Improving Processes to Help Governments Do More Good

One of the key responsibilities of every government is to serve the people in their communities fairly and equitably.

To do so, governments depend on processes to allocate resources, drive decision making and prioritize service delivery to best serve the interests of the people. Without strong processes, some groups will inevitably slip through the cracks and some areas of need won’t receive the attention they deserve.

Challenge Based Procurement and the STIR Platform help governments address the two reasons why process improvement is particularly challenging when applied to government processes.

1. The Need for a Low-Risk Environment
2. The Amount of Oversight Required and the Number of Stakeholders Involved

For this year’s STIR cohort, process improvement is one of the most frequently cited challenge categories for governments. And many of the proposed solutions target a common outcome: to make public services more fair and equitable for people.

From breaking patterns of injustice in the justice system to dedicating resources to support marginalized people or places, there’s a tremendous opportunity for startups to make a difference in government through process improvement.

Check out the current process improvement challenges at a glance below:

Innovative Procurement and Contracting The City of Carlsbad is seeking a partner to help analyze the existing procurement and contracting process and provide a system for procurement that will improve efficiency, reduce waste and improve internal controls.

Equitable Engagement for Everyone The City of Takoma Park is remarkably diverse with the majority of residents being people of color. To fight institutionalized racial inequity and more fairly allocate city resources, the City is seeking a solution to increase diversity in civic and community engagement.

Workforce Woes: Underemployed and Disconnected The City of Takoma Park’s Housing and Community Development Department is seeking a software solution to connect residents to nearby workforce development, job training, and English language programs

User-Friendly Application to Digitize Employee Bidding The Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s Department is seeking an easy-to-use digital solution to streamline the process of selecting work assignments and vacation time for corrections staff.

Solution for Better Access Management at Cuyahoga County Jail The Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s Department is seeking a technology solution to improve the process of registration and tracking of visitors at the Cuyuga County Jail.

Automated, Easy-to-Use Travel Solution Cuyuga County’s Division of Children and Family Services is seeking a solution to automate the tracking and reporting functions of the travel reimbursement process. Staff are regularly required to travel to support families and children in foster care, using their own vehicle as well as using flights hotels and rental cars.

Solution to Automate Accounting of Delinquent Tax Outreach Efforts The Cuyahoga County Delinquent Tax Outreach Unit uses various communication methods (e.g., phone calls and letters) to reach taxpayers who are delinquent on their real estate taxes, and manually checks for payment on a daily basis. The Unit is seeking an automated system for accounting and tracking of tax payments.

Site Promotion System for Cuyahoga County Commercial Properties The Cuyahoga County Department of Development is seeking a single unified system with comprehensive information on all available land and buildings in each of the county’s 59 cities, in order to better inform business decision-makers of available real estate.

Automated Cash Handling In order to reduce the human error associated with manual counting and improve productivity, the San Francisco Superior Court is seeking a digital solution to automate and streamline existing cash handling processes and counting tasks.

Automated Income Verification Tool Courts frequently rely on incomplete, inaccurate and unverified information and makes decisions to forgo the imposition of certain fees based upon the unverified declaration of a court user. The San Francisco Superior Court is seeking a solution to assess court user’s income to determine if they qualify for a public defender, fee waiver, reduction of fines and fees, or other income-based decisions.

California Rules of Court 10.500 Requests for Judicial Administrative Records The San Francisco Superior Court is seeking a vendor to develop an online form and robust request tracking solution to streamline the Court’s process of responding to requests for judicial administrative records, in accordance with legislation.

Click on any of the links in this post to apply directly to solve these challenges or head to https://www.cityinnovate.com/challenge to find more opportunities for startups to land government contracts.

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