ASPA Center for Accountability & Performance

Evidence and Evaluation
Creating the Foundation for Building an Agency Culture That Values Evidence
Andrew Feldman, Government Executive
6 ideas to focus on what’s doable.
GAO Hires First Data Scientist
Aaron Boyd, Nextgov
The position will lead the watchdog’s new Innovation Lab, soliciting new ideas and using data to help GAO better inform agencies and Congress.
DoD overcoming culture challenges to turn data ‘snapshot’ into predictive analytics
Jory Heckman, Federal News Network
The Trump administration has laid out a roadmap for predictive analytics in government, but to get those plans off the ground agencies need to get a better handle on their data.
Mousetraps for Flawed Data
Katherine Barrett and Richard Greene, IBM Center for the Business of Government
Signals that can be used to identify when data should be more closely scrutinized before being used to manage and make policy.
Can the federal government be sure its AI isn’t biased?
Andrew Eversden, Federal Times
The White House released a progress report on the federal government’s artificial intelligence research.

Management
New case studies highlight the importance of federal program management
David Summers, Federal Times
How strong project and program management capabilities and practices can improve outcomes and drive effective execution throughout government.
Performance Management: A View from the Front
Katherine Barrett and Richard Greene, IBM Center for the Business of Government
Six significant trends in performance management.
How to Make Your Performance Review Process Less Painful
Scott Eblin, Government Executive
3 ideas to make the process more meaningful.

Leadership
Federal Agencies Can Succeed at Leadership Development Even Amid Tight Budgets
Bill Valdez, James L. Perry, Jenny Knowles Morrison, and Gordon Abner
Data on the impact of training programs will help make the case for sustained funding.

Customer Service
Paving the way for government to improve the digital customer experience
Santiago Milian, John Gray Parker and Cameron Hanson, Federal Times
As agencies prepare plans to modernize websites, as mandated by the 21st Century IDEA Act, they should remember they are at the beginning, not the end.

Analytics/Evaluation
Implementing evidence-based policymaking
Lia Russell, Federal Computer Week
Agencies and the White House are getting into the weeds of how to put the Evidence Act into effect.
Federal CIO: Chief Data Officer Council Is Coming Very Soon
Brandi Vincent, Nextgov
After months of collaboration, planning and legislation that mandated its existence, the government will soon establish its first-ever Chief Data Officer Council.
Analyst, Analyze Thyself!
Jeff Myers and Jennifer Bachner, Nextgov
Analytics professionals spend more time gathering data than they dedicate to analyzing it, according to a recent survey.

Customer Service
3 tips for standing up a CX function
Santiago Milan, Federal Computer Week
An expert offers advice on how to know whether you’re ready for change at the top.

Innovation
How Five Federal Agencies Fostered Innovation
Courtney Buble, Government Executive
New report showcases initiatives including a procurement lab and virtual internship program.
GAO imagines the future of oversight
Adam Mazmanian, Federal Computer Week
In a new Innovation Lab, a vision of audit tech with big data and expanded reach begins to take shape.
Federal innovators now have a new ‘support group’ style council
Nicole Ogrysko, Federal News Network
A group of like-minded champions of creative, inventive thinking within their agencies has formed a kind of support group for federal innovators.

Analytics/Evaluation
‘Get the agencies moving’ toward CDO Council, former House Speaker urges
Dave Nyczepir, FedScoop
OMB should work with agencies’ chief data officers to stand up the CDO Council sooner rather than later.

Management
Learning to be a Leader
John Kamensky, Government Executive
A professional development seminar series open to all federal employees has helped thousands of feds connect across government.
How Agency Leaders Can Turn Vision Into Action
Richard Aragon, Andrew Miklos, Claire Schulkey, Government Executive
The National Institute of General Medical Sciences is demonstrating how a functional strategic plan can serve as a powerful management tool.
A Realistic Path to Modernizing the Civil Service
Bill Valdez and Adam White, Government Executive
Ten considerations for updating and improving government operations.
GAO: Workforce Planning Across Government Isn’t Going as Planned
Aaron Boyd, Nextgov
A review showed most federal agencies are implementing parts of GAO’s workforce planning framework while others are ignored due to competing priorities and leadership turnover.

Customer Service
GSA Wants Industry Insights on Offering Human-Centered Design Services
Brandi Vincent, Nextgov
Responses to the new request for information will impact future procurement actions, the agency said.

Innovation
VA innovators see home-grown ideas spread far and wide across veterans health network
Nicole Ogrysko, Federal News Network
The Veterans Health Administration’s Innovation Ecosystem is bigger than ever, and employees are still eager to pitch their own ideas — even when the funding needed to grow those ideas isn’t always guaranteed.

Analytics/Evaluation
4 ways to empower federal CDOs
Andrew Churchill, Federal Computer Week
To ensure chief data officers are more than data cheerleaders, agencies must empower them to be strategic leaders that can make an impact.
The Evolving Promise of Pay for Success
Sindhu Lakshmanan, Roger Low and Caroline Whistler, Stanford Social Innovation Review
Despite growing pains, the pay for success funding model is finding renewed success in communities across the United States and is primed to evolve into an ever-more-powerful tool for social change.
What agencies need to implement the Federal Data Strategy
Andrew Eversden, Federal Times
Departments across the government continue to be scattered in terms of implementation of the Federal Data Strategy, but they recognize what they need to do to be successful.
Naval Research Lab brainstorms plan to tackle AI’s data-centric challenges
Jory Heckman, Federal News Network
The defense community, including the Defense AI Center stood up last year, have rolled out AI pilots on everything from predictive maintenance of aircraft and vehicles to autonomous ships.
How GSA is using data to drive better decisions
Jason Miller, Federal News Network
Data analytics is driving decisions across the agency.

Management
When Performance Goals Backfire
John Kamensky, Government Executive
Ambitious goals can be motivational, but they also can incentivize unethical behavior.
Top management official wants a more ‘agile’ government
Andrew Eversden, Federal Times
OMB’s Deputy Director of Management pledged to remove structural impediments hindering the federal government’s ability to adapt to changing technology and workforce needs.
OPM’s new guide to reading employee viewpoint data
Lia Russell, Federal Computer Week
A new toolkit from the Office of Personnel Management focuses on using data to understand and improve employee-manager relations.
Merit Board Suggests Ways Agencies Can Hire ‘Better,’ Not Just ‘Faster and Cheaper’
Erich Wagner, Government Executive
The Merit Systems Protections Board is lending its support to the Office of Personnel Management’s hiring reform efforts.

Innovation
How VA Gets Innovators to Focus on Veterans’ Challenges
Brandi Vincent, Nextgov
Hackathons—and the meaningful strategic partnerships they can spark—help the Veterans Affairs Department turn innovation that only seems imaginable into reality.

Analytics/Evaluation
Are federal CDOs being set up to fail?
Dave Nyczepir, FedScoop
Empowering agencies’ chief data officers means freeing them from other roles and responsibilities, according to a new paper.
What DOD’s data scientists are discovering
Troy K. Schneider, Federal Computer Week
Recruiting top analytical talent into government is tough, the Pentagon’s top management officer says, but the payoffs can be big.
Data Coalition Obtains Documents Indicating Labor Department is Constraining Resources for Evaluating Program Effectiveness
Data Coalition
The Data Coalition acquired documents through a FOIA request that suggest the Labor Department continues to constrain resources for studying whether and how well the country’s labor policies work.

Management
How OPM Cut the Paper Out of the Performance Review Process
Aaron Boyd, Nextgov
So far, the USA Performance app tracks more than 35,000 federal employees—a number expected to more than double in 2020.
The Army has ideas for reducing civilian time-to-hire
Jared Serbu, Federal News Network
The Army is still drafting an implementation plan for the civilian employee side of its new, overarching “People Strategy.” But officials are previewing some of the ideas that may soon become Army-wide policy.

Innovation
Tackling Both Sides of the Government Innovation Challenge
Rebecca Gevalt, Government Executive
Bringing commercial technology into the federal market requires a comprehensive solution.

Customer Service
One small policy change means a big difference for citizens
Matt Schrader, Federal Computer Week
The CASES Act is a significant step in the right direction for enhancing the citizen experience. Legislators should use this as a guidepost to rework other outdated policies that were originally intended to protect citizens but are long overdue for a refresh.