Brian Calio, Department of Health and Human Services

Mr. Calio created the DHSS Fleet Optimization Project Team, to bring efficiency gains to the acquisition and retention of DHSS Blocked vehicles. The project has been able to identify underutilized vehicles, suggest fleet reductions to leadership, and reduce the number of underutilized vehicles. As a result of the Fleet Optimization Project, DHSS has reduced its fleet vehicles by 40 in 2022. This translates into a one-year cost savings of $299,000. Per OMB rules, each blocked fleet vehicle is a cost commitment of seven years, so this represents a seven-year cost savings of $1,603,000.

The DLC Support Portal Team: Darlene Hicken-Gott, James Robinson, and Ashley Kavanagh, Department of Human Resources

The Delaware Learning Center (DLC) is the State’s learning management system and is managed by a team of three employees: Jim Robinson, Ashley Kavanagh, and Darlene Hicken-Gott. This small team supports over 90 State agency training programs and oversees 350,000 training registrations. And since 2015, the number of users increased from 10,000 to 42,000. To manage these increases, they implemented the DLC Support Portal application. Working closely with the Department of Technology and Information, they were able to complete the project in just five months. Since implementation, over 1,700 request-for-assistance cases have been processed, and the number of open cases has been reduced by 25%.

Tonia Muncey, Department of Services for Children, Youth and their Families

The percentage of Delaware’s clients who are eligible for federal IV-E funding compared to the state’s total foster care population (Penetration Rate) was low compared to other states. This resulted in reduced federal funding and administrative claims. Ms. Muncey voluntarily conducted an in-depth study of this issue on her own time to determine what steps the department could take internally to improve. She produced a comprehensive report of her findings and implemented a plan to carry out seven of the recommendations from her report. As a result of her efforts, the department has seen a 9% improvement in our Penetration Rate for Foster Care in just one year.

Larry Trunfio, Department of Human Resources

Mr. Trunfio designed the Continuous Improvement Practitioner (CIP) program, a statewide training program created to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of government processes and programs in Delaware. This program is part of the iLEAD Delaware Leadership Program and includes training on Lean process improvement, change management, and project management. Since its implementation, 70 employees completed the program and are leading 81% of the projects tracked by GEAR with a projected cost savings of $56M. The CIP Program is also an employee retention strategy as participants appreciate the investment in their development and the positive impacts of the training to employees personally and professionally.

James T. Vaughn American Correctional Association Accreditation Team: Renee Gutowski, Kara Austin, Damaris Slawik, Chelsey Pernic, and Michael Trader, Department of Correction

With the assistance of this multi-disciplinary team, the James T. Vaughn Correctional Center (JTVCC) completed a years-long effort to secure its first-ever national accreditation through the American Correctional Association (ACA). To prepare for this accreditation, the ACA Accreditation Team of Kara Austin, Renee Gutowski, Chelsey Pernic, Damaris Slawik, and Michael Trader took on the extra responsibilities of conducting best practice analysis, developing and reviewing internal policies, and implementing a comprehensive work plan to ensure that the facility met and exceeded all of the standards evaluated by the ACA. Their efforts resulted in a unanimous vote in August 2022 by the ACA Commission on Accreditation to award accreditation. JTVCC was compliant with 100% of applicable mandatory standards and 99.5% of applicable non-mandatory standards. This is the highest score ever achieved by a Delaware prison facility.