Results-Focused RFPs: Improving Processes for Better Outcomes

1. Results-focused rfp’s Improving processes to get to Better results

2. Agenda • Introduction • Why Procurement Matters -- as if I need to tell you • Results / Performance / Outcomes – based Contracts • Making Continuous Improvement a Culture • Some SLCo Examples • Resources

3. Introduction Jason Yocom – Procurement Director for Salt Lake County A procurement agent’s perspective using the following sources • Harvard Kennedy School Government Performance Lab – Saskia Devries – Fellow • Results for America – What Works Tool Kit • Code for America • Change and Innovation Agency

4. Why procurement matters As if I need to tell you . . . • Procuring goods and services is how government operates, from keeping the roads repaired to implementing social service programs. • If done poorly, it can hinder effective contract management and therefore effective government. • Lessons on doing procurement well are often applicable across issue areas. (For example, a social service procurement may give us the insights we need to create a strong software RFP.) • Procurement is too often treated as a back‐office task rather than a fundamental reflection of an agency’s strategic vision. • From Harvard Kennedy School Government Procurement Lab

5. Why Communication matters How the Department explained it How the Project Manager understood it How the Engineer designed it How the Department Director described it How the Program Manager wrote the RFP How approvals were documented How the Vendor installed it How the Software supported it How the Vendor invoiced it What the Department really needed

6. It’s easy to go wrong In governments across the country, procurement is often . . . • Treated as an administrative activity rather than as a tool to achieve effective results • Overly prescriptive, stifling innovation • Conducted without aligning with departmental priorities or assessing department’s needs • Conducted as rushed, one‐off activities instead of as a strategic portfolio • Designed without taking past performance into account • From Harvard Kennedy School Government Procurement Lab

7. Results, Performance, Outcomes – based Contracts • What is it? • From Outputs (prescriptive) to Outcomes (innovative results) • Starts with clearly identifying the problem that needs solving • Then developing a results-driven RFP (procurement process) • Get the contract manager off to a good start – give them the tools they need to reach results they desire. • Research and discovery long before the solicitation is written to inform the goals of the procurement. Include stakeholders. • Vendor input. RFI’s. Other convenings to establish the goals and indicators of success – What needs to be measured? • Tie results achieved, performance to incentives/penalties in the contract (requires contract management) • Must be thoughtful and considerate of all consequences • Homelessness - Do empty beds in shelters equal people on the streets or people in own housing with employment?

8. Results for America What Works Tool Kit Five Main Recommendations for Better Results in Human Services Contracts: • Gather Feedback and Focus on Outcomes • Collaborate with providers, recipients and stakeholders to focus on outcomes – validate the needs and align expectations • Break Down Funding Silos • Blend available funding sources when appropriate • Issue Clear RFP’s that Focus on Outcomes and Preference Evidence • Duh – (but you all know how difficult this can be) • Fund Outcomes and Build Evidence • Tie payments to outcomes, include data use, and incentivize evidence building and evaluation of programs • Create Feedback Loops • Monitor progress, implement data systems and share the data

9. Back to basics In order to write that clear, outcomes-focused RFP: • Conduct research and discovery to develop important background information, analyses, contacts, goals and indicators to enhance the procurement. • Define the problem and related goals. • Don’t hide the ball. Don’t make respondents search for definitions of success and the criteria for selection. • Align procurement to clearly defined agency objectives. • Focus on what matters and make it easy to get what you want out of an RFP: • Give adequate time to respond. • Remove unnecessary requirements or make them easier to fulfill. • From Harvard Kennedy School Government Procurement Lab

10. Continuous process improvement – Make it a culture • The best innovations are Simple, Small and Cheap. • Take time to regularly review processes from top to bottom. Be willing to revise and eliminate waste. • Ask Why and for What Purpose to we do this? For Whom and Where? • If it doesn’t have a clear purpose, then get rid of it. • Support your teams to ask questions and continually improve processes and documents. • They’re the one’s who know best if something is or is not effective. They also usually have the solution. • Don’t be afraid to challenge bureaucratic thinking. • If the answer is “we’ve always done it that way,” then keep pushing. • CIA – Change and Innovation Lab

11. Some SLCo Examples • Regularly Review our Processes and Make Changes Where it makes Sense • Meet with Agencies to Get Ideas for Improvement and Feedback • Regular post solicitation surveys • Pre-Solicitation Considerations Sheet • RFP Development Worksheet Questions • Host Results-Driven Contracting Meetings with Variety of Agencies

12. Resources Just to name a few: • Harvard Kennedy School Government Performance Lab • Results for America – What Works Tool Kit • Code for America • Change and Innovation Agency • Salt Lake County Contracts and Procurement

13. Now. . . Time to Juggle That’s what we do, right?