At about the same time, Professor Donald Kettl of the University of Maryland highlighted in his book, The Next Government of the United States, a growing divide—the divide between how government is organized to deliver services versus how citizens want services to be more like the apps on their mobile devices. He also identified gaps in both the authority and capacity of government to act nimbly across organizational boundaries.

In 2010, with the passage of the Government Performance and Results Modernization Act of 2010 (GPRAMA), Congress granted the executive branch the authority to begin bridging this gap. Among a number of amendments to an earlier version of the law, Congress authorized a new tool for easier interactions between government agencies—and ultimately the public. This new tool was the authority to designate cross-agency priority goals in a small handful of areas for a four-year period, along with the designation of a leader and the requirement for quarterly progress reviews and public progress reviews posted on performance.gov.

The federal government has reached the end of the first four year cycle of cross-agency goals. What’s been accomplished? Has the use of this tool made a difference? Are there ways to improve its use as the new Administration develops its own set of priority goals?

While this new tool was not quite as dramatic as the introduction of the iPhone, it too improved interactions between agencies.

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