IPAC Toronto: Commissioning for Outcomes
Join Public Service Innovation Leaders in a discussion of how commissioning approches can be used to transform service delivery and an exploration of the opportunities and challenges
Commissioning for Outcomes
Join Public Service Innovation Leaders in a discussion of how commissioning approaches can be used to transform service delivery and an exploration of the opportunities and challenges
IPAC Discussion on Wednesday September 25th, 2019
IPAC-TRG invites you to join Janet Menard (Deputy Minister, Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services), Josh Hjartarson (Founder of the Commissioning Academy and Public Sector Leader, KPMG), Jason Hastings (Director of Strategic Initiatives, Department of Human Services at Peel), Tom Gash (Senior Fellow, Institute for Government) and David Szwarc (Former CAO, Region of Peel) in a discussion of how a new approach to public service design and delivery can be used to improve public services.
Commissioning for outcomes involves the contestability and active management of a market of service providers who are focused on delivering agreed upon outcomes. This is a significant change in service delivery for many governments and requires a new partnership and a collaborative approach. Public sector managers will need to engage differently with users of the system to understand their needs and goals and to determine the key enablers of successful delivery. The approach can also involve service providers competing for funding through demonstrated results.
The meeting will explore a range of key issues:
• How does commissioning work in practice?
• How does commissioning vary across municipal, provincial and federal contexts?
• Are some policy domains more suitable for this approach?
• What are the challenges of this approach for public sector professionals and service users?
• How does government incentivize the right types of behaviours, recognizing that some outcomes are outside the control of the service provider?
• How do all parties build trust across the system to create a more collaborative culture to support new effort and the risk taking that will be required?
• How do we ensure that providers do not focus resources on easier cases at the expense of more difficult cases (sometimes referred to as “parking” and “creaming”)?
The meeting will discuss the opportunities and challenges for government to introduce commissioning into public policy making and delivery.
About the Speakers
Tom Gash advises national and regional governments on government effectiveness. He was part of the Institute for Government’s initial set-up team in 2008 and was the Institute’s Director of Research from 2013-2015. Prior to joining the Institute, Tom was a senior policy adviser in the UK Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit and before that a strategy consultant at the Boston Consulting Group. He is also a Visiting Senior Research Fellow at the LSE’s Mannheim Centre for Criminology.
Jason Hastings is the Director, Strategic Initiatives for the Human Services Department in Peel Region where he leads a dedicated team of strategists, researchers, measurement and evaluation experts, change management specialists and project managers to deliver on Peel's corporate strategic plan and other human services priorities. He is a passionate believer in the potential of people and communities and is dedicated to finding ways to make a difference. With an enthusiasm for community collaboration, public policy and innovation, he brings people and causes together to create change.
Josh Hjartarson is the Lead Partner for KPMG Canada’s National Public Sector Management Consulting Practice, Lead Partner for the Government of Ontario and City of Toronto Accounts, and Principle Lead for KPMG Canada’s relations with the KPMG Global Government Practice. His current work builds on his experience as government relations and advocacy leader for the business community (as a Vice President of Policy and Government Relations and Board Director), 10 years as an academic researching and teaching the future of government and the economy, five years as a public servant, and a lifelong passion for answering wicked public policy questions. He has built a career facilitating productive relationships between business and government, recognizing that economic growth and prosperity are contingent on their collaboration.
Janet Menard is Deputy Minister, Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services and Deputy Minister Responsible for Women’s Issues. She previously served as Deputy Minister of Community and Social Services and Deputy Minister Responsible for Poverty Reduction, bringing with her more than 30 years of experience in the field of human services from Peel and Halton Regions and the City of Toronto. When she was the Commissioner of Human Services at Peel she led the integration of human services and child care transformation to align with full-day kindergarten and has received the Ontario Municipal Social Services Association’s Champion of Human Services Award.
David Szwarc is currently a Distinguished Fellow with the School of Policy Studies at Queen's University and was previously the Chief Administrative Officer of the Region of Peel, where he was responsible for the overall management of the Regional Corporation providing essential public services to more than 1.4 million residents and 156,000 businesses in the Cities of Brampton, Mississauga, and the Town of Caledon.
Prior to being appointed as CAO in October 2005, David held management positions with the Region of Peel, Government of Ontario and the Region of Halton.
David has received the Rotary International Centennial Award for Professional Excellence. His work has been recognized with the IPAC Public Sector Leadership Award (Gold) and the Institute for Citizen-Centred Service 2012 Heintzman Leadership Award for the promotion of citizen-centred service within the Canadian public sector.