When Are Best Practices “Best?”

Barrett & Greene 

“Best practices, we’d argue, should be something like plug-and-play models that others can pick up and use with a reasonable assurance of success.” . . . . However, there “are five reasons we are concerned when a best practice is ballyhooed by a government official.”

Extending the Pandemic Analytics Center

Government Executive

Oversight officials say that the Pandemic Analytics Center of Excellence needs to survive past the looming sunset date, unlike a similar analytics center used to oversee stimulus spending that shuttered in 2015. A bipartisan team of lawmakers introduced legislation to keep the interagency fraud center open.

Measuring Administrative Burden

Don Moynihan/SubStack

“My insight from spending a lot of time studying performance management in government is that you need different tools and different measures for different purposes. One tool that has been missing is a specialized measure of user experienced burden.” He and colleagues set out to develop one.

Are VA Metrics Reliable for its Community Care Program?

U.S. Government Accountability Office

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) met some but not all of the statutory requirements related to the administration of the Veterans Community Care Program. VA developed 15 metrics that measure periods of time within its community care scheduling process. However, GAO found four of the 15 metrics to be unreliable, as these metrics also require data on provider referral acceptance dates in order to be calculated.

Using AI to Analyze Performance Data & Trends

Barrett & Greene

The engagement and analytics company, Polco, is currently field testing its own AI tool using its proprietary treasure trove of public sector data. Dubbed “Polly”, it is designed to use real-time performance management data, comparisons, and historical trends for strategic planning, budgeting, grant applications, performance management, and more. It is projected to be available to users by May.

Resource of the Week: The On-Line Journal Vital City

Vital City offers actionable strategies to build thriving cities. Features original commentary, new research, and data analysis from leading thinkers, practitioners, and neighborhood voices (with a New York City focus). For example: Issue 7 – “Does Evidence Matter? Research Meets the Real World.”

Plugging Leaks in Evidence Pipeline

Barrett & Greene (Gary VanLandingham)

Using evaluation reports to support evidence-based policymaking faces a series of barriers because of leaks in the evidence pipeline. A major leak occurs because many evaluation reports cannot be accessed by research clearinghouses, which scan academic journals, government websites, and research funders to identify studies that have assessed program impacts. This is largely because many evaluation sponsors do not make the studies they have funded available to outside stakeholders.  

Performance Budgets at the Local Level

StrategiSys (John Mercer)

Here’s an illustration of a local government performance budget using a 3-level cascade of goals and measures for a Parks & Recreation Department.

Fiscal Year 2025: Are We Happy Yet?

IBM Center for The Business of Government

Budgets typically are about making promises concerning the future. However, the President’s recently released fiscal year 2025 budget also includes an assessment of the performance of government management initiatives over the past year, in addition to proposals for the coming year, with a prominent emphasis on a new emphasis on improving organizational health and performance.

How AI May Affect Public Performance (podcast)

The National Center for Public Performance (NCPP)⁠ and the Center for Innovation and Change Leadership (CICL) at Suffolk University 

Listen to an engaging webinar on the topics of Artificial Intelligence and public performance. Our panelists, Alan Shark and Ram Dhan Yadav Katamaraja, along with NCPP Director Aroon Manoharan and Suffolk University Professor, Kaushik Ghosh, deep dive into a conversation about the transformative impact of AI on government operations, workforce training, and societal norms.

Inspector General Report: Use of Data Analytics

Department of Energy

We initiated this review to introduce the legal framework and leading practices supporting the use of data access, management, and analytics while highlighting past oversight efforts related to the insufficient use of data analytics within the Department.

Pay for Results/Social Impact Bonds Are a Flawed Theory

Centre for Public Impact

“The whole concept of Payment by Results rests on a provably incorrect premise—that outcomes are delivered.” A provocative white paper by Samantha Magne discusses the need to move on from this idea and towards alternative approaches.

Resource of the Week: Federal Permitting Dashboard

The Permitting Dashboard is an online tool for federal agencies, project developers, and the public to track federal environmental reviews and authorization processes for large and complex infrastructure projects. It is part of a governmentwide effort to improve coordination, transparency and accountability.

Recognizing the Best: 2024 Edition

Center for Accountability & Performance

Robert Shea is this year’s recipient of the Harry Hatry Distinguished Performance Management Practice Award; Jesper Hansen and Poul Nielssen are recipients of the Joseph Wholey Distinguished Scholarship Award; Marc Holzer is recognized for his lifetime contributions to the field of performance management; and the CAP Organizational Leadership Award goes to Mecklenburg Co., NC. Five individuals are recipients of CAP’s Emerging Leaders Award of Excellence.

A Gameplanning Office for the Future?

Government Executive

As the federal government sees increasing demands for services ranging from natural disaster response to international conflicts, a new group – the Federal Foresight Advocacy Alliance – is calling for the expansion and centralization of practices that could put agencies on the leading edge of events instead of reacting to them. 

Incorporating Equity into Agency Performance Assessments

New Jersey State Policy Lab

The purpose of this project is to recommend how the state of New Jersey can advance equity for all its residents through the incorporation of equity into the required performance assessments of government departments/agencies. Recommendations will be based on findings from our research on how other U.S. state governments are using equity measures as part of department/agency performance assessment protocols.

Federal Managers Play a Role in Job Satisfaction

Government Executive (Howard Risher)

Performance measures and pay increases don’t improve agency performance, but effective middle managers do. 

Federal Fiscal Year 2025 Management Priorities

U.S. Office of Management and Budget

This Chapter offers an annual review of the Federal Performance Framework and its approach to organizational health and performance management, and its application to date to improve outcomes and deliver a high-performing government.

The OECD Performance Budgeting Framework

Organization for Economic Cooperation & Development

The OECD Performance Budgeting Framework provides four building blocks to guide countries in strengthening their approach to performance budgeting. These are: (i) tools and methods for developing meaningful performance information, (ii) accountability and transparency, (iii) a strong enabling environment, and (iv) the use of performance information to inform decisions around the budget.

Resource of the Week: New Jersey Governor’s Performance Center

New Jersey has instituted a statewide program to track the operations and performance of each department of state government, with a particular focus on effectiveness, efficiency, timeliness, and service quality. The Governor’s Performance Center is a continuously evolving and dynamic resource that features periodic performance report updates.

FY 2023 Year End Report: President’s Management Agenda – Learning Agenda

U.S. Office of Management and Budget

In this report you’ll find summaries of evidence-building activities across each of the PMA’s three priority areas, and an invitation to stay engaged.

Ten-Year Strategic Plan for Cleveland

City of Cleveland, OH

In 2023, Mayor Justin Bibb’s Administration launched an organizational & strategic planning process to improve the city’s operations and service delivery for the next 10 years. The results of this process include a new City purpose statement and guiding principles, 4 strategic focus areas, 54 initiatives or action items, and indicators of success. 

Resource of the Week: Managing for Results Webpage

U.S. Government Accountability Office

This one-stop webpage provides an overview of the federal performance framework, GAO reports, testimony, and multi-media resources.