The Alberta Digital Innovation Office: Two years in review (Part II)
Aug 6 · 6 min read
This is a continuation of part I.
At the DIO, we try to understand, tackle and overcome each problem only once. Our system design and agile method of working happen on all aspects of our work that includes procurement as well. Procurement functions is an area that grapples with many of the challenges mentioned so far.
HA: What are your thoughts on procurement agility?
BN: While some might say procurement can never be agile, we’ve actually done that, and we are cranking up teams quite quickly. Carita and can speak to that very well.
CC: We have all endured the challenges of trying different procurement approaches from RFPs, NRFPs, and now the SOWs. We have gone down from our longest procurement of 322 days to our quickest SOW which was only 22 days from close to award. To achieve this agility the DIO has had to navigate a lot of traditional areas like working in partnership with procurement services and contract management while learning about the processes, and the bureaucracy at the same time.
DB: It wasn’t only about learning the processes but we had to challenge them as well. The DIO team had to have many hard conversations, but were able to help redefine what it means to do agile procurement. The corollary of improvements in procurement is that it’s really helping us think about what kind of roles we need in government more permanently. This helps build up digital capability in the public service. If we are going to be a digital first government, which we just have to be now, we are going to need a lot of different skills in governments. We need to have a good balance between bringing in vendors for certain kinds of work but also have a good core work force that has a lot of these skills in house. That will really give citizens better value. So, procurement agility is not only about staffing but also about overcoming organizational hurdles as well.
JM: Yes, and the success of agile procurement is in challenging and overcoming mostly small ‘r’ rules, or rules that were inherited without considering much common sense in their application.
TZ: In my experience, interestingly very little of the procedures and rules of procurement are actually in service of procuring the best vendors. In each stages we were finding both big ‘R’ rules and small ’r’ rules as impediments to us actually selecting the people who are the best for the job. Now I understand that there’s another consideration behind procurement, which is our obligations under trade agreements. I think there’s a legitimate concept there that we need to adhere to but it just seems very strange to me that adhering to those rules would so hamper us in selecting the right thing.
DB: I would say the problem often lies in our interpretation of trade agreements, and how we over problematize them in the government. There’s actually a fair amount of sense in those high level agreements, and it’s more our own administrative hurdles that impede us. I would say the same thing is true about government policy, a lot of it is urban myth, and if we interrogate it it’s not as bad as we think. So as we plough through these processes, the path gets a lot clearer.
BN: Exactly! And that’s an outcome of the whole design process, which is holding up the mirror to a range of experts across the ministry or a program and finding out that they’re often conflicting with each other and that there’s actually a pretty good path if they just take the best of many of those individuals.
CC: Just to add to that I would definitely say that the trade agreements leave room for flexibility, interpretation and implementation at the provincial and territorial levels. Some of the things we get tripped up on really comes at the provincial level and our definitions. That’s a big thing to explore in the near future.
The DIO team has had to wrestle with many obstacles but the opportunities for digital transformation are also endless.
HA: How do you see the future of the Digital Innovation Office?
DB: We really made a point to choose exemplar projects that allow us to work not just across different sectors of government but across the main things the government does. Hence the DIO team tries to find these genres of things the government does, what kind of services it offers, and choose projects involving each. This way these projects end up having amplification effects which can yield service patterns which the DIO can then apply much more easily to comparable services. So in future projects I think we can really accelerate based on the patterns that we’ve found and the service patterns that we’ve developed over these projects.
BN: That’s true, in its quest to tackle different genres of problems the DIO also does not confine itself to existing laws whether through changing legislation or regulation or judicial dispensation. Some of these outdated laws go against the intent of what citizens want and what government needs.
While it’s important to find recruitment processes fit for the purpose of hiring and retaining the talent needed, it’s equally vital to lift career public servants who can effectively support delivery-driven government. The DIO has successfully been able to create a shop that resembles a start up in its approach and practice.
HA: What else do you think differentiates the DIO, and makes it a great place to work at.
TZ: The DIO approach in recruitment is a brand new model that disrupts norms and promotes more of the “everybody at the same table collaboration”. This creates real excitement and opportunity for the people who are joining the team on these journeys as well. By taking the same approach, the DIO builds a momentum of change and sets a new normal in the exemplar projects that it has undertaken.
BN: By taking this approach the DIO is able to work with a variety of vendors whose models fit its agile way. Having this clear approach lets the vendors also know if they are a good fit or not. What differentiates the DIO from the rest of the government is that it’s pretty focused on the outcome being better for either staff or the citizens and that means the DIO is impatient with things that take us off that path.
JM: Early on we invited everybody from bigger corporate entities to smaller ones who wanted to work with us. None of the big corporate entities ended up applying and it was only the smaller firms that actually wanted to do this kind of work. So, yes a lot of the time that translates into big corporate entities selecting themselves out.
DB: Which is a great point that we’ve actually created an economic opportunity in a number of ways for small and medium sized companies to work for the government, which wasn’t really available to them directly. This also creates an opportunity for our vibrant and talented post secondary graduates to come in to government both as contractors but also as staff. By creating a hospitable and supportive working environment we can use all this talent to provide better services for citizens. While setting very high expectations from the team in terms of delivering great digital services for citizens, I also help clear the structural barriers out of their way as much as possible. The team needs autonomy to encounter these unchartered obstacles as they drill away through the projects. This type of challenge might not be for everyone, but if you like the autonomy and flexibility and the ability to bring in your knowledge and experience and try different ways, DIO is the place to be.
JM: It’s integral to large organizations to give no one any autonomy, and the DIO is this little free zone of autonomy. I tell people I have incredibly high job satisfaction because I get to do what I think is the right thing to do. And that’s a testament to Dominique’s ability to fit people together who can help each other as needed and now support each other remotely. Also, the fact that we do as much as we do with so few people that we’ve had so far, is pretty remarkable.
CC: Having been in a lot of traditional shops, I have to say that while most people that join the public service hope to be able to provide a service to meet the needs of the public. But it is sometimes hard to find those opportunities that feel meaningful, where you can actually affect change and do what you think is important and right. But the DIO is a really special space that empowers people and our partners to be able to take a step back and really look at the real problems and try a different way for the government to tackle those things in a more meaningful and substantive way.
