ASPA Center for Accountability & Performance

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.

Performance Management
Civil service reform starts with performance
Jeff Neal, Federal News Radio
Failure to deal with poor performers and complaints about pay-for-performance programs remind us all how much virtually everyone hates the performance evaluation process, says former DHS chief human capital officer Jeff Neal.

Analytics/Evaluation
Strengthening results-focused government: Strategies to build on bipartisan progress in evidence-based policy
Andrew Feldman, Brookings
A new report from Brookings argues the new administration should make a bold new push on evidence-based policy in order to improve government performance.

Collaboration
Cross-sector Collaboration: What the Tipping Point Looks Like
Van Ton-Quinlivan, Stanford Social Innovation Review
Five successful change management strategies from an initiative to transform higher education.

Efficiency/Reorganization
How Trump Can Avoid the Reorganization Trap His Predecessors Fell Into
Donald Kettl, Government Executive
It’s hard to save big money by cutting agencies without cutting programs.
The Promise and Perils of ‘Moving the Boxes’
Feather O’Connor Houstoun, Governing
Reorganizing a government’s agencies and services — whether consolidating them or breaking them up — isn’t easy. There are some important things to keep in mind.

Innovation
Social Media’s Growing Utility for Government
Stephen Goldsmith, Governing
Public agencies keep finding creative ways to leverage its power for service delivery.
Contemplating Change for Coding Competitions, Hackathons
Theo Douglas, Government Technology
State and municipal agencies take different approaches to hackathons, coding competitions and app challenges, which have altered — and are an important fixture in — the tech world.
OMB Memo Signals Possible Elimination of Social Innovation Fund
Patrick Lester, Social Innovation Research Center
OMB is circulating a memo that targets nine federal programs for elimination, including the agency that houses the Social Innovation Fund.
Updates from the procurement innovation front
Steve Kelman, Federal Computer Week
Kelman looks at several procurement innovations with the potential to move the federal government increasingly towards pay-for-success contracting.

Open Government
The future of open data in the Trump administration
Chase Gunter, Federal Computer Week
Government transparency advocates expect Obama-era open data policies to continue, but would like to see agencies and Congress prioritize their expansion.

Performance Management
Do Performance Incentives Make People Greedy?
Robert Kwok, Business of Government
How we are rewarded shifts our values in surprising ways.
Rollout of project management law promises responsible use of taxpayer dollars
Meredith Somers, Federal News Radio
The Program Management Improvement and Accountability Act of 2015 would create a “culture of excellence,” promoting wise use of taxpayer dollars.
After the Award: How to Make Contracts Deliver
Dan Chenok, Business of Government
Like acquisition, contract performance is a team sport, so collaboration, communication and trust characterize the best post-contract relationships.
One More Time: Can Government Be Run Like a Business?
Howard Risher, Government Executive
Is a culture of compliance and risk avoidance incompatible with efforts to improve performance?

Analytics/Evaluation
Prime time for the Data Act?
Chase Gunter, Federal Computer Week
Some early signs suggest that the implementation of the Digital Accountability and Transparency Act could become a policy priority in the Trump administration.
Social Innovation Comes to Pennsylvania Avenue
Monica Potts, Stanford Social Innovation Review
President Obama experimented with radically new ways of leveraging taxpayer dollars and applying data to maximize the impact of social programs. As his policies face an uncertain future under President Trump, what can we learn from these initiatives?
Scaling With Evidence
Armida Fernandez and Vanessa D’Souza, Stanford Social Innovation Review
When monitoring and evaluation are in an organization’s DNA it’s much easier to create partnerships with government agencies and NGOs.

Efficiency/Reorganization
Senate Clears Proponent of Workforce Cuts as Trump’s Budget Director
Charles Clark, Government Executive
The Senate approved President Trump’s candidate to lead OMB, as the administration is reportedly drafting an executive order that will require agencies to identify programs and administrative functions that are duplicative and could be consolidated.
White House prepping government reorg executive order
Jason Miller, Federal News Radio
The White House is preparing a new executive order to require agencies to plan and suggest ways to reorganize the government.

Risk Management
GAO Expands List of Programs Vulnerable to Waste, Fraud and Abuse
Charles Clark, Government Executive
There are new red flags on the 2020 Census, tribal programs, environmental liabilities.
Applying Risk Management Strategies to Reduce Improper Payments
Michael Keegan, Business of Government
A new report describes how the Department of Labor is employing risk management strategies to reduce improper payments.

Performance Management
You Can’t Manage What You Can’t Message
Robert Behn, Government Executive
Clarifying and repeating the your organization’s purpose keeps everyone focused.
Federal Hiring Freeze Puts Performance Management in the Spotlight
Joe Abusamra, Government Executive
Performance management is more important than ever for federal Human Resources leaders.
Senate Overseer Promises Reforms to Federal Pay, Performance Management and Discipline
Erik Katz, Government Executive
The Senate will push for changes to hiring, training, compensation, performance management, and discipline and separation, according to Sen. James Lankford.

Analytics/Evaluation
Key Findings From 50-State Assessment of Evidence-Based Policymaking
Sara Dube and Darcy White, Route Fifty
In a new report, the Pew-MacArthur Results First Initiative identifies five states—Washington, Utah, Minnesota, Connecticut, and Oregon—as leaders in this field. These states demonstrated the most frequent, advanced development of processes and tools for using evidence in policy and budget decisions.

Customer Service
State, Interior lead customer satisfaction survey while HHS surges thanks to HealthCare.gov
David Thornton, Federal News Radio
Citizen satisfaction with government services rebounded to a four-year high in 2016, driven largely by improved performances on the part of government websites.

Performance Management
OMB Nominee Needs to Understand Creating a ‘High-Performing’ Workforce Won’t Be Easy
Howard Risher, Government Executive
Rep. Mick Mulvaney wants to do a better job of rewarding top employees and holding poor performers accountable.

Analytics/Evaluation
Moving Toward a Better Future for Measurement
Rhonda Evans, Gabriel Kasper, and Tony Siesfeld, Stanford Social Innovation Review
How can monitoring, evaluation, and learning become even more powerful tools for social sector leaders?

Efficiency/Reorganization
Don’t Look to Trump to Overhaul the Bureaucracy
Paul Light, Government Executive
The real action will be on the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue.

Innovation
How agencies can take a page out of industry’s open playbooks
David Egts, Federal Computer Week
To truly innovate, government must holistically consider a combination of people, processes and technology.
Innovation and Scaling for Impact: How Effective Social Enterprises Do It
Christian Seelos and Johanna Mair, Stanford Social Innovation Review
How organizations can more systematically consider the implications of the environments in which they work.

Open Government
What’s Up With the Office of Management and Budget Website?
Frank Konkel, Nextgov
Currently, the integral agency—a repository for memoranda issued by the executive branch—is also without a website.