SUMMARY
Public sector IT projects often cost millions yet fail at alarming rates. Early discovery (engaging stakeholders, building empathy, and defining high-quality requirements) reduces risk and prevents costly rework. By tailoring solutions to agency needs, discovery ensures investments deliver value, improve citizen services, and safeguard taxpayer dollars. Resultant helps government agencies achieve IT success through user-centered discovery, unbiased vendor guidance, and long-term implementation support.
[Estimated read time: 7 minutes]
The make-or-break moment in government tech
Public sector leaders are navigating a paradox. Budgets are tightening, yet the demand for efficient, effective services continues to rise. In this environment, every technology dollar must deliver maximum impact and enduring value.
Government technology projects are rarely minor undertakings. They represent once-in-a-decade or even once-in-a-generation opportunities to modernize critical infrastructure and services that underpin public welfare. Contracts often run into eight or nine figures, and with so much at stake, failure is not an option.
Yet, history says otherwise. The Standish Group’s 2015 Haze Report remains a cautionary cornerstone with its finding that only 13 percent of government IT projects over $6 million succeed, while more recent GAO audits confirm the problem hasn’t gone away. In 2025, the GAO still lists IT acquisitions as a government-wide high-risk area and reports that dozens of modernization efforts remain stalled or fail to deliver desired outcomes.
The root of the risk remains unchanged: Without a thorough early discovery process, your public sector IT project has about the same odds as a baby sea turtle for successfully reaching maturity.
Behind every failed project lies wasted taxpayer money and, more critically, a lost opportunity to improve public services for years, maybe even decades. We can do better. The key foundation is to reframe early discovery from a nice-to-have into a strategic imperative.
Is that what you’re wearing?
Consider the difference between grabbing a suit off the rack and investing a little more to have one tailored. The off-the-rack suit is quick and initially cheaper, but it never really fits quite right. You live with pinches at the shoulders, sleeves that catch, or a hem that drags…until you buy another off-the-rack suit in hopes of it being different. (Spoiler alert: it isn’t).
A tailored suit, by contrast, costs a little more upfront but fits perfectly, performs better, and lasts longer. That small investment makes all the difference in how you look, feel, and carry yourself.
The same principle applies to IT systems in the public sector. A modest upfront investment in early discovery ensures the final solution is tailored to an agency’s unique needs rather than forcing an ill-fitting, off-the-shelf system to work.
Commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) products may seem attractive at first glance, but they often require costly workarounds, create integration headaches, and leave agencies with systems fundamentally misaligned to the rigid demands of government.
That’s frustrating and expensive. And doesn’t resolve the problems you wanted the solution for in the first place.
Early discovery is how you get the tailored fit and avoid the inefficiencies, dissatisfaction, and failures that come with “one-size-fits-all.”
The high cost of neglecting early discovery
Skipping discovery, or performing discovery with an inadequate approach, places your project at much higher risk. A 2022 McKinsey analysis found that more than 80% of public-sector IT efforts miss their timelines, more than half exceed their budgets, and cost overruns tend to be nearly three times higher than those in the private sector.
The longer problems go undetected, the costlier they become. According to IBM’s Systems Sciences Institute, fixing a defect after release can cost up to 100 times more than during design. This principle and associated testing methodology was developed in the mid-1970s by engineer Michael Fagan, and has held true in subsequent industry analyses even through massive technology developments in the years since.
Early discovery is truly preventative medicine. Modest upfront effort saves massive downstream expense and, essential in public sector work, preserves public trust.
What early discovery in public sector IT looks like
Early discovery isn’t simply paperwork and checklists; it’s a systematic, collaborative approach that replaces assumptions with evidence. At its core, discovery clarifies objectives, defines scope, reveals risks, and builds alignment. For public sector projects, this means catching technical limitations, resource constraints, or even fraud before development begins.
There are three interwoven elements that define effective discovery:
- Engaging Stakeholders
User interviews, focus groups, and observation sessions reveal firsthand pain points and expectations. Seeing how employees and citizens actually interact with systems exposes gaps and frustrations that surveys alone can’t uncover.
- Building Empathy
Personas and journey maps transform raw data into shared understanding. They put a human face on design decisions, keep teams aligned, and ensure the project serves real needs rather than imagined ones.
- Defining High-Quality Requirements
Strong requirements go beyond feature wish lists. They’re clear, feasible, prioritized, and traceable through design, testing, and delivery. This discipline prevents scope creep, ensures feasibility, and gives leaders confidence that the end product aligns with mission goals.
These aren’t academic exercises. Together, they form the tailoring process that makes sure the final “suit” truly fits.
The ROI of getting it right
Investing in discovery is a cost-avoidance strategy with measurable returns.
Beyond the financials lies societal ROI: more efficient services, smoother citizen experiences, restored trust, and more effective use of taxpayer dollars.
When discovery is neglected, agencies don’t just pay more; they lose the chance to deliver real improvements to the communities they serve, sometimes for decades.
Why partnering with Resultant is different
Resultant’s strength is engaging early in the lifecycle to lead comprehensive, user-centered discovery. Because we’re technology-agnostic, we serve as an unbiased partner advocating for the right fit for each agency.
We go beyond “doing discovery.” We guide agencies through vendor selection, contract negotiation, and procurement strategy to avoid vendor lock-in and misaligned solutions. During implementation, we provide project management, independent verification and validation (IV&V), and organizational change management. That ensures requirements flow cleanly into delivery and that solutions are adopted, not abandoned.
In short: We don’t just tailor the suit. We make sure it gets worn, fits comfortably, makes you look great, and continues to serve for years.
Conclusion: The bottom line
Public sector IT projects are too rare and too costly to risk on ill-fitting, off-the-rack approaches. Early discovery is how agencies tailor their investments for the long term, ensuring solutions that fit right the first time.
In a world where failure rates hover around 70 percent, discovery isn’t a luxury. It’s the stitch that holds the whole suit together.
