ASPA Center for Accountability & Performance

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.

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.