#HARTFORD, CT\

#Hartford CT – Governor Ned Lamont announced that he has received the final report from the independent consulting group that was selected to provide his administration and the members of the Connecticut General Assembly with an extensive analysis of opportunities to improve efficiency within state government and maintain continuity of critical services in light of an anticipated wave of retirements among state employees by July 2022.

The Cliff Retirements Adding Efficiency, Accountability, and Technology to Economize State Government (CREATES) report was produced by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG). The firm was selected through a competitive procurement process in response to the state legislature’s requirements in Public Act 18-81, which was adopted in 2018 and directed the prior administration to hire a national consultant to help the state identify efficiency opportunities and cost savings. The Connecticut Office of Policy and Management (OPM) and Department of Administrative Services (DAS) oversaw the project.

The study engaged more than 2,500 employees at 41 agencies and suggests roughly 200 opportunities for improvement and streamlining that are estimated at between $600 million and $900 million in savings. In anticipation of the report, Governor Lamont’s fiscal year 2022-2023 biennial budget proposal includes savings of $20 million in 2022 and $155 million in 2023.

Based on an employee survey conducted as part of the project, there are more than 8,000 state employees eligible for retirement in 2022, 72 percent of whom are seriously considering retirement. The report includes a wide range of suggestions, including further digitizing records, streamlining hiring processes, consolidating real estate assets, and continuing modernization efforts that the Lamont administration has already embarked on.

“I look forward to reviewing this study to gather additional insight about what we can do to make state government the best it can be for our constituents,” Governor Lamont said. “The world is changing rapidly, and our government needs to move more quickly to transform how we operate to have the greatest positive impact on people’s lives. This report will help us do that. I look forward to reviewing these suggestions and considering them as part of our administration’s broad modernization efforts.”

“Connecticut’s state government, the work environment, technology, and social conditions have changed a great deal in the ten years that have passed since the last time we conducted a study of this nature and it was necessary to examine the challenges we face and take steps to improve moving forward,” OPM Secretary Melissa McCaw said. “Over the last six months, our agencies and staff have worked in harmony with BCG to identify some reasonable and realistic efficiencies that we have already included in Governor Lamont’s budget proposal for the upcoming biennium, and we greatly look forward to reviewing the options contained in this report with stakeholders to see what else is feasible.”

“With more than 8,000 executive branch employees eligible for retirement in the next year, the state faces significant risk in our continuity of operations, but also a unique opportunity to reinvent and modernize how we provide services to Connecticut residents” Josh Geballe, commissioner of DAS and the state’s chief operating officer, said. “Under Governor Lamont’s leadership, we’ve already made significant progress to improve the quality and efficiency of state government, for example by moving more transactions online at the Department of Motor Vehicles, the Department of Revenue Services, and the Department of Consumer Protection, launching business.ct.gov to provide a one-stop-shop for entrepreneurs and businesses, consolidating and selling office buildings, and better leveraging the state’s purchasing power to reduce costs. We continue to see significant opportunities to further improve services for Connecticut residents while reducing cost to taxpayers, and we look forward to analyzing the additional recommendations provided in this report.”

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By Stephen Krauchick

DoingItLocal is run by Steve Krauchick. Steve has always had interest with breaking news even as an early teen, opting to listen to the Watergate hearings instead of top 40 on the radio. His interest in news spread to become the communities breaking news leader in Connecticut’s Fairfield County. He strongly believes that the public has right to know what is happening in their backyard and that government needs to be transparent. Steve also likes promoting local businesses.

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