ASPA Center for Accountability & Performance

Performance Management 

Agencies Have Elevated Performance Management Leadership Roles, but Additional Training Is Needed

Government Accountability Office

The designation of senior-level officials to key performance management roles with responsibilities under the GPRA Modernization Act has helped elevate accountability for performance management within federal agencies and ensure high-level involvement.

The 6 Ways Government Needs to Improve Performance Management

John Kamensky, Government Executive

An overview of how the federal government needs to start managing performance.

The New Federal Performance System: Implementing the GPRA Modernization Act

Donald Moynihan, IBM Center for the Business of Government

Professor Moynihan describes the evolution of the federal performance management system over the past 20 years since the passage of the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 (GPRA).

Can we have an evidence-based government?

Jim Tankersley and Dylan Matthews, Wonkblog

If Washington ever hopes to provide the services voters say they want, at the tax rates voters say they’re willing to pay, economists say the government will need to ramp up its efforts to figure out which programs work and which ones don’t, and shift resources accordingly.

Analytics

Sketching the big picture on big data

Frank Konkel, Federal Computer Week

Experts may not yet agree on a clear-cut definition of big data, but new report suggests that this IT buzzword is chock-full of potential if several key challenges can be overcome.

Open Government/Transparency

Study: Citizen Budgeting Related to Better Outcomes

J.B. Wogan, Governing

Inviting public comment early in the budget process, and doing so in multiple ways, is closely associated with better performance outcomes, according to a new study in The American Review of Public Administration.

Performance Budgeting

Flaws in the Social Impact Bond/Pay for Success Craze

Jon Pratt, Nonprofit Quarterly

The concept of Social Impact Bonds is definitely taking off, with some big money and very well known supporters, but the author argues that two main claims for SIBs, more resources and better results, are admirable but speculative.

Performance budgeting in Austria

Andy Feldman, GovInnovator Blog

Podcast with Gerhard Steger, Budget Director for the Austrian Ministry of Finance, which has recently shifted its budget process from one focused on the question, “How much do we spend?” to one focused on “What results are we producing?

Performance Management

Program performance measures aren’t living up to their potential, scholars say

Kedar Pavgi, Government Executive

A new study looked at performance management reforms of 1993 and 2002 to help shape expectations and gain insight for the implementation of the GPRA Modernization Act. The study found that past reforms did not affect federal managers’ administrative decisions or their allocation of money, although the changes did result in managers refining program goals.

The Opening Door to Government Transformation

John Bernard, Better, Faster, Cheaper

How five things can set in motion real government transformation.

Performance pilot launching at Veterans Affairs

Amanda Palleschi, Government Executive

The Veterans Affairs Department’s National Cemetery Administration is joining a growing list of agencies signing on to a pilot program that aims to change performance appraisal procedures.

Government Reform: Insights for the Future of the Movement (Part 6)

John Kamensky, Business of Government

Several developing countries seem to be on the cutting edge of the global performance movement, offering both encouraging and cautionary insights for the movement.

Analytics

Building an Analytics Culture

John Kamensky, Business of Government

A new report by the Partnership for Public Service and the IBM Center details how using analytics to make better decisions is taking root in agencies across the government.  

Making data-based decisions part of agency culture

Charles Clark, Government Executive

Federal leaders at all levels must continually push the use of data analytics to improve agency decision making and build them into organizational culture.

Efficiency/Reorganization

Financing Efficiency in the Delivery of Social Services

Stephen Goldsmith, Better, Faster, Cheaper

Traditional approaches reward activities, not results. Some innovative new approaches aim to turn that around through Social Impact Bonds.

Innovation

What is Innovation in Government?

Bryan Klopack, Excellence in Government

Where does public sector innovation come from? What does it look like? Is it a way of thinking reserved exclusively for the SES and political appointees—or does it come from the ground up? Many emerging practices show it comes from both – and everyone in between.

Smart government IT can be a catalyst for change

Vance Hitch, Federal Computer Week

The current budget crisis could be an opportunity for federal CIOs to help their agencies build a smarter, more efficient and more cost-effective government.

Where are the bold ideas for remaking government?

Alan Balutis, Federal Computer Week

In an era of formidable challenges, America needs formidable, and novel, approaches to address them.

DARPA seeks the next great challenges

Amber Corrin, Federal Computer Week

In a new request for information, the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency is asking for input to identify the Grand Challenges of the 21st Century — part of a broader national innovation strategy under the Obama administration.

 

Open Government/Transparency

Can tech really help you engage? Insights from the Knight Foundation

Emily Jarvis, GovLoop

Two years ago the Knight Foundation launched their Tech for Engagement Initiative to find out if technology can accelerate the capacity of citizens to engage in their civic life in an easier and more effective way.

Making Citizens Part of Government

Robert O’Neill, Management Insights

Local governments are leading the way in engaging the public in decision-making. More and more, technology is the key.

Collaboration

The Next Four Years: Managing a Balancing Act

John Kamensky, Business of GovernmentAgency CFOs, CIOs, CAOs, CHCOs, and COOs have to find ways to connect with each other and to balance their customer service, compliance, and advisory roles.

 

Efficiency/Reorganization

Agencies take action as GAO knocks strategic sourcing effort

Matthew Weigelt, Federal Computer Week

After GAO found that agencies have made very little use of strategic sourcing, DOD and other agencies are pledging action to increase the use of strategic sourcing.

 

Innovation

Challenge.gov: Using Competitions and Awards to Spur Innovation

Kevin C. Desouza, IBM Center for the Business of Government

Government leaders are seeking new and innovative approaches to solve public problems. One new approach is the use of “challenges,” which use “crowdsourcing” to canvass solutions for particular problems.

How ‘Ideation’ Can Power Innovation

Neil Kleiman, Better, Faster, Cheaper

“Ideation” is defined as “directly examining a problem in a systematic way, amassing many possible solutions from many places, and then probing and testing those ideas to see which are likely to work.” Innovation delivery teams in several cities are putting this approach to the test.

Innovation At NWS: Data, Technology Fuel Advanced Tornado Forecasting

Judi Hasson, AOL Government

According to the article, “Technology and the ability to harness big data has drastically changed U.S. weather forecasting,” and the NWS’s efforts could be a model for other agencies that are developing their own prediction models for everything from economic data to the path of a disease.

Forging Governmental Change: Lessons from Transformations Led by Robert Gates of DOD and Francis Collins of NIH

Michael Keegan, Business of Government

How do leaders of very diverse agencies direct ambitious change? How do they achieve significant goals? What strategies do they use to overcome opposition and win allies? A new report from the IBM Center examines the roles played by Gates and Collins in leading transformation initiatives within their organizations.

 

Open Government/Transparency

Information Technology, Public Administration, and Citizen Participation: The Impacts of E-Government on Political and Administrative Processes

Hua Xu, Public Administration Review

The author writes that “the potential benefits of applying information and communications technologies in the public sector are manifold: improved transparency, accountability, and access and increased trust in government.”