FL DOGE task force and its impact to higher education

On February 24, 2025, Florida Governor, Ron Desantis, issued an executive order establishing a Florida version of the DOGE task force.  As this is the first DOGE initiative specifically focused on education institutions, and because Mutara works closely with several institutions that fall under it's purview, I thought I'd provide my analysis.

What's in the order?

The order has two sections that are relevant to higher education:  Sections 2 and 3.  They cover the process to be followed as well as the goals that are intended to be achieved.

• Section 2:  Each state agency shall establish an Agency DOGE Team that shall be responsible for (1) utilizing advanced technology, such as artificial intelligence, as part of ongoing efforts to identify and eliminate unnecessary spending, programs, or contracts within the agency;
• Section 3. The Board of Governors of the State University System of Florida and the State Board of Education shall collaborate with the EOG DOGE Team to identify and eliminate unnecessary spending, programs, courses, staff, and any other inefficiencies within the State University System and the Florida College System.

However, from our perspective, there is a 3rd aspect that isn't directly mentioned within the order.  Although institutions need to improve efficiencies and utilize technologies to accomplish that, they still need to comply with the policies for which they are responsible. 

Therefore, we believe that institutions will be held to the following goals:

• Ensure that whatever funds are provided to the institution are optimized to meet the state's goals
• Increase efficiencies within the institution to reduce costs
• Improve how institutions comply with state and federal policies

What areas of waste do we expect to have focus?

Based on our experience in the market, we expect FL DOGE to focus on two key areas:

1. Whether institutions are enrolling the right students, and whether they're providing the right benefits to those who are attending
2. Whether institutions are efficient in how they are operating

Right Students, Right Benefits

We expect that the visibility into who's enrolling and how they're handled to drill into the following questions:

1. Is the student qualified to attend the institution?
2. Does the student have the appropriate immigration status to attend the institution?
3. Does the student qualify for the financial aid he/she is receiving?
4. Does the student qualify for in-state tuition rates?
5. Is the student a real person, and is he/she actively attending classes?

Operational Efficiencies

In what is covered above, the focus is related determining who the student is and whether he/she can prove what he/she asserts in the onboarding process.  It also relates to how effectively the information about that student is mapped to the policies that drive each of the areas of concern.

Therefore, when looking at improving the efficiencies of operating the institution, we expect the DOGE team to focus on whether institutions are using technology in the following areas:

• Is the institution allowing students to be self-sufficient with an easy-to-use user experience?
• Does the institution automate the processing of new students and the enforcement of policies by which the institution must comply?
• Does the institution automatically integrate with systems of record to ensure accuracy of information provided by the student?
• Does the institution use AI to minimize fraud and waste as it relates to compliance with policies?

Where Mutara fits in

Fortunately, our solutions address both components listed above.  We help institutions ensure that they're enrolling the right students and handling them in the right ways, while utilizing technology to improve the efficiency of the staff who have to qualify and enroll those students.

What we’re doing to eliminate unnecessary spending:

• Reduce costs related to fraudulent enrollments
• Improve compliance for a student’s citizenship, residency, and financial aid status
• Reduce the effort to onboard new students
• Improve the quality of data in the student information system

How we’re using advanced technology:

• Leading-edge user experience allowing students to be self sufficient in providing his/her information
• Automation of the enforcement of policies by which the institution must comply
• Automated integration with systems of record to ensure accuracy of student information
• Use of AI to streamline processes and minimize fraud / waste as it relates to compliance with policies.