Accountability and Performance Update – Jan 6-12, 2025

Following are some “end of Administration” performance highlights from the Biden Administration. The links will probably be dead starting January 20 – so don’t hold off looking at them if you have any interest!

U.S. Office of Management and Budget

Launched in 2021, the PMA established three cross-agency priority goals: Strengthening Workforce, Customer Experience, and Business of Government.

U.S. Office of Management and Budget

This refresh expands the inventory of federal programs from 2,400 grant and contract programs to include about 200 federal credit and tax expenditure programs. Adding in interest on the debt, the database accounts for nearly $7 Trillion. For the entire inventory, it expands info to include program rules, regulations and new spending info (comparing outlays to obligations). In addition, user functionality has been enhanced by improving its search and user experience.

U.S. Office of Management and Budget

With the designation of 38 major federal services as “high impact” and an aggressive implementation strategy, the Biden Administration notes that its performance has “contributed to the highest four-year gain in public satisfaction with government services in 25 years.”

Colorado Governor’s 2025-2027 Operational Agenda

Office of Governor Jared Polis

As we look ahead to our last two years in office, we will solidify our operational legacy in the State by continuing to reimagine state government–making it more responsive to Coloradans’ needs, building best-in-class digital products, attracting and retaining top talent from all backgrounds, and doing our part to make government greener and more sustainable.

How to Do Strategic Planning Like a Futurist

Harvard Business Review

Chief strategy officers and those responsible for shaping the direction of their organizations are often asked to facilitate “visioning” meetings. This helps teams brainstorm ideas, but it isn’t a substitute for critical thinking about the future.

Performance of Federal Senior Execs

Government Executive (Howard Risher)

To help agencies better address their performance management, it could be time to take a fresh look at senior executives, and how they are compensated.

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Accountability and Performance Update – Jan 1 – 5, 2025

Applying Evaluation Thinking and Practice to Foresight

Association of Professional Futurists

Foresight evaluation is having a moment, characterized by an increased demand for assessment of foresight initiatives. Foresight evaluation needs to address specific challenges such as complexity, long-time horizons, the qualitative nature of the work, and documenting largely intangible and multiple foresight outcomes. This paper highlights theories and practices when designing a foresight evaluation.

Resource of the Week:  Happy Data New Year!

Data Foundation

This is absolute gold! Here’s a fun playlist of data-themed music with amazing lyrics! . . . “Data streams illuminate the night; Policy dreams come into sight . . .Statistical treasures, Clear and bright, Guiding us to get it right!”

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Accountability and Performance Update – Dec 23-31, 2024

Agency Priority Goals and the Challenge to Performance and Accountability

LinkedIn (Woody Stanley)

What happens when federal department leaders are encouraged to identify their short-term priorities and adopt measurable targets for program improvement by a set date? After a decade of reporting measures and targets for two agency priority goals (one for Transportation, the other for HUD), it is possible to draw some inferences about this mechanism for improving performance and accountability. 

Government Reform Starts with Data and Evidence

Federal News Network (Kshemendra Paul)

A governmentwide common operating picture (COP) of government programs and operations federated across agencies could be created by aiming modern data management and analytics, entity resolution and artificial intelligence technology at fragmented federal data. The COP would tie together authoritative federal budget, finance, procurement, payroll, human capital, investment, asset, program and performance data.

Dashboard to Reduce Medical Accidents

Federal News Network

Hospitals treat the sick and injured. But they can be dangerous places. A unit of the Health and Human Services Department aims to reduce the harm to the patient and health care workforce by 50%. So it’s set up a dashboard that aggregates safety information. 

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Accountability and Performance Update – Dec 16 – 22, 2024

Two Performance-Related Bills Sent to President

Two pieces of legislation have passed Congress and will likely be signed by the President soon. The first, the Federal Agency Performance Act of 2024, embeds a current administrative best practice into law – agency annual strategic reviews. The second, the Government Service Delivery Improvement Act, requires OMB to designate a governmentwide lead official and each agency designate a lead official to improve service delivery, and adopts the framework of High Impact Service Providers into law.

Dept of Govt Efficiency – What About Government Performance?

NextGov (Steve Kelman)

There is absolutely nothing in the Musk-Ramaswamy pronouncements about making the government more efficient by causing it to work better. . . But we need to understand that an important constituency for better government performance is actually among civil servants themselves. 

What Is the Effect of Merit Selection and Bureaucratic Autonomy on Governmental Performance?

Public Administration Review (Sergio Fernandez, Faisal Cheema)

This study analyzes the impact of merit-based appointments and bureaucratic autonomy on service delivery effectiveness, using longitudinal data from a panel of African countries. It finds that appointing bureaucrats based on merit improves governmental performance, even when public institutions and bureaucracies are weak.

Advancing Local Governance: A Systematic Review of Performance Management Systems

Cogent Business & Management Journal (Open Access)

This study analyzes key trends in performance management systems through a systematic literature review of 122 studies published between 2000 and 2023. Regional analysis results reveal varying trends worldwide.

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Accountability and Performance Update – Dec 9 – 15, 2024

Field Guide for Financing Public Sector Integrated Data Systems & Evaluation

National Academy of Public Administration

In addition to providing critical insights, one of the most basic benefits of integrated data systems is their capacity to generate automated reports at significantly lower cost, freeing up resources for more productive activities that improve program effectiveness.

Eleven Federal Agencies Recognized for Using Evidence

Results for America

Results for America released the 2024 Invest in What Works Federal Standard of Excellence, a comprehensive assessment of the progress that 11 leading federal agencies have made in harnessing the power of evidence and data to invest in what works and expand opportunities for all.

New York City’s Innovative HR Dashboard

Barrett & Greene, Inc.

Multiple local governments will benefit from the tale of New York City’s innovative staffing dashboard, which tracks the difference between authorized budgeted positions and actual headcounts in 80 agencies.  The dashboard, which was first developed in 2022, is updated monthly with real-time preliminary data to keep track of vacancy rates. 

Customer Satisfaction Metrics Show Improvement

MeriTalk

Based on the American Customer Satisfaction’s annual survey, citizen satisfaction with U.S. Federal government services continued to improve in 2024, advancing 2.2 percent to a score of 69.7, and marking a seven-year high.

Strategic Program Management Tied to Accountability

Public Administration Review (Evan Berman, et al)

Strategic program management is an approach to advance the impact of programs. This study examines its use in Brazil and Indonesia. There, program managers felt greater performance accountability because of the use of this approach.

Evaluating the Use of Evidence in US State Governments

Public Administration Review (Chengxin Xu, et al)

In a review of three states, civil servants prefer evidence of programs from their own state, that are recent, that show positive effects from different demographic groups, and is created by independent teams.

Cross Agency Priority Goals Help Address Complex Shocks

IBM Center for The Business of Government (Chris Mihm)
Cross Agency Priority Goals can play a crucial role in enhancing governmentwide resilience and capacities to address existing and future shocks, as demonstrated by their success in reducing administrative burdens and improving the customer experience.

Resource of the Week:  Performance Readers’ Guide (Part 3)

Barrett & Greene, Inc.

We’re now presenting our third installment of books (and a couple of journal articles) recommended by the many government performance experts who have enthusiastically shared their favorite book suggestions with us. This list does not repeat any recommendations that were made in our previous B&G Reports.

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