ASPA Center for Accountability & Performance

Optimizing Performance Using Values-Based Management

National Academy of Public Administration

This white paper outlines a strategic, four-step framework to help agencies sustain and improve performance. Drawing on lessons from past downsizing efforts and best practices in Value-Based Management (VBM) and Agile principles, this analysis provides actionable guidance for navigating organizational transformation in a resource-constrained environment.

Managers Are Lynchpins to Performance

Government Executive (Op-Ed: Howard Risher)

To reach its performance management goals, U.S. Office of Personnel Management may need to look at the inherent challenges facing agency managers and how to improve their engagement.

Aligning Evaluation and Auditing to Improve Municipal Performance in South Africa

Journal of Law and Sustainable Development

This paper examines the persistent inefficiencies in South African municipalities, focusing on financial management, procurement, and service delivery. The primary objective of this study is to propose a Unified Oversight Framework that integrates evaluation and auditing functions at the municipal level, which can enhance performance and accountability in local governance.

Ten Tips for Better Performance Management

Barrett & Greene

During the last three (plus) decades, Katherine Barrett and Richard Greene have seen a number of flaws crop up in the performance management functions of cities, counties and states. Some of these are obvious — like the problems caused by low quality data — others are not. This article sums up ten tips that they believe can be useful for entities that covet success in this discipline.

Validating Social Security’s Performance Metrics

NextGov

Social Security Commissioner Frank Bisignano has agreed to have the agency’s inspector general audit SSA’s performance data and to publicly report a broader list of data, Senator Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said after meeting with the longtime financial services businessman who took over the agency in May.

Tracking Educational Performance

Washington Post           

What are the best ways to measure whether an education system is preparing students for life after high school? That’s a difficult question to answer because of a lack of quality data. But thanks to the National Governors Association, that could soon change. NGA Chair Jared Polis, Governor of Colorado is releasing a report detailing a roadmap to collect data and measure performance.

Building an Evidence Engine

Public Administration Review

This article discusses how the U.S. General Service Administration’s Federal Acquisition Service developed and sustained a framework to collect and transform data into reliable evidence to inform decision-making – that is, how it created an “evidence engine.”

Benchmarking Project Report 2025

School of Government, University of N. Carolina

The North Carolina Benchmarking Project was established in 1995 so that participating municipalities could compare service data and performance trends. In 2022, the Benchmarking Project relaunched as Benchmarking 2.0 with a new emphasis on collaboration and relationship-building. Benchmarking 2.0 offers revised framework metrics, streamlined data collection, an interactive online dashboard, and intensive in-person performance strategy sessions.

“No Better Way to Manage Performance”

Government Executive (Op-Ed – Howard Risher)

The U.S. Office of Personnel Management’s new performance management guidance looks to refine how federal agencies tackle employee performance, but to reach its mark, the federal government’s HR agency should explore how to empower employee problem-solving.

Assessing the Effectiveness of Performance-Based Budgeting

The Journal of Academic Science

Performance-Based Budgeting can enhance financial accountability, improve resource allocation, and foster a results-oriented culture in public administration. However, the effectiveness of PBB is contingent upon several factors, including the political environment, organizational capacity, and stakeholder engagement

Resource of the Week:  EU Justice Scorecard for 27 Countries

LinkedIn (John Mercer’s “Performance for Government” Group)

This is an interesting example of “benchmarking” governmental performance at the national level. The European Union has just published its latest annual report on the justice systems of its 27 member countries, its “EU Justice Scorecard.” The many bar graphs compare the recent performance of each of these countries to its peers across a wide range of justice administration metrics.