Fiscal Sanity: Lessons from Around the World

Submitted by on Wed, 12/20/2017 - 09:52

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.

Citizen Participation: Others Step Out

Submitted by on Wed, 12/20/2017 - 09:50

The rumors continue about the impending release of the Obama Administration’s implementation directives for greater transparency, citizen participation, and collaboration. But thanks to the power of Twitter, I’ve learned that both the United Kingdom and Australia have released reports that begin to detail their approaches to greater citizen participation. These reports may serve as useful reference points when the Obama directive is released!

Health Care Reform Implementation (Part 2)

Submitted by on Wed, 12/20/2017 - 09:49

A series of presentations at the annual conference of the National Academy of Public Administration focused on the complicated management challenges all levels of government will be facing upon the passage of any health care reform legislation. As one participant noted: “There’s too much of a view that programs are self-executing and you just need more inspectors general and audits. . . that happened with the Recovery Act.” The consensus seemed to be that this assumption clearly won't work for health care reform!

Sustaining Health Care Reform

Submitted by on Wed, 12/20/2017 - 09:48

Yesterday, I described how Eggers and O’Leary examined implementation of big government initiatives from a process perspective.

Doing Big Things in Government

Submitted by on Wed, 12/20/2017 - 09:46

The release of a new book, “If We Can Put a Man on the Moon . . . ,” by Bill Eggers and John O’Leary, helped set the stage for the National Academy of Public Administration’s annual meeting that centered on management issues related to health care reform.

Health Care Reform Implementation (Part 1)

Submitted by on Wed, 12/20/2017 - 09:45

Government Executive’s Alyssa Rosenberg hits the nail on the head in her Fed Blog today, “How Health Care Would Be Run.” Her piece looks at the increased role of the Secretary of Health and Human Services in the Senate version of the bill. The House version has significant roles for other agencies as well, and creates a new independent agency, the Health Choices Administration.

Social Media Trends in Gov for 2010

Submitted by on Wed, 12/20/2017 - 09:41

I am not a tech-toy pioneer. It was two years before I logged onto my company’s instant message system because I thought it would create ADD symptoms (it didn’t). I just got a Blackberry a few weeks ago (yes, Blackberry, not iPhone) because I lost my PalmPilot calendar and they don’t make them anymore. And I resisted a Twitter account because I thought it was silly, frivolous, and seemingly narcissistic.

Signs of Procurement Revolution

Submitted by on Wed, 12/20/2017 - 09:32

The Senate confirmed Dan Gordon as the administrator of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy in the Office of Management and Budget. He comes highly recommended by Steve Kelman, a former holder of this job who was acclaimed as an innovator.

Cloud Forecasting

Submitted by on Wed, 12/20/2017 - 09:30

Yes, it is cloudy and raining this week, and the media has been reporting a glut of stories about cloud computing already. But the IBM Center has released a new report “Moving to the Cloud: An Introduction to Cloud Computing in Government” that is targeted to executives, not technologists.

Out- and In-Sourcing: True Confessions

Submitted by on Wed, 12/20/2017 - 09:29

Harvard Kennedy School professor Stephan Goldsmith recently shared an insight he learned: “It is always tempting to set arbitrary goals to drive organizational change. Like most temptations, this one should be resisted. . . . I fell into this trap in 2000, when I served as the chief domestic policy advisor to then-Governor George W. Bush during his presidential campaign.

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