ASPA Center for Accountability & Performance

Analytics/Evaluation
Agencies Need to Get Savvy About Low-Cost Program Evaluation
Andrew Feldman and Benjamin Castleman, Government Executive
It’s more important than ever to get the most impact from every program dollar.
Driving Innovation Beyond the Big City: A Model for Small and Midsized Cities to Achieve Data Excellence
Mark Headd, Government Technology
While large cities have long embraced open data, smaller cities are just beginning to implement such policies, largely in partnership with the What Works Cities initiative.

Innovation
Trump taps Kushner to lead a SWAT team to fix government with business ideas
Ashley Parker and Philip Rucker, Washington Post
The White House Office of American Innovation will have sweeping authority to overhaul the federal bureaucracy and address key issues, such as reforming care for veterans and fighting opioid addiction.
Trump Pledges New Office to Bring Business Innovation to Government Operations
Eric Katz, Government Executive
The Trump administration is launching a new office to spur innovation in government operations with several elements that mirror previous presidential efforts.
Analysis: Reforming Government First Requires Understanding It
Elaine Kamarck, Government Executive
Consulting business executives can be very useful, but a real government-reform effort must be led by people with in-depth knowledge of the government itself.
Trump Gets Credit for Tackling Federal Management Issues
Charles Clark, Government Executive
Observers applaud new innovation office’s focus on technology.
Hope tempered by experience on White House innovation plan
Adam Mazmanian, Federal Computer Week
Seasoned government managers are hopeful about an innovation effort backed by the president, but they see pitfalls and the possibility of duplication.

Reorganization
The Road to Government Reform Is Filled With Landmines
Max Stier, Government Executive
Our institutions were created for a different era, but the moment is ripe for change.

Performance Management
Performance Specialists Like Trump’s Management Agenda
Charles Clark, Government Executive
They cite language about unleashing managers and using data to evaluate program effectiveness.
The Trump administration has a management agenda!
Steve Kelman, Federal Computer Week
Steve Kelman digs into the administration’s budget blueprint, and finds clear signs of continuity for improving government management.

Analytics/Evaluation
Transparency advocates pitch the next big thing in Big Data
Carten Cordell, Federal Times
The long-anticipated roll out of federal agency spending reporting required by the DATA Act is set for May, but that hasn’t kept transparency advocates from looking for new ways to make data work for government.
When Big Data Gets It Wrong
Adam Stone, Government Technology
The number of information sources streaming into government has never been greater. But is it making us smarter?
Reports of the Death of Big Data Have Been Greatly Exaggerated
Elaine Pittman, Government Technology
A close look at U.S. presidential election predictions shows that more investment in data, not less, is the way to avoid replicating these problems in the future.
Helping Government Leaders Convert Civic Data into Sound Policy
Adam Stone, Government Technology
A newly formed collaboration aims to organize efforts and blur the line between academic research and applied practice in Pacific Northwest cities.

Reorganization
How career feds will manage Trump’s government reorg
Adam Mazmanian, Federal Computer Week
Without confirmed subcabinet officials, President Trump’s executive order calling for a federal government reorganization will be managed by agency chiefs and career executives.
Ex-OMB Controller Praises Trump’s Agency Reorganization Plan
Charles Clark, Government Executive
Mader likes “whole of government” view and 12-month lead time.
How Trump’s Plan to Reorganize Government Could Work
Steve Goodrich, Government Executive
We’ve seen this talk many times before, but done right, it could actually be successful.

Open Government
Open Data Can Make a Difference!
John Kamensky, Business of Government
Data can support the quality of important choices citizens make every day.

Performance Management
Here’s Something We Can All Agree On: Agencies Need to Deliver Results
Andrew Feldman and Seth Harris, Government Executive
In a time of superheated politics, a focus on government performance is especially important.
Government Performance Management Systems: Case Studies From South Asia
Prajapati Trivedi, Business of Government
An effective performance management system must be able to create the missing bottom line in a government organization. To be able to do this, a performance measurement system must prioritize success indicators and targets, and indicate how deviation from targets will be judged.

Reorganization
Trump Orders Agencies to Eliminate Waste, Workforce Redundancies
Eric Katz, Government Executive
Executive action follows trend of presidential promises.
Trump signs government reorganization order
Jason Miller, Federal News Radio
President Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday calling for agencies to analyze their efforts in preparation for a major reorganization.
4 questions about Trump’s agency reorg order
Carten Cordell, Federal Times
While the order lays out a broad plan for how officials are meant to move forward, many questions remain.
Why It’s So Hard to Shut Down a Government Agency
Charles Clark, Government Executive
Trump’s target list of 19 would interrupt many grants and contracts.

Analytics/Evaluation
Kick-Starting Data-Driven Government
Stephen Goldsmith, Governing
As the civic data field matures, more cities are discovering the value of data to improve government and asking how they can more fully join the movement.

Collaboration
Insights from New Zealand’s “Results” Programme
John Kamensky, Business of Government
You can’t solve “horizontal” problems with “vertical” solutions, and the country of New Zealand – a forerunner of government reforms – learned that the hard way.

Innovation
Driving Innovation in Government: The Unsung Heroes
Jeff Press and John Malgeri, Government Executive
Political appointees should check their assumptions at the door before launching big changes.
Rhode Island ‘Innovation League’ Mimics Google’s ’20 Percent’ Initiative
Eyragon Eidam, Government Technology
A new approach is putting agency representatives in a room with new voices and new ideas in hopes of addressing some of Rhode Island’s most pressing issues.

Management
Why Everyone Should Master Project Management Skills
Danielle Blumenthal, Government Executive
If you’re doing project management right it is not boring at all because the art and the science of it is to simultaneously juggle a lot of different mini-initiatives aimed at specific outcomes.

Open Government
State, Local Officials Question Open Data Directives Under Trump
Theo Douglas, Government Technology
As online information has disappeared from view, state and local officials wonder how the Trump administration will handle open data.

Performance Management
Getting Serious About Employee Performance
Howard Risher, Government Executive
Engagement surveys ignore a key issue: Leaders and their agendas matter.

Analytics/Evaluation
Evidence-Based Programs Risk Losing Funding Under Trump
J.B. Wogan, Governing
The president’s budget director wants to eliminate a fund that supports research-backed state and local projects. It’s won bipartisan support in the past. Will Congress step in to save it?
5 Strategies for Evidence-Based Policymaking
Quentin Palfrey, Governing
There’s plenty of bipartisan support for the idea. Implementing it requires some concrete steps.
One Way to Save Money, Reduce Fraud and Employ People Faster
Tod Newcombe, Governing
New Mexico has a unique program that combines behavioral economics and predictive analytics.

Customer Service
Creating User-Centric Services for Residents Is Crucial
Ryan McCauley, Government Technology
Public agencies are finding that they must upgrade their digital service delivery to match users’ expectations from the private sector.

Reorganization
The Clumsy War Against the ‘Administrative State’
Donald Kettl, Government Executive
The twin ideals of competence and responsiveness have faded
Will reviewing DoD business operations make a difference?
Jeff Neal, Federal News Radio
Given the Defense secretary’s reputation for being a no-nonsense leader, everyone in the DoD management establishment should take this directive very seriously.