IE 11 Not Supported

For optimal browsing, we recommend Chrome, Firefox or Safari browsers.

Barrett Outlines Management Initiatives for Georgia

Georgia is ninth in population, with a budget that exceeds $17 billion, so even a few percent gain is significant

Lonice Barrett has a big responsibility as director of implementation of the Commission for a New Georgia. He was introduced Thursday morning at GTC in Atlanta as the "mechanic under the hood of state government" -- the official charged by Gov. Perdue with making Georgia the best managed state by 2007.

Barrett said that until recently, there was a lack of accurate timely accessible data. Data was lacking or difficult to access about fleet management, procurement, administrative services, and more. Barrett described a new government-wide data management system as "something that would do for state government what the Internet did for global information access."

Georgia is ninth in population, with a budget that exceeds $17 billion, so even a few percent gain is significant.

A year ago, said Barrett, the state did not know the extent of its fleet of vehicles or the cost of operating it. That changed. As of July 1, said Barrett, the state had exactly 21,419 cars, and identified nearly 2,000 that could be sold. As a result, the state recouped $3 million from the sales and another $3 million in maintenance costs that were no longer necessary.

Some $34 million is savings have been obtained so far, he said. For example, a damaged state airplane was sold for $840,000, a 40-year-old fire truck was sold for nearly $5,000 and $15 million in proceeds were obtained from selling surplus properties. State assets are now being inventoried on a Web-based GIS system.

A year ago, said Barrett, Georgia had no state controller, and there was no accounting of overdue taxes, fees, and dollars that might have been awarded from the federal government. Agencies held 1,400 separate bank accounts. Now the State Accounting Office is clearing the books.

The state spends $5.7 billion a year on supplies and services, said Barrett, "like those orange barrels that add color to our highways." A modern procurement system being implemented is expected to save $135 million a year.

The goals, said Barrett, is for the state to be the best managed in the country by 2007, to deliver the best quality of life for Georgians. Georgia is leveraging good ideas from successful private-sector businesses. Along the way said Barrett, as the culture begins to change, people sometimes ask: "What's wrong with the old Georgia?"

"We must make these changes, said Barrett, "because we're part of a new world that's vastly different from the world we grew up in. All states must proceed from old paradigms to new thinking."
Wayne E. Hanson served as a writer and editor with e.Republic from 1989 to 2013, having worked for several business units including Government Technology magazine, the Center for Digital Government, Governing, and Digital Communities. Hanson was a juror from 1999 to 2004 with the Stockholm Challenge and Global Junior Challenge competitions in information technology and education.