May we split the check please? Sharing Costs in Cross Jurisdictional Collaboratives

LEXINGTON, Ky., Wednesday, March 5, 2014 — States and local government are joining up to save money and leverage economies of scale in operations to deliver better government services. The recipe for successful cross-jurisdictional collaborations have been explored by NASCIO in its report titled, “What Makes Collaborative Initiatives Work?” Often the primary incentive to forming a collaborative is cost sharing. NASCIO continues to build its portfolio of publications and references with a new release highlighting cost sharing. A list of essential design elements for cost sharing is presented along with examples of successful collaboratives. The publication is available at www.nascio.org/publications

“NASCIO is a strong proponent for cross jurisdictional collaboratives. We believe collaborative arrangements will be successful if they are starting with the right vision and then develop an architecture that is deliberately designed to support that vision. One of the foundational elements of that architecture is cost sharing,” said Calvin Rhodes, co-chair of the NASCIO Cross-Jurisdictional Collaboration working group and chief information officer for the state of Georgia.

Cost sharing must be designed for sustainability, anticipating ongoing change. That change will include changes in demands for services. That demand includes demand for new services as well as changing demands for existing services. There may be changes in costs along the entire supply chain, and there may be new methods for delivering services. These dynamics require an ongoing discipline or process for anticipation, evaluation and implementation of necessary changes to maintain an equitable and effective cost sharing model.

“The most effective collaboratives are arrangements that are successful at partnering. That partnering aspect requires understanding the motivations and needs of the member organizations,” said Brenda Decker, co-chair for the NASCIO Cross-Jurisdictional Collaboration working group and chief information officer for the state of Nebraska. “Those member needs are often met through non-financial contributions. An effective collaborative and an effective cost sharing model for supporting it will account for a variety of member contributions including in-kind contributions. We maintain a state-wide or often regional view of economics when we develop these types of comprehensive cost sharing models. A great example of partnering is our Network Nebraska Cost Recovery Model which is highlighted in this report.”