ASPA Center for Accountability & Performance

Analytics/Evaluation
The Potential Payoff for Applying Metrics and Analytics to Government Is Significant
Marc Berson and Howard Risher, Government Executive
Managers need more training, and all employees need to be involved in performance initiatives.
DATA Act: so far, so meh
Tom Temin, Federal News Radio
The DATA Act was supposed to bring transparency by having agencies adopt uniform standards for tagging spending data. But as implemented, it’s not working out that way.

Collaboration
Drivers Transforming Government: Effectiveness
Haynes Cooney, Business of Government
Applying enterprise approaches to achieve better outcomes, operational efficiency, and leaner government.

Customer Service
How to Improve Government Customer Experience
Kathy Conrad and Eric Keller, Government Executive
More agencies need to move beyond the basics.

Innovation
Federal Managers Should Learn From Denver’s ‘Peak Performance’ Program
Marc Berson and Howard Risher, Government Executive
It doesn’t require legislation or special funding, and it could produce gains in every agency.
How Agility Is Driving Government Transformation
John Kamensky, Government Executive
Government is notoriously bad at adapting to rapid advances in technology and the shifting expectations of citizens.

Reorganization
How does civil service efficiency square with agency reorgs?
Chase Gunter, Federal Computer Week
While shared services and other tech can help streamline government, federal workforce experts are skeptical about whether budget cuts can spur productivity.

Risk Management
Drivers Transforming Government: Risk
Michael Keegan, Business of Government
Mitigating risk, managing cybersecurity, and building resiliency to meet the mission of government.

Performance Management
How to Design Effective Team Targets in Government
Prajapati Trivedi, Business of Government
Everyone knows the importance of teamwork in government, yet we have a system that encourages solo performance. Team targets can successfully align individual performance with group performance.

Analytics/Evaluation

House Passes Bipartisan Evidence-Based Policymaking Bill
Charles Clark, Government Executive
The House voted unanimously to pass legislation requiring agencies to more systematically assemble data for their decision makers before evaluating programs.
DATA Act oversight highlights growing pains
Chase Gunter, Federal Computer Week
Issues ranged from reporting deficiencies and late reporting to noncompliance to billions of dollars in spending gaps.
A Real Opportunity for Evidence-Based Policymaking
Mary Ann Bates, Governing
A bipartisan proposal in Congress would go a long way toward helping to build smarter government at every level.
Drivers Transforming Government: Insight
John Kamensky, Business of Government
Policy makers, agency leaders, and frontline staff regularly find themselves having to make sense out of data and information, drawing out insights to inform decisions.
It’s Time to Improve Government’s Use of Metrics and Analytics
Marc Berson and Howard Risher, Government Executive
The value of metrics and more recently analytics has been proven repeatedly. When used effectively in managing performance, the gains can be impressive.
What Evidence-Based Policymaking Doesn’t Do
Linda Springer, Government Executive
The obsession with improving existing programs misses the need to redesign them for the future.
Summit on Data-Smart Government Day One Focuses on Tangible Successes
Zack Quaintance, Government Technology
Local governments are leveraging data to transform city services in a wide range of areas, including public safety, mobility, and inspections.
Summit on Data-Smart Government Day Two Shows How Fast the Discipline Has Grown
Zack Quaintance, Government Technology
Local governments have made strides toward better serving communities through predictive analytics, data visualizations, and other work.

Collaboration
The Need for Cross-Sector Collaboration
Jeanine Becker and David B. Smith, Stanford Social Innovation Review
Addressing today’s most pressing challenges requires developing the capacity to lead collaboratively and to effectively work across sectors.

Innovation
Drivers Transforming Government: Agility
John Kamensky, Business of Government
Adopting new ways for government to operate, using agile principles and putting user experiences and program results at the forefront.

Analytics/Evaluation
Evidence-Based Policy Principles Take Legislative Form
Charles Clark, Government Executive
House Speaker Ryan and Sen. Murray would require all agencies to submit a plan for building evidence on program effectiveness.
With fast-moving evidence-based policy bill, agencies may add new C-suite member
Nicole Ogrysko, Federal News Radio
Congress may move soon on legislation that would help agencies use existing metrics to make better data-driven decisions about their organization’s programs.
Ryan, Murray team up on evidence-based policy bill
Chase Gunter, Federal Computer Week
Following up on the findings of the Commission on Evidence-Based Policymaking, Ryan and Murray introduced legislation to help improve how the federal government gathers and uses data.
Using Data: From Hammer to Flashlight
John Kamensky, Business of Government
The recommendations by the recent Evidence-Based Policymaking Commission are a significant step towards creating a better supply of data for researchers and policymakers. But the next step is huge – getting the resulting data used.
One City’s Data-Driven Transformation
William Eggers, Governing
In its war on blighted properties, New Orleans is demonstrating its leadership in the use of data analytics.

Innovation
HHS’ opioid code-a-thon: Challenges go mainstream and mission-critical
Steve Kelman, Federal Computer Week
The upcoming HHS contest could mark a new maturity for challenges as a procurement tool.
Innovating Philanthropy
Kathleen Kelly Janus, Stanford Social Innovation Review
A new generation is making a difference using powerful technology, inventing new financial models to better leverage capital, and rigorously focusing on getting proven results.

Management
Can Other States Tap Tennessee’s Secret Sauce for Government Efficiency?
John Buntin, Governing
Once seen as a laggard in public administration, the state is now a leader.

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.