Public sector organizations can’t dial back on scope in challenging economic times. In fact, when the going gets tough, government often has to kick into high gear. That’s certainly the case with state-level unemployment insurance (UI) in the US, which saw spikes in applications when the economy slumped. Was states’ technology infrastructure up to the task? The US Department of Labor (DOL) didn’t think so and offered big money to modernize insurance systems. The WyCAN project shows thought leadership in its business and technology vision and teamwork in its execution and governance — providing best practices for undertaking a shared technology procurement and services development.