ASPA Center for Accountability & Performance

International Trends in Government Performance

National Center for Public Performance (YouTube Video)

Two-hour segment of the Marc Holzer 2022 Symposium on Public Performance Management. Discussion of “generally accepted performance principles” and their application in Namibia, Kenya, Barbados, Nigeria, and Bangladesh. 

Rethinking Monitoring and Evaluation in Complex Systems

UNDP Strategic Innovation Unit

 We have learned that using systems and portfolio approaches requires very different ways of doing monitoring, evaluation, and results measurement. This is rooted in the realization that we cannot hope to transform complex systems through business-as-usual approaches founded on linear project-based modes of planning, management, and evaluation.

What Is the Purpose of a Performance Audit?

City of Austin, TX, Auditor’s Office (YouTube Video)

In this episode of THE SAMPLE, Leita Hart-Fanta, CPA answers the question, “What Is the Purpose of a Performance Audit?” and discusses the three questions you can ask about a program in general.

New Directions for Evaluation

Data Foundation (Special Issue, Spring 2022)

This issue of New Directions for Evaluation (NDE) surveys the landscape of evaluation policy. . . . Much has changed since the 2009 issue, including: more widespread development of explicit evaluation policies in agencies and organizations; empirical studies of evaluation policies; important legislation at the U.S. federal level, etc.

Resource of the Week:  Association for Government Accountants

This national professional association for public accountants in both the public and private sectors sponsors research and advocacy for performance management as part of its mission. It provides training, certification, standards, and guidance to its membership.

Performance Management: Not a Silver Bullet

Barrett & Greene

When we first began down this path, . . .  we were true believers, and were convinced that all state and local governments needed to do was to measure things and programmatic successes would inevitably follow. Of course, that turned out not to be the case, and as time went on we learned that for all the promises of performance management there were a number of pitfalls.

Sharing Federal Digital Services with Other Layers of Government

Aaron Snow’s Blog

Legislation is pending in both Canada and the U.S. to break down organizational silos by making federal tech services and platforms available to state, local, tribal, and territorial governments. 

What’s Next for Behavioral Nudges?

Bloomberg Cities Network

To learn what’s next in nudges—and how city leaders can get there—Bloomberg Cities caught up with David Halpern and another luminary in the field, Elizabeth Linos. .  . . Here are 10 new directions these two experts see the use of behavioral insights headed in local government in the years to come.

Unexpected Monies Could Be Used to Address Long-standing Needs

IBM Center for The Business of Government

A blockbuster, one-time-only pandemic-driven grant of $350 billion to states and localities has created an opportunity of a lifetime to make investments in longstanding needs. Will officials be up to the challenge?

A Quick Take on President Biden’s Management Agenda

Government Executive

it took more than a year into his term, but it’s a foundation for a legacy in improving government operations and public trust.  Here are some takeaways from the cross-agency priority goals and agency priority goals, both statutorily required by the 2010 GPRA Modernization Act.

California’s Cradle-to-Career Data System

Office of the Governor

The Office of Cradle-to-Career Data has signed landmark legal agreements with 15 education, social service, and workforce entities that allow for the creation of data sets on student progress from pre-K through college and employment.

Measuring Administrative Burden

Federal Computer Week

The Biden administration wants federal agencies to clear away the administrative burdens Americans take on when they interact with the government. . . . That’s a term that Donald Moynihan and Pamela Herd, both professors at Georgetown University, have been studying since 2010. . . . Now, the two are hoping to create a standard way to measure it.

Resource of the Week:  Results for America

This nonprofit, bipartisan organization focuses on encouraging decision-makers at all levels of government to harness the power of evidence and data to solve public challenges, and by advocating for investments in “what works.” Here’s a link to its successes and impact over the past decade: https://results4america.org/impact-successes/

Using Behavioral Science is One Way to Increase Satisfaction with Government Services

Government Executive

The success of the new federal COVID test kit website shows what behavioral science can offer to help make services more accessible.

Colorado’s “Evidence Continuum” Promotes Efficient, Effective Programs

Results First/Pew Charitable Trusts

Colorado is a leader among states using data and research to strengthen their budget investment choices. Since 2014, The Pew Charitable Trusts’ Results First initiative has partnered with Colorado to help the state apply research evidence to fund programs that work.

Optimizing Analytics for Policymaking and Governance

IBM Center for The Business of Government

In this report, Dr. Jennifer Bachner has derived conclusions regarding agency progress based on a systematic review of  how the government uses analytics, the outcomes of these efforts, and the challenges agencies face in their work to further develop analytical capabilities.

Resource of the Week:  Government Performance Coalition

The Coalition was created in 1999 by an ad hoc group of organizations and researchers who seek to ensure a continued focus and attention to performance and management issues in government by identifying existing issues that need new attention, refining past efforts and highlighting related governance policies that affect performance.

Ensuring Infrastructure Spending Accountability

Government Executive

The White House released new guidance on Friday on how agencies can ensure “accountability, effectiveness and transparency” in implementation of the $1 trillion infrastructure law enacted in November. The guidance provides direction on using data and evidence in designing programs; planning program implementation in order to be consistent with the law; documenting reviews and selections for discretionary programs; reporting on awards; and more.

Prioritizing Street Light Repairs

RouteFifty

With 5,000 broken streetlights and a repair staff short 10 workers, San Diego developed an algorithm to help prioritize fixes.

Dark Ages of Performance Management: The Case of COVID-19 Programs

PATimes (Samuel Kurtz)

The City of Tulsa failed to develop adequate performance management systems to optimize service delivery. . . . this is a ubiquitous story that we are beginning to uncover in cities that simultaneously restructure block grants as project-based grants and employ cross-sector contracting in public service delivery.

How Data-Driven Policies Can Help States and Localities

RouteFifty

State and local officials have emphasized the importance of governments basing decisions on data, saying it has helped localities address inequities and avoid pitfalls with the nation’s sharp political divisions.

Resource of the Week:  International City/County Management Association

This international professional association for city and county managers is an early advocate of the development and use of performance information in government. As part of its broader mission, it sponsors training, research and publications on the topic and partners with other organizations to advocate for its use.

Rethinking Budgeting: Defining the Problem

Government Finance Officers Association

Six design principles for defining problems more clearly. “A problem not fully understood is not solvable, and a problem that is fully understood is half solved,” – Charles Kettering, Inventor

WEBINAR: Implementing President Biden’s Management Agenda

ASPA CAP Webinar: May 4 (free)

This webinar, with the team lead and other members of the implementation team President Biden’s Management Agenda, will include an overview of the President’s management priorities and on how they will be implemented, 

Postal Service Dashboards

Federal News Network

A major reform bill signed last week by President Joe Biden is expected to save the Postal Service $107 billion, a major step in addressing the agency’s long-term financial challenges. In return, USPS is now required under the Postal Service Reform Act to create a dashboard that tracks on-time delivery data nationwide.

How Federal Agencies Can Improve Americans’ Health and Well-Being

Government Executive

Federal agencies have the opportunity and responsibility to integrate the social determinants of health into their missions and their work. Factors including employment status, education, income, housing, food security, transportation, and the environment can have a major impact on health outcomes. Federal agencies responsible for these and other aspects of American life have the opportunity and responsibility to integrate the SDOH into their missions and their work. 

New CDC team: A ‘Weather Service’ to forecast what’s next in pandemic

Roughly 100 scientists will analyze data and communicate policy options to decision-makers and the public about how the virus is behaving and who is most at risk — in user-friendly terms.

Dept of Education to Create Online Dashboard of Equity Data

Government Technology

To provide more transparency in the education space, as part of its inaugural equity action plan fulfilling an executive order from the Biden administration, the U.S. Department of Education will create an “Equity in Education” online information dashboard.

Using Data to Build Trust in Government

Barrett & Greene (op-ed by Doug Criscitello)

The development of web-based applications providing citizens with direct access to government data (e.g., USAspending.gov, data.gov, dataUSA.io, USAfacts.org) have significantly enhanced transparency and accountability by answering the “what, where and when” questions involving government operations and expenditures. . . . The “why and how well” questions are more complex.

Resource of the Week:  Center for Results-Focused Leadership

The Center was launched in 2021 with a unique mission to be a strategic advisor on high-priority evidence, performance, and innovation projects for public agencies, jurisdictions and nonprofit organizations.