Rethinking how the state works.
Changing what it can do.
The Global Office of Public Delivery is a nonprofit institute. It works to improve how public services reach the people they are meant to serve.
Overview
Public delivery is the process by which a government decision becomes a service people can use.
It depends on laws, rules, funding, contracts, technology and the staff who operate them. Each of these affects who receives a service and how long it takes.
The Office studies how these parts work together and works with public institutions to improve them.
Common problems
- Barriers that keep eligible people from receiving benefits.
- Backlogs and unexplained delays.
- Funding that is difficult to spend for its approved purpose.
- Repeated collection of information that agencies already hold.
- Outcomes that depend on several offices with no shared view of the work.
Critical inquiry
Identifying the rules, contracts and handoffs that cause a service to fail.
Strategic design
Developing alternative rules, processes and approaches to procurement.
Technical practice
Building and testing those alternatives with real cases.
Direct delivery
Implementing changes with the responsible institution and publishing the results.
Principles
- Evidence
- Recommendations are based on direct study of how a service operates and on tests with real cases.
- Openness
- Findings, methods and teaching materials are published for public use.
- Shared responsibility
- The Office works with the responsible institution through implementation.
- Rights and accountability
- Changes to public services must protect people’s rights and maintain clear lines of accountability.
Artificial intelligence
Public institutions are adopting AI in decisions that affect access to services.
- Automation
- Delegation
- Authority
- Accountability
The Office examines which tasks are suitable for automation, how decisions are delegated, where authority sits and how accountability is maintained when AI systems are involved. Its findings are shared with public institutions.
Programs
Classes
Short courses for people who design, fund, manage and operate public services. Each course is based on real cases.
About classes →Delivery programs
Fixed-term programs in which the Office works with a public agency or community organization on an existing service problem. Results are published.
About delivery programs →Research fellows
Fixed-term fellowships for researchers and practitioners to study a single problem in public delivery. Fellows publish their work.
About fellowships →Contact
hello [at] gpo [dot] delivery