ASPA Center for Accountability & Performance

Performance Management
Officials Highlight Pay for Performance, Streamlined Firing in New Management Document
Erich Wagner, Government Executive
Inaugural quarterly management agenda report encourages more training and support for managers, as well as efforts to improve employee engagement.
Is pay for performance coming?
Jeff Neal, Federal News Radio
The most recent report on the administration’s “Workforce for the 21st Century” Cross-Agency Priority (CAP) goal includes a milestone to “examine best practices of federal demonstration projects and alternative personnel systems.”

Collaboration
The Gatekeepers of the Government’s Other Transaction Deals
Aaron Boyd, Nextgov
Agencies don’t always know which companies have the bleeding-edge technology they seek. That’s where consortia come in.

Innovation
USDS: Successful IT modernization projects depend on testing early & often
Steff Thomas, Federal News Radio
Modernizing a federal agency’s technology requires input from many voices in different fields. The U.S. Digital Service is working to recruit top tech talent to improve how the government operates in the digital era.
Why Agencies Should Be Tech Agnostic When Solving Problems
Jack Corrigan, Nextgov
Don’t miss the forest for the trees, General Services Administration’s emerging tech official said.
Senate passes DHS bug bounty bill
Derek Johnson, Federal Computer Week
The bill would compel the federal government’s top civilian cyber agency to pay those who find security vulnerabilities in the agency’s IT operations.

Analytics/Evaluation
CBP leverages tech, data sharing to fight illegal opioids
Mark Rockwell, Federal Computer Week
New detection technology, as well as increasing shipping data sharing with China helps in the border fight against fentanyl, according to the Customs and Border Protection leader.

Innovation
GSA Is Giving a Bird’s Eye View of Emerging Government Tech
Jack Corrigan, Nextgov
The initiative aims to cut through the “bureaucracy” that blinds federal techies to other agencies’ projects.
Enough Innovation Already!
Kevin Starr, Stanford Social Innovation Review
Innovation without replication is a waste of time.

Management
Civil Service Reform Must Be a Priority
Howard Risher, Government Executive
OPM Director Jeff Pon recently promised sweeping changes in government’s HR practices. The author writes that initiative can’t start soon enough.

Open Government
Citizen scientists are the new community activists
Courtland Milloy, Washington Post
A new breed of community activist has emerged: the citizen scientist. They are ordinary residents using a basic understanding of civics and science in service to the health of their communities.

President’s Management Agenda
How to Respond to the President’s Management Agenda
Steve Goodrich, Government Executive
The author writes that agencies should take a deliberate approach to this new opportunity.

Analytics/Evaluation
‘Data + Use = Value’ is the motto for new USASpending.gov
Jason Miller, Federal News Radio
The Treasury Department is launching a series of new data analysis tools to let people have access to a treasure trove of contracts, grants and other spending information.
Treasury Builds Data Lab To Inspire ‘Better Data, Better Decisions, Better Government’
Aaron Boyd, Nextgov
The Data Transparency Office went beyond the DATA Act mandate to build visualizations showing where agencies’ $500 billion in contract spending goes each year.
FDA, data analytics and the opioid crisis
Tom Temin, Federal News Radio
The Food and Drug Administration uses a big data analytics approach to better understanding prescription patterns and the opioid crisis.

Customer Service
Bill Would Create Federal Customer Service Standards
Frank Konkel, Government Executive
Once set, the legislation would also bake them into agency performance plans.

Innovation
Is DOD overlooking its own innovators?
Lauren Williams, Federal Computer Week
Silicon Valley has become synonymous with innovation, but government leaders might be missing out on what’s going on in their own labs.

Open Government
Digital Literacy Is at the Heart of a Thriving Smart City
Skip Descant, Government Technology
During the Smart Cities Conference thought leaders broke down the issues facing technology deployments and the importance of bringing constituents along.

President’s Management Agenda
President’s Management Agenda addresses key civil service issues
Jeff Neal, Federal News Radio
The author writes that with some refinement and added planning, the PMA could be a roadmap for more effective management in government.

Performance Management
With Pay for Performance, Money Is Not the Problem
Howard Risher, Government Executive
Strengthening the way employee performance is managed is critical.

Analytics/Evaluation
Evidence-Based Policy Meets Reality In Federal Agencies
Charles Clark, Government Executive
The Bipartisan Policy Center identifies 16 barriers to changing program evaluation culture.

Customer Service
The Question Governments Need to Ask: How Are We Doing?
Russ Linden, Governing
There is a range of customer-feedback tools, including very simple ones.

Innovation
How the U.S. Digital Service thrives in the Trump era
Chase Gunter, Federal Computer Week
The tech shop that grew out of the Obama-era Healthcare.gov fix-it squad appears to be a permanent fixture of government under the Trump administration.
How ‘Service Design’ Is Changing the Way Cities Work
J. Brian Charles, Governing
New York City is betting that it can learn important lessons from the way the private sector runs. The bet is starting to pay off.

Reorganization
Spending measure could disrupt Trump’s plans to cut agencies
Joe Davidson, The Federal Eye
A provision in the omnibus spending bill could sharply curtail the administration’s plans to reorganize the government.

President’s Management Agenda
Relaunch of President’s Management Agenda Touts ‘Getting ‘er Done’
Charles Clark, Government Executive
A “relaunch” of the president’s management agenda focuses on the execution of government modernization ideas.
OMB details 14 cross-agency priority goals in unveiling new President’s Management Agenda
Nicole Ogrysko, Federal News Radio
The President’s Management Agenda describes 14 cross-agency priority goals that the Trump administration will focus on in the coming years.
10 Things to Know about the President’s Management Agenda
Donald Kettl, Government Executive
The plan is different from the plans of previous administrations.
Management agenda: new bottle, old wine
Tom Temin, Federal News Radio
The idea of government catching up with efficient technology and offering commercial-grade service never goes out of style.

Analytics/Evaluation
Why Policymakers Should Learn to Be Data Analysts
Beth Simone Noveck and Sam DeJohn, Governing
To get the most out of evidence-based governing, they need training. More and more, it’s becoming available.
What Do State Chief Data Officers Do?
Pew Charitable Trusts
A look at the job that puts analytics to use in decision-making.

Innovation
What Government Really Can Learn from Business
Andy Feldman and Jim Manzi, Government Executive
Some agencies have begun to embrace disciplined innovation; others should follow.

Reorganization
Omnibus Puts Kibosh on White House Efforts to Unilaterally Reorganize Agencies, Shed Workers
Eric Katz, Government Executive
Provisions would block office closures, prevent workforce reductions.