Advancing Multi-Sector Partnerships: Improving Outcomes and Productivity

 

The governing landscape of the 21st century is defined by interconnected challenges that span traditional boundaries: cyber threats, public health emergencies, infrastructure demands, and technological advancements that reshape public expectations. U.S. federal leaders increasingly recognize that durable progress cannot be achieved within single agencies or sectors. “The complexity of modern governance necessities innovative collaborative approaches that bridge traditional bureaucratic divides."

Multi-sector partnerships have emerged as operational necessities driven by budget constraints, rapid technological change, and increasingly complex challenges. Yet evolving political, fiscal, and social dynamics, including fluctuating trust in government and funding uncertainties, necessitate serious reexamination of how these partnerships are structured, managed, and sustained.

The stakes are considerable. Effective multi-sector collaboration can unlock innovation, enhance service delivery, and build resilience, while poorly designed partnerships risk duplicating efforts and creating accountability gaps. To understand how federal leaders can realize these benefits, government leaders and stakeholders can assess both the mechanisms of collaboration and the conditions that enable them to thrive. IBM Center research demonstrates that practical insights into collaborative governance are essential for building a more effective public sector.

The federal government can advance multi-sector partnerships to improve outcomes and productivity. Key dimensions of multi-sector partnerships include public-private collaborations, intergovernmental coordination, whole-of-government strategies, collaborative governance incentives, and future-oriented partnerships shaped by strategic foresight.

Public-Private Partnerships and Collaborative Networks: Building Bridges for Innovation

Public-private partnerships (PPPs) have demonstrated remarkable success in infrastructure development, technology deployment, and service delivery across federal agencies. These collaborations harness private sector innovation, efficiency, and capital while maintaining public sector oversight and accountability. However, structuring sustainable PPPs requires careful attention to underlying conditions that ensure their success.

Effective public-private partnerships extend beyond contractual agreements. Trust between partners, aligned vision, appropriate risk-sharing, and adequate funding form the bedrock of successful collaborations. Well-designed PPPs extend government capabilities without requiring substantial increases in public spending, particularly valuable during budget deficits and spending freezes.[2]

Recent federal initiatives illustrate these benefits. The Department of Veterans Affairs has deepened collaboration with technology firms and nonprofit service providers to modernize digital access for veterans. Joint efforts to enhance VA.gov, strengthen telehealth, and expand digital inclusion demonstrate how combining federal mission leadership with private technical talent can significantly improve service experience and uptake.[3]

Similarly, NOAA’s growing reliance on commercial satellite operators for radio occultation data, hyperspectral imagery, and advanced modeling tools reflects a shift toward multi-sector data ecosystems.[4] By leveraging private-sector sensor innovation and analytic capacity, NOAA has enhanced climate and weather forecasting precision while avoiding major capital costs associated with solely government-owned systems. This partnership model directly strengthens public safety, environmental resilience, and fiscal stewardship.

USDA’s expansion of online purchasing for SNAP beneficiaries highlights how federal–state–retail partnerships can simultaneously broaden access and improve operational effectiveness.[5] By coordinating with state agencies, large retailers, and e-commerce platforms, USDA rapidly scaled digital purchasing options for millions of households. This widened program reaches without increasing federal overhead and used private distribution networks to deliver public value more efficiently.

While federal examples dominate the partnership landscape, state-level innovations offer equally valuable lessons. An interesting state example is the TEXpress Lanes project in the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area, a PPP between the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) and a private consortium led by Ferrovial.[6] This multisector approach—combining state government oversight, private engineering expertise, and local economic stakeholders—has reduced congestion by providing faster travel options, generated over $20.2 billion in economic impact for Texas, supported 104,500 jobs, and contributed $5.9 billion in wages.

In the realm of defense technology, the Pentagon has partnered with private firms like Microsoft and Anduril for the Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS) program, with significant advancements in 2024-2025. This multisector effort focuses on developing augmented reality headsets for military use, where Anduril manages hardware and software production, and Microsoft provides cloud infrastructure via Azure for data processing and workloads.[7]

These examples reinforce that multi-sector partnerships are foundational to modern governance. They extend federal reach, accelerate innovation, and enable government to deliver high-quality outcomes at scale—demonstrating why advancing multi-sector partnerships stands as one of the five pillars of government effectiveness.

Intergovernmental Coordination: Bridging Jurisdictional Divides

Effective coordination across federal, state, and local jurisdictions remains one of governance's most persistent challenges. Policy misalignment, resource disparities, and declining trust create barriers to collaboration—yet emergency management, infrastructure development, public health, and public safety demand coordinated intergovernmental responses.

The COVID-19 pandemic starkly illustrated both the necessity and difficulty of intergovernmental coordination. Federal partnerships with pharmaceutical companies, logistics firms, state health departments, and local providers facilitated rapid vaccine development and distribution, while also revealing significant gaps in coordination and data sharing that continue to inform improvement efforts—lessons that continue to inform efforts to strengthen intergovernmental collaboration.[8]

Beyond emergency response, successful intergovernmental coordination extends to financial transparency and data modernization. The DATA Act implementation[9] illustrated this potential by aligning federal agencies, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and the Treasury Department around a unified vision for governmentwide financial transparency. The law required agencies to adopt common data standards, enabling consistent reporting across the entire federal enterprise. This included collaborative town halls and pilot programs engaging state and local entities to reduce duplication and administrative burdens. Together, these efforts showcased how coordinated action across levels of government can modernize data, strengthen accountability, and improve public transparency.

When state and local leaders trust that federal partners respect their expertise, understand local contexts, and can provide sustained support, they engage more fully in collaborative initiatives. Conversely, when trust erodes, whether due to shifting federal priorities, inconsistent funding, or perceived federal overreach, intergovernmental partnerships struggle to achieve their objectives.

The IBM Center report on Improving Performance with Intergovernmental Grants: Lessons from the Continuum of Care Homeless Assistance Program offers a case study of a program that sought to reduce homelessness in participating areas through coordinated efforts.[10] The report demonstrates how improved coordination, integrated data systems, and shared performance measures can align incentives and enhance outcomes. By moving from fragmented grant administration to coordinated local planning with clear metrics, the program strengthened federal-local collaboration and improved service delivery. Key lessons include the use of performance-based funding to incentivize collaboration, ensuring that federal grants are tied to measurable outcomes like housing placement rates. These insights translate well to other domains in which joint responsibility is essential—public safety, climate adaptation, and environmental protection among them.

Scalable models for intergovernmental collaboration must address several critical factors: establishing clear roles and responsibilities across jurisdictional boundaries, creating sustainable funding mechanisms, developing shared information systems, and implementing joint accountability frameworks.

Whole-of-Government Approaches: Breaking Down Organizational Silos

Whole-of-government approaches align federal agencies around shared missions and create unified strategies for issues that cut across department boundaries—increasingly important given interconnected federal missions.

FEMA offers one example of a “whole of government” approach for emergency response. The agency strives to adopt a whole community approach that “attempts to engage the full capacity of the private and nonprofit sectors—including businesses, faith-based and disability organizations, and the American public—in conjunction with the participation of state, local, tribal, territorial, and federal governmental partners."[11] As noted in Partnering for resilience: A practical approach to emergency preparedness, working across sectors with differing values, attitudes, operating models, and accountability mechanisms is not easy, but recognizing and pursuing the value that can be delivered through partnerships is critical to the strength of the network.[12]

The Department of Homeland Security illustrates this dynamic through collaborations with logistics companies, infrastructure operators, and private technology providers that enhance preparedness and coordinate supply chain resilience. FEMA notes that public-private collaboration is critical for "improving information sharing and coordination within supply chain networks, thereby enhancing preparedness and response activities."[13]

The IBM Center report Cross-Agency Collaboration: A Case Study of Cross-Agency Priority Goals demonstrates how structured cross-agency mechanisms developed under the GPRA Modernization Act helped federal leaders establish shared goals, performance indicators, and governance frameworks.[14] Cross-Agency Priority (CAP) Goals improved transparency, strengthened interagency accountability, and provided clear roadmaps for complex mission areas. Successful CAP Goals feature strong leadership commitment, dedicated coordination mechanisms, shared performance metrics, and resources explicitly allocated for collaborative activities.

Similarly, another IBM Center report Addressing Complex and Cross-Boundary Challenges in Government: The Value of Strategy Mapping illustrates how strategy mapping enables agencies to visualize cross-boundary dependencies, identify leverage points, and align investments. "Strategy management-at-scale is a boundary-crossing process designed to create direction, alignment, and commitment across agencies and among independent organizations at the scale of the challenge or issue to be addressed."[15] This approach transforms abstract commitments to collaboration into concrete operational plans with clear accountability.

Data-sharing agreements constitute a critical enabler of whole-of-government collaboration. The IBM Center report Silo Busting: The Challenges and Successes of Intergovernmental Data Sharing examines how agencies can overcome legal, technical, and cultural barriers to sharing information.[16] Effective data sharing requires not only technical infrastructure but also governance frameworks that address privacy concerns, establish data standards, and create incentives for agencies to contribute to shared platforms. When implemented effectively, integrated data systems enable agencies to develop comprehensive understanding of complex problems and coordinate interventions more effectively.

Additional mechanisms can support more cohesive governance structures across agencies. The IBM Center's research identifies joint budgeting processes, outcome-based performance metrics, and data-sharing agreements as tools worthy of further study for their potential to enable cross-agency collaboration. These mechanisms represent areas where research into what governance frameworks and tools (e.g., portfolio budgeting, data-sharing platforms, operational procedures) can best support whole-of-government collaboration across federal agencies could yield valuable insights for practitioners.[17]

Sustaining whole-of-government collaboration requires appropriate organizational infrastructure and human capital. Cross-boundary collaboration demands skills in negotiation, stakeholder engagement, systems thinking, and change management—competencies often underemphasized in traditional public administration training. Moreover, institutional knowledge critical to maintaining partnerships can be lost during workforce turnover. Developing succession planning processes, creating communities of practice, and implementing knowledge management systems can help preserve collaborative capacity despite personnel changes.

Incentives for Collaborative Governance: Aligning Structures with Collaborative Objectives

Collaboration depends fundamentally on incentives that encourage individuals and organizations to invest time and resources in partnership activities. However, traditional government incentive structures often inadvertently discourage collaboration by rewarding individual agency performance, creating competition for resources, and failing to recognize contributions to collective outcomes.

Career incentives for federal employees typically emphasize advancement within single agencies rather than cross-agency expertise. Cross-agency rotation programs and collaborative leadership tracks offer potential remedies by creating career paths that value boundary-spanning work.

Team-based rather than individual reward systems can shift organizational culture toward collaboration. Implementing such systems requires careful design to maintain individual accountability while recognizing collaborative contributions.

Funding structures profoundly influence partnership dynamics. When agencies must compete for limited resources, collaboration becomes more difficult as organizations prioritize protecting their budgets over pursuing shared objectives. Alternative funding mechanisms—such as collaborative innovation funds, cross-agency pooled resources, or incentive grants for partnership activities—can create financial rewards for collaboration.

Financial and regulatory mechanisms must ensure that partnerships remain resilient amid funding uncertainties. Multi-year funding commitments, flexible budget authorities that allow resources to flow across organizational boundaries, and regulatory frameworks that facilitate rather than impede collaboration all contribute to sustainable partnerships. In resource-constrained environments, agencies need clear guidance on how to structure partnerships that maximize public value while managing fiscal risks appropriately.

Performance measurement[18] frameworks must evolve to assess multi-sector initiatives effectively. Traditional metrics often focus on outputs easily attributable to single agencies rather than outcomes requiring collaborative action. Developing meaningful metrics for partnership performance requires identifying indicators that capture collective impact, establishing baseline measurements, and implementing systems for tracking progress over time. This requires not only technical measurement capabilities but also cultural shifts in how agencies define success. When agencies measure only their individual contributions rather than collective outcomes, partnerships struggle to demonstrate value, making it difficult to sustain political and financial support for collaborative initiatives.

Strategic Foresight and Future-Oriented Partnerships

Effective partnerships must look beyond immediate challenges to anticipate future disruptions and opportunities. Strategic foresight, the systematic exploration of possible futures and their implications, can offer a framework for designing resilient partnerships capable of adapting to evolving circumstances.[19]

Scenario planning enables partners to explore multiple possible futures and develop robust strategies across different potential conditions. Rather than assuming a single predictable trajectory, scenario planning acknowledges uncertainty and helps organizations prepare for various contingencies. For partnerships, this approach can identify which collaborative structures remain effective across different scenarios and which require modification as circumstances change.

Emerging technologies—from artificial intelligence to quantum computing—will fundamentally reshape how government operates and what citizens expect from public services. Future-oriented partnerships must therefore include technology providers, academic institutions, and civic organizations in ongoing dialogue about responsible innovation, ethical frameworks, and capability development. Agencies that engage these stakeholders early and continuously will be better positioned to harness technological advances while managing associated risks.

Learning from successful partnership[20] models provide crucial insights for designing future collaborations. Operation Warp Speed, the public-private partnership that accelerated COVID-19 vaccine development, demonstrates how clear objectives, adequate resources, streamlined regulatory processes, and strong leadership can enable rapid innovation through collaboration. This initiative brought together federal agencies, pharmaceutical companies, logistics firms, and research institutions around a shared timeline and measurable milestones—a model that can inform future efforts requiring rapid multi-sector mobilization.

Cultural and structural change remains essential for embedding collaborative approaches into government operations. Leadership commitment, organizational learning systems, and institutional frameworks that support rather than hinder partnership activities all contribute to sustaining collaborative capacity over time.

Conclusion: Toward a More Collaborative Public Sector

Advancing multi-sector partnerships represents a central imperative for effective governance in the 21st century. The challenges facing American government cannot be addressed through individual agencies or sectors working in isolation.

The path forward requires sustained commitment to developing robust governance frameworks, enhancing data-sharing capabilities, leveraging emerging technologies, fostering whole-of-government coordination, aligning incentive structures with collaborative objectives, and cultivating strategic foresight. Each of these elements contributes to building a more resilient, innovative, and effective public sector capable of meeting contemporary challenges. The federal government stands at an inflection point. Challenges grow in complexity while expectations for responsive governance rise. Meeting this moment requires more than incremental improvements to existing partnerships—it demands a fundamental reorientation toward collaboration as the default mode of operation. By embracing multi-sector partnerships as a cornerstone of modern governance, federal leaders can build a public sector worthy of the challenges ahead and the citizens it serves. By embracing multi-sector partnerships as a cornerstone of governance, federal leaders can build a public sector worthy of the challenges ahead.

Footnotes 

[1] IBM Center for The Business of Government, Research Announcement 2025–26, 7, https://www.businessofgovernment.org/sites/default/files/Center%20Research%20Announcement.pdf.

[2] The White House Archives, “Public-Private Partnerships and Resource Optimization,” obamawhitehouse.archives.gov.

[3] U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. (2025, November 20). Powered by AI, VA is improving Veteran care experience. VA News. https://news.va.gov/143486/powered-by-ai-improving-veteran-care-experience/ and Congress.gov. (2025). Closing the Data Gap: Improving Interoperability Between VA and Community Providers. https://www.congress.gov/event/119th-congress/house-event/118027.

[4] eoPortal Directory. (2025). Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS). https://www.eoportal.org/satellite-missions/noaa-20 and Lindsey, D. T., et al. (2024). GeoXO: NOAA’s Future Geostationary Satellite System. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 105(3), E660–E679. https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-23-0048.1.

[5] Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. (2020, May 28). SNAP boosts retailers and local economies. https://www.cbpp.org/research/food-assistance/snap-boosts-retailers-and-local-economies.

[6] Jonathan L Gifford, Shanjiang Zhu, Daniel Grimaldi, Delivery methods, risk sharing, standards and performance for construction, operations, and management: The TEXpress managed lanes system (Dallas-Ft. Worth, Texas, Case Studies on Transport Policy, Volume 12, 2023), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cstp.2023.101016.

[7] Amelia Hui, In an Age of Convergence: Public-Private Partnerships in Defence R&D (Waterloo, ON: Centre for International Governance Innovation, 2025), https://www.cigionline.org/documents/3558/DPH-paper-Hui_K7vuaM8.pdf.

[8] Katherine Barrett, Richard Greene, and Donald F. Kettl, Managing the Next Crisis: Twelve Principles for Dealing With Viral Uncertainty, (Washington, DC: IBM Center for The Business of Government, 2021), 13, www.businessofgovernment.org/sites/default/files/Managing%20The%20Next%20Crisis-%20Twelve%20Principles%20For%20Dealing%20With%20Viral%20Uncertainty.pdf.

[9] The Business of Government Hour Interview—­Reflections on Public Service with Dave Lebryk, December 2025.

[10] Juliet Musso, J. Woody Stanley, and Jordy Coutin, Improving Performance with Intergovernmental Grants: Lessons from the Continuum of Care Homeless Assistance Program (Washington, DC: IBM Center for The Business of Government, 2023), 15.

[11] “A Whole Community Approach to Emergency Management: Principles, Themes, and Pathways for Action.” FEMA. FDOC 104-008-1. December 2011, https://www.fema.gov/sites/ default/files/2020-07/whole_community_dec2011__2.pdf.

[12] J, Christopher Mihm, Partnering for Resilience: A Practical Approach to Emergency Preparedness (Washington, DC: IBM Center for The Business of Government, IBM Institute for Business Value, & National Academy of Public Administration, 2022), 3.

[13] Federal Emergency Management Agency. (2023). Information sharing guide for private-public partnerships. U.S. Department of Homeland Security, https://www.fema.gov/sites/default/files/documents/fema_information-sharing_guide.pdf.

[14] John M. Kamensky, Cross-Agency Collaboration: A Case Study of Cross-Agency Priority Goals (Washington, DC: IBM Center for The Business of Government, 2017), 27. 27

[15] John M. Bryson, et al., Addressing Complex and Cross-Boundary Challenges in Government: The Value of Strategy Mapping (Washington, DC: IBM Center for The Business of Government, 2023), 20.

[16] Jane Wiseman, Silo Busting: The Challenges and Success Factors for Sharing Intergovernmental Data (Washington, DC: IBM Center for The Business of Government, 2020), 20. 

[17] IBM Center for The Business of Government, Research Announcement 2025–26.

[18] John M. Kamensky, “Performance Management: An Emphasis on Learning,” Business of Government Stories (blog), IBM Center for The Business of Government, February 27, 2020,https://www.businessofgovernment.org/blog/performance-management-emphasis-learning.

[19] Bert George, Embedding Strategic Foresight into Strategic Planning and Management (Washington, DC: IBM Center for The Business of Government, 2025), 17. https://www.businessofgovernment.org/sites/default/files/Embedding%20Strategic%20Foresight%20into%20Strategic%20Planning%20and%20Management.pdf.

[20] John M. Kamensky, “Performance Management: An Emphasis on Accountability,” Business of Government Stories (blog), (Washington, DC: IBM Center for The Business of Government, 2020), https://www.businessofgovernment.org/blog/performance-management-emphasis-accountability.