ASPA Center for Accountability & Performance

Management
A Quiet Legacy: The Bush Management Agenda Continues to Impact Government
Robert Shea and Danny Werfel, Government Executive
Management reform should be nonpartisan, and it’s important to keep moving the goal post.
Agencies get even more performance management, disciplinary guidance from OPM
Nicole Ogrysko, Federal News Network
OPM has released new performance management guidance to encourage agencies to reconsider the concept of progressive discipline when managing employees.
The Performance Management Alarms Keep Getting Louder
Howard Risher, Government Executive
Government is overlooking a straightforward way to tackle its talent management problems—investing in middle managers.

Analytics/Evaluation
Where does the Federal Data Strategy go from here? Evidence panel members revisit ideas
Jory Heckman, Federal News Network
Former Commission on Evidence-Based Policymaking members say it’s time for Congress to reconsider recommendations that never got off the ground.
Navy preparing data strategies to revolutionize future programs
Scott Maucione, Federal Computer Week
The Navy is preparing two major plans to make data management better.
USDA partners with Microsoft to make sense of farm data in new pilot
Dave Nyczepir, FedScoop
The FarmBeats platform can build machine-learning models across disparate datasets monitoring soil and weather.

Innovation
Why Agencies Need to Tap the Revolutionary Potential of Behavioral Science
John Kamensky, Government Executive
Traditional policy tools, such as taxes, subsidies and regulations, are not always very effective in changing social behavior.

Customer Service
4 ways to improve your customer experience, from agencies already deep in the trenches
Nicole Ogrysko, Federal News Network
Embracing culture change and appointing a senior leader to develop and manage a organizational roadmap are among the ways agencies can improve their customer experiences.
What Popular Government Service Providers Could Teach Other Agencies
Courtney Buble, Government Executive
First of its kind report looks at successful practices that could be replicated governmentwide.
Report: IRS Should Have an Official In Charge of Customer Experience
Courtney Buble, Government Executive
The agency could also improve its website and share more feedback, analysts conclude in first-of-its-kind report.

Analytics/Evaluation
‘How do we do better?’ Chief data officers see hiring challenges persist
Jory Heckman, Federal News Network
Chief data officers face a long road ahead, not just getting their agencies to adopt the culture change of data-driven government, but also finding a workforce and the resources to carry out their new mission.
HHS IG office ‘putting data at the fingertips’ of its investigators in the field
Jory Heckman, Federal News Network
Through big-data tools, the Department of Health and Human Services; top watchdog has an upper hand bringing bogus health care claims to court.
Better data could help fight the opioid crisis, says DOJ IG
Tajha Chappellet-Lanier, FedScoop
More data, available in a more timely fashion, would help the Drug Enforcement Agency better combat America’s ongoing opioid crisis.

Management
How the Army is wrangling its 187 personnel data systems
Dave Nyczepir, FedScoop
The Army Talent Management Task Force has been charged with turning the branch’s archaic personnel system into a data-driven one.

Customer Service
Federal CIO Council Turns Customer Experience Expectations On Itself
Aaron Boyd, Nextgov
The relaunched CIO.gov is designed to help federal IT employees better engage with their community.

Reorganization
Dark cloud over OPM leaves employees fearing long-term damage
Nicole Ogrysko and Jason Miller, Federal News Network
Employees say the proposed merger has lowered morale, created uncertainty and hurt OPM as the agency has shed years of institutional knowledge and lost key executives and delayed their own work.
OPM employees voiceless as administration ramped up merger efforts
Nicole Ogrysko and Jason Miller, Federal News Network
Explores how the administration’s proposed merger of GSA and OPM left employees with more questions than answers and frustrated lawmakers.
It’s time for a Cabinet-level management department
Jeff Neal, Federal News Network
While all of the focus on the OPM-GSA merger has been on OPM’s shortcomings, it is safe to say that the federal government as a whole has not covered itself with respect to management issues.

Analytics/Evaluation
Why Your Agency Should Have an Evaluation Policy Now
Andrew Feldman, Government Executive
It’s necessary to comply with the Evidence Act, but it also provides a critical foundation for making the most out of the new law.

Performance Management
Creating a Critical Mass of Talent and Resources
John Kamensky, Government Executive
There are people at all levels of government experienced in using behavioral science to improve program effectiveness. Officials need to seek them out.
GEAR Challenge gives prize to train federal managers on data-driven decision-making
Federal News Network
A group led by the Volcker Alliance is proposing to try out specific curriculum to train a group of federal employees in the use of data and evidence.
MSPB: There’s a Better Way to do Performance Reviews
Courtney Buble, Government Executive
The Merit Systems Protection Board has some advice: spend more time discussing performance and less time haggling over the actual grades.
OPM Calls on Agencies to Streamline Federal Firing
Erich Wagner, Government Executive
Agencies have until March 2020 to eliminate “unnecessary barriers to addressing poor performance,” and even stricter rules are likely on the way.
OPM tells agencies to review, streamline performance management, disciplinary policies
Nicole Ogrysko, Government Executive
Under the latest guidance from the Office of Personnel Management, agencies have new deadlines now to review and then streamline their existing performance management and disciplinary procedures for federal employees.

Customer Service
At 3 agencies, here’s what customer experience overhaul looks like
Jory Heckman, Federal News Network
More than two dozen public-facing program offices have released new data on their annual workloads and are looking at ways to transform their approach to customer service through long-term strategies.

Innovation
GAO Center to Educate Congress on the Big Picture of Future Tech
Aaron Boyd, Nextgov
The Center for Strategic Foresight plans to give lawmakers a broad sense of what’s coming in the future.

Analytics/Evaluation
Army’s forthcoming data strategy comes with new standards, ‘ruthless’ enforcement
Jared Serbu, Federal News Network
Once the Army’s new data strategy is officially released, it will come with specific orders telling Army components to adhere to common data standards.

Customer Service
5 ways self-service improves government customer experience
Dan Davis, FedScoop
How agencies can improve citizen services by leveraging modern platforms.

Innovation
Testing Period
Katherine Barrett & Richard Greene, Governing
Pilot programs don’t always fly right.
6 Tips for Piloting New Programs
Katherine Barrett & Richard Greene, Governing
Small test-runs can help an entity avoid big mistakes, but there’s an art to getting meaningful results.
Nudge in the City: Using Science to Improve Public Services
John Kamensky, Government Executive
Cutting-edge technology is nice, but sometimes just changing the size of a mailing envelope can determine whether a program is successful.
How VA is disrupting tech delivery
Kelly O’Connor, Federal Computer Week
A former Digital Service specialist at the Department of Veterans Affairs explains efforts to transition government from a legacy “project” approach to a more user-centered “product” method.
GSA’s TTS is being restructured into two ‘pillars’ of effort
Tajha Chappellet-Lanier, FedScoop
GSA’s Technology Transformation Service is reorganizing itself to be more “client-focused.”

Management
OPM policy changes may improve hiring, but only if agencies do not find ways to maintain the status quo
Jeff Neal, Federal News Network
The author breaks down why federal hiring practices are slow, confusing to nongovernment applicants, get tied up in regulations and often result in unqualified applicants getting the job.

Analytics/Evaluation
How a new federal strategy will help government fuel its mission
Andrew Eversden, Federal Times
The way government operates is changing in a world that is driven by data.

Management
Weichert: Agencies Should Include Experts in Hiring Process
Erich Wagner, Government Executive
Guidance from the Office of Personnel Management encourages a renewed focus on competencies, rather than “minimum qualifications.”
Senate confirms Cabaniss as new permanent OPM director
Nicole Ogrysko, Federal News Network
The Senate confirmed Dale Cabaniss to be the permanent director of the Office of Personnel Management, following nearly a year of acting leadership from the Office of Management and Budget.

Collaboration
Filling the Gaps in Collective Impact
Jennifer Blatz, Meg Long, Justin Piff, and Bridget Jancarz, Stanford Social Innovation Review
Nine supporting activities that can help make “collective impact” approaches more nuanced and rigorous.

Customer Service
GSA Seeks to Simplify Citizen Survey Work for High-Impact Agencies
Frank Konkel, Nextgov
GSA will usher certain agencies through Paperwork Reduction Act regulations to meet the administration’s customer experience goals.

Innovation
GEAR Center’s First Projects Focus on Government’s Perennial Workforce Issues
Aaron Boyd, Nextgov
The research center’s first challenge winners aim to fill government openings with alternative talent and beef up the workforce’s data skills.
Government steps out on ‘nudges’
Steve Kelman, Federal Computer Week
Years after OMB began pushing the idea of soft paternalism in federal programs, a GSA office is quietly leading cutting-edge efforts.
GAO Launches New Unit to Prepare Congress for the Future
Aaron Boyd, Nextgov
The Center for Strategic Foresight held its first conference, focused on two problems closer to the present than the future: deep space and deepfakes.

Leadership
Why agencies are mapping out new and improved leadership development models
Nicole Ogrysko, Federal News Network
Both the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Office of Personnel Management are building new leadership development models for a modern era.