Improving Government Contracting: Lessons from Bid Protests of Department of Defense Source Selections

Submitted by on Fri, 06/08/2012 - 14:32

Government administrative processes often receive criticism for focusing on inputs and not outcomes. A specific example of this criticism has been registered by members of the acquisition community regarding source selection processes used for contracting that could be improved to reduce bid protests, the appellate process for contracting. Protests do not occur frequently, but when they do occur the costs are significant—and when sustained, they can impact the process for many subsequent contracts.

Key Actions That Contribute to Successful Program Implementation: Lessons from the Recovery Act

Submitted by on Fri, 06/01/2012 - 11:44

Historically, spending under stimulus legislation tended to peak after a recession was over, oftentimes creating inflation instead of jobs. To avoid this, the Recovery Act man­dated tight timeframes, with 70 percent of the money required to be spent within 17 months to generate jobs. There was significant concern that this rapid spending might result in an estimated $50 billion in waste, fraud, or abuse. Accordingly, there were stringent transparency and accountability requirements embedded in the law.

Governing to Win: Enhancing National Competitiveness Through New Policy and Operating Approaches

Submitted by on Wed, 05/16/2012 - 13:30

Charles Prow has compiled a series of insightful essays by leading thinkers and practitioners that offer a long-term strategy to improve national competitiveness. “Given today’s fiscal realities,” Prow explains, “the nation must explore alternative policy approaches and ways for government to do business.” He notes that the alternatives outlined in his new book can catalyze national competitiveness in an environment where major new investments will be difficult.  Policy makers and business professionals will find this a timely and compelling book in advance of the upcoming election.

Assessing the Value of Intelligence: Lessons for Leaders

Submitted by on Mon, 05/14/2012 - 10:24

Applying power in all its forms to secure the present and future is ultimately a leadership challenge. That challenge is especially complex in the current century when the forms and patterns of security are changing in so many ways at an accelerated pace than ever before. The capabilities required to threaten a nation, region, or even global stability are available to both rich and impoverished nation states, as well as small networks of people who can and do operate relatively independent of any nation state. There is more data available than ever before to make sense of this era.

Working the Network: A Manager’s Guide for Using Twitter in Government

Submitted by on Mon, 05/14/2012 - 09:36

Like many technological tools, Twitter does not come with an instruction manual. To help both government executives who must decide whether Twitter is a useful tool for their organizations and frontline managers who will create and administer the Twitter account, Ines Mergel has written this guide, detailing the benefits - and risks - of hosting a Twitter feed, as well as the specifics on how to maintain a Twitter feed to achieve optimum results.

Social Security in the BRIC Countries

Submitted by on Tue, 04/10/2012 - 14:35

Social security is a well-established part of the societal landscape in traditional westernized countries. There are a variety of approaches, and there are substantial differences between the operation of social security under the predominantly insurance-based (or Bismarckian) systems and the social assistance (Beveridge) systems. But both were developed and matured in the context of the industrialization of societies and both reflect the need to provide social protection in mass-scale workforces.

A Manager’s Guide to Evaluating Citizen Participation

Submitted by on Mon, 01/30/2012 - 10:19

The Obama administration’s Open Government Initiative is now three years old. But is it making a difference?  Dr. Nabatchi’s report is a practical guide for program managers who want to assess whether their efforts to increase citizen participation in their programs are making a difference. She lays out evaluation steps for both the implementation and management of citizen participation initiatives, as well as how to assess the impact of a particular citizen participation initiative.

A Leader’s Guide to Transformation

Submitted by on Mon, 01/23/2012 - 09:39

The publication of this report is particularly timely. The summer of 2011 was dominated by negotiations between Congress and the president concerning the deficit of the United States and the need to dramatically reduce federal spending in the decade ahead. There is little doubt that agencies across government will need to cut costs while maintaining, if not improving, the performance of their operations.

From Data to Decisions: The Power of Analytics

Submitted by on Wed, 11/30/2011 - 13:28

Batting average isn’t the best way to determine the effectiveness of a hitter. The Oakland Athletics learned that while doing statistical analyses of players and trying to build a winning team during their 2002 season. “They took everything that happened on the baseball field and sliced it and diced it to its most elemental parts,” Michael Lewis, author of the book, “Moneyball,” said in a radio interview.  The A’s surprised just about everyone with their new-found success on the field, besting teams that had millions more to spend on recruiting top players.

A Best Practices Guide for Mitigating Risk in the Use of Social Media

Submitted by on Mon, 11/07/2011 - 11:04

Read the report.

Social media continue to grow across the globe, and the United States federal government is no exception. The administration and Congress actively and increasingly use social media to communicate, to take information in, and to collaborate across boundaries. Yet the benefits of increased involvement through social media also raise new risks to the security of agency information.

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