The Indiana Department of Administration has saved Hoosier taxpayers about $37.6 million over its first six months under Gov. Braun’s leadership, his office announced.
The agency, which manages state assets, has also identified about $72.2 million in previously anticipated expenses that it will now “avoid.”
Braun said a pair of efficiency executive orders “are paying off.”
“We’re finding a lot of things in many of the nooks and crannies of our own state government,” he told reporters at a news conference Wednesday.
Contract renegotiations, for example, saved $1.4 million and prevented $37 million in projected spending, Braun continued.
Reforming the state’s approach to procurement — using national price benchmarks and “smarter processes” — saved $2.3 million and cut $31.8 million from future expenditures, according to a news release issued last week.
The state also launched an in-house procurement management dashboard “at no cost” and plans to establish “advanced category and vendor management systems.”
Such moves align with a recent state law that increases upper-level scrutiny of state contracting.
Reassigning vehicles across agencies saved another $2.1 million and “avoid(ed) unnecessary purchases,” the release continued.
The state still pursued additional fleet vehicles, but at a discount.
Braun’s office said it “leverag(ed) utilization data and bulk purchasing” in its pre-tariff bargaining to save $1.4 million and steer clear of future costs. The release asserted that this move “eliminated $37 million in Motor Pool expenses” over the two-year budget cycle and “reclaimed” 50 administrative staff hours.
The administration has also negotiated $240,000 in lease rebates, with a deal “underway” to eliminate $1.2 million in utility costs.
Nearly 400 surplus items were also redistributed, while 705 computers were earmarked for school corporations. Combined with “improved surplus sales processes,” this generated $1.6 million in revenue and an additional $615,000 in cost avoidance for local units of government, according to the release.
Braun touted the state’s improving fiscal outlook — an expected $337 million surplus — but said the push for efficiency was still necessary.
Asked about layoffs and service cuts, he said, “Our agencies, they had grown over time in a way that wasn’t sustainable. … That still needs to occur, because if we are not running state government efficiently and in a sustainable way, we can’t make the investments, whether it’s in public health, whether it’s in education.”
Agency Commissioner Brandon Clifton told reporters that the direct savings would likely be reverted to the General Fund.
“This is just the beginning,” he said of the push to save.
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