Topic 3: Federal Contracting and Acquisition

Submitted by on Wed, 12/20/2017 - 12:53

Over the past two decades, a series of trends have resulted in a chorus of voices in Congress, the media and the public concluding that the current federal contracting system is broken. Between 1989 and 2000, Congress mandated deep cuts in the Defense acquisition workforce. During the 1990s, the federal government shifted its contracting approach from one focused on buying supplies to one buying services, using new flexible contracting vehicles. Beginning in 2000, federal contracting increased from $220 billion to over $530 billion in 2008, with no increase in contracting staff.

Topic 2: Implementing the Recovery Act

Submitted by on Wed, 12/20/2017 - 12:51

Congress passed the $787 billion Recovery Act in early 2009. The Act – sometimes referred to as the stimulus bill – focused on job creation, but it does so through hundreds of existing and new federal programs. Implementing these programs falls on the shoulders of thousands of state, local, non-profit, and private organizations. The Act also spawned new governance models. What are the implications of these models for national policy leadership, accountability, and our federal system?

Topic 1: Performance Improvement and Analysis

Submitted by on Wed, 12/20/2017 - 12:50

Since the enactment of the Government Performance and Results Act in 1993, all agencies now have strategic plans and performance measures supported by an infrastructure of staff and processes build to collect and deliver performance data. The Obama Administration took office promising to appoint a “chief performance officer” to improve performance.

Framing a Public Management Research Agenda

Submitted by on Wed, 12/20/2017 - 12:48

The IBM Center for The Business of Government hosted a forum in November 2009 to examine the Obama Administration’s themes for a high-performing government and to frame a public management research agenda.

Participants included nearly 50 of the nation’s top public management researchers, scholars, and distinguished practitioners.  The forum was an effort to help bridge the gap between research and practice, and to collectively develop a research agenda that would help government executives move things forward.

Doing What Works

Submitted by on Wed, 12/20/2017 - 12:47

The Obama Administration’s favorite think tank, the Center for American Progress (CAP), has launched a new project, “Doing What Works.” Led by Reece Rushing and Jitinder Kohli, it has three objectives:

Leading the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)

Submitted by on Wed, 12/20/2017 - 12:45

 

A Conversation with W. Craig Fugate, FEMA Administrator

In the last decade, whether as a result of natural or manmade disasters the nation’s emergency response apparatus has faced enormous challenges. Overcoming these challenges and forging a national emergency response network for the 21st Century requires innovation and teamwork.

Recovery Act Reporting

Submitted by on Wed, 12/20/2017 - 12:31

The Recovery Transparency and Accountability Board posted its second set of updates onto its Recovery.Gov website last week. The new data covered Recovery Act spending in the last quarter of 2009 (October – December).

Managing Guerrilla Employees

Submitted by on Wed, 12/20/2017 - 12:30

Do you have “guerilla employees” in your organization who work around (or against) their leadership? How do you deal with them?

This is the focus of a provocative article in the current issue of the Public Administration Review by Maxwell School professor Rosemary O’Leary, “Guerilla Employees: Should Managers Nurture, Tolerate, or Terminate Them?”

Obama's Stealth Management Revolution

Submitted by on Wed, 12/20/2017 - 12:28

“Where is Obama’s big-bang reform of government?” laments an insightful article by University of Maryland public administration dean, Donald Kettl, in a forum on President Obama’s management initiatives in the current issue of The Public Manager. He says that President Obama is quietly reshaping the way government works and dubs it a "stealth revolution."

Making Sense of Open Gov Dialogues

Submitted by on Wed, 12/20/2017 - 12:27

Two dozen federal agencies are running on-line dialogues between now and March 19th to gather insights on what citizens would like to seen them include in their OMB-required Open Government Plans. These first-ever open dialogues are an important symbolic step toward better engaging citizens in their government. But in the end, how will agencies make sense of thousands of comments and ideas?

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