The North Dakota Department of Commerce told the Task Force it has identified opportunities to streamline workforce programs, consolidate grant processes and make state marketing and site-selection work more nimble.

Commerce Commissioner Chris Shilkin said the department has completed strategic planning and stakeholder outreach and is focused on aligning programs with Governor’s priorities to maximize return on investment. "We believe there's a way to streamline the process in commerce that adds efficiency, velocity, and transparency," Shilkin said, and asked for legislative trust to reduce one‑off amendments that divert staff resources.

Commerce presented a preliminary inventory showing more than 80 workforce programs spread across at least nine agencies and more than 100 incentive programs across state and federal agencies. The agency said that complexity creates duplication and that a consolidated approach would allow better success metrics, clearer outcomes and less administrative burden on local partners.

Shilkin outlined steps Commerce is taking to centralize tools and cut duplication: a public-facing grants transparency page that lists state and federal grant opportunities, timelines and program descriptions; a statewide Location Information System (LOIS) to market sites and assets to national site selectors so communities need not subscribe individually; and an enterprise agreement to make the mapping/listing platform available at no cost to local economic-development organizations and partners.

On grants and reporting, Commerce said it will work to standardize timelines and reporting expectations and to build grant portals that reduce applicants’ time and error rates. Commissioner Shilkin and Task Force members agreed that future grant awards should include clearer reporting requirements so the legislature and the public can assess success. Representative Bosch asked Commerce to provide a comprehensive list of workforce and incentive programs with dollar figures; the commissioner said the executive branch subcabinet is working to assemble that inventory and will provide it to the Task Force.

Commerce also recommended simplifying procurement for marketing media buys and promotions so the department can respond quickly to time-sensitive leads and promotional windows. The agency is piloting project-management and RFP-tracking tools to improve cross-agency coordination on site-readiness and federal grants while exploring increased use of data analytics and AI tools to inform investment decisions.

Commerce asked the Task Force to consider consolidating legislative reporting requirements into a single comprehensive report to reduce staff time spent producing multiple overlapping interim reports.