Voters have signaled that they aren’t happy with the role of government. Surveys also say they are upset with government employees and don’t trust government. Yet research shows that citizens base their perceptions on their personal experiences. So would improving customer service help? In the 1990s, the Clinton-Gore Reinventing Government effort thought the answer wasRead… Read more »
The Obama Administration is committed to using technology to better engage citizens in their government. Ironically, legislation crafted in the 1950s to open citizen access to government documents may be a barrier to today’s Open Government initiatives. The Federal Records Act of 1950 creates a framework to manage agency records. It puts the National ArchivesRead… Read more »
From The Acquisition Corner According to recent reporting by Federal Times on the state of federal information technology (IT) acquisition and program management, the Government is ill prepared to purchase and manage large scale IT programs due to poorly trained staff, and poor collaboration with industry. Certainly contributing factors, but the issues are much moreRead… Read more »
Over on Federal Computer Week, Dr. Steve Kelman has written several blog posts on The Lectern in a series of issues related to improving federal acquisitions and communications, specifically information technology projects. Although I have commented on the specific blog posts, I wanted to have a more in depth discussion here. Improving Federal IT AcquisitionsRead… Read more »
The House passed a bill in June to revamp the 1993 Government Performance and Results Act. In late September, the Senate took steps to update it as well. Since these bills support the Administration’s efforts, there is a good likelihood that a GPRA refresh will pass. Senator Tom Carper (D-DE) summarized the need for aRead… Read more »
Here’s a re-posting of a piece I co-authored with Jonathan Breul, Robert Shea, and Jitinder Kohli on the Center for American Progress’s “Doing What Works” website. It’s significant in that it is by senior staffers who worked on government performance issues from the Reagan, Clinton, and both Bush administrations. It explains why the Senate shouldRead… Read more »
The Congressional Black Caucus is meeting. Do you have a reason to care? Is there any tangible impact on your business, your life? If you don’t know, it’s time to find out. You’re in luck, OGTV and its partners are live and in person at the forums that shape policy and policy makers. With theRead… Read more »
The Obama management agenda finally has a name: the Accountable Government Initiative. In a memo from President Obama to the 7,000 members of the senior executive service, he highlights six initiatives and their progress to date. He also says: “I have tasked our Chief Performance Officer, Jeff Zients, with leading the Accountable Government Initiative,. .Read… Read more »
Are there lessons from the use of Public Service Agreements over the past decade in the UK for the implementation of the Obama Administration’s High Priority Performance Goals? Volumes have been written on how to develop performance measures and targets. However, comparatively little has been written on how to use measures to monitor or manage.Read… Read more »
Here are some of the articles we read this week that caught our attention at the IBM Center for the Business of Government. Feel free to send me anything you think we’ve missed! Gadi Ben-Yehuda AP: Blacks and Women Talk and Text More – What does this mean for government outreach efforts that use digitalRead… Read more »