composed of choice schools can better serve students, parents, and the community than the traditional urban school district system. The Albany Project is demonstrating that the charter school model — freedom from state regulations and education bureaucracy, freedom to innovate, and increased accountability—can better serve all students, not just the small segment of the population fortunate enough to win an enrollment lottery or afford a private school.

The Charter Agencies Initiative

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July 1, 2007

Iowa's Charter Agencies Initiative, originally developed by the Public Strategies Group, a Minnesota-based government-consulting firm, is one in a series of programs implemented by Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack to ad-dress the ballooning state budget. The program stresses increased efficiency, reduced costs, and greater freedom for state agencies (and the Governor's office) to offer better value to Iowa's citizens.

The Performance Bonus Pay Program

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July 1, 2007

Through its pay-for-performance program, the Dallas County (Texas) Motor Vehicle Division (MVD) has set an example for how similar agencies across the country could be reformed. MVD registers 1.9 million vehicles per year and has 140 employees at 10 sites. In March 1998, the Vehicle Registration and Title Department launched its performance pay program. The program utilizes performance measures to identify and reward quality work.

The Building Permitting Automation Efficiency Program

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July 1, 2007

Buildings in Florida's Miami-Dade County typically fill up as quickly as they can be built. Between glimmering high-rise towers for vacationers or retirees, banks and offices that serve as the nerve centers of Miami's south-ward-looking economy, or schools and public buildings to support a growing population, South Florida has the look of a perpetual hard-hat zone. This steady pace of needed construction is maintained by an innovative building department and its Building Permitting Automation Efficiency Program.

The Bid-to-Goal Program

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July 1, 2007

Bid-to-Goal is a program originally developed by the City of San Diego's Metropolitan Wastewater Department (MWWD), in conjunction with consulting firm Henningson, Durham and Richardson (HDR), in 1997 as an "optimization strategy" to more cost-effectively implement large public works initiatives. By means of a binding pact between the city and public sector employees, the MWWD had hoped to create a hybrid dynamic that incorporates the most desirable features of both public and private sector contracting.

Consolidating Off-Road Vehicle Registration

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July 1, 2007

We propose to close all five Registration and Titling Bureau offices and al-low the RMV to register all motor vehicles—boats, ATVs and snowmobiles included. This consolidation would bring significant savings while actually improving service for off-road vehicle owners.

The Estuaries Project

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July 1, 2007

The Massachusetts Estuaries Project, through the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth School of Marine Science and Technology (SMAST), supports the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) in the development and implementation of policies to protect nitrogen-sensitive coastal embayments. The Project collects data and develops models to manage and restore the 89 embayment systems that comprise the coastline of southeastern Massachusetts. The Project encompasses new technologies, regulatory approaches and funding mechanisms to reduce the costs of conducting estuarine restoration.

Where Glenn Koocher agrees – GIC cost sharing (1 of 4)

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July 1, 2007

In a letter to the Globe editor yesterday, it seems that Glenn…

Our Legacy of Neglect: The Longfellow Bridge and the Cost of Deferred Maintenance

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July 1, 2007

The Longfellow Bridge, connecting Boston and Cambridge, is in bad shape, due not only to its age and the ravages of our weather, but also to a troubling and persistent lack of maintenance. Fixing the bridge, in effect paying the bill for our unwillingness to maintain it, is estimated to cost at least $180 million, with the potential for cost overruns reaching into the hundreds of millions.

Managing Water Demand: Price vs. Non-Price Conservation Programs

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July 1, 2007

This paper offers an analysis of the relative merits of price and non-price approaches to water conservation. As economists, we emphasize the strong empirical evidence that using prices to manage water demand is more cost-effective than implementing non-price conservation programs.