RE: article: Obama urged to focus on performance-based government

Thanks for the pointer, Jose.  I have converted to StratML format the
strategic plans of the organizations in this coalition that have such plans,
for inclusion in our collection at
http://xml.gov/stratml/index.htm#Nonprofits (Some of them don't seem to have
strategic plans, which causes one to wonder if they really know what they're
trying to accomplish.)

I've had contact with several of those organizations about StratML over the
past several years but few, if any of them, seem to "get it" or, if they do,
to care to *do* anything about it.  Needless to say, their primary interest
seems to be in maintaining their own revenue streams, which is completely
understandable.  However, to the degree they want us to take seriously the
thought that they have valuable information and knowledge to share with
government, we might expect them to demonstrate the benefit of such
expertise in the operations of their own organizations and Web sites.

BTW, this Saturday we have scheduled a Change.gov meeting to discuss how
best to help the Obama Administration leverage the emerging StratML standard
to mature its usage of social networking technologies:
http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/gpthkd

Owen 

-----Original Message-----
From: public-egov-ig-request@w3.org [mailto:public-egov-ig-request@w3.org]
On Behalf Of Jose M. Alonso
Sent: Thursday, December 11, 2008 7:55 AM
To: Owen Ambur
Cc: eGov IG
Subject: article: Obama urged to focus on performance-based government


Hi Owen,

I've just read this article that I think is relevant to the Group's  
work and also to StratML.

"...Members of a coalition of good-government groups have met with  
representatives of President-elect Barack Obama's transition teams to  
promote an agenda focused on improving measurement of the performance  
of government programs..."

"...The coalition last month released three broad recommendations for  
the new administration and Congress: implement a performance-based  
framework at agencies, invest more in federal human resources and  
mandate the use of innovation and technology to revolutionize  
government..."

Full text below.

Cheers,
Jose.

------------
Obama urged to focus on performance-based government
By Brittany R. Ballenstedt
December 10, 2008
http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=41597&dcn=e_gvet

Members of a coalition of good-government groups have met with  
representatives of President-elect Barack Obama's transition teams to  
promote an agenda focused on improving measurement of the performance  
of government programs.

In an interview with Government Executive, members of the Government  
Performance Coalition, which includes more than a dozen organizations,  
said they have met with members of Obama's transition teams to present  
recommendations aimed at implementing a performance-based framework at  
executive branch agencies.

Franklin Reeder, leader of the Obama transition team at the Office of  
Management and Budget, was involved in the discussions, as well as  
leaders of the Office of Personnel Management review team, the groups  
said.

The coalition last month released three broad recommendations for the  
new administration and Congress: implement a performance-based  
framework at agencies, invest more in federal human resources and  
mandate the use of innovation and technology to revolutionize  
government.

"The recommendations reflect the diversity of the group, but they also  
reflect a common understanding of the group around questions of  
performance ... the importance of the workforce and the need for  
innovation and technology," said Jonathan Breul, executive director of  
the IBM Center for the Business of Government, a member of the  
coalition.

Breul, who serves as the coordinator for the coalition, said the group  
started putting the recommendations together earlier this year, with  
the goal of pooling resources to draw attention to the common theme of  
its 18 member organizations: government performance.

"What I think is important is how many different agencies and federal  
executives that this coalition comes in contact with every week, every  
month, every year," said Jon Desenberg, senior policy director for the  
Performance Institute, another coalition member. "There's no other  
group in town that has such a depth and reach of experience and  
exposure to what's happening."

Coalition members said their recommendations likely will lead to  
questions from the Obama administration and Congress on the specifics  
of improving performance-related initiatives. Kathryn Newcomer,  
director of the public policy and administration program at The George  
Washington University, said one issue is the role of OMB and its  
relationship with federal agencies.

John Palguta, vice president for policy at the Partnership for Public  
Service, said the new administration and Congress also will have to  
address the question of how to approach federal pay and compensation.  
The consensus among the coalition, he said, is that modernizing the  
decades-old General Schedule pay system must involve common parameters  
and flexibility for agencies, as well as communication and  
collaboration with human resource leaders, employees and employee  
representatives.

"The whole performance issue is focused rather quickly on pay," Breul  
said. "The performance part of it kind of got lost. ... It has to be a  
broader effort in order to be successful."

Michael Filler, an associate director at the International Brotherhood  
of Teamsters, a coalition member, argued that labor unions should be  
involved in management and performance initiatives in government,  
saying that a restructuring of the Internal Revenue Service in the  
1990s was successful largely because labor was a partner in the  
process. "Labor does want to be involved; labor does want to be a  
facilitator; labor does want employee engagement," he said. "The only  
way you can achieve a high level of success and satisfaction to the  
American public is with a fully engaged workforce."

Members of the coalition also said this could be the first incoming  
administration that will not have to start from scratch on improving  
government performance. "I get a different sense of the maturity level  
of the government today," Desenberg said.

Breul touted the inventory of knowledge, analysis and experience  
within government and the coalition that can help agencies tackle many  
of the tough management and performance challenges in the next  
administration. The incoming team "may change the direction or change  
the focus a little bit," he said, "but there's an enormous capability  
and reservoir of knowledge that can be tapped much more quickly and  
smartly."

The groups also noted that external pressures and challenges, such as  
the economic crisis, the quest for energy independence and the ongoing  
wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, have increased the willingness of the  
incoming administration and agencies to engage in more serious  
discussions about performance. While the coalition's recommendations  
might not solve all of the problems government faces, they can help to  
reduce the frequency and intensity of challenges.

Received on Thursday, 11 December 2008 17:15:35 UTC