May 15, 2013, will mark the 11th anniversary of the Notification and Federal Anti-Discrimination and Retaliation (No FEAR) Act. Congressed passed No FEAR on May 15, 2002, after hearing testimony that federal workforce abuse reduces government’s ability to effectively execute with integrity essential programs such as waste management, pollution prevention, water treatment, food inspection, Medicare,Read… Read more »
Set your New Year’s resolutions now! In early 2014, for the first time federal agencies will simultaneously submit refreshed strategic plans to Congress, covering the next four years. You should put them on your “must read” list for the new year. Many agencies have been quietly posting their draft strategic plans on-line for public comments,Read… Read more »
Recent contracting missteps, as reported by the Washington Business Journal (WBJ) and Microtech by the Washington Post, seem to have endangered the Veteran’s Affairs (VA) programs for certifying firms as either Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) or Veteran Owned Small Business (VOSB). Although the current certification process is challenging enough, this recent issueRead… Read more »
A Government Accountability Office report says federal agencies have largely not developed comprehensive plans to consolidate information technology systems under the PortfolioStat initiative, Nextgov reported Wednesday. Joseph Marks writes GAO identified 200 IT reform opportunities that could save agencies up to $5.8 billion through 2015. GAO’s savings projection is more than double the $2.5 billionRead… Read more »
Photo by ActiveRain After weeks of reports about the debacle known as healthcare.gov (here and here), the latest news and actions around preventing the next IT boondoggle are now headed in the direction of reforming IT acquisition. Although President Obama got in on the action, I do not expect any significant reforms to take place,Read… Read more »
Over the past two decades, the goal of those in the “performance movement” across the globe has been to change the culture of government agencies to be more results-oriented and performance-focused in their work and their decision-making. But it has been a long road. In 2011, two European academics conducted a meta-analysis of 519 studiesRead… Read more »
Peggy Sherry, formerly chief financial officer at the Department of Homeland Security since April 2012, has been appointed deputy commissioner for operations support at the Internal Revenue Service. She will officially start in her new position Nov. 4 and succeed Beth Tucker, who retired from the IRS at the end of last September, the taxRead… Read more »
Originally published at cpsrenewal.ca. While I didn’t intend it, this speaks to the current shutdown. Citizens don’t yet understand how much civil service accomplishes for our countries. Last week Bill Eggers from Deloitte was in Ottawa, explaining his view of The Solution Revolution: the idea that for-profit businesses and social enterprises will solve societal needsRead… Read more »
I would like to see a proliferation of sites like VA Accountability across federal, state and local government agencies. The concept could be extended to include information (names, dates, summaries) about EEO complaints, grievances, and other administrative information exposing corrupt management to the world. This gets to the heart of corruption in government that isRead… Read more »
In May 2010 Nicholas Gruen of the Australian Gov 2.0 Taskforce published The last post: now for the main event – you! In July 2010 Lindsay Tanner issued the Declaration of Open Government. In many ways Australia was leading the way. We all knew hard work lay ahead, but the outlook was rosy. Open data,Read… Read more »