ASPA Center for Accountability & Performance

Performance Management
OMB’s Cobert says new performance goals to ‘drive tangible outcomes’
Jason Miller, Federal News Radio
Beth Cobert, the deputy director for management at OMB, said the cross-agency goals will help deliver on President Barack Obama’s second term management agenda, while the agency-specific goals will drive a different kind of performance improvement.
Senate Panel Presses OMB on Management Agenda
Charles Clark, Government Executive
The point person for the Obama administration’s 21st century management agenda came under pressure to sharpen agency efforts to compile a workable list of federal programs, as required under the 2010 Government Performance and Results Modernization Act.
Obama’s Management Goals Focus on Federal Employee Engagement
Charles Clark, Government Executive
The White House on Monday released a batch of documents that flesh out last week’s fiscal 2015 budget, spelling out a new set of agency-specific priorities and broader cross-agency goals.
2013 lapses drive new performance goals
Adam Mazmanian, Federal Computer Week
Prominent government IT failures of 2013 appear to be driving the latest priorities.
Cross-Agency Priority Goals: 2014 (Part 1) and Cross-Agency Priority Goals: 2014 (Part 2)
John Kamensky, Business of Government
OMB released a refreshed list of cross-agency priority goals for the remainder of the Obama Administration. There are 15 goals, seven mission-related and eight management-related. Only three carry over from the previous set of commitments.

Analysis/Evaluation
‘Evidence-based government’ and the FY 2015 budget
Steve Kelman, Federal Computer Week
Steve Kelman contends the best part of the president’s budget may be its efforts to measure and reward programs that work.

Collaboration
Cross-agency priority success requires collaboration
Jonathan Breul, Federal Times
Implementation of these presidential priority areas will require active collaboration between multiple departments and agencies because they address long-standing challenges for which no one agency has sole responsibility.

Innovation
Presidential Innovation Fellows show (some) government technology can work, after all
Alex Howard, E Pluribus Unum
These projects show that a relatively small number of talented fellows can work with and within huge institutions to rapidly design and launch platforms, Web applications and open data initiatives.
At 18F in GSA, U.S. seeks to tap the success of the U.K.’s Government Digital Services
Alex Howard, E Pluribus Unum
18F – a new “startup” within GSA –  helps agencies deliver on their mission through the development of digital and web services, building user-centric services focused on the interaction between government and the people and businesses it serves.
5 Lessons for Government from SxSW
Gadi Ben-Yehuda, Business of Government
South by Southwest Interactive had a lot of relevant information by and for government agencies.

Performance Management
Obama Budget Offers a Refreshed Management Agenda
Charles Clark, Government Executive
The Obama administration’s long-awaited refreshment of its govermentwide management agenda emerged in the fiscal 2015 budget released on Tuesday, with the legally required presentation of agency priority goals to come the following week.
Budget proposal fleshes out OMB’s management agenda
Jason Miller, Federal News Radio
More than six months after President Barack Obama announced his second-term management agenda, the Office of Management and Budget is putting some specifics behind it.
Is Your Agency Set Up to Drive Performance?
John Baranzelli, Government Executive
The right culture is key to cutting red tape and improving efficiency.

Analytics
Money for Moneyball Government
John Kamensky, Business of Government
President Obama’s fiscal year 2015 budget proposals actually invest in programs that demonstrate effectiveness, and he invests in generating new knowledge about what works through more evidence and evaluation.
OMB pushes agencies to open up more data to improve programs
Jason Miller, Federal News Radio
In its fourth memo in four years, the Obama administration is pushing agencies to stretch their limits around making data more accessible.
Using Administrative Data for Statistical Purposes
John Kamensky, Business of Government
OMB has issued guidance encouraging agencies to use existing program administrative data in new ways.
What CIOs say about big data
Federal Computer Week
Ten insights from IT leaders on the front lines of big-data deployments.

Collaboration
Busting the Barriers to Interagency Collaboration
John Kamensky, Government Executive
A new GAO report details how a handful of cross-agency groups transcended cultural differences to share skills and resources.

Open Government
OSTP asks agencies for ‘bold, ambitious’ open government initiatives
Jason Miller, Federal News Radio
Chief Technology Officer Todd Park released a memo to agency leaders Feb. 24 detailing a series of new steps and updates to existing initiatives, including describing “bold, ambitious new open government initiatives for the coming two years.”

Performance Management
The new Strategic Objective Review
Paul Posner, Federal Times
Starting with the new strategic plans to be published in 2014, every agency will be required to conduct annual reviews of their strategic objectives.The reviews will highlight those areas where the agency has made noteworthy progress or faces significant challenges.

Analytics
How to Jump-Start Analytics in Your City
Jason Shueh, Government Technology
New York City’s former Chief Analytics Officer Michael Flowers offers some basic pointers on what and what not to do when starting a city analytics program.

Collaboration
Promising Practices for Interagency Collaboration
John Kamensky, Business of Government
A new report examines four successful cross-agency collaborative initiatives that overcome program overlaps, and identifies four sets of promising practices that they use in order to be effective.

Innovation
From the Frontlines of Innovation
DorobekInsider
Key insights from an interview with four government innovators discussing questions like: What is government innovation? Does it matter? What makes innovation so hard?
Strategies for Fostering Innovation
InnovateGov
The Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at Harvard recently concluded a 3-part paper miniseries that “explores emerging strategies to strengthen the civic, institutional, and political building blocks that are critical to developing novel solutions to public problems.

Leadership
Rethinking the Modern Federal Manager
Ross Gianfortune, Government Executive
A new style of manager is emerging in government. This modern federal manager is adaptable, open and able to gets results despite myriad constraints.

Performance Management
Agencies highlight accomplishments, prepare for new performance goals
Jason Miller, Federal News Radio
The White House will issue new performance goals for agencies as part of its fiscal 2015 budget request.
OMB Cites Progress On Agency Performance Goals
Charles Clark, Government Executive
Agencies are making significant progress meeting established priority goals, OMB has reported.
New performance goals in the offing
Adam Mazmanian, Federal Computer Week
The Obama administration’s performance goals will be refreshed as part of the fiscal 2015 budget plan, and the Performance.gov website where progress on goals is recorded will get a refresh.
HUD’s Danzig heading to OMB to lead performance office
Jason Miller, Federal News Radio
Danzig is coming to OMB from the Department of Housing and Urban Development where she was the director of strategic planning and management since 2012.

Analytics/Evaluation
Implementing Big Data Projects: Lessons Learned and Recommendations
Dan Chenok, Business of Government
A new report provides an introduction to the concept of big data.

Innovation
Shark Tank: HHS Edition
Gadi Ben-Yehuda, Business of Government
13 teams of government entrepreneurs made pitches in a “shark tank” environment to continue funding for their innovation programs through a new initiative at HHS called HHS Ignite.
Using prize competitions to spur innovation in government: An interview with Jenn Gustetic, Prizes and Challenges Program Executive, NASA
Andy Feldman, GovInnovator Blog
To date, nearly 300 prize competitions have been implemented by 45 agencies through the website Challenge.gov. One of the leaders in conducing prize competitions has been NASA.

Performance Management
OMB’s New Annual Strategic Reviews
John Kamensky, Business of Government
Federal agencies this year will be subject to a new statutory requirement. A new law requires the Office of Management and Budget to annually determine if agency programs meet goals set out in their annual performance plans. To do this, OMB has created a new review process.
The Case Against Performance Reviews
Derek Thompson, Government Executive
Does the performance evaluation process, itself, deserve a similarly rigorous performance review?

Performance Budgeting
Which Comes First, Resources or Results?
Robert Behn, Government Executive
Producing better results requires resources, yet who will provide resources to an agency that cannot demonstrate the ability to produce better results?

Analytics/Evaluation
Are You Ready for Analytics 3.0?
John Kamensky, Business of Government
Analytics guru Thomas Davenport says that the field of strategic analytics has been upped a notch to “3.0” with the recent trend of shifting the use of analytic methods from improving internal operational efficiency to improving the operation of products and services.

Innovation
Philly Schools Officials with New Innovation Academy
Jason Shueh, Government Technology
Philadelphia officials invent a city Innovation Academy to put structure and longevity behind innovative government.
Achieving Success with Agile Delivery
Dan Chenok, Business of Government
A new report is designed to help program leaders understand how best to leverage IT in a way that minimizes time and cost and maximizes mission and operational effectiveness.

Open Government 
U.S. CIO Steven VanRoekel on the risks and potential of open data and digital government
Alex Howard, E Pluribus Unum
An interview with the Federal CIO on the administration’s open data executive order.
Report: White House seeks to defang transparency bill
Adam Mazmanian, Federal Computer Week
According to a leaked draft of proposed revisions to the Digital Accountability and Transparency Act, the Office of Management and Budget is seeking to remove the open-government legislation’s dedicated funding stream and edit language calling for standardized governmentwide data elements for reporting federal spending.
Open Gov Defined – More Than A Noun, A Verb Of Gov Transformation
DorobekInsider
Defining open government, e-government and government 2.0 is the first step to optimizing these technology solutions.