ASPA Center for Accountability & Performance

Reorganization
Lawmakers question goals of reorganization plan
Chase Gunter, Federal Computer Week
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle raised concerns about various aspects of the White House’s plan to structurally reorganize the federal government, questioning the goals and motives of the proposal.
White House Defends Government Reorganization Proposals Amid Congressional Criticism
Eric Katz, Government Executive
OMB official faces “tough crowd” at hearing as lawmakers push back on an array of recommendations.
Will Trump’s reorg plan get a boost from Congress?
Chase Gunter, Federal Computer Week
The White House proposed a wide-ranging plan that would consolidate and reorganize cabinet-level agencies, but it won’t get far without backing from Congress.
8 Key Proposals for Feds in Trump’s Reorganization Plan
Eric Katz, Government Executive
An array of proposals put forward last week by the Trump administration to reorganize and reform federal agencies would have major impacts on their workforces.
Short-term savings or long-term transformation?
Scott Erskine, Federal Computer Week
With the Trump administration’s government reorganization plan out, it’s worth examining strategies for how to balance demands for budget cuts with big-picture organizational change.

Customer Service
How Agencies Can Help Citizens Navigate the Maze of Information
Anna Sever, Government Executive
Information is a good thing; but what about when there’s too much of a good thing?

Innovation
USDA reports success with centers of excellence program
Mark Rockwell, Federal Computer Week
As the Department of Agriculture modernizes, the General Services Administration is looking for the next agency to adopt its “centers of excellence” approach.

Management
OMB Sharpens Guidance for Improving Programs and Curbing Improper Payments
Charles Clark, Government Executive
In a pair of memos to agency heads, OMB Director Mick Mulvaney laid out how his office will monitor progress toward formalizing the improvement of program management and getting a better handle on efforts to avoid government payments to undeserving parties.

Reorganization
White House Proposes a Massive Reorganization of Federal Agencies
Charles Clark, Government Executive
The Trump administration released a blueprint for a massive overhaul of the federal bureaucracy, one that if implemented would touch virtually every agency and the way all Americans receive government services.
White House proposes wide-ranging government reorg
Chase Gunter, Federal Computer Week
A White House plan to reorganize and consolidate agencies across government includes changes to federal employee services and customer experience.
What’s inside Trump’s major government overhaul
Jessie Bur, Federal Times
OMB released its sweeping plan for government reorganization, which includes drastic changes to agency structures and responsibilities.
The Tech Side of Trump’s Plan to Reorganize Government
Aaron Boyd and Frank Konkel, Nextgov
The plans would force government to get digital, as well as improve the way it provides services to citizens.
OPM Would Lose Its Independence, Service Functions Under Reorganization Plan
Erich Wagner, Government Executive
The administration’s reorganization plan includes a proposal to transfer nearly all of OPM’s service responsibilities and to remove the agency’s independent status.

Analytics/Evaluation
Data analytics will fuel the future of military readiness
Andrew Churchill, Federal Computer Week
As DOD modernizes, making better use of its vast data stores is essential.

Innovation
New Technologies Pose Ethical Challenges for Agencies
Darcie Piechowski, Government Executive
Officials need to ensure efforts to modernize are not in conflict with essential moral principles.

Leadership
White House Inaugurates ‘Gears of Government’ Awards for Exceptional Performance
Charles Clark, Government Executive
Agencies will nominate employees who advance the mission, customer service or stewardship.

Performance Management
Government Already Has a Blueprint for Implementing Pay For Performance
Howard Risher, Government Executive
The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency offers a success story.

Analytics/Evaluation
Could Pay for Success Help Make Bail Reform a Reality?
Gloria Gong, Governing
The funding approach has a lot of potential for taking the first steps toward overhauling pretrial detention.
Government Is Data Rich, But Information Poor
John Kamensky, Government Executive
More leaders need to be able to turn data into insights.
Data behaving badly
Dominic Delmolino, Federal Computer Week
Why data veracity is key to ensuring that business insights are reliable.

Innovation
How a Treasury office’s incubator encourages a culture of tech curiosity
Tajha Chappellet-Lanier, Fedscoop
The Office of Revenue and Collections Management has found a unique way to keep an eye on emerging technologies and their potential to improve federal revenue collection.
Will term limits transform government’s digital service groups?
Chase Gunter, Federal Computer Week
Now at the four-year mark, Obama-era digital teams have spanned solidly across two administrations. But with the earliest hires hitting the end of their terms, what do their legacies and futures look like?
How Chicago’s Tradition of Civic Organizing Inspired the Best in Civic Tech
Zack Quaintance, Government Technology
Chi Hack Night has become a national model for sustainable and successful volunteer civic technology projects.

Open Government
Overcoming a Big Obstacle to Citizen Feedback
Eric Keller and Kathy Conrad, Government Executive
It took the Defense IG more than a year to get approval for a simple five-question survey asking users’ opinions about its website.

Performance Management
Better Training Is Essential for Performance Management
Howard Risher, Government Executive
It’s not enough to identify and promote those with the promise to be effective supervisors—you also have to support them.

Collaboration
Why Collaborations Fail
Jon Huggett, Stanford Social Innovation Review
What lies under the word, “uncollaborative”? Usually, it’s an unaddressed power imbalance.

Customer Service
What agency has the most improved customer experience?
Jory Heckman, Federal News Radio
Compared to the private sector, the federal government, as a whole, ranks down toward the bottom of a new customer service scorecard.
To improve agency customer experience, consider investing in the federal workforce
Jory Heckman, Federal News Radio
The federal government is chock full of chief information officers, chief financial officers and chief human capital officers. But as it stands, there are only a handful of chief customer officers.

Open Government
Harnessing the power of a data-driven government
Rich Beutel, Federal News Radio
New trends have ushered in an era of data-powered government innovation and citizen services based on the value of making government data widely available.

Reorganization
Report: Agency Reorganization Plans Include Massive Shake-up at HHS, Agriculture
Erich Wagner, Government Executive
The long-awaited release of agency proposals has been delayed until late June.
Reorganizing Welfare Programs Is a Very Big Deal
Donald Kettl, Government Executive
It can be tough for eligible families to navigate the complex system that sprawls across multiple departments.

President’s Management Agenda
Why the President’s Management Agenda Is Different From Previous Plans
Dave Mader, Government Executive
A former federal executive and veteran of previous reform initiatives believes the current agenda has staying power.

Analytics/Evaluation
What Networked CDOs Can Bring to Their Cities
Stephen Goldsmith and Jane Wiseman, Government Executive
Chief data officers are not only working to solve their own cities’ problems. They’re working together to share their approaches among their peers.

Customer Service
A new government digital services playbook
Steve Kelman, Federal Computer Week
A new digital services playbook for government managers of digital services projects aims to share lessons learned from four years of digital projects.
Trump plans to bring back Federal Customer Service Awards program
Jory Heckman, Federal News Radio
Following the release of the President’s Management Agenda, the Trump administration is relaunching the Federal Customer Service Awards program the Obama administration began in 2015.

Innovation
How to Reap Millions in Cost Savings from a State-Sponsored Hackathon
Dawn Kawamoto, Government Technology
Hawaii took an unusual approach and launched a monthlong hackathon, rather than a typical weekend warrior hackfest. The results? Millions of dollars and hundreds of hours saved.

Open Government
The Future of Civic Engagement
John Kamensky, Government Executive
The precipitous drop in public trust in government over the past decade has been unsettling, but engaging citizens directly may help reverse this trend.