government

Michael Keegan

Trump's pick for OMB sounds enthusiastic about the Data Act. Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-S.C.) stressed the importance of getting accurate and useful data in order to inform his and President Donald Trump's decision-making during his confirmation hearings to lead the Office of Management and Budget.

This week, FCW announced the list of winners of the 2017 Federal 100 Awards. For nearly three decades, the Fed 100 has recognized many impactful leaders who made a significant impact in federal IT during the previous year – the list highlights change agents in and with government who make a difference in how IT can drive mission performance and operational efficiency.

Partial approaches are akin to arranging chairs on the deck of the Titanic. In a dysfunctional system, looking for pockets of excellence is a futile exercise. In many cases, you can get temporary results by focusing on some part of the organization or even some government departments, but you can be sure, just like a waterbed, that the inefficiency has travelled to another part that is currently not under scrutiny. Therefore, I have long argued that governments must have an integrated performance measurement system.

Blog Contributing Author:  Haynes Cooney, Senior Managing Consultant, IBM

This week, the Office of Management and Budget will release its initial budget request to Congress for FY 2018 – following the general timeline that is customary with a change in Administration.  The initial request will be followed by a more detailed presentation to the Congress later this spring. 

John Kamensky

I was in India recently, along with IBM Center Executive Director Dan Chenok, to participate in a forum entitled “The Business of Government: Learnings from Global Experiences,” which was co-sponsored by the IBM Center for The Business of Government along with the National Institution for Transforming India, the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry, and the Indian School of Business. The goal was to discuss best practices in effective service delivery and governance, and how thought leadership from academia and business might support the Indian government going forward.

Most “Government Performance Management Systems” suffer from serious conceptual flaws that have regularly proven to be fatal. For example, often there are no consequences for “good” or “bad” performance in government. Thus, even a good performance measurement system is a waste of time.  In addition, performance measurement systems in government lack: (a) upfront prioritization of goals and objectives; (b) upfront agreement on how to judge deviation from targets; and (c) focus on the whole of organization.

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The impetus for this event was the coalescing of the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act in 2015, the Program Management Improvement and Accountability Act of 2016, and guidance from the executive branch, which have combined to drive changes that will affect contractors as well as the federal government.

Post 1 (of 3):  A Blueprint Discussion on Identity

By Guest Bloggers: Thomas Hardjono, MIT Connection Science and Pete Teigen, IBM

The blockchain transformation of the economy will require agreements on standards and processes across institutions around the world, as well as major social, legal and political change. -Wall Street Journal

Transformative scenarios, such as large-scale public identity systems, will deliver enormous value. -Harvard Business Review

Members of the FEGC offer innovative ideas to improve government based on their past and extensive experience as senior officials at the Federal, State, and local levels. They provide thought leadership that draws on lessons learned and effective practice developed during their careers in government.