The challenge
The Council of State Governments' (CSG) National Center for Interstate Compacts serves as the primary technical assistance center for states developing and administering interstate compacts—legislatively enacted agreements that help states coordinate on shared challenges. Carl Sims, deputy program director at CSG, and his team were facing a critical barrier: three new professional licensing compacts needed a data system to facilitate cross-state practice, but existing solutions weren't viable.
"Interstate compacts help facilitate multistate practice for licensed professionals to address workforce shortages, provide telehealth opportunities, promote continuity of care, and benefit mobile practitioners. Whereas otherwise, each state has its own unique policies and processes for licensure - interstate compacts provide a voluntary pathway for practice that is streamlined across states,” Carl said. “Without the compact, and its supporting technology infrastructure, professionals face expensive, time consuming and varying licensure processes that act as a barrier to care."
Licensed professionals in states across the U.S. face many challenges when attempting to get a license in a new state. Occupational licensure compacts can bridge this gap, but they need a licensing data system in order to function. The obstacle is that building such a data system is a complex and expensive task, and it can take compact commissions years to build an appropriate system. As the organization responsible for helping states establish these agreements, CSG needed expertise to guide a large-scale software project that would serve multiple compact commissions while ensuring long-term sustainability.
Why USDR?
CSG reached out to USDR seeking expertise in procurement, vendor evaluation, and data system development for the Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology, Counseling, and Occupational Therapy Compacts. Initially considering separate systems for each compact, they needed help evaluating whether to build custom solutions or adapt existing ones. USDR's experience in government technology and procurement made them an ideal partner for this complex multi-stakeholder project.
“Just the value of this is going to be exponential. We’re so thankful for USDR’s willingness and ability to help us, no matter what part of the process we were at." - Carl Sims, deputy program director at CSG
Our approach
What initially began as a singular engagement to help prepare a Request for Proposals (RFP) evolved into a phased partnership as the Compact’s needs unveiled themselves. USDR ended up supporting CSG’s and the Compact’s development of Compact Connect, an open-source software solution, through:
- RFP preparation & assessment:
USDR helped evaluate existing commercial offerings, confirming they wouldn't meet the complex needs of interstate licensure compacts. Instead, USDR proposed a "software collaborative" approach—multiple compact commissions teaming up to build shared infrastructure. This was particularly complex since each commission is already a collective of member states, essentially requiring a collaborative of collaboratives. A pair of USDR volunteers conducted limited user research with licensed professionals, state licensing board administrators, and compact commissioners, as well as technical evaluation of commission needs to inform the RFP. - Proposal review & procurement:
The next phase focused on building capacity and alignment across stakeholders. USDR held a procurement workshop that covered essential topics like agile methodologies, user research, product ownership, and DevOps. Throughout this process, we met repeatedly with compact commissions both collectively and individually, helping them understand and become comfortable with this unusual approach. This collaborative work culminated in developing a draft RFP and establishing a governance structure that united the three compact commissions. - Coaching & transition support:
Finally, USDR supported the transition to sustainable, commission-owned development. After helping evaluate proposals and select a vendor, USDR provided eight weeks of product owner coaching and interim technical leadership through code reviews. We then helped CSG recruit a permanent technical lead, gradually stepping back as the team became more empowered to take on efforts.
As of today, a vendor scrum team is delivering improved software every two weeks. Development is following an agile approach, with Isabel Eliassen from CSG serving as product owner and working toward a minimum viable product. The software, called Compact Connect, is open source and available on GitHub.
The impact
Compact Connect is transforming multistate practice of licensed professionals in several ways:
- Creating sustainable, commission-owned infrastructure for licensing data management
- Dramatically reducing the cost of establishing new interstate licensure compacts by an estimated $1.1 million for each compact requiring a new system build
- Strengthening public protection through better data sharing
- Improving access to care by reducing administrative barriers
- Building a foundation for up to nine additional waiting compact commissions
- Changing CSG's approach to technology procurement and development
The system continues to evolve through iterative development, addressing new user needs, legal requirements, and policy changes. Most importantly, this infrastructure may accelerate the timeline to operationalize and expedite professionals’ ability to create new interstate compacts, making it easier for professionals to serve communities across state lines.
"It's not just the existence of the shared data system that's going to be helpful for future compacts, but also the technical knowledge that we have at CSG now. We can help guide future projects for the better." - Isabel Eliassen, product owner at CSG
The team
- Carl Sims, deputy program director, CSG National Center for Interstate Compacts
- Isabel Eliassen, product owner, CSG National Center for Interstate Compacts
- Dan Logsdon, director, CSG National Center for Interstate Compacts
- Waldo Jaquith, USDR
- Matthew Xu, USDR product management mentor
- Yiu Nam (Raymond) Wong, USDR user research lead
- Mario Hebert, USDR technical evaluator
A special thanks to the Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology, Counseling, and Occupational Therapy Compact Commissions for their participation.
Technologies & practices used:
- Agile development
- User research
- DevOps practices
- Open-source software development
- Product management
- Technical evaluation
Photo by LinkedIn Sales Solutions on Unsplash
