2012 Call for Research Report Proposals

Submitted by on Thu, 09/27/2012 - 14:38

Our aim is to produce research and analysis that helps government leaders more effectively respond to their mission and management challenges.

The IBM Center is named "The Business of Government" because its focus is the management and operation of government, not the policies of government. Public sector leaders and managers need the best, most practical advice available when it comes to delivering the business of government. We seek to “bridge the gap” between research and practice by helping to stimulate and accelerate the production of actionable research.

Best Practices for Leading Sustainability Efforts

Submitted by on Sun, 09/23/2012 - 11:25

Federal agencies are required to develop strategies, implement and report on projects, and continuously improve their processes as a model for the country. The Executive Order significantly increased the visibility of sustainability as a strategic imperative for the federal government and beyond, while potentially saving energy and taxpayer money. Given the somewhat broad and vague definitions of sustainability, some agencies may check the compliance box rather than take advantage of the full array of potentially cost-saving and performance-increasing benefits.

This report:

Putting Irregular Warfare in Perspective Preparing for the New Norm of Conflict

Submitted by on Tue, 09/18/2012 - 10:33

Declared wars start and stop, but the conflicts between nations and groups around the world simmer continuously and boil over frequently. Speaking to the Air War College class in 1992, then CIA Director Robert Gates said, “We must expect continuing radical change and upheaval around the world – at times promising, at times frightening – before the form and patterns of a new era settle into place.” Two decades later, it is not entirely clear what the form and patterns of this new century are.

Irregular Warfare at Sea: A Case Study on National Defense Choices

Submitted by on Tue, 09/18/2012 - 10:25

National defense choices can leave a country vulnerable.  Military organizations routinely deal with risk and trade-offs.  But longer-term strategic defense choices—shaped by multiple factors including uncertainty about the future, the pressure of dominant current constituencies, and fiscal constraints that are difficult to “get right.”  Once a conflict begins a new set of options and trades emerge but the uncertainties, the pressure of constituencies and resource constraints remain (even in a national level mobilization).  In the United States, we are currently dealing with strategic choic

The Guide: Helping the New Administration Succeed in Washington

Submitted by on Wed, 09/12/2012 - 10:54

The transition from campaign to governing requires that presidential policies be transformed from rhetoric into an actionable agenda and then into concrete results. Neither good policies nor sound investments are likely to work, let along succeed, if undermined by poor implementation. Too often, however, federal management issues are considered somewhere between “uninteresting” and “a waste of time.” The reason: Washington is a policy town. If you are focused on politics or policy, “management” is often ignored or simply left for someone else to figure out.

Challenge.gov: Using Competitions and Awards to Spur Innovation

Submitted by on Thu, 08/30/2012 - 14:20

One new approach is the use of challenges, which use “crowdsourcing” to canvass solution approaches for particular problems. Challenges open up new avenues for connecting people who have innovative ideas to people in government who can implement these ideas. A recent IBM Center report, Managing Innovation Prizes in Government by Luciano Kay, examined various models pioneered in the private sector to connect innovators with ideas to businesses looking to solve problems. This report by Dr.

A Manager’s Guide to Designing a Social Media Strategy

Submitted by on Thu, 08/23/2012 - 11:47

The 2009 White House Open Government Directive requires all federal government agencies to “open new forms of communication between government and the people.” In response, agencies quickly adopted a wide range of social media platforms, such as blogs, wikis, webcasts, and social networking sites, that have become popular channels to increase participation, transparency and collaboration of government agencies with the public. However, there were few government-wide standards. In June 2011, the Government Accountability Office (GAO)

Collaboration Across Boundaries: Insights and Tips from Federal Senior Executives

Submitted by on Tue, 08/14/2012 - 11:07

This report, which continues the IBM Center’s long interest in collaboration, provides valuable insights into how federal senior executives view collaboration. Based on survey responses from over 300 members of the federal Senior Executive Service, O’Leary and Gerard found—to their mild surprise—that nearly all those surveyed report using collaboration as a management strategy.

Recovery Act Transparency: Learning from States' Experiences

Submitted by on Tue, 07/24/2012 - 10:00

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 included unprecedented provisions to disclose how more than $275 billion in grants, contracts, and loans were spent under the Act.  These requirements fell not only on federal agencies but also the recipients and sub-recipients of these monies.  In many cases, state governments were the focal point for collecting and reporting this information.  How did states respond?  Did this increased transparency change how states managed their own monies as well as federal dollars?  Are there lessons for future transparency efforts at the state or fed

Empirically Based Intelligence Management: Using Operations Research to Improve Programmatic Decision Making

Submitted by on Mon, 07/02/2012 - 16:02

On May 14, 2012, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) provided a memorandum to all departments and agencies on the need to use evidence throughout the Fiscal Year 2014 budget submission. The memorandum provides four pages of issues and approaches for using evidence in the development, evaluation, and management of government programs. OMB also encourages agencies to strengthen program evaluation through a dedicated senior leader, such as a chief evaluation officer reporting directly to the secretary or deputy secretary.

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