Pennsylvania

The way Pennsylvania has treated its roads and bridges may represent the most extreme contrast in management performance within any state government in the country. Pennsylvania has always planned for infrastructure brilliantly and gathered data about its condition with energy and zeal. Then it has ignored the information and underfunded necessary maintenance.

The specifics are illuminating. The state has been collecting consistent data for both pavement and bridges for nearly two decades. Managers have access to pertinent details about every piece of the state’s network of 25,000 bridges and 40,000 miles of road. All the roads are assessed every two years; Pennsylvania may be the only state to do that. And the condition assessments are not paltry efforts. They count cracks, look at surface distress, and measure the quality of the ride.

Now for the rest of the story: Pennsylvania recently reported that it has $2.3 billion worth of deferred maintenance for the roadways and more than three times that for the bridges. Nearly a quarter of the bridges are labeled structurally deficient.

Money B+ Long-Term Outlook Budget Process Structural Balance Contracting/Purchasing Financial Controls/Reporting People B- Strategic Workforce Planning Hiring Retaining Employees Training and Development Managing Employee Performance Infrastructure B+ Capital Planning Project Monitoring Maintenance Internal Coordination Intergovernmental Coordination Information B Strategic Direction Budgeting for Performance Managing for Performance Program Evaluation Electronic Government • Population (rank): 12,281,054 (6) • Average per capita income (rank):    $31,998 (16) • Total state spending (rank):    $55,170,768,000 (4) • Spending per capita (rank):    $4,475 (25) • Governor: Edward Rendell (D) • First elected: 11/2002 • Senate: 50 members: 20 D, 30 R • Term Limits: None • House: 203 members: 93 D, 110 R • Term Limits: None

The good news here is that the legislature and administration finally appear ready to do something about the problem. Notably, the legislature has set up a special $1.1 billion budget dedicated to maintenance. The bridge problem will take a particularly long time to address, but as Gary Hoffman, deputy secretary of the state Highway Administration, explains, “our goal is to get to the national average of structurally deficient bridges — 10 percent — in about 20 years. That’s a long time. But when you’re talking about thousands of bridges, it’s long work.”

This significant and positive change to the historic way of doing things is unusual in Pennsylvania — a state known for its dedication to the tried and true, not just for infrastructure but for public management in general. “Pennsylvania has trouble doing anything that has not been statutorily or regulatorily defined,” says David Warfel, of the governor’s budget office.

Thus, for example, reasonable efforts at things such as cash and debt management have been in place for 20 years or more. Careful control over state finances has kept the books relatively well balanced most of the time — with the exception of some rather alarming projections in Medicaid, an issue that bedevils most states these days.

The state’s commitment to old ways has hurt it, however, in human resources. Although Pennsylvania has made good headway in using computers to speed up the hiring exam process, agency heads complain that the Civil Service Commission doesn’t always have a list of potential candidates available, and this can slow hiring down a lot. Meanwhile, the state is one of only a few that continue to give an absolute preference to veterans who apply for jobs. So however the qualifications may shake out, if, out of the three names supplied to an agency, one is a veteran, he or she is guaranteed the job.

Pennsylvania’s efforts to put information and services on its Web site have been exemplary, and it has made a valiant effort to upgrade its overall information technology with a totally integrated system over the past several years. Reactions among the state agencies to these changes have been mixed. Human resources managers seem positively ebullient about their new information system, but financial managers aren’t quite so enthusiastic. “We’re still in the early stages of using this software,” says one budget official. “And we keep trying to tack onto its potential. I think we’re getting better with each passing month.”

One particularly noteworthy management innovation in Pennsylvania has been an effort to take advantage of economies of scale by making purchases as a single entity, rather than a bunch of departmental fiefdoms. Pennsylvania now applies this approach to about $1 billion worth of its purchases. It’s heading quickly toward using it for the remaining $2 billion. The program is called “strategic sourcing,” but, says Donald Cunningham, the secretary of general services, “that’s just a fancy term for really smart consumer buying.”

So far the state is saving about $135 million a year this way. And that doesn’t even count some of the corollary benefits in areas such as personnel and warehousing. “We used to have 19 warehouses in the Harrisburg area,” says Cunningham. “That’s an absurd number. We now have four. And we’ve saved $4 million of operating costs on rent and energy.”

For additional data and analysis, go to: http://results.gpponline.org/pennsylvania

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