Weekly Round-up: January 20, 2012

Gadi Ben-Yehuda

• Department of Labor Launches App. The Department of Labor has released a smartphone app called Timesheet, reports Salon.com. The aim is to help wage-earners keep track of their own time for help in collecting the pay they are owed, and in documentation for dispute resolution.
• GSA Launches Social Media Class. Federal News Radio reports on the Web Maanger University’s launching a 12-week social media class. There’s still time to register!
• Data.gov Launches Education Sets. The White House blog reports that the administration has “announced several public- and private-sector initiatives—including the launch of education.data.gov, the latest in a growing number of data.gov communities—that respond to and even reach beyond the President’s call, in order to unlock the power of education data to make it accessible and useful for all Americans.”

Dan Chenok

• OMB looks at reducing duplication more broadly to support reorganization.
• DHS takes over operation of cyber information sharing pilot.
• Potential impact of sequestration on contracts.
• Government rolls out mobility strategy and dialogue.

John Kamensky

• GAO Report on Managing Service Contracts. GAO released a new report, “Managing Service Contracts: Recent Efforts to Address Associated Risks Can Be Further Enhanced,” which assesses the risks from using service contracts as their use increased by more than 40 percent over the past five years. In a review of a handful of contracts, GAO found agencies didn’t sufficiently assess the risks of using this kind of contract vehicle, or have sufficient oversight of them, and recommended that they do more.
• OPM Defines Competencies for Performance Management. OPM was required by the GPRA Modernization Act to define functional competencies for personnel engaged in performance management activities (developing goals, evaluating programs, and analyzing performance information to improve government efficiency and effectiveness). OPM has released that list.
• OMB Requires Summaries of Proposed Regulations. OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs – as part of its clear writing campaign — has directed agencies to include an executive summary of their proposed rules when they submit them to the Federal Register for publication.
• OMB Directs Agencies to Develop Program Inventory. For the 11 agencies involved in the recently-announced reorganization of the federal government’s trade and export functions, OMB has directed that they designate someone as the “senior accountable official” to lead their agencies’ reorganization effort, and that they develop an inventory of their trade-related programs.

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The Business of Government Hour features a conversation about management with a government executive who is changing the way government does business. The executives discuss their careers and the management challenges facing their organizations.

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