State-Level Institutional Capacity Assessment
VT · Gov. Phil Scott (R) · agriculture tourism
Population
647K
GSP
$39B
Total Budget
$9B
Budget / capita
$13,138
Legal Regime
Home Rule
Binding Constraint
Anchor-Dependent · Primary constraint
Sustaining Vermont's Agency of Digital Services (ADS) consolidation — a rare full digital-service team at this state size — as durable institutional capacity through political administration changes, while operating in a divided-government context (Scott R + D legislature). VT has CIO Nailor + Secretary of Digital Services + ADS (380 people) + Quinn CDO + R4A Honorable Mention + Volcker B — strong institutional infrastructure for population of 647K. But agriculture-tourism economic archetype + 40% federal-grants dependency makes VT structurally anchor-dependent. Cluster C work positions the state to leverage Norwich + UVM + federal Medicaid flows rather than competing as innovation hub.
6-Dimension Assessment
Vermont is the second-smallest state by population (647K, after Wyoming). Burlington-Chittenden County anchors the economy (UVM, Dealer.com, BETA Technologies, Burton Snowboards). Rest of state depends on tourism (Stowe, Killington, fall foliage), dairy/maple agriculture, and federal-anchor flows. Vermont has the country's only Agency of Digital Services (ADS) — a fully consolidated 380-person digital service team established by Act 49 (2017) under Scott (R). ADS Innovation Lab + VCGI provide rare statewide innovation infrastructure for a state this small. Scott R works with D-supermajority legislature — durable divided-govt pattern. Federal-grants dependency (40.1%) is high because of small population's high per-capita federal Medicaid + agricultural payments.
Peer States
Maine
Systematizationdiversified services
Rhode Island
Systematizationdiversified services
New Hampshire
Systematizationdiversified services
Peer states share structural profile (cluster, scale, archetype). Peer match is intra-level — states match states.
Innovation Pathway Recommendations
Building state-level institutional infrastructure for data-driven decision-making across major budget line items and policy decisions. Draws on the Results for America State Standard of Excellence framework, the Pew-MacArthur Results First Initiative, and the state-government adaptations of the J-PAL / Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab evaluation methodology applied through state-level offices (Tennessee Office of Evidence and Impact, MN Performance Management, NC Office of Strategic Partnerships).
For Cluster C (Anchor-Dependent)
For Cluster C states, leverage the federal-lab or research-university anchor institution as evaluation capacity. National labs and federal research centers have rigorous evaluation expertise; state-anchor partnerships at the evaluation level cost less than building parallel state capacity.
H1 absorption pattern: state Office of Evidence and Impact stands up but produces reports no one reads; performance metrics defined by departments themselves, optimizing for legibility rather than impact. Or, R4A certification achieved but practices don't outlive the certification cycle — evaluation office staffed but not influential on actual budget decisions. The H2+ test is whether evidence actually changes the marginal-dollar allocation between programs from one budget cycle to the next.
Establishing and resourcing a state-level digital service team (NJ OOI, CA ODI, GA Technology Authority, MN IT Services, UT OOI, FL Digital Service) to modernize benefits delivery, citizen-facing portals, and inter-agency data exchange. Draws on the USDS / Code for America playbook applied at state scale, the Beeck Center's Digital Government Network (formerly Digital Service Network, merged early 2026), and Bloomberg's What Works Cities adaptation.
For Cluster C (Anchor-Dependent)
For Cluster C states, leverage the anchor institution's technical capacity — military bases have IT infrastructure, federal labs have engineers, research universities have CS programs willing to partner.
H1 absorption pattern: 'state digital transformation' becomes a multi-year ERP procurement that ports paper processes to PDFs without changing the underlying service experience. Healthcare.gov pre-rescue is the canonical case at federal level; CMS-funded MITA Medicaid IT projects are the state equivalent. The H2+ test is whether the state is building durable internal digital service capacity or just procuring vendor-led platforms.
State Community Context
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Data as of Compiled May 2026; USAFacts FY2023 · high confidence
Sources · Data as of Compiled May 2026; USAFacts FY2023 · high confidence
The Civic Infrastructure Diagnostic Framework’s structural elements — the four cluster labels, the six capacity dimensions, and the binding-constraint framing — are licensed under CC BY 4.0. Anyone may use or adapt them with attribution. Tool implementation and full article text © 2026 JTV Advisory LLC.