Pennsylvania's Governor Tom Wolf has signed an executive order establishing the Governor's Office of Transformation, Innovation, Management and Efficiency for finding new ways for the state to save money, including P3s.

The executive order forms a steering committee led by the Secretary of Administration and calls for agency heads to solicit employee input and identify key staff to form innovation teams, enhances inter-agency coordination, and emphasizes public private partnerships (P3s) in an effort to find an immediate US$150 million in cost savings.

The previous odffice, the Office of Innovation, found US$690 million in cost savings from 2011 until now.

Pennsylvania, which has a deficit of US$2.3 billion, spends about US$3.5 billion per year on goods and services and about US$1.5 billion on public works and construction projects per year.

Governor Wolf stated:

"Pennsylvania is facing a $2.3 billion deficit and tackling that starts with state government finding innovative ways to increase efficiencies and streamline management. As a business owner, I had to constantly look for both savings through efficiency and ways to be innovative to better serve my customers. I did this, first and foremost, by getting input from my employees, which is exactly what we will now do in state government. Every day, workers on the front lines see inefficiencies and ways to improve efforts. If this is done right, the Commonwealth will see an immediate savings of $150 million and a long-term savings of hundreds of millions."

"In the coming weeks, we will announce even more plans for specific savings and innovations that will help us face our dire fiscal situation head-on. These plans will return money to the taxpayers, help reduce our deficit, and more efficiently deliver services to Pennsylvania's hardworking taxpayers."

The Governor's Office of Transformation, Innovation, Management and Efficiency will leverage inter-agency coordination and collaboration to maximize efficiency, modernize state government operations, and provide the highest quality services. In addition to better coordinating and broadening employee input, the initiatives also will include pursuing new opportunities to partner with the private sector and better leveraging collective buying and purchasing power.