Federal agencies often have been at their most innovative when working in partnerships with each other, private industry and academic institutions, a report from the Partnership for Public Service says, citing advancements such as the Internet, GPS technology and vaccines against new strains of flu viruses.
Common elements that lead to success include “strategic partnerships between experts in government and private industry; a way for all team members to take risk strategically; and an organizational culture that is supportive of innovation,” said the report, done with a consulting firm. Those characteristics can aid all types of government acquisitions, it added.
The study said that R&D-oriented agencies such as the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency are most commonly associated with those characteristics but that other agencies use techniques such as frequent communication with industry, including how the government procurement process is viewed from that side. Willingness to accept failure can be more difficult to achieve, it warned, adding that contracts often are structured in a way that states a specific outcome and the way the contractor is to achieve it—which discourages innovation and even potential cost savings.
“Innovations arise when people are given a problem to solve instead of being told to implement a known solution,” the report said.
