Public Works has conducted successful Performance Reviews at every level of government, including:

• Our most recent Review - for the State of Iowa - was released by Governor Chet Culver on December 8, 2009, and identified almost $341 million in first-year savings or new, non-tax revenue, and $1.6 billion over five years. As in all our efficiency reviews, we looked at individual departments or operations - including public safety, transportation, real estate/land management, health and human services, debt collection, and corrections - and reviewed key cross-cutting functional areas such as Information Technology, fleet management, purchasing, warehousing, and human resources. We worked with the Department of Management to implement 40 recommendations requiring only an Executive Order of the Governor, while the legislature enacted most of the other 45 recommendations needing legislative action. Actual first-year savings came in higher than what Public Works actually projected.

• Our statewide Government Efficiency and Management (GEM) report in Colorado involved every Executive Branch department, yielding about $205 million in savings or new revenue over five years. Our process elicited suggestions from 12,000 state employees, many of which were simply common-sense suggestions that may not generate sizeable savings but will make for better government and more efficient service delivery. These include eliminating six- and seven-signature approval requirements for dozens of actions at the Department of Human Services and utilizing electronic signatures and computerized forms in place of typed and hand-written Parole Board documents.

  

• Public Works conducted a performance review in two phases of seven agencies and functions in West Virginia state government, producing over 100 recommendations that identified savings of $318 million over five years while improving the efficiency of such agencies as the Division of Highways, the Division of Purchasing, the Department of Health and Human Resources, and the Division of Motor Vehicles. Governor Manchin declared, "I've been in state government for a long time, and I've seen a lot of studies. This isn't going to be another study on the shelf collecting dust with a pretty title. We're actually implementing these findings as we speak." In fact, $77 million in documented savings were realized in the first year - significantly above the $67 million first-year estimate. By the second year, total savings had reached $201.7 million - far ahead of projections.

  

• In New Mexico, our two-part Performance Review identified a total of $379 million in savings or new revenue, $74 million in the first budget year alone. The second phase generated additional recommendations that brought total projected annual savings to approximately $100 million - about 5 percent of the non-education general fund. According to New Mexico's performance measures, 60% of the recommendations already had been implemented by the following fiscal year.

  

• After Hurricane Katrina, Public Works conducted a Performance Review for the Louisiana Recovery School District that produced 53 recommendations in nine operational areas including procurement, security, transportation, facilities, food services, information technology, and human resources. This Review identified aggregate savings in the range of $2-10 million and aggregate revenue improvements in the range from $200,000 to $1.8 million.

  

• The Arkansas legislature retained Public Works to conduct a Performance Review of the Arkansas Department of Health (ADH) after declines in revenue forced $5.3 million in cuts in the agency's budget. Public Works designed a new organizational structure that condensed the department's seven existing divisions into three to make clear the lines of accountability and to streamline decision-making, and developed an in-depth implementation plan.

  

• The California Student Aid Commission (CSAC) was directed by the California legislature to conduct a performance review of CSAC's auxiliary institution, EDFUND, the second-largest student loan guarantee agency in the United States. Public Works recommended tightening EDFUND's budgeting and performance compensation practices, as well as closer oversight by the Commission of EDFUND operations. This effort ultimately resulted in the Commission's decision to restructure the EDFUND board of directors and implement many of the recommended fiscal reforms.