Announcing the Center’s 25th Anniversary Challenge Grant Competition Recipients

Submitted by on Mon, 06/26/2023 - 14:26

Earlier this year, our Center welcomed proposals that described the future of government management and operations and how innovations could drive agency missions forward.  We received dozens of impactful essays and are grateful to all of the applicants who brought ideas forward. The finalists will write as individual subject matter experts, and will prepare an essay expanding their vision for a compendium later this year. Summaries of each essay follow.

Conversation with Bob Westbrooks on Left Holding the Bag: A Watchdog’s Account of How Washington Fumbled its Covid Test

Submitted by on Mon, 06/26/2023 - 09:38

What is the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee (PRAC) and how does the PRAC conduct oversight? What are the most effective ways to combat fraud related to the pandemic response? What is meant by agile oversight and how does it differ from a traditional oversight approach?  Join host Michael Keegan as he explores these questions and more with Bob Westbrooks, author, Left Holding the Bag: A Watchdog’s Account of How Washington Fumbled its Covid Test and former Executive Director of the PRAC.

Broadcast Date: 
Monday, June 26, 2023 - 09:28
Author: 
Bob Westbrooks
Audio: 
Audio icon bob_westbrooks2_podcast_abc.mp3

Weekly Roundup: June 19-23, 2023

Submitted by on Fri, 06/23/2023 - 16:20

GAO Claims $600B of Savings, Points to Billions More Possible. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is helping Federal agencies to save taxpayer money on duplicative programs, offices, and initiatives, saving roughly $600 billion since GAO began this work in 2011 – with more cost-saving opportunities available.

Ruth Gordon

Submitted by on Tue, 06/20/2023 - 11:50

Ruth is the Operations Manager for the IBM Center for The Business of Government. She oversees the Center's operations, finances, website, and social media channels. During her 20-year tenure at IBM (and PricewaterhouseCoopers pre-merger), Ruth also worked on a variety of government and nonprofit technology and process improvement projects. Government agencies included the FCC, GSA, HHS, SSA, and USAID.

Preparing governments for future shocks: Collaborating to build resilient supply chains

Submitted by on Tue, 06/20/2023 - 08:54

During the last three years, a perfect storm of natural and geopolitical events has disrupted worldwide supply chains in ways that few governments could have anticipated. Even as nations, businesses, and consumers strive to normalize, new interruptions have created bottlenecks in an enormously complicated and interconnected system of purchasing, operation, distribution, integration, and consumption.

Weekly Roundup June 12-16, 2023

Submitted by on Fri, 06/16/2023 - 15:26

 NEW GAO SCIENCE & TECH SPOTLIGHT: GENERATIVE AI. Generative AI systems—like ChatGPT and Bard—create text, images, audio, video, and other content. This Spotlight examines the technology behind these systems that are surging in popularity. These systems are trained to recognize patterns and relationships in massive datasets and can quickly generate content from this data when prompted by a user. These growing capabilities could be used in education, government, medicine, law, and other fields.

Why Government Is Failing in the Digital Age and How We Can Do Better

Submitted by on Wed, 06/14/2023 - 16:34

 “Inside government…,” notes Jennifer Pahlka, former U.S. deputy chief technology officer, “the digital revolution played out very differently. Even as our expectations about the immediacy and accuracy of services have skyrocketed, the implementation of laws has become anything but easier.

Why Government Is Failing in the Digital Age and How We Can Do Better: A Conversation with Jennifer Pahlka, author of Recoding America

Submitted by on Mon, 06/12/2023 - 11:24
How did the US government go from being a digital pioneer to a digital laggard? Why do governments need digital, design, and data capabilities in-house? How can the US federal government rebuild its digital capabilities and truly transform how government does business? Join host Michael Keegan as he explores these questions and more with Jen Pahlka, former federal deputy Chief Technology Officer and author of Recoding America: Why Government Is Failing in the Digital Age and How We Can Do Better
Broadcast Date: 
Monday, June 12, 2023 - 11:17
Author: 
Jennifer Pahlka
Audio: 
Audio icon Complete Interview

Jennifer Pahlka, Author, Recoding America

Submitted by on Mon, 06/12/2023 - 11:15
Jennifer Pahlka is author of Recoding America: Why Government Is Failing in the Digital Age and How We Can Do Better. She is the founder and former executive director of Code for America. She served as the U.S. Deputy Chief Technology Officer in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy from 2013–2014, where she founded the United States Digital Service. She received the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship, and was named by Wired as one of the 25 people who has most shaped the past 25 years. She serves on the Defense Innovation Board and the board of the Tech Talent Project.

Weekly Roundup: June 5-9, 2023

Submitted by on Fri, 06/09/2023 - 15:20

VA’s DelBene: Contractors Playing Integral Innovation Role. VA is driving forward the idea that when it comes to technology and innovation, federal contractors need to become an integral part of the government team. Kurt DelBene, VA’s chief information officer (CIO), said “One of the things that we’ve observed – and I’ve noted as I joined – is that there’s an arm’s length typically too often between the contractor and the full-time teams.

Pages