By Susan Robertson
When representing the UT value of Bold and Impactful, the Institute for Public Service (IPS) meets its mark, having averaged more than $1.4 billion in customer-reported economic impact during the past seven years; and reporting a record-setting $1.9 billion in economic impact in fiscal year 2022. Much of the impact is a result of the APEX Accelerator government contracting program within the Center for Industrial Services (CIS), one of IPS’s six agencies. APEX counselors advise businesses, many of which are veteran or minority-owned, on how to secure contracts with government agencies. Since 2020, APEX counselors have assisted with more than 6,945 contracts, totaling $5.8 billion. It results in more than 114,400 jobs created or retained.
“The expertise, hard work and dedication of our employees across the state results in tremendous impact for all Tennesseans,” said IPS Vice President Herb Byrd. “We’re privileged to carry out a part of the outreach mission of the University of Tennessee and are dedicated to sharing University resources and knowledge with public service entities, businesses, and citizens of Tennessee.”
The Naifeh Center for Effective Leadership also contributes to the institute’s overall economic impact through its certified public manager program. The purpose of the program is to provide a comprehensive, competency-based, nationally certified development program for all managers from state and local government organizations, universities and those from business and industry who desire this training and certification.
At the conclusion of the certified public manager program, participants present a capstone project. Many of these projects end up saving or earning participants’ organizations a significant amount of money. The recently completed class presented its capstones in December and reported an economic impact of more than $217 million.
While not part of the reported IPS economic impact metric, additional economic impact comes from other CIS programs as well as the county technical assistance service and municipal technical advisory service consulting with local governments in such areas as public works, highway services, public safety and financial services. By using one of these agencies instead of private consulting companies, counties and municipalities are able to save money, resulting in economic impact for their organizations.
To put the reported economic impact of IPS programs into perspective, each $1 million of IPS revenue results in a return to Tennessee of over $53.5 million of additional income or savings. Now that’s Bold and Impactful!
Tags: Institute for Public Service, IPS
