People who enjoy fishing in the state of Washington were forced to buy their licenses from two different departments, depending on the type of fish they sought. The Department of Fisheries issued licenses for salmon and trout, while steelhead licenses were handled by the Department of Wildlife. This inefficient overlap resulted in duplicate systems and staff. We were selected to guide a special task force charged with streamlining the licensing operations by integrating overlapping systems.
For three months, we guided a 12-person task force comprised of private sector loaned executives along with senior-level government executives selected from multiple government departments. We began with a stakeholder analysis to build support from diverse interest groups including Indian tribes, salmon charter operators, and conservation associations. We designed an integrated license, and guided delicate discussions concerning which of the two departments would operate the integrated licensing system, and which would lose this function.
Our recommended system was presented to the Legislature and received unanimous support from all key parties. The collaborative work we did within the two departments paved the way for a smooth implementation, resulting in cost savings for the government and convenience for the angling public.