The DD Suite National Collaboration is a unique intergovernmental partnership between 40 State Councils on Developmental Disabilities to achieve a higher level of program performance and to develop uniformity and consistency in federal performance reporting.  Although located within state governments, DD Councils are created under federal law and primarily funded through Congress.  Several years of level funding has strained the ability of DD Councils to effectively meet their federal mandate, and the collaboration was formed to address this through the development of a model that would improve data management, operational efficiency and program performance. 

Through the DD Suite collaboration, State Councils agreed to a uniform, reliable, and accurate system of collecting performance data and created a universal tool to archive, analyze and report that data.  An important strategic goal of the collaboration included developing universal enhancements and the capacity to replicate the DD Suite performance management database at State Councils across the country.

The model of collaboration is unique for intergovernmental partnerships in that it was initiated as a defensive posture to respond to the pressures of on-line reporting, but quickly evolved into a collaboration to replicate the DD Suite performance management database, and ultimately to a partnership to proactively address policy directives.  The Massachusetts Developmental Disabilities Council led efforts to establish the collaboration, and the partnership has expanded to 40 State Councils in just two years.  All Councils are equal partners in setting the objectives to be achieved and developing the strategies of the collaboration.  This collaboration is most innovative in that specific problems have been addressed through mutual leadership and investment.

Our investigation indicates there is no intergovernmental collaboration like ours.  In addition to addressing issues between State Councils, the collaboration has changed the federal-state relationship in a way that no other program has been able to do.  The initiative to collaborate was driven by State Councils and changed the relationship with the federal government from subservient grantee to a partnership, equally invested in achieving results.