Government Restructuring in an Efficient and Sustainable Way

In government, inefficient administrative processes lead to serious delays, redundant procedures, high operating costs and, ultimately, a loss of public confidence. It is of utmost importance to address these issues, since they not only affect people’s quality of life, but also hinder economic development by inhibiting private investment. In order to move towards meaningful transformation, it is vital to analyze international success stories, implement industrial engineering principles, and foster inter-agency collaboration.

An example case can be observed in Estonia, a country that has managed to digitize 100% of its public services, including sensitive proceedings as a divorce (European Commission, n.d.; PR Newswire, 2021). This process of extensive digital reengineering not only helped significantly reduce administrative costs, but also promoted transparency and bolstered public confidence. It also positioned Estonia as a global benchmark in digital government, illustrating how technological innovation can have a positive impact on public administration.

In the context of Puerto Rico, Executive Order OE-2025-009 addresses the need to redesign and upgrade public services. With this in mind, industrial engineering stands out as a key player. Its scientific approach to problem solving can drive the transformation of government processes to streamline them and make them more citizen oriented. Similarly, the collaboration between industrial engineers and experts in other disciplines (systems/software engineering, public administration, data science, etc.) is essential for digitizing transactions and ensuring interoperability between different agencies.

In this endeavor, academic institutions play a decisive role. Through of professional practices or internships, industrial engineering students have the opportunity to be directly involved in the redesign of processes, developing efficiency indicators and proposing creative solutions to the bottlenecks and inefficiencies identified. This involvement is equally beneficial for academia, as it brings theory closer to the real environment and links education to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. In terms of the government, engaging with emerging professionals provides an opportunity to receive up-to-date diagnostics, apply the latest methodologies and, eventually, to have highly trained personnel who can help strengthen institutions.

However, any restructuring process that seeks to downsize should be undertaken with caution, prioritizing an exhaustive analysis of each procedure and the associated workloads. For this purpose, it is advisable to take the following aspects into account:

Mapping processes and prioritizing services. Identify redundancies and unnecessary steps through a detailed analysis of activities. Define urgency and citizen demand criteria to focus resources strategically.

Automation and interoperability. Integrate technologies to replace manual processes and reduce the workload. Connect agencies through shared systems to avoid duplicate efforts and streamline management.

Responsible transition and training. Design relocation and training plans for remaining personnel to lessen the impact on human resources. Establish clear internal communications and foster trust, reinforcing motivation and performance.

Process automation and digitization prove that it is possible to build a more streamlined, efficient, and transparent government. By incorporating the methodologies of industrial engineering, with the collaboration of academic institutions and professionals in the field, it is possible to achieve a solid transformation aimed at the wellbeing of the community.

María García Sandoval, PhD
Director and Professor
Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering