ASPA Center for Accountability & Performance

Analytics/Evaluation
Interview with Nick Hart: New Evidence-Based Policymaking Initiative
Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management
Nick Hart is the director of The Bipartisan Policy Center’s new Evidence-Based Policymaking Initiative.
Pay for Success and the Savings Trap
Jake Segal, Governing
Making the conversation about government effectiveness and positive outcomes.

Innovation
Is Your Agency Ready to Solve Its Problems?
Mohana Ravindranath, Nextgov
A Stanford University team has come up with an algorithm assessing whether agencies are ready for solutions to the challenges they face.
White House sketches plans to staff its modernization efforts
Derek Johnson, Federal Computer Week
The White House’s Office of American Innovation is looking to set the stage for IT modernization efforts under the Trump administration by establishing a quartet of research centers, each dedicated to a core aspect of modern technology.

Management
A Blueprint for Improving Government’s HR Function
Howard Risher, Government Executive
The Baldrige Performance Excellence Framework offers federal personnel leaders a guide for transforming agency operations, as well as the HR function itself.
Hardly any federal employees are fired for poor performance. That could be a good sign, report says.
Eric Yoder, Washington Post
The low rate at which federal employees are fired for poor performance doesn’t prove the government accepts it but instead “could actually be a positive sign,” the agency that decides appeals of discipline against federal employees has said.

Open Government
HHS issues code-a-thon challenge to combat opioid crisis
Jessie Bur, Federal Times
The Department of Health and Homeland Security announced that it will be holding a code-a-thon to find data-driven solutions to the opioid health epidemic.

Performance Management
Seven Steps for Creating a Bottom Line in the Government
Prajapati Trivedi, Business of Government
Most government agencies do not have a clearly defined bottom line. Thus, the managers of the agency often do not know what is expected from them.
This Can Make Middle Managers Inflate Success
Matt Swayne, Government Executive
In a study of a large telecommunications company, researchers found that middle managers used a range of tactics to inflate their subordinates’ performance and deceive top management.

Analytics/Evaluation
Is Your Agency Ready for New Evidence-Based Policy Tools?
Andy Feldman and Robert Shea, Government Executive
The goal is to strengthen a culture of learning and improvement.
2017 Federal Invest in What Works Index
Results for America
Results for America’s Federal Invest in What Works Index highlights the extent to which selected federal agencies are building the infrastructure necessary to be able to use data, evidence and evaluation in budget, policy, and management decisions.
How Networks of Proven Programs Could Help State-Level Reform
Robert Slavin, Huffington Post
How can states hope to bring about major change on a large scale?
Do People Like Government ‘Nudges’? Study Says: Yes
Cass Sunstein, Government Executive
Government initiatives to prod people to make better decisions got a lot of attention after Richard Thaler won a Nobel in economics for his working on nudging.

Innovation
How to Foster Innovation in Government Management Systems
Prajapati Trivedi, PA Times
How do you create an innovation eco-system within government that promotes a culture of management innovation?

Open Government
GSA, OPM Nominees Pledge to Build Public Trust Through Open Data Programs
Mohana Ravindranath, Nextgov
Emily Webster Murphy, GSA administrator nominee, pledged to expand open data programs while Jeff Pon, OPM director nominee, said he promised to ramp up information security efforts.

Reorganization
DHS reorg to focus on building integration, efficiency from localized solutions
David Thornton, Federal News Radio
Instead of deciding at the top what is best for the various components of the sprawling department, Homeland Security is taking the next step in a logical progression of programs it had already begun to track down and fix problems where they live, and so effect change from the bottom up.

Analytics/Evaluation
DATA Act’s ‘gentle transition’ offers agencies option to dive in, dip toe in data
Meredith Somers, Federal News Radio
For the Homeland Security Department, the DATA Act was more of a springboard than a starting line.

Innovation
Trump’s Tech Office Wants More Short-Term Talent
Mohana Ravindranath, Nextgov
The Office of American Innovation could model its recruitment efforts after Obama-era tech programs.
Government as Government, not Business
Hollie Russon Gilman, Stanford Social Innovation Review
While innovating in government is critical, we also need shared norms and democratic values.

Open Government
Federal employee engagement highest in 6 years, OPM survey says
Nicole Ogrysko, Federal News Radio
Federal employee engagement rose to a six-year high in 2017, according to the latest results of the Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey.
Online Civic Engagement: Define the Problem, Really Use the Solution
Theo Douglas, Government Technology
Online civic engagement can yield powerful results, but the maker of a platform and two of its clients caution agencies that technology is no substitute for planning and utilization.

Performance Management
Managing for Results: Further Progress Made in Implementing the GPRA Modernization Act, but Additional Actions Needed to Address Pressing Governance Challenges
Government Accountability Office
OMB and agencies have made some progress in more fully implementing the GPRA Modernization Act, but GAO’s work and 2017 survey of federal managers highlight numerous areas where improvements are needed.
2017 Survey of Federal Managers on Organizational Performance and Management Issues
Government Accountability Office
Provides information from our web-based survey of nearly 4,400 federal managers on certain management topics, such as using performance measures to track progress, quarterly performance reviews, and program evaluations.
Needed: A Commitment to Effective Performance Management
Howard Risher, Government Executive
Civil service reform is important, but without management reform it’s unlikely to generate the expected results.
Why Leaders Should Focus on Outcomes Instead of Solutions
Scott Elbin, Government Executive
Too often, executives and managers overlook the difference between the two.

Analytics/Evaluation
Program Evaluation: Annual Agency-Wide Plans Could Enhance Leadership Support for Program Evaluations
Government Accountability Office
In its government-wide survey GAO found that most federal managers lack recent evaluations of their programs.
A primer on the Commission on Evidence-Based Policymaking’s recommendations: An interview with Nick Hart, Bipartisan Policy Center
Andy Feldman, GovInnovator Podcast
The Commission’s key recommendations focus on making the most of the data the government already collects by giving qualified researchers greater access to data from government programs and surveys, strengthening privacy protections, and ways that departments can increase their evidence capacity.

Collaboration
A Ray of Hope in Government Management
John Kamensky, Government Executive
Execution of the first round of Cross-Agency Priority Goals shows tangible results.

Innovation
Innovation By and For the Government
Tim Cooke, Government Executive
The long, onerous and costly federal acquisition process makes it hard to attract private innovators.
Are USDS and 18F becoming part of the govtech ecosystem?
Steve Kelman, Federal Computer Week
Kelman talks to both digital recruits and longtime feds about the benefits, and lingering tensions, that come from digital service teams.
From “Lean Start-Up” to “Lean Collaboration”
Sharath Jeevan, Stanford Social Innovation Review
How to reframe government adoption of social innovations.

Leadership
Survey: Federal Senior Execs Lack Sufficient Authority to Drive Change
Charles Clark, Government Executive
Career leaders “don’t feel empowered,” professional association says.

Reorganization
What to look for in agency reorg plans
Chase Gunter, Federal Computer Week
Will agency reorganization plans focus on management and program improvements, or are the efforts a front for budget cuts and workforce reductions?
Do agencies need more flexibility for reorgs?
Chase Gunter, Federal Computer Week
Shared services and workforce reductions are expected to feature prominently in the White House’s plan to reorganize the federal government, but some changes could benefit from additional outside authorities.

Strategic Planning
Using Strategic Foresight: Interview with CDR Eric Popiel, US Coast Guard
Michael Keegan, Business of Government
How the U.S. Coast Guard uses strategic foresight to make better decisions.

Performance Management
The Surmountable Barriers to Measuring Performance in Government
Charlie Francis, Governing
The tools could be better, and organizational inertia is an issue. But those problems can be overcome. It’s worth the effort.

Analytics/Evaluation
Congress Wants to Boost Agency Use of Evidence in Program Evaluation
Charles Clark, Government Executive
Improving data to measure outcomes is not a pretext to cut spending, panelists say.
Can Congress put evidence-based policymaking into practice?
Ben Berliner, Federal Computer Week
A bipartisan commission wants the government to use program data to determine whether policies work, but there are political barriers.
The Case for Evidence in Government
Douglas Criscitello, Government Executive
Data alone can’t provide insight into the effectiveness of government programs—sophisticated analysis is vital.

Customer Service
Trump tech office looks to improve customer experience
Chase Gunter, Federal Computer Week
A senior White House tech adviser said that administration’s priorities include improving citizen-facing services, shared services and pushing open government legislation.

Innovation
The VA Innovators Network innovation specialists are changing culture from within
Tajha Chappallet-Lanier, Fedscoop
VA has created an internal innovation unit focused on creating a network of innovators that help improve operations for patients in hospitals and other venues.

Leadership
Amid reorg, agency leaders push for SES reforms
Chase Gunter, Federal Computer Week
Amid reorganization and downsizing, agency leaders want to ensure there’s a healthy pipeline for the senior executive service to carry out its mission.

Reorganization
Making Trump’s Government Reforms Stick
Fred Panzer and Anna Weldon, Government Executive
Agency plans are due this week — that’s just the beginning for federal managers.