An Executive Guide to Collaborative Leadership: The Recovery Act and Beyond

What happens when your budget suddenly balloons 260 percent? What about when such a huge surge in funding isn’t spread evenly across the department, but focused on just a few programs, some of them tiny, and funds need to be delivered almost immediately under unprecedented scrutiny? The Energy Department experienced all of this and more via the Recovery Act. At our Nov. 12 webinar, “Collaborative Leadership: The Recovery Act and Beyond," Energy Department Deputy Chief Financial Officer Owen Barwell kicked off a detailed discussion about the new forms of collaboration and data-sharing the Department used to respond to Recovery Act challenges. Barwell and his colleagues, Jay Hoffman, Director of Policy Analysis and Evaluation and Howard Dickenson, Assistant Director for Recovery Act Operations at PA&E, touched on a variety of intriguing methods and approaches that Energy adopted, including the two-page project operation plan, building Recovery Act risk management into ongoing operations, making Recovery Act response the basis for “the new normal” in budgeting and strategic planning, and a host of others.

Our executive guide provides background and key takeaways from the discussion, as well as on-line resources and contact information for all the featured speakers. You’ll also find a link to the archived webinar so you can hear the entire discussion.

Here, you’ll find information about our upcoming Dec. 10 webinar, “Practical Transparency: Applying Exchange Networks for Mission Results.”

And now, you can put us to work for you collecting the latest news about collaborative government. Just sign up to receive the Collaborative Government Today e-newsletter from the CGI Initiative. Every day, we collect the best reports, newest developments, smartest commentary, breaking leadership announcements, webcasts and podcasts about data sharing, transparency and collaborative government. Get your copy here:

An Executive Guide to Making Data Public, Meaningful and Effective

During our first webinar, on October 29, “Making Data Public, Meaningful and Effective,” former EPA CIO Molly O’Neill began a fascinating dialogue with leaders in government at all levels about the intricacies of sharing data with trusted partners and with the public. Our executive guide provides all of her key points, as well as a treasure trove of on-line resources, and a seven-minute video interview of O’Neill delving deeper into data sharing, and other helpful examples and tips. You’ll also find a link to the archived webinar so you can hear the entire discussion.

Here, you’ll also find information about our two upcoming webinars “Collaborative Leadership: The Recovery Act and Beyond” and “Practical Transparency: Applying Exchange Networks for Mission Results.”

And beginning today, you can have us collect all the latest news about collaborative government for you! Just sign up to receive the Collaborative Government Today e-newsletters from the CGI Initiative. Every day, we collect the best reports, newest developments, smartest commentary, breaking leadership announcements, webcasts and podcasts about data sharing, transparency and collaborative government.

To view the October 29 webinar in archives, please click here.

By Andrew McLauchlin, Director, CGI Initiative for Collaborative Government

October 22, 2009

Congratulations to Danny Werfel, who was confirmed Oct. 13 as the new controller of OMB’s Office of Federal Financial Management (OFFM). Back in July, when Werfel was nominated, OMB Director Peter R. Orszag pointed out that Werfel will work closely with Deputy Director for Management Jeff Zients to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the federal government. The controller also coordinates policy on financial reporting, audits, internal controls, fraud and error reduction, and grants management.

During his confirmation hearing, Werfel set his course. The first item on his list of key areas and priorities was eliminating improper payments. “The amount of remaining improper payments on the government’s books is staggering and must be corrected,” he testified.

Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE), who presided over the hearing, also focused heavily on improper payments. It was an appropriate focus, especially during this era of increased government spending to relieve national economic distress. With the Recovery Act, Congress made spending accountability and transparency critical factors in evaluating the success or failure of economic stimulus.

According to Carper, an important step in overcoming improper payments is increasing the level of transparency to “prevent mistakes before they happen.” Another key step is aggressively recovering misspent funds, he said. Werfel said he will address these goals in part by taking advantage of low-risk, low-cost technologies and processes emerging from the private sector to support transaction processing and reporting.

By Andrew McLauchlin, Director, CGI Initiative for Collaborative Government

October 12, 2009

Making government data available to citizens has emerged as a major priority for federal agencies, given the recent launch of data-driven sites like Data.gov and the IT Dashboard, and the highly anticipated government transparency directive expected to be released soon.  Departments and agencies are under heavy pressure to become more transparent, participatory, and collaborative.

The Obama administration is committed to releasing data that relates to public policy issues, including health care, energy, and education.  The federal government has a vast amount of data stored in disparate systems across agencies operating within these policy areas.  Making this data available for public use is an important first step for agencies to drive innovation, improve transparency and accountability, and better serve the citizens that depend on their services.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) offers a model of the use of Web 2.0 tools to expose data in context and in useful fashion to enable the public to make better decisions to improve their lives. CMS is practicing transparency and collaboration with stakeholders and the public to enable Americans to participate far more effectively in their own health care by making better-informed decisions about health care options. 

Online tools available through the Medicare.gov Web sites not only make government data accessible, but do so in a user friendly format.  For example, the Hospital Compare and Nursing Home Compare tools “mash up” geographical data from Google maps with health care provider quality-of-care information collected by CMS.  Thus, users can locate and assess health care facilities near them. The Home Health Compare and Dialysis Facilities tools also allow beneficiaries to evaluate service providers based on quality measures. 

By Andrew McLauchlin, Director, CGI Initiative for Collaborative Government

October 7, 2009

One of the questions bubbling among federal, state, and local government leaders and observers interested in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is: How can we sustain jobs over the long term after the stimulus money runs out?

One approach these leaders can consider is to invest in high-quality jobs in the communities that most need them. An example already under way is the creation of information technology centers of excellence in rural and disadvantaged regions. In a 2008 research report “Creating Jobs in America: Case Studies in Local Economic Development.” published by the CGI Initiative, George Mason University’s Dr. Darrene Hackler describes two examples of this approach in Russell County, Va., and Northeast Pennsylvania.

In another 2008 report the CGI Initiative published, Dr. Lester Salamon, Director of the Center for Civil Society Studies at Johns Hopkins University, recommended expanding on this model. He advocated “the creation of a National Technology Initiative to promote the development of skilled, technology-oriented jobs in disadvantaged American communities.” His recommendation was based on the need to build up U.S. information technology expertise as a matter of national security, as well as the imperative to create high-quality U.S. jobs. 

To address this challenge, Dr. Salamon called for the creation of “at least a dozen economically competitive centers of information technology in disadvantaged rural and urban areas of the United States over the next 10 years, with similar objectives possible in other technology areas.”

By Andrew McLauchlin, Director, CGI Initiative for Collaborative Government

September 15, 2009

The Energy Department will receive $38 billion in Recovery Act funding intended to support a variety of science, energy, and environmental initiatives. While the challenge of managing these funds is daunting in its own right, the transparency and accountability requirements set forth by Office of Management and Budget (OMB) add an additional layer of complexity.  A new report by Energy’s inspector general provides direct insight into how one department is tackling this challenge head on.

Although the report notes that Energy’s approach is still evolving and challenges remain, it also highlights numerous positive actions Energy has taken in a short period of time to address tough issues. Actions Energy has taken that the IG recognized as effective risk mitigation strategies include:

By Anne Laurent, Editor, CGI Initiative for Collaborative Government

July 28, 2009

Over the next several years, federal agencies are slated to award some $60 billion in contracts under the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The economic stimulus has brought a huge influx of procurement money to many agencies, along with orders to spend it wisely, rapidly, and with unprecedented transparency and accountability.

For some, the extra recovery funds dwarf their normal annual acquisition spending, sending them scrambling for extra help. Meanwhile, the guidance on Recovery Act contracting has come in fits and starts, though the pressure to spend has been constant.

Fortunately, in these challenging times, long experience and recent innovation and reform offer practical models federal executives can apply to speed spending while maximizing results. Dr. Allan Burman, chief of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy under three presidents, recently sat down with us to offer his advice on how to combine performance-based contracting techniques, FAR Part 15 due diligence, and pre-negotiated contracts to get over the Recovery Act acquisition hump.

Our conversation with Dr. Burman kicks off a new series of shorter, practical CGI Initiative for Collaborative Government offerings designed to better meet executives where they are, when they like, and in ways that respect their time. We’ll continue to produce in-depth reports and high-quality events, but we’ll also be bringing you pithy, pertinent Q&As and more tightly focused papers, as well as Webinars and videos.