performance

Saving Trees And Dollars: Looking Beyond Basic Printing Costs

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The federal sector is tightening its budget belt in search of savings. Efficiency is the new modus operandi. But as is often the case, the appearance of potential savings in federal spending aren’t always what they might seem.

In November, the White House issued Executive Order 13589, “Promoting Efficient Spending,” directing agencies to identify efficiencies. Section 5 of the Executive Order specifically directs a reduction in printing costs. The execution of printing efficiencies, however, is not always easy. The decision to get efficiency is only the first step. Keep reading →

Published March 9, 2012 at 10:59 AM

25 Questions Congress Should Consider Before Agency Reorganization

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Partnership for Public Service Presidnet and CEO Max Stier urged Congress on Wednesday to answer 25 key questions before moving ahead with proposals to reorganize federal agencies as part of efforts to save money and increase efficiency.

Wednesday’s hearing — “Why Reshuffling Government Agencies Won’t Solve the Federal Government’s Obesity Problem” — was scheduled to shed light on proposals to assess and reshuffle the size of our federal government. Keep reading →

Published February 15, 2012 at 1:34 PM

Do Federal Managers Fail to Find the Good in ‘Bad’ Employees?

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Let’s face it. Not everyone you work with on every project is going to be a super star and it’s unreasonable to expect that you will get along perfectly with every member of your team.

So how should a Federal manager deal with under-performing or “dysfunctional” team members? Keep reading →

Published February 6, 2012 at 12:00 PM

Breaking Tradeoffs: The Power Of Disruptive Innovation In The Public Sector

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Ten years ago, if you wanted to see a 1950s art house classic, you had to drive to the nearest video store, search the movie stacks, hope they carried the movie, and hope it wasn’t checked out — not a terribly convenient process.

Most of the time there was a tradeoff to make: either you enjoyed the convenience of watching whatever what happened to be on TV that night or you took the journey to the rental store and then had the satisfaction of watching exactly what you wanted.
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This article is adapted from a new Deloitte GovLab study, “Public Sector, Disrupted: How disruptive innovation can help government achieve more for less.” For more news and insights on innovations at work in government, please sign up for the AOL Gov newsletter. For the quickest updates, follow us on Twitter @AOLgov.
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Published January 31, 2012 at 1:02 PM

The Battle Against Burgeoning Bureaucracy

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The word ‘bureaucracy’ does not conjure warm, fuzzy feelings for most people; in fact, it’s often considered a dirty word. In government, it seems inevitable. Many larger agencies would not run effectively without hierarchy and rigid structure, which often presents a frustrating set of challenges.

David Paschane, Organizational Architect at the Department of Veterans Affairs and an Associate Research Professor at UMBC, recently brought this issue to the attention of the GovLoop community and pondered why bureaucratization happens in the first place. Keep reading →

Published January 27, 2012 at 12:00 PM

Technology Tools Capture Hidden Essence Of State Of The Union Speech

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Few events are more thoroughly parsed for what is said and not said than the President’s annual State of the Union speech, and last night’s speech was no exception.

The advent of Twitter and a variety of technologies and analytic tools, however, have made it easier than ever to track the president’s every word — and the reactions of the public listening to them. Two good examples come to mind. Keep reading →

Published January 25, 2012 at 10:35 AM

White House Issues New Performance Measures For Senior Executives

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When the Senior Executive Service was established by the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978, the vision was as lofty as it was pragmatic.

The government of the United States needed to attract and employ a pool of the highest quality management executives available. And it needed a better system for holding those executives more uniformly accountable for their individual and organizational performance.
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This story was updated at midday to incorporate additional comments, analysis and links. For more news and insights on innovations at work in government, please sign up for the AOL Gov newsletter. For the quickest updates, follow us on Twitter @AOLgov
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Published January 6, 2012 at 12:45 PM

Federal Websites Ranked For Plain Language and Transparency

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Though federal agencies are often criticized for convoluted verbiage and processes, the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have defeated that stereotype with top rankings for the clarity of their web site content.

VisibleThread, a developer of document content analysis solutions and clear reports has released a ranking of 30 U.S. federal agency web sites for clarity of written content. The rankings coincide with the October 2011 implementation deadline of the Plain Writing Act of 2010, requiring federal agencies to use “clear Government communication that the public can understand and use.” Keep reading →

Published November 30, 2011 at 4:00 PM

Why Agencies Are Racing To Embrace Agile Development

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When it comes to buying and delivering government technology projects, few approaches seem to have caught the attention of federal officials the way agile development has.

And there’s good reason, according to management specialists from the Department of Defense, the Department of Agriculture, the FBI and the General Services Administration who spoke at a Washington forum Oct. 14 about how agile development is making inroads in government. Keep reading →

Published October 17, 2011 at 10:05 AM

Head of the Class: The VA’s Solution For Acquisition Talent Shortage

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The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has found an innovative way to address a shortage of trained acquisition professionals, growing contracting complexities and a need to curb waste, fraud and abuse for itself and other federal agencies.

Since September 2008, the VA has operated its own Acquisition Academy – a school built from the ground up to train a new generation of procurement officers to handle the agency’s $16 billion annual procurement budget. Keep reading →

Published October 3, 2011 at 4:00 PM
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