FY 2009 Financial and Performance Reports

If a tree falls in a forest, did it make a sound?

The November 15th release of federal department and agency annual performance and accountability reports went largely un-noticed. Not a mention in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal or Washington Post (even its Federal Page).

Fiscal Sanity: Lessons from Around the World

I attended the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Senior Budget Officials December 1-2 performance and results network meeting on measuring and evaluating countries' stimulus programs. The countries making presentations at this meeting were: Australia, Canada, Chile, Denmark, France, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, and United Kingdom.

I was struck by several things.

Getting It Done: A Guide for Government Executives

Four years ago, the IBM Center for The Business of Government released a book to guide new government executives, especially new political appointees. The goal of the book was to quickly acclimate new government executives to the world of public service as practiced in Washington, D.C. The book, entitled Getting It Done: A Guide for Government Executives (this is the first version), contained a series of short strategic discussions about "the dos and don’ts" of Washington and presented useful insights about working with key stakeholders and constituencies.

The Guide: Helping the New Administration Succeed in Washington

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.

IBM Center 2011 Call for Research Report Proposals

Since creation of the IBM Center for The Business of Government more than 13 years ago, it has been our goal to help public sector executives and managers address real-world problems by supporting leading researchers who produce empirical evidence to inform the debates about whether particular management approaches will improve government performance.

Seven Management Imperatives

 

Periodically the IBM Center staff steps back and reflects on the insights provided by its authors of more than 300 research reports and by some 300 senior government executives interviewed over the past 13 years.  Through our research and interviews, we identified several broad societal trends that we believe are changing the game for successful leadership at all levels of government.

The IBM Center for The Business of Government - A Video Overview

Learn more about The IBM Center for The Business of Government through this short video overview.

The IBM Center for The Business of Government connects public management research with practice. Since 1998, we have helped public sector executives improve the effectiveness of government with practical ideas and original thinking. We sponsor independent research by top minds in academe and the non-profit sector, and we create opportunities for dialogue on a broad range of public management topics.

Research Announcement 2009 - 2010

Over the past 10 years, the IBM Center for The Business of Government has awarded more than 300 scholars with stipends to produce research reports on improving the effectiveness of government, resulting in more than 225 published reports and books.

The Center is pleased to solicit research proposals based on the following six themes:

Framing a Public Management Research Agenda

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.

Ten Challenges Facing Public Managers

The IBM Center is looked to as a source for starting dialogues on a broad range of public management topics. For the past ten years, we have studied the critical changes that are underway at all levels of government in the United States and around the world. Along the way, the Center has helped frame a number of significant management policy issues facing government.

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Executive Director Emeritus
IBM Center for The Business of Government

Jonathan D. Breul was the Executive Director of the IBM Center for The Business of Government and a Partner in IBM Global Business Services.

Formerly Senior Advisor to the Deputy Director for Management in the Office of Management and Budget in the Executive Office of the President, Mr. Breul served as OMB's senior career executive with primary responsibility for government-wide general management policies. He helped develop the President's Management Agenda, was instrumental in establishing the President's Management Council, and championed efforts to integrate performance information with the budget process.

He led the development and government-wide implementation of the Government Performance and Results Act. In addition to his OMB activities, he helped Senator John Glenn (D-Ohio) launch the Chief Financial Officers (CFO) Act. He also served for eight years as the U.S. delegate and elected vice chair of the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's (OECD) Public Management Committee.

Mr. Breul is an elected Fellow of the National Academy Public Administration (NAPA), and an adjunct Professor at Georgetown University's Graduate Public Policy Institute. He holds a Masters of Public Administration from Northeastern University, and a Bachelor of Arts from Colby College.