Case Study: The Consolidation Inquiry

Executive Overview

The Consolidation Inquiry was a City of Portland effort from the Office of Management and Finance (OMF), commissioned by the Mayor's Office and guided by a Steering Committee of five bureau directors. It evaluated opportunities for improving efficiency and effectiveness in three key service areas: Facilities Management, Revenue Collection, and Professional Services (PTE) Contracting. The research was conducted by a Work Group in the Business Operations Division. I joined the team as the selected Hatfield Fellow and conducted primary project responsibilities, including research analysis and writing the final report of findings. The team identified numerous specific opportunities for cross-bureau collaboration, process standardization, and technology consolidation.

Challenge

The project aimed to address findings from an earlier review of the Office of Management and Finance (OMF) structure, which recommended consolidating facilities management and revenue collection, and coordinating professional services contracting. The core challenges observed were:

• Facilities Management: Wide variations in how bureaus manage facilities and property, leading to a lack of cross-bureau coordination, inconsistent cost tracking, and reactive work order processes.

• Revenue Collection: Bureaus needed to offer modern, alternative payment options and move away from paper checks to leverage the city's cash position better. Many transactional and revenue charge activities relied on inefficient side systems like Excel, or one-off processes for things like public records requests and Point of Sale (POS) transactions.

• PTE Contracting: Restrictions on cross-bureau usage of on-call service contracts, challenges for smaller firms due to high liability insurance requirements, and inconsistencies in contract management knowledge among staff.

Approach

The Work Group supported the Steering Committee by developing a research methodology focusing on: a) bureaus that owned property, b) bureaus that collected the largest sums of external revenue (over $10,000,000 annually), and c) the central Procurement Services division.

The approach involved:

• Data Collection: Holding research meetings and one-on-one discussions with bureau staff.

• Analysis: Using tools like an Excel spreadsheet for facilities management data and a questionnaire for revenue collection.

• Opportunity Generation: Analyzing the data to identify specific opportunities in line with guiding principles, such as ensuring benefits outweigh costs and not requiring functions to move into OMF.

• Prioritization: Compiling a matrix, assigning an owner and an estimated level of effort (Low/High) to each opportunity, and having the Steering Committee rate them (3=Definitely Pursue; 2= Maybe; 1= Not at this time).

• Selection: The Steering Committee selected all opportunities with a cumulative rating higher than 2.4 to pursue further.

Impact

The project yielded several high-priority recommendations for cross-bureau collaboration and standardization, aiming to capture efficiencies and leverage existing City systems like SAP Flexible Real Estate and Public Sector Collections and Disbursements (PSCD).

Key approved recommendations included:

• Collaboration: Establish regular meetings for facilities/property managers and developing a Citywide Facilities Maintenance Technician (FMT) apprenticeship program.

• Revenue Optimization: Evaluate bureau revenues still received by paper check for conversion to electronic payments (ACH/card), supporting the migration to a hosted payment solution, and developing a consistent process for public records request revenue.

• Contracting Efficiency: Develop a process to post and share Citywide facilities-related on-call contracts, revising City policy on liability insurance requirements, and establishing an official Citywide collections agency contract.