Receiving Technical Assistance

Applying for Technical Assistance

For more information about receiving technical assistance, please contact govlab@hks.harvard.edu. Cities, counties, and states interested in receiving GPL technical assistance on procurement projects should contact us at gplpen@hks.harvard.edu or visit the Procurement Excellence Network website to learn more. The application from a previous GPL national competition is available for reference here

Read About Our Assistance Model

The Harvard Kennedy School Government Performance Lab provides pro bono government-side technical assistance to state and local jurisdictions. This assistance includes an average of 12-15 months of technical services to help guide governments through the programmatic, budgetary, regulatory and procurement processes of project development and is comprised of these core components:

  • Intensive Staffing: Governments receive assistance from a GPL Government Innovation Fellow or GPL team member. GPL staff are recruited from the top public policy, law, and business schools from around the country, and have received training in benefit-cost analysis, evaluation design, management strategies, and negotiation techniques. Each team member is employed by the GPL and works with the government office or agency that is spearheading the program. GPL staff provide assistance both in coordinating the policy process and in performing technical analysis, report directly to each government’s designated project lead, and receive additional supervision from an experienced manager and Professor Jeffrey Liebman.

  • Access to Senior Technical Advisors: Governments receive additional support from the broader GPL team, including senior technical assistance and support from content area and methodological experts such as GPL Director Jeffrey Liebman, as well as direct assistance from an experienced Program Director who has already overseen one or more projects. The GPL’s Cambridge-based staff and senior advisors provide additional support as needed with data analysis, evaluation design, and implementation planning.

  • Knowledge Sharing, Government Partner Network, and Capacity Building: Governments participate in GPL training sessions and receive assistance designed to build internal capacity to undertake projects and sustain systems change work once formal engagement with the GPL concludes. The GPL also organizes a network of government partners so that officials can learn from one another’s experiences.

  • Assistance with Data Analysis: Resources for data matching and analysis are also made available to government agencies requiring this type of assistance. Extensive matching of data sets across agencies is often required to establish historic performance trends, analyze the amount of variability in these trends, and target individuals to be served by the government performance programs. Up to six months of programmer/data analyst time is made available to state and local governments, as needed.

Government Testimonials

See what a typical on-the-ground engagement might look like in this video on how the GPL supported Rhode Island with a workforce development project: 

Read more about what government and social sector leaders have to say about their GPL projects in our Innovator Interview Series: 

"I think the willingness to think differently made GPL unique for us. We had a bunch of resources that were offered to us, but they were very linear resources. We worked with some national child welfare foundations. They were very specific on policy. We had some financial consultants that cared about the numbers. I think what I had with my GPL team was people that crossed all those boundaries and can take a bigger picture look because government is not linear."

-- Jamia McDonald, former head of Rhode Island Department of Children, Youth, and Families

"The Government Performance Lab’s assistance has been so much more than our fellow, who we love. Our fellow is the ‘tip of the spear’ of GPL’s support, giving us access to valuable tools, expertise, and insights from the national GPL team. Every time I have a question about a broader systemic challenge we’re facing, GPL provides concrete advice and examples of solutions from other jurisdictions that are highly relevant to our work."

-Vickie Ybarra, Director of the Office of Innovation, Alignment, and Accountability at Washington State Department of Children, Youth, and Families