What breaksInstitutional Dependency · Knowledge Attrition · Vendor Dependency · Provenance Loss
SCN-032Institutional capacity & sovereignty
The Government Keeps Buying Back Its Own Knowledge.
Outside expertise should leave the public institution more capable, not more dependent.
ScaleNational
UrgencyHigh
Coordination gapExtreme
StakesMoney · Public value · Sovereignty
Institutional DependencyKnowledge AttritionVendor DependencyProvenance Loss
What Koali changes
← Back to the full MosaicKoali makes external work contribute to a governed institutional knowledge base: assumptions, architecture, decisions, evidence, lessons, reusable artifacts and named internal stewards. Expertise can come from outside without institutional memory being outsourced with it.
Who holds part of the picture
public servants • leaders • auditors
Koali response
Koali makes external work contribute to a governed institutional knowledge base: assumptions, architecture, decisions, evidence, lessons, reusable artifacts and named internal stewards. Expertise can come from outside without institutional memory being outsourced with it.
Real-world parallels
- ArriveCAN — Auditor General of Canada
- CASA/SAAQclic — Auditor General of Québec
- Phoenix pay system — Auditor General of Canada
What success looks like
The relevant state remains visible across handoffs and time. • Responsibilities, unresolved questions and escalation paths are explicit.
Documented parallels show that the failure mechanism is real; they do not claim Koali would have changed a specific outcome.
The Government Keeps Buying Back Its Own Knowledge.
Outside expertise should leave the public institution more capable, not more dependent.
The problem
A government launches a large programme after years of turnover and fragmented internal knowledge. External specialists are hired to reconstruct architecture, requirements or strategy. Their expertise may be excellent; the structural problem appears when the contract ends and the understanding leaves too.
What breaks
- Institutional Dependency
- Knowledge Attrition
- Vendor Dependency
- Provenance Loss
Who holds part of the picture
- public servants
- leaders
- auditors
- vendors
With Koali
Koali makes external work contribute to a governed institutional knowledge base: assumptions, architecture, decisions, evidence, lessons, reusable artifacts and named internal stewards. Expertise can come from outside without institutional memory being outsourced with it.
Human authority
Authorized humans and institutions retain their existing legal, professional and democratic authority. Koali structures knowledge, coordination and traceability; it does not take sovereign or professional decisions.
What success looks like
- The relevant state remains visible across handoffs and time.
- Responsibilities, unresolved questions and escalation paths are explicit.
- The outcome produces reusable memory for the next comparable case.
Real-world parallels
Auditor General of Canada — ArriveCAN
The audit documented weak procurement records, non-competitive professional-services contracting and cases where resources were routed through intermediaries at likely additional cost.
Relation to scenario: DIRECT
Source: https://www.oag-bvg.gc.ca/internet/docs/parl_oag_202402_01_e.pdf
Vérificateur général du Québec — CASA/SAAQclic
The Auditor General reported major cost growth not clearly communicated to decision-makers and weaknesses around project readiness and testing.
Relation to scenario: STRONG ANALOGUE
Source: https://www.vgq.qc.ca/Fichiers/Publications/rapport-annuel/212/25.02_VGQ_Fiche_descriptive%20-%20CASA-SAAQclic.pdf
Auditor General of Canada — Phoenix example
The Auditor General reiterated that Phoenix executives prioritized schedule and budget over critical elements and did not provide senior officials a complete picture of project risks.
Relation to scenario: STRONG ANALOGUE
Source: https://www.oag-bvg.gc.ca/internet/docs/parl_oag_202310_07_e.pdf
Boundary
The documented cases illustrate analogous failure mechanisms. They do not establish that Koali would have prevented the event or guaranteed a different outcome.
Koali loop
signals → shared meaning → evidence → choice → responsibility → action → verification → memory → better knowledge