Openness and platform state through State Startups

Presentation of the French government Digital Services Incubator at the 9th European Quality Conference, organised under Malta’s presidency. The central theme was “Joining forces and breaking silos towards a better performing, transparent and inclusive public administration.”

Transcript

1. Openness and platform state
   through State Startups
   France
   Matti Schneider
   May 15th, 2017
   1
   Thanks for joining! I will present one way in which the French
   government tackles topics such as open data, open government,
   digital transformation and makes them into an opportunity… and
   how you can do the very same thing in your own administration!
   

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2. Prime minister services
   ~800 agents
   SGMAP
   ~240 agents
   DIAT
   ~120 agents
   DINSIC
   ~120 agents
   beta.gouv.fr
   ~10 agents
   Étalab
   ~10 agents
   PMR
   ~10 agents
   100% contacts
   ~10 agents
   Futurs publics
   ~10 agents
   Local labs
   ~10 agents
   … …
   2
   - la direction interministérielle pour l’accompagnement des
   transformations publiques (DIAT) ;
   - la direction interministérielle du numérique et du système d'information
   et de communication de l'Etat (DINSIC)
   - 100% contacts: introductions to user-centered design.
   - Futurs publics: join all actors of modernisation in administration.
   National and local get-togethers.
   - Local labs: 12 local labs for 13 regions in France. Akin to Laboratorio de
   Gobierno (CL) and Policy Lab (UK).
   - PMR: risk management, allowed to suspend and audit any IT project
   above 9M€.
   - Étalab: open data.
   - I will focus on beta.gouv.fr, the French digital services incubator. Our aim
   is to deliver digital public services through State Startups.
   

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3. beta.gouv.fr
   ~10 agents
   3
   The count of civil servants is not the proper way to assess our
   headcount. We bring and mix talents also thanks to a mix of
   engagement routes.
   What’s important is that we work in the heart of the State.
   

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4. beta.gouv.fr
   ~10 agents
   4
   Our aim is to spread the culture of digital innovation throughout
   the administration. We do this through State Startups.
   

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5. Team
   interdisciplinary
   autonomous
   2–4 people
   Mission
   one friction
   6 months
   < 200k€
   5
   State Startups
   What’s a “State Startup”, beyond “an oxymoron”?
   No capital investment, no separate juridical entity: a match between a
   team and a mission.
   The very first State Startup was the new French OpenData portal
   data.gouv.fr, June 2013. Now over 25. I won’t present the whole
   portfolio today, but only a few select examples. We will discuss the
   extent of the initiative tomorrow morning in the in-depth workshop.
   

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6. Team
   interdisciplinary
   autonomous
   2–4 people
   Mission
   one friction
   6 months
   < 200k€
   6
   State Startup
   D E M O
   Interactive demonstration: data.gouv.fr offers not only a catalog of
   open datasets, but is actually a full-fledged social network allowing
   reusers to connect with producers of open data, thus providing
   feedback loops and improving the quality of the data as well as the
   interest of the producers in the process.
   

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7. M E S - A I D E S . G O U V. F R
   O N L I N E C O M P U TAT I O N O F F R E N C H S O C I A L B E N E F I T S
   7
   Here is another example: a web application that helps citizens know which
   benefits they are eligible to.
   The base friction is that of “non-recours” to social benefits. That is, not
   claiming benefits people have a right to! In 2008, 80% of people eligible to
   financial help for health insurance (“ACS”) did not ask for it. 68% of low-
   income workers who were eligible to a complement of revenue did not ask
   for it.
   After several months of research, the answer was to consolidate all forms
   in a single claim file. However, many administrations are involved in giving
   the benefits. And each of them has different rules for giving them! So the
   final paper form ended up with a dozen sheets and thus a terrible user
   experience.
   That’s when we started incubating a State Startup.
   

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8. 8
   This application has been available at mes-aides.gouv.fr since
   September 2014.
   

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9. 9
   We simply ask for a few basic information, such as your age and
   nationality.
   

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10. 10
    Same questions for your children and spouse, if you have any.
    

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11. 11
    First version was in construction under six months, introduced by the
    President of Republic.
    Then, “consolidation”. We scale the service iteratively by increasing
    audience, scope, partners…
    

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12. 12
    We started with 7 benefits, with some specific situations unhandled
    (~70 tests). We now have 25, always more precise (600+ tests).
    How do we scale? Strategy is delivery! Make public early, collect
    feedback, iterate, be open.
    I can detail this more later if you’re interested.
    We use the same approach for very different topics. The very same
    open computation engine powers a service targeting companies.
    

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13. 13
    embauche.beta.gouv.fr
    Here, we created an embeddable widget that computes the cost
    of hiring an employee, with all taxes and refunds included.
    You can see that this widget is very simple.
    

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14. 14
    It is so it can be embedded in any layout and made available to
    employers in their ecosystem. We want to solve a friction, not to create
    new official portals with partial information.
    

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15. 15
    Here is the widget embedded in the website of a private startup that
    helps SMEs make their business plan.
    We produced the first public version of this tool under 6 months and
    one full-time person.
    Now in more than 8 different partner websites.
    

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16. 16
    Free & Open-Source software
    github.com/sgmap/cout-embauche
    Open Source
    What’s important to understand is that this tool can be used for free by
    any entity (administration, association, commercial…). We create a
    digital common that makes law computable.
    However, distributing for free doesn’t mean “without any counterpart”.
    We replace the monetary counterpart by a contribution counterpart:
    every improvement that is made by a user must be offered back to the
    community. We then merge those we find useful for all.
    This is how we intend to scale the development of the more exotic
    rules.
    

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17. 17
    Open Source
    Open Data
    Source
    API
    Open s
    So, the creation of shiny services drives administrations to understand
    the value of opening up. We are the first reusers, the first consumers of
    some internal data, that we get access to in order to solve a known
    problem, and we use this opportunity to apply best engineering
    practices, which mean… opening APIs.
    API stands for…
    

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18. 18
    Source
    A
    P
    I
    pplication
    rogramming
    nterface
    Open Source
    Open Data
    Open
    Lets machines access information automatically. Allows for
    interconnection of systems that were not designed to interconnect in
    the first place.
    

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19. 19
    Source
    A
    P
    I
    pplication
    rogramming
    nterface
    Open Source
    Open Data
    Open
    D E M O
    Demonstration of api.gouv.fr and how any administration or private
    entity can access geographical information through unified, simple
    services.
    By making public services reply to queries and take actions through
    APIs, we are making the State a platform.
    Example case: obtaining the name of regions straight from a register
    queriable over the internet, all the way from discovering the register to
    obtaining the information. Explanation of the aggregated data sources
    that span across several agencies.
    By making public services reply to queries and take actions through
    APIs, we are making the State a platform.
    

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20. State Startups
    1. Start with a
    friction.
    2. Learn,
    make,
    repeat.
    3. Are built
    together.
    4. Take
    advantage of
    uncertainty.
    20
    Friction / Iteration / Collaboration / Agility.
    Nothing magical, only a different approach to risk management. The
    administration is usually focused on reducing uncertainty. We accept
    uncertainty and use it to, somehow paradoxically, reduce risk.
    There’s an increased risk of execution, but you will know it much
    earlier, and thus decrease the risk of delivering something no one really
    cares about, or delivering something that made sense two years ago
    but is already obsolete.
    So, we accept the risk of failure. At small scales, iterations may fail. But
    startups themselves may “fail”.
    However, we mitigate failure through openness. And here is the second
    half of the strategy.
    

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21. On a conceptual scale, this is obviously very similar to UK’s GDS initiative, even though in
    the last months it did lose momentum. I know for sure that modernisation initiatives are
    present in most member states. Estonia is already strongly digital and doesn't need such
    initiatives. Italy has created an agency, Agid, which could apply these practices. Lithuania is
    getting to it.
    I’m happy to say that applying these principles allows for highly spreadable and reusable
    innovation. The engine of data.gouv.fr now powers data.public.lu, the OpenData portal of
    Luxembourg.
    OpenFisca, the computing engine that powers Mes Aides and the Hiring Cost widget, can
    be used by any state. Tunisia and Sénégal already started modelling their tax and benefit
    system, and we have been contacted last month by the City of Barcelona, Catalunya, who
    wants to offer a social benefits estimator.
    If your State has a central modernisation or digitalisation agency, it is the perfect place to
    start applying these principles to foster innovation and deliver high quality services on a
    small budget. If not, then it could be an opportunity: this can be tried in any agency, on any
    administrative level.
    

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22. 22
    Matti Schneider matti.schneider@beta.gouv.fr @matti_sg
    Grazzi! Merci ! Thank You !
    Thanks for your attention.
    

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