Governor John Carney releases the seventh annual GEAR report.
Carney created the GEAR report team in 2017 to continuously identify areas where the State government can improve efficiency and save money.
GEAR Executive Director Charles Clark says ongoing projects are expected to save the state tens of millions of dollars.
“GEAR estimates that a rough order of magnitude savings to the state across approximately 70 percent of the 140 projects currently reporting return on investment will be $76-80 million in current and future years," Clark says.
GEAR Director of Management Efficiency Bryan Sullivan says this year’s report found lease restructuring to be one of the biggest savings.
“The lease structuring has resulted in more than $35.3 million in hard dollar savings and more than $9.5 million in soft-dollar rent savings which is being able to have the landlords do painting, carpeting, and so on, and this is over the life of the renegotiated leases," Sullivan says.
This year’s recommendations and initiatives include modernizing the State’s enterprise resource planning systems and supporting the Ready in Six initiative for permitting improvements.
The report shows that much of government efficiency in the long-run comes down to preparing the next generation for the workforce.
GEAR Deputy Director Dan Madrid says this includes creating a literacy ecosystem, noting around 42 percent of Delaware kids are reading below grade level, and around one in five adults are below a third-grade reading level.
“So collectively, this group is looking at how do they make that impact on literacy not just in the schools but outside the schools, in our communities, with families, and ultimately that's where they want to drive efficiencies and outcomes and cost savings, by investing in literacy," Madrid says.
The report’s long-term savings plan focuses heavily on people-based investments.
These types of initiatives include sustaining participation in training programs, creating project and process leadership training paths, and continuing to reward State employees for successful implementations of innovative, cost-saving, and service-enhancing continuous improvement projects.
More information and a form for community feedback are at gear.delaware.gov.
