Federal Manager's Daily Report

The White House budget proposal–to be followed by a more detailed version in May–lists four outcomes it seeks in agency management:

Managing programs and delivering critical services more effectively–“The administration will take an evidence-based approach to improving programs and services–using real, hard data to identify poorly performing organizations and programs. We will hold program managers accountable for improving performance and delivering high-quality and timely services to the American people and businesses. We will use all tools available and create new ones as needed to ensure the workforce is appropriately prepared.”

Devoting a more attention to mission achievement rather compliance activities–“Past management improvement initiatives resulted in the creation of hundreds of guidance documents aimed at improving government management by adding more requirements to information technology, human capital, acquisition, financial management, and real property. Furthermore, these government-wide policies often tie agencies’ hands and keep managers from making commonsense decisions. As a result, costs often increase without corresponding benefits. The administration will roll back low-value activities and let managers manage, while holding them accountable for finding ways to reduce the cost of agency operations. As part of this effort, OMB will review requirements placed on agencies and identify areas to reduce obsolete, low-value requirements.”

Improvements in supporting program outcomes–“Delivering high-performing program results and services to citizens and businesses depends on effective and efficient mission support services. However, despite years of efforts to improve these critical management pro¬cesses, managers remain frustrated with hiring methodologies that do not con¬sistently bring in top talent, acquisition approaches that are too cumbersome, and IT that is outdated by the time it is deployed. The administration will use available data to develop targeted solu¬tions to problems federal managers face, and begin fixing them directly by sharing and adopting leading practices from the private and public sectors. Among the areas that will be addressed are how agencies buy goods and services, hire talent, use their real property, pay their bills, and utilize technology.”

Accountability for improving performance–“All federal agencies will be responsible for reporting critical performance metrics and showing demonstrable improvement. OMB will also regularly review agency progress in implementing these reforms to ensure there is consistent improvement.”