The Board of Regents released a list Wednesday of eight areas consultant Deloitte says will be the focus of the second phase of an effort to increase efficiency at the three state-supporterd universities. Regents spokesperson, Sheila Doyle Koppin, spoke with reporters about the information. “These represent the areas where Deloitte is the most confident with the potential opportunities for efficiencies. Deloitte’s focus in phase two will be a deeper analysis of these eight opportunities and development of business cases, with the cots, benefits and implementation considerations for each,” Koppin says.
The eight areas are: Sourcing & Procurement (purchasing practices); Academic Programs; Information Technology Services; Facilities; Finance; Human Resources; Strategic Space Utilization and Student Services. Koppin says the consultants will now move to phase two. “To officially kick off phase two we will once again hold town hall public forums as each of the universities during the weeks of June 16th and June 23rd,” Koppin says. “The purpose of the public forums is for the campus community and the general to asks questions, express concerns, provide input and gain additional information on Deloitte’s phase two review.”
The information released is very general and gives no estimates on how much money the schools could save in each area. Koppin says they are not putting any numbers on any of the areas at this point. “No, there are no preconceived notions with respect to the dollars to be saved, and much of this needs much more time — has yet to be determined,” Koppin says.
Regent Larry McKibben chairs the committee that has been working on the issue, and told the board he expects to see a six to ten times the investment in the study returned in savings. The Board of Regents has already approved $3.5 million for the review.
The review started with a focus of over 100 areas and was narrowed down to the final eight. The sports operations at University of Iowa, Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa were not in the final cut.
“Athletics was reviewed in phase one, but it was not chosen in phase two for further review,” Koppin says.
The phase two forums will begin on June 16th at the University of Northern Iowa. The second is at the University of Iowa on June 19th and the final forum is at Iowa State University on June 24th. You can see the complete summary of the phase one report on the board’s website at: www.regents.iowa.gov.