Click here to learn more about the Central Ohio IT Partnership, download project documents or a project overview.
Central Ohio IT Partnership – Public Sector Orgs Moving Toward Greater IT Efficiency
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CONTEXT
Public sector organizations in Ohio from school districts to townships have been under increased fiscal pressure since the last recession and a range of cuts in state funding. Their budgetary choices are to: cut services, attempt to raise local taxes or look for cooperative opportunities among different political subdivisions to share services or resources and thereby create efficiencies that ultimately save money.
While the State of Ohio implemented a series of major cuts to local governments and schools beginning in 2011, the state also made some changes in law that allowed all public entities to share services or work together on common problems. Additionally, the state has launched several programs since 2011 that attempt to mitigate the cuts and ease school districts or local governments into shared service environments. These programs all provide grant funding or no-interest loans which can be used to fund planning or implementation of cooperative efficiency projects – even those among groups which contain both education and governmental institutions.
CENTRAL OHIO PUBLIC SECTOR IT PARTNERSHIP
Born from this environment under the leadership of the Metropolitan Educational Council/ITC and project management of Public Performance Partners, Inc. (P3) of Columbus, Ohio was the Central Ohio Public Sector IT Partnership. A unique aspect of the partnership is that it is one of the first efforts since 2011 which contains both public education and governmental institutions. The nine collaborating public partners include:
- City of Dublin
- City of Grandview Heights
- City of Upper Arlington
- City of Westerville
- Educational Service Center of Central Ohio
- Columbus and Franklin County Metropolitan Park District (MetroParks)
- Metropolitan Educational Council (MEC)
- Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission (MORPC)
- Prairie Township
IT ASSESSMENT
The partners recognized that among the many potential shared services paths to explore, information technology provided perhaps the lowest hanging fruit. Several factors were at play in the decision but chief among them were two obvious facts. First, some partners were already positioned with significant IT capacity that could be shared with others creating a natural division of providers and customers. Second, from GIS to data center operations, the IT needs of the majority of partners were similar enough that there exists a high probability that at least one or several IT shared services initiatives would have a high percentage probability of success in terms of ultimately creating efficiencies and cutting costs.
Northern Ohio shared services group working to cut costs of school technology
Editor’s Note: The following is a news release issued recently by the North Coast Shared Services Alliance. P3 worked with the ESC of Cuyahoga County and NCSSA to deliver this strategic sourcing project for 52 northern Ohio school districts.
To save taxpayer dollars by combining the purchasing power of its members, the North Coast Shared Services Alliance (NCSSA) is changing the way many area school districts buy computer equipment.
“School districts have historically gone into the marketplace on their own or in relatively smaller groups of districts,” ESC of Cuyahoga County Superintendent Dr. Robert Mengerink said in a news release. “Through the North Coast Shared Services Alliance, the Cuyahoga, Medina and Lorain ESCs are bringing together school districts and local governments to the marketplace with their combined purchasing power.”
NCSSA’s members represent 52 northern Ohio school districts and have worked together for nearly a year to create standards for commodity computing hardware like PCs, laptops and tablets. Once each district was on board with a common set of specifications, the Ohio Schools Council ran a competitive process on behalf of NCSSA where vendors were asked for pricing based on the combined number of items needed by all districts. All school districts and local governments that adopt the standard may take advantage of the competitive pricing provided by the bid’s three winners: Open Systems of Cleveland, MNJ Technologies Direct of Twinsburg and Royal Business Equipment of Elyria. Pricing is firm through Sept. 30. Another competition will be conducted in the fall for pricing effective Oct. 1.
“Everyone understands the pressure public school budgets are under,” Mengerink said. “The school districts participating in this process are choosing to collaborate and work smarter to cut costs for taxpayers and keep current technology available to students and teachers.”
Ohio ESCs provide a range of centralized or shared services to their local school district members. The fact that multiple ESCs are collaborating on this purchasing effort — meaning even more districts are working together — is notable among Ohio education administration circles, said Hugh Quill, president of Public Performance Partners, a not-for-profit business that works with public sector organizations throughout Ohio on shared service strategies.
“School districts and local governments are really beginning to understand that they are stronger together, marketplace leverage is enhanced and collaborative purchasing preserves important tax dollars for the classroom and critical public services,” Quill said.
One example of savings is demonstrated by the pricing NCSSA partners receive on a typical workstation. The Hewlett-Packard product districts will be purchasing through the bid retails between $525 and $650. Bid pricing, depending on the number of products purchased, is from $429 to $443.
Mengerink said NCSSA partners will collect data on the usage of the computer hardware contract and use the experience to move on to other commodities and services.
“Key to the long-term success of the purchasing alliance is adoption of the standards and participation,” Mengerink said. To learn more about NCSSA, visit www.northcoastssa.org.
Doing More With Less Demands Partners
by Hugh Quill
Fewer state tax dollars for Ohio’s local governments and schools have public administrators talking, in the light of day no less, about mergers and shared services – topics long taboo in the Buckeye State. Most public officials fear the former and suspect that the latter is just a catchy phrase that stands for comingling their funds for the benefit of others.
Elected officials can be forgiven for their reluctance to discuss mergers and service consolidations. They didn’t create this maze of public service delivery; and until stagnant population growth and the weakening economy caught up with Ohio, the status quo seemed sustainable. Citizens also have misgivings about consolidation and sharing. They view merging their local governments as a potential loss of identity and fear their sense of community will be sacrificed in the process. In Ohio, all politics really are local, and local control has been a sacred cow politically.
Dept. of Development to hold several info sessions on Local Government Innovation Fund
The schedule, announced by the Ohio Department of Development in December is:
Columbus: January 10, 2012
10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
William Green Building
Second Floor Auditorium
30 West Spring Street
Columbus, Ohio 43215
*Session will include webinar presentation
Southeast Ohio: January 11, 2012
10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Washington State Community College
Graham Auditorium
710 Colegate Drive
Marietta, Ohio 45750
Cleveland: January 17, 2012
1:00 – 3:00 p.m.
Cuyahoga Community College
Corporate College East – Super Conference Room
4400 Richmond Road
Warrensville Heights, Ohio 44128
Toledo: January 18, 2012
10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Owens Community College
Center for Fine and Performing Arts
30335 Oregon Road
Perrysburg, Ohio 43551
Cincinnati: January 24, 2012
1:00 – 3:00 p.m.
Miami University – Hamilton
Parrish Auditorium
1601 University Boulevard
Hamilton, Ohio 45011
For questions about these sessions, contact the Dept. of Development’s Urban Development Division at (614) 995-2292.
We’ve got the Ohio Local Government Innovation Fund criteria and application
This new state fund, administered by the Department of Development, provides grants and loans to public entities to help them plan and implement projects to improve efficiency and increase savings through shared services. The LGIF will award up to $100,000 to individual applicants or up to $500,000 for collaborative projects. Multiple awards are available and the first applications are due on March 1, 2012. P3 will assist public organizations in developing LGIF applications, planning shared service projects, and administering LGIF grants.
