The National Council of Nonprofits convened a task force comprised of national experts on government contracting, including nonprofit CEOs and state officials. I was asked to present based on the work I've done to create and lead the PublicNonprofit Partnership Initiative in Illinois.
Presentation to the National Council of Nonprofits Contracting Best Practices Task Force
1. The Public Nonprofit
Partnership Initiative – creating
meaningful reforms for Illinois
nonprofits.
National Council of Nonprofits – Best
Practices Contracting Task Force
June 27, 2013
Laurel O’Sullivan
Vice President, Public Policy
2. Donors Forum
A nonprofit membership association with
1200 nonprofits and foundations that
advocates for a strong nonprofit sector in
Illinois.
4. Setting the Vision
To enhance and strengthen
collaboration between nonprofits
and government…
5. Exacerbated by the recession
• #1 for late payments to NP contractors. (Urban
Institute 2010)
• Between 2008-2013 IL cut 4,000 employees.
• $3 billion in human service program funding cut 2010-
2013.
• Nonprofits continue to float state: currently owed $3.5
billion dollars
6. Our Approach
• Phase I: Discovery & engagement 2009-2012
– Early & diverse stakeholder engagement
– Defining the problem
• Policy Forum I
• Policy Forum II
• Phase II: 2012-2015: policymaker
outreach, communications & research.
• Adaptive - focused on identifying strategic
opportunities for collaboration
• Evolving scope: systems focus
7. Defining the “System”
•Streamlining nonprofit reporting and
contracting
•Transparency and accountability in
budgeting reform
•Improvements in timely and fair state
payments to nonprofits
13. The implementation of P.A. 96-
1141, and P.A. 97-0558 represent a
collaborative effort between the
Administration, the General Assembly
and the network of Community Service
Providers to streamline the complex
and sometimes redundant business
processes behind accreditation and
licensure, contracting, auditing, monitor
ing and reporting.
The MIIC and the five State agencies
are quickly identify and implementing a
plan to eliminate duplicative business
requirements or those that are
inconsistent with the mandates of the
Management Improvement Act.
14. The common goal is to prioritize efforts to
streamline the complex and sometimes
redundant business process behind:
• accreditation/licensure,
•contracting,
•auditing,
•monitoring and reporting requirements
The Goal of the Management Improvement Initiative
15. Five State Agencies –
More than Five Business Processes
• There is redundancy in business process
among the five State agencies, routinely
imposing significant administrative burden
on community service providers.
• The redundancy causes significant
administrative burden and waste, eroding
service delivery by diverting
resources, ultimately reducing the amount
of services delivered to individuals and
communities in need.
16. Current Contracts By the Numbers: 2012
# of Agreements
• DHS: 4500 agreements
• DPH: 2500 agreements
• DCFS: 1100 agreements
• Aging: 950 agreements
• HFS: 100 (Medicaid Provider Agreements not
included)
# of Providers
• DHS: Agreements with 1800 entities
• DPH: Agreements with 1100 entities
• DCFS: Agreements with 1000 entities
• Aging: Agreements with 200 entities
Multiple Contracts: 2012
Except for Aging, most
agencies have one to two
agreements with any one
provider
– 1.1 agreements with DCFS
– 2.3 agreements with DPH
– 2.5 agreements with DHS
– 4.8 agreements with
Aging
16
Contract Streamlining Context
17. 17
• Increased consistency in the content of
contract terms in grant agreements with
community providers
• Increased uniformity in contract
language in grant agreements with
community providers
• Increased standardization in contract
format in grant agreements with
community providers
MIIC Contract Team Goals by
12/2014
for DoA, DCFS, HFS, DHS and
DPH
Three Components of
Contracts
Need to understand
three components to
identify reforms:
– Form
• Document
structure, attachments,
references, etc.
– Content
• Terms
included, requirements,
etc.
– Process
• Method of
distribution, submission,
etc.
18. Complex and redundant business process
behind contracting, auditing, monitoring and
reporting requirements for the five State
agencies
Redundant
business
processes drive
costs up
without adding
value for either
providers or
the State
agencies.
Deemed Status – Accreditation
Contract Boilerplates and Process
Data/Documents in the Normal Course
Deemed Status – Accreditation
Contract Boilerplates and Process
Data/Documents in the Normal Course
Deemed Status – Accreditation
Contract Boilerplates and Process
Data/Documents in the Normal Course
Deemed Status – Accreditation
Contract Boilerplates and Process
Data/Documents in the Normal Course
Deemed Status – Accreditation
Contract Boilerplates and Process
Data/Documents in the Normal Course
19. A new, simplified, consistent
and efficient business process
for
accreditation, contracting, moni
toring and reporting
requirements.
Fully
Operationalize
Deemed Status
Enrollment
Accreditation
Consistent
Boilerplate
Agreements for all
five State Agencies
Contract
Execution
Streamlined, user-
friendly
centralized budget
reporting
Budget
Submission
Other Reporting
Financial /
Other
Reporting
• ONE Business Process
• Full implementation of Deemed Status
• Standard contract boilerplates
• Simplified monitoring
• Simplified budget reporting
20. Future Considerations for Fiscal
Reform
Improving health of nonprofits in IL requires:
More revenue /tax reform
Addressing structural deficit
Reversing history of disinvestments in
delivery system
21. Key accomplishments
• Established “system” as baseline approach for
thinking of contracting reform.
• Growing group of key policymakers see us as
important ally.
• Research report with recommendations on
budgeting adopted by state.
• Third party/loaned consultancy model as
foundation for a Nonprofit Liaison
• IL Comptroller Nonprofit Payment Task Force
• Research database
• Policy as key pillar of Donors Forum
Defining the issuesReaching consensus on the problem
Represents Intersection between contracting and fiscal allocations to nonprofitsOur evolving role: watchdog, broker, critic, supporterProduced a report, recommendations adopted, producing a second report