Beeck Center Beeck Center: Social Impact + Innovation Georgetown University

GovTech

Highlights

  • Identifying critical challenges and opportunities for intervention and improvement in the government services technology market, both in the U.S. and globally.
  • Promoting openness, collaboration, and shareability to foster innovation and enhance the quality of public services.
  • Provide robust, evidence-based guidance that can be utilized in efforts to deliver public services at the state, tribal, and territorial government level.
GovTech

State, local, and federal governments face significant challenges in acquiring and implementing technology solutions to modernize outdated systems and deliver high-quality services to citizens. These failures undermine public trust and leave millions of Americans without the support they need and expect.

Governments use technology to provide and improve public services, operations, and citizen engagement. The various marketplaces for such technology (colloquially “GovTech”)are commonly dominated by a few large vendors.

Historically, GovTech implementations face high failure rates, resulting in substantial financial losses and the inability to properly deliver crucial services like unemployment insurance, SNAP benefits, healthcare, and more.

We seek a deeper understanding of the emerging conditions shaping the delivery of public services in government. This project aims to transform the GovTech landscape by promoting solutions that optimize the design, development, and procurement of technology for public service resulting in:

  • A vibrant and competitive market to leverage when acquiring technology for public services.
  • Shared resources among practitioners to procure and develop technology, reducing redundant spending, increasing speed, and meeting citizens’ needs for public services.
  • Reliable standards of quality irrespective of where the technology is deployed. 

Team

  • Aaron Snow

    Aaron Snow

    Fellow

  • Eve Elie

    Project Researcher, GovTech

  • Orit Avichezer

    Orit Avichezer

    Student Analyst

Next Project Event

Digital Public Goods Landscape Scan Launch Webinar

Digital Public Goods Landscape Scan Launch Webinar
December 16, 2024
1:00 pm

Virtual
The Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation at Georgetown University invites you to an exclusive virtual event: Digital Public Goods Landscape Scan Launch. This complimentary online session will unveil the possibilities of leveraging DPGs for transformative public service delivery at state, territorial, and tribal levels.

Project Updates

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Project Reports & Resources

Unemployment Insurance IT Modernization Grant Projects: Insights Report

Unemployment Insurance IT Modernization Grant Projects: Insights Report

This report outlines the evolving experiences and key insights from nine of the 19 states implementing projects supported by $204 million from the U.S. Department of Labor’s (USDOL) Unemployment Insurance (UI) Information Technology (IT) Modernization Grants. The findings reflect the grantees’ learnings since receiving project approval and launching their five-year modernization efforts, providing a snapshot of both the successes and ongoing challenges faced during implementation.

Dec. 12, 2024

What We've Learned So Far

  • Published a  catalog of digital public goods used in governments that seeks to promote discourse around adoption for modernization efforts at the state, tribal, and territorial level.

  • Advised and presented observations and findings in the first phase of the U.S Department of Labor’s Open UI Initiative, which seeks to change how U.S. states and territories build and buy the technology that supports their unemployment insurance systems.