Innovation

The project presents a case study of the SeaPort operation, established by the Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) as a faster, better, and cheaper way of procuring over half a billion dollars worth of professional support services necessary to support the Navy’s mission around the world.

This report explores the vast potential that online auctions present for policy-makers and executives at all levels of government. The study focuses on how the auction model and dynamic pricing can reinvent the way in which government units execute purchasing, disposal of surplus, obsolete, or seized property, and internal allocation of resources. The report examines both the theoretical concepts that will drive government's involvement in online auctions, as well as practical application methods for implementing the auction model.

The project describes and analyzes how a government organization, providing services within the ongoing constraints of bureaucratic routine, reduced funding and political influence and used the entrepreneurial capabilities of its workforce to navigate major strategic challenges successfully. The organization examined was a single health service network within the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), the Upstate New York Veterans Health Network, which allowed its work force to become more entrepreneurial and independent in performing their responsibilities.

In 1993, the President's Management Council (PMC) was created. The PMC consists primarily of the deputy secretaries of each federal departemnt. The PMC served as the coordinating body for the administration's initiatives in management in government. In this report, the value of the PMC as a management innovation is assessed. The study is based on on-the-record inteviews with current and former Council members and is the the only study thus far of the PMC.

This report discusses the legal and policy context of federal website implementation and some of the major issues that have faced federal web managers. These issues include the need to assess web content after September 11th to ensure security, provide security against hackers, and protect citizens' privacy. Technology and E-Government

This report describes the emergence of contracts that cross local borders. One example is Edison Schools, which is now the country’s leading private manager of public schools, operating 136 schools in 22 states. Another example is Maximus Incorporate that operates social service programs in all 50 states, 49 of the fifty largest cities, and 27 of the thirty largest counties. A third example includes the construction of the new Cross Israel Highway that is led by the Canadian Highways Infrastructure Corporation.

This report describes and analyzes the transformation of the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), one of the country’s largest organizational transformations in recent years. The goal of the transformation was to create an organization that could provide care as efficiently as leading private-sector health care organizations and that would embrace innovation and continuous quality improvement.

This report focuses on the government leaders within the Pentagon and the White House who transformed the weapons procurement process from a rule-bound, inflexible, and inefficient system to a more subjective, cost-effective, and innovative public acquisition process. The study seeks to discover how these public sector leaders injected private sector business methodologies into the traditional federal bureaucracy and offers an illustration of how this government team exemplified leading widespread change and instilling innovation. Organizational Transformation

This report investigates the effectiveness and efficiency of the disaster assistance programs of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). In particular, the study explores the evolution of disaster management from the Bush Administration to the Clinton Administration and compares FEMA responses to Hurricane Hugo and Hurricane Andrew with agency responses to more recent disaster such as the Northridge Earthquake. Organizational Transformation

Public sector innovation may be considered an oxymoron, but for 15 years the Ford Foundation and John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University have been identifying innovative public sector programs at the state, local, federal and tribal government levels through the Innovations in American Government Awards program, funded by Ford and administered by the Kennedy School.