ASPA Center for Accountability & Performance

What Does It Take to Make Public Data Usable?

Substack/Rebecca Mbaya

This Substack account spotlights visionary changemakers in Africa. This interview spotlights a Namibian data analyst who moves between economic analysis, public-sector data systems, and the mechanics of decision-making, where the quality of evidence matters less than whether organizational leaders are actually able to use it.

Oversight Community Wrestles with Challenges to Independence

Federal News Network

A mid-January workshop hosted by Virginia Tech’s School of Public and International Affairs discussed the near- and long-term challenges facing the federal oversight community.

Building Better Systems for Measuring, Managing, and Reporting on the SDGs

Public Money & Management

The UN’s 2030 Sustainable Development Goals need credible, transparent, and actionable sustainability reporting in the public sector. This volume of the PM&M Journal is devoted to exploring progress and challenges

The New KPIs for City Innovation

Bloomberg Cities Network

After decades of research into how cities can better use innovation to improve lives, the research shows that performance metrics tell only part of the story. The University College London Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose have developed new KPIs for city innovation.

Giving Front-Line Employees Direct Access to Their Performance Data

International Review of Administrative Sciences (free PDF download)

This study demonstrates the effect of replacing traditional manager-led feedback with transparent performance data. The effects depend on the type of performance metrics, the quality of the employee-supervisor relationship, and the differences in employee motivation types.

Resource of the Week:  The Data Skills Network

Apolitical (a free, global, online community for public sector practitioners)

This network within Apolitical is an online community to build your data skills through connection and conversation with peers across government. This space is open to all, whether you consider yourself a data novice or a data expert.

Measuring GSA  Performance in Acquisition Reform

Federal News Network

Ed Forst, the new administrator of the US General Services Administration, calls his agency “the engine room that makes the mission run.” He also says measuring performance and holding organizations and people accountable are among his key focus areas.

Combatting Fraud Using a Risk Assessment Framework

U.S. Government Accountability Office

In 2023, GAO surveyed 24 federal agencies against its Fraud Risk Framework and found a third didn’t have regular monitoring or evaluation activities, and half didn’t regularly make changes based on evaluation results. This technical appendix to GAO’s framework is designed to help managers evaluate and adapt their antifraud efforts.

Five Pillars of Effective Government

IBM Center for The Business of Government

This report synthesizes research and offers a framework for action in five areas where meaningful progress can have the greatest impact:

1. Multi-sector partnerships
2. Financial and operational effectiveness
3. Technology-enabled service and efficiency
4. Data-driven decision-making
5. A strong and modern government workforce

New Bill Introduced: Evidence-Based Grant Making Act

Results for America

Members of the bipartisan congressional “What Works” Caucus introduced the Evidence-Based Grantmaking Act, one of the strongest pieces of evidence-based policymaking legislation since the 2018 Evidence Act.

 Developing Comparable Measures of Organizational Performance

Journal of Policy Analysis and Management (open access)

In this article, George Krause and David Lewis introduce a new approach to measuring organizational performance, something conceptually distinct from, but correlated with, both organizational inputs and outcomes. This measurement approach focuses on how well the internal machinery of agencies is functioning. 

Resource of the Week:  Impact Genome Registry

The Impact Genome Registry, developed by Jason Saul, makes it possible for any social program in the world to register and report its results for free. The Registry uses universal Impact Standards for outcomes, program design, beneficiaries, context, and evidence quality to make impact reporting simple and intuitive. This enables more reliable data, benchmarking, independent verification, and reduced administrative burden for reporting entities.

Unintended Consequences of Performance Contracting

LinkedIn (Peter Ndaa)

When accountability systems are mistaken for performance systems, organisations learn how to comply, not how to improve.

Paradox of Public Performance Management

Medium (Joy Bonaguro)

“I don’t support the prevailing conventional wisdom that government wide (or even elector led) performance management programs are desirable. Instead, I want to make the case that it should be adopted in certain contexts meeting certain criteria.”

Resource of the Week:  State Chief Data Officer Tracker

Beeck Center for Social Impact, Georgetown University

 This is a first-of-its-kind resource that tracks the evolving role of CDOs in state governments and their efforts to advance data-informed decision-making and collaboration across agencies.

Accountability in Outsourced Public Service Delivery

Public Management Review (gated access)

This case study examines Australia’s aged care system to understand how the accountability architecture was shaped by outsourcing and explore the resulting implications for service outcomes. The study suggests the need for integrating outcome-based performance monitoring mechanisms of the state with those of outsourced service sites.