It seems impossible, squaring the circle: is it possible to have more services with less taxes and at the same time drive growth and innovation? The answer to this question marks different ways of approaching public management. Those who argue that this is fundamentally impossible espouse the surplus myth. If a private company carries out the management, it will be in exchange for a consideration, a surplus. However, we all know that the provision of services by the public sector is not free, there is a fixed cost increase differential due to a lower efficiency of the public sector, which does not compete, and therefore there is a lack of incentives.
The level of efficiency of an administration is difficult to change. Now, is it possible to control the surplus of the provision of services by organizations? The most obvious way is to bring the concession canon closer to the surplus, but there are other better ones, such as designing levels of competition between the participants and dynamic concessions that capture part of that possible surplus, making it less than the extra cost of administration inefficiency. without harming service quality or private incentives. Designing the conditions of the concession, if possible in a dynamic way, is the traditional way. That reverts to a more efficient service provision, but... what about the promise of growth and innovation that the title promised us?
When the provision of government services is done with taxes in mind, there is only one relevant question: how much money is there? It is a zero sum game, more taxes, more services, and less taxes, less services. Of course, there is a moderator, the efficiency in the provision by the public and in the design of the market or of the provision if it is outsourced. There's another way? Yes. Borrow a private strategy and have the administration act as the platforms, organizations that capture enormous value and that do not compete with the hardware, but with the ecosystem. Can do it? Yes, it is the case of the current Open Data, where the administration provides the data, but does not provide the service, for example with the maps that we use such as Google Maps and many others that provide an undeniable and free service for citizens.
But is this working as a platform restricted to data applications and open data? Well no. Let's look at different ways to approach the problem:
1) One way is to create a large group of internal data scientists and bring them into the dynamics of the civil service, but given their limited ability to compete on salary and projects with industry leaders, we will have a higher cost with little innovation and growth .
2) Another way is to outsource to consulting firms that will generate growth, but growth will be restricted to those organizations with limited social effect and probably a high price.
3) University data labs can also be involved, with a greater effect on the generation of talent and social impact, at a probably lower cost. The lack of competition once the contract has been awarded may limit quality, but you will benefit from leading organizations in terms of their means, talent and capabilities.
4) Finally, you can also open the data and organize competitions with prizes. The use of competitions allows not only a better result at a lower cost or at zero cost, but also generates greater innovation and visibility.
Let's see an example of a platform from and for the public sector. In the Pearl River Delta area (China), with a population of 220 million people, they have created a platform that links the different municipal governments by providing a single interface for more than 140 functions ranging from paying a traffic fine to requesting an appointment to marry, renew the passport, extend visas or apply for business licenses. And can citizens be involved in a platform? An experience from Boston a few years ago goes precisely in that direction. There they have a problem with the fire hydrants, because when it snows some of them stop working and it is very expensive to check their condition one by one. To do this, they created an app that allows citizens to adopt a fire hydrant in a gamified app. When it snows, the City Council system sends them a text message asking them to check their operation and in a few minutes they are all checked. This platform has become famous and is also used to adopt benches in parks, trees...
This last case is interesting, not only because it allows costs to be reduced, but also because it redefines the concept of citizenship in the digital key of the 21st century. To think of the administration as an ecosystem manager is to focus on co-developed services, with citizens, companies or in open source format. Free and non-free services that coexist in a society that promotes entrepreneurship, social and economic growth and innovation. This has always been important, but now, when our societies and companies compete with innovation, it is more so than ever. Science is global, but innovation is very local. Creating innovative societies, also from the administration, is our only guarantee of progress, well-being and a future of opportunities for all citizens.
