ASPA Center for Accountability & Performance

WEBINAR: Two Cities’ Use of Performance Management

Center for Accountability & Performance (Wed., Oct. 9, 1 p.m., Eastern; Free)

This webinar will provide a look at the experiences, lessons and hope for sustained accountability and performance in two communities: Chattanooga, TN and Dallas, TX. In particular, we’ll explore the journeys of the Office of Open Data and Performance Management in Chattanooga and the Office of Budget and Management Services in Dallas.

Developing a Comprehensive Inventory of Federal Programs

U.S. Government Accountability Office

A listing of all federal programs, along with funding and performance information, could help decisionmakers and the public better understand what the government does, spends, and achieves. Such an inventory has been required since 2011 but hasn’t been produced.

Why the IRS Needs a New Accountability Program

NextGov

The tax agency should borrow from the Social Security Administration’s SecurityStat effort to measure performance and promote internal transparency.

Resource of the Week:  Global Evidence Report

Behavioral Insights Team

The blueprint makes a compelling case for the potentially big gains to be had from better international collaboration on evidence. It provides a series of practical ideas for investments to improve the quality and use of evidence in policy design, implementation, and evaluation. 

WEBINAR: The Use of Performance Info for Budgeting Purposes in Latin America

Center for Accountability & Performance (Tues., Sept 24, 1 p.m. Eastern; Free)

This webinar will feature the use of performance information in Latin American countries by well-known authors in this area. Webinar attendees will hear about performance use at the local, country, and education policy domains. Presenters will elaborate on uses, challenges and opportunities in their respective practice, studies, and publications.

Evidence Matters More than Ever, Post-Chevron

Data Foundation

The Supreme Court’s ruling that overturns a 1984 precedent that courts should defer to federal agencies in interpreting ambiguous statutes has given rise to the need for Congress to enhance its own capacity to use evidence in the statutory drafting process. 

Senate Committee Adopts Financial Management Improvement Legislation

Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee

The committee voted out the Improving Federal Financial Management Act which requires agency chief financial officers to: “ be responsible for linking performance and cost information, including the preparation and submission to the head of the agency of timely performance reports that incorporate cost information;”

Presidents Need Foresight More Than Once Every Four Years. 

Toffler Associates

Released between Election Day and Inauguration Day, the Global Trends reports, prepared by the National Intelligence Council, have been prescient, open-source strategic intelligence products since 1997. They provide the President-elect (or the incumbent heading into a second term) with insights into the forces and uncertainties that will shape the context in which their administration will have to operate. But such insights should be prepared more frequently.

Resource of the Week:  Bloomberg Center for Government Excellence

Johns Hopkins University

Supporting and coaching leaders and their teams to build a data-driven public sector that fairly and justly uses data, research, and analytics to better understand complex issues, engage residents, and implement policy interventions that lead to equitable outcomes and transforms the standard of living for underserved residents.

Evidence-Based Policymaking: Agencies Need Additional Guidance to Assess Their Capacity

U.S. Government Accountability Office

GAO reviewed the statutorily required agency self-assessments regarding their capacity to evaluate evidence. It identified 12 themes—generally strengths and opportunities for enhancement—in the evidence-building capacity assessments agencies published in 2022.

The 10 Commandments of Horizon Scanning

Association of Professional Futurists

British futurist John Carney created a set of ten commandments that he thinks have stood the test of time and cover the full gamut of purpose, communication, the scanning process itself, stakeholder engagement, and impact.

Trust-Based Philanthropy Isn’t an Excuse to Ignore Metrics

The Chronicle of Philanthropy

Measuring performance actually promotes trust and accountability while helping both funders and grantees do their jobs better.

Pivoting from Outcomes to Results

Government Executive/Don Kettl

When it comes to creating a government that solves the country’s big problems, the people just don’t believe it’s happening. Here’s how to fix that as part of the next President’s Management Agenda.

Metrics, Feedback Needed for CX

FedTech Magazine

Using AI, the right customer experience platforms and services can be used to create tailored journeys for citizens and federal employees.

Resource of the Week:  Federal Evidence-Based Spending Guide

Results for America

This guide provides practical approaches for the Executive Branch and Congress for incorporating evidence-based policy into grant-making and legislation. It lays out both how to integrate existing evidence into federal spending, as well as how to build new evidence around what works. 

Commerce Department Doubles Grants to Coastal Habitat Restoration

Federal News Network

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s grant programs for coastal habitat restoration have different metrics for success, depending on the project – oyster reef restoration will have different metrics than dam removal and fish passage projects. 

Acceptance of Strategic Planning in Northern European Municipalities

Public Administration Review/Bert George et al

“To avoid strategic plans becoming “empty” rhetoric that end up in a closet, we need to consider how we design strategic planning and involve stakeholders, how managers respond to that design, and whether that response might influence their commitment to the ensuing strategic plan.”

Sarasota Should Use “Performance Budgeting”

Sarasota Herald Tribune/John Mercer

John Mercer, the “godfather” of performance measurement in the 1980s, now lives in Florida and is recommending performance measures and performance budgeting for his new hometown of Sarasota.

Resource of the Week:  Clearinghouse for Labor Evaluation and Research (CLEAR)

U.S. Department of Labor

CLEAR’s mission is to make research on labor topics more accessible to practitioners, policymakers, researchers, and the public more broadly so that it can inform their decisions about labor policies and programs. CLEAR identifies and summarizes many types of research, including descriptive statistical studies and outcome analyses, implementation, and causal impact studies.