The Iowa Board of Regents is moving forward with phase two of the Transparent, Inclusive Efficiency Review. Phase one of the study, which was completed in June, gathered information from Iowa’s three regent universities in an effort to identify potential opportunities for financial savings.

Deloitte Consulting of Des Moines was hired by the Board of Regents in February at a cost of $2.45 million. It was tasked with conducting research and making recommendations to the regent-appointed review committee. The board approved up to another $1 million in June for Deloitte to work longer than initially expected on the second phase.

Representatives from Deloitte have been meeting with university officials on campus this week to discuss 17 “business cases” from 175 opportunities for savings identified during the first phase. These “business cases” will serve as barometers of the potential and efficiency of the proposals.

“What phase two will provide is the opportunity to take a closer look at those areas that were identified in phase one,” said Miles Lackey, Iowa State’s associate vice president and representative to the review committee.

Some of the proposed improvements include adjusting classroom and student scheduling, unifying contract bidding practices and consolidating application processes.

According to the Board of Regents, the eight-month study could yield savings between $30 and $80 million in total for Iowa’s regent universities after full implementation. Lackey said it will take months or years to complete all the changes.

Phase two is expected to take around 11 weeks to complete before moving on to phase three, which is the final stage of the project.

Rick Ferraro, a director for Deloitte Consulting, believes Iowa’s regent universities working together provides the most benefit.

“Because these three institutions spend so much money, there is a big opportunity to just refine this in the next increment of standardization and cooperation across the system,” Ferraro said.

When asked about potential job losses at a public forum in June, Ferraro said that those details had not yet been worked out, but it was unrealistic to expect no adjustment in jobs.

“There’s always a possibility of that, to be perfectly honest,” Ferraro said.

According to the Board of Regents catalog of opportunities, the next step in phase two is to “quantify the estimated impact and effort required to implement select opportunities” and to “develop a detailed implementation road map.”

Lackey said he is optimistic about the implementation of the recommendations.

“This is an opportunity not only to operate more efficiently [and] cost-effectively,” Lackey said. “It also provides us with an opportunity to operate more effectively for our students.”

The Board of Regents is scheduled to meet in September to assess the progress of the project.