One theme that emerged through sessions at both the National Association of State CIOs (NASCIO) 2012 Midyear Conference and the National Association of State Procurement Officers (NASPO) 2012 Meeting was crowdsourcing, both in terms of data and procurement. The whole idea of crowdsourcing represents a change in how state and local government acquires the information, goods, and services it needs in order to function effectively.
The traditional approach to data exchange has been through labored capture by the government through government driven processes. In turn, government drove data back to citizens (G2C) and businesses (G2B). This was hardly engagement and certainly a top down approach. For procurement, government has engaged in a similar G2B information flow. While government assessed citizen needs and designed models for services based upon these perceived citizen needs, government was very much in the driver’s seat in terms of deciding what sorts of solutions best fit its needs.
Since the recession, much of that is changing. There is a groundswell in the state and local government procurement and IT communities for increased engagement. Crowdsourcing is beginning to flip the G2C and G2B information flow upside down. Increasingly, government is directly acquiring data both from its citizens (C2G) and vendors (B2G). By getting data more directly from citizens, and even engaging citizens in the process of ideation or solution creation, state and local government is driving efficiency and innovation through crowdsourcing. Additionally, state and local government is looking more now for direct partnership and collaboration with vendors, even allowing vendors to participate in the creation of solicitations for which they will compete. Both of these shifts in sourcing from the “crowd” are completely changing how government and procurement can be accomplished. Again, the necessary reason has been that state and local government is increasingly understaffed and needs to find every way possible to innovate to improve both efficiency and efficacy of service delivery.
Crowdsourcing data
While government gathering data through an increased online presence and online delivery of services is old news, there are exciting changes afoot. State and local government is increasingly searching for ways to gather data from its citizens.
Not only are state and local governments gathering data through their own online services, but they are also capturing data organically through social media and purpose built mobile applications that include social media-type citizen engagement.
· See the Deltek report on social media for examples, here.
However, the types of data gathered are also growing and changing, expanding beyond basic registration data, service use data, or demographics, and toward real-time trending data on topics as widespread as emergency conditions to citizen opinions and ideas.
· Newark, Philadelphia, Maryland’s crowdsourcing natural disaster data for state and local government response (for more, click here).
· Virginia Department of Emergency Management’s emergency management system incorporating crowdsourced social media data.
The uses of this crowdsourced data are also changing, from the old idea of capturing data and databasing it for quarterly or annual reports, to the new idea of using data to develop solutions to be implemented within a matter of months to traffic or natural disaster data being used immediately to improve service delivery.
· See emergency and natural disaster examples, above, and here.
· Philadelphia’s upcoming City Planning Commission mobile application that will enable direct engagement around city planning, soliciting ideas and solutions directly from all stakeholders (for more, click here).
With the rapid proliferation of technologies and increasing growth of citizen mobile and smart phone use (for information, click here), the reality of smart cities and smart services is finally becoming a real possibility. Smart government is government that captures and uses data from citizens to innovate and improve responsively, even in real time.
Crowdsourcing procurement
More accurately, it could be called crowdsourcing the ideas for solution that eventually become the procurement solicitations. With efficiency drivers firmly entrenched, procurement and IT officials in state and local government are kicking down the doors and asking for vendor collaboration and partnership. Technology is changing rapidly, and government is having difficulty keeping up with all the available solutions. Crowdsourcing ideas allow government to find efficiency solutions they did not even know existed.
· From both the NASPO and NASCIO conferences, many procurement and IT officials were asking for this type of vendor education and engagement (both during official presentations and during off-the record conversations).
Agencies are also increasingly looking for public-private partnerships, including those along revenue-sharing models.
· Maryland is working on these now, especially related to the development of mobile applications (for more, click here).
· Philadelphia and Boston’s New Urban Mechanics offices both deliberately partner with vendors in developing mobile applications (for more, click here).
On the other hand, having solicitations custom designed for solutions that are possible allows for a much more efficient procurement process. Again, crowdsourcing procurement flips the paradigm from G2B communication to B2G communication and can allow for a faster pace of innovation toward more efficient and effective service delivery.
However, it would be remiss to ignore the legal challenges that exist in some states for vendors participating in the creation of solicitations for which they will bid. Maryland is a recent example of success. Bryan Sivak (Maryland’s Chief Innovation Officer) recently worked with state procurement and legal officials to find a way within the system.
· Maryland vendors may now aid in creating solicitations to which they will respond, as long as:
o The solicitation is not sole-sourced
o Vendors are required to partner with other contractors.
· Sivak’s suggestion to other states and government contractors is to work collaboratively on finding ways to make procurement crowdsourcing possible, as everyone wins in the end.
Analyst’s Take and Recommendations
· Vendors should look to actively collaborate and partner with state and local government for procurement; government wants collaboration and it can be the new differentiator between those contractors going out and acquiring new business and those waiting on business to come to them.
· Vendors should always look for ways to incorporate more crowdsourcing capability into their solutions; the ability to crowdsource and use data from customers (citizens) is a value-added proposition for any IT solution.
· Vendors can help government integrate social media-type engagement and data crowdsourcing into their existing systems.
· Some specific IT solution areas that incorporate crowdsourcing and are more frequently on state and local government wish lists include:
o Emergency and natural disaster response
o Aggregating organic social media data
o Mobile applications
o Direct C2G engagement platforms (social media types) to inform decisions
· Vendors willing to adapt with government in this changing environment are likely to succeed; now is the time to build or rebuild the state and local pipeline.
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Read our recent blog on social media, here.
Read our recent blog on social media, here.
Also check out our recently published report on social media in state and local government, here.
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