During Tesla we worked for Dienst Justitiële Inrichtingen or DJI (Dutch Custodial Institution Agency), which is a department within the Ministry of Justice and Security. Their function is both the enforcement of sentences and custodial measures issued by the Dutch court and by giving the people in its care the opportunity to build up a socially acceptable life and reintegrate in society.
DJI has the responsibility of the day to day care for detainees. To provide for e.g. food, personal care and information, appliances such as refrigerators, fans, and televisions are used in cells and common areas. To provide these appliances, the DJI has a supplier contract that will end half 2021. In preparation of the new contract tender, the DJI has asked us how to fully utilise the renewal to make the DJI a more impactful organisation. This can be in terms of detainee involvement, but also in better suitability for use in a prison and sustainability. This is not only important for the DJI, but is also in line with the sustainability goals of the Dutch government as becoming completely circular in 2050.
To make it more tangible on what topics DJI could focus during this contract renewal, we identified five themes:
- Needs
- Sustainability
- Detainee involvement
- Relation with supplier
- Information logistics
These themes formed the base of interviews with internal and external stakeholders and experts, who all gave their perspective on this contract. In summary, all the themes are linked together. They seem to be united by a need for improved information logistics or communication flow within the organisation and to and from external parties.
During this project, DJI also started preparing the tender for this contract. Therefore, the information of all the perspectives were used during the preparation phase of this contract. To assist DJI three main suggested contract improvements were collected from the stakeholder perspectives to process into questions for the market. The improvements are: implementing an asset management system, organise pilots to test new products and involve an expert in setting up the repair and upkeep line. The successful market consultation attracted five interested parties where we and the DJI spoke with.
Finally, all the insights we gathered during this project were used to formulate our three main recommendations. These recommendations will not only help DJI to become a more impactful organisation by making full use of this contract renewal, but also by improving other contract renewals as well. This will be done by: creating a sustainability vision for DJI, developing protocols for organising market consultations, and by starting to use data to make decisions. If DJI takes these recommendations seriously, it will put them in a better position to make big steps in reaching the ambitions and goals they have set for themselves.
