b'ViewpointsDelivering What Matters: Improving Government Service DeliveryBy Matt Warshawcitizens receive services, as well as how the federal and state governments work together to deliver services quickly and effectively. Large stimulus programs, such as the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and the CARES Act, demonstrated the governments ability to distribute large amounts of money to businesses and individuals. It also exposed the complexity in creating services that are easy to use and accessible by all who need them.Citizen services in the United States rely on a mix of state and local government funding and program execution, creating mixed results across programs. Social Security is held up as the gold standard by experts Pamela Herd and Don Moynihan as an extremely effective government program because there is minimal burden placed on the recipient. The Social Security Administration keeps track of wages earned, benefits received, and eligibility. The beneficiary simply needs to sign up online or in one of 1200 field offices. 1In their book, Administrative Burden: Policy by Other Means, Governments perform a number of important functions.Herd and Moynihan identify other governmental, civic, However, almost all government functions can be boiledand health services that arent as easily accessed as Social down to protecting people and helping people.Security. For example, Medicare, Medicaid, and SNAP are not nearly as simple to navigate and universally accessed As the U.S. federal government has grown, much of itsas Social Security. As a result, benefits go unclaimed and work has included analyzing, studying, and reportingthose benefits that are claimed often require significant time on government policiesboth creating new agency andand effort to access. If government is to make good on the governmentwide policy and looking back at the effectspolicies it sets out, these more burdensome programs deserve of these policies. Government agencies must also reportour attention, resources, and innovation.out on their activities to Congress, the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the Office of InspectorIn her article, The Time Tax, reporter Annie Lowrey General (IG), and several other state, local, tribal, andhighlights one of Herd and Moynihans most egregious nonprofit partners. In effect, government agencies have builtcases. The benefits application for the State of Michigans up large organizations to set policy, but many parts of theDepartment of Health and Human Services (DHHS) was government lack the same ability to implement that policypreviously sixty four pages long and asked invasive questions in the form of citizen services.such as Tell me the date of conception of your child. With the help of Civilla, a nonprofit design firm, the Michigan After more than two years responding to the COVID-19agency was able to: pandemic emergency, both through economic and public health outreach, it is clear that we need more focus on how 2022 IBM Center for The Business of Government 83'