All Blog Posts Tagged 'ARRA' (17)

Congress is considering expanding the transparency provisions first developed for the Recovery Act to all federal spending.  A new report looks back at states’ experiences in implementing the federal reporting requirements and offers insights for the potential of extending such requirements.

 

Since 2009, the public has been able to track the outlay of more than $275 billion in federal contracts, grants, and loans as a result of the unprecedented transparency and…

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While “austerity” is the buzz word in the federal government today, just three years ago the government had launched a massive recovery operation to stem the tide of what looked like a bottomless recession by spending $787 billion as fast as possible. How did career feds make it happen right?

 

While there are debates as to whether the Recovery Act saved the economy or not, the one thing that has not been in the headlines was the way federal agency leaders implemented…

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President Obama created a new oversight board in June 2011 as part of his new Campaign to Cut Government Waste.  He directed it to report to him in December on ways to improve accountability, based on lessons from the implementation of the Recovery Act.  That report is now out.

 

President Obama created the Government Accountability and…

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President Obama put Vice President  Biden in charge of the implementation of the $787 billion Recovery Act.  Ed DeSeve had an eagle eye’s view of the interaction between agencies, states, localities, and non-profits.  He shares his lessons learned from Recovery Act implementation, as well as advice for “the next big implementation challenge,” whatever that might be.

Last month, the IBM Center issued…

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States and localities were the front line for implementation of more than $275 billion in spending via more than 65 programs.  They also faced pressures to spend, spend quickly, spend wisely – and report what they did in almost real-time.  A new IBM Center report examines what happened in several cities in Virginia.

 

In 2009, the Recovery Act provided a one-time boost in spending to state and local govern­ments of more than $275 billion which was distributed via 65…

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Workplaces in the private sector and the public sector have many similarities. After all, objectives need to be met and daily work needs to get accomplished. Through our experience with business process management we have identified five major differences between sectors:

1. The Election Cycle
2. Term Limits
3. Legislative Controls
4. Human Resources…

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The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) has provided government agencies with great opportunities to spend money on their local projects. The President’s new initiatives also require accountability. With these new expectations in place, it would not be prudent to spend the funds wildly. However, as is often the case, the funds will only exist and be available for a limited time frame.



How do you balance the need for speed with the need for planned decision making?… Continue

(Note this Blog is written by Rick Marcotte, CEO of DLT Solutions and comes from blogs.dlt.com)

A recently published and well-read blog in this sector recently disclosed that government contractors surveyed by Grant Thornton LLP experienced revenue boosts from federal business during the past year. Here are a couple of thoughts on why that might be the case for those of us in the information technology (IT)…

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Over the weekend my father-in-law decided to take advantage of the Cash for Clunkers program and went car shopping. Unfortunately the Dodge dealer he went to in his home town of Paris, Illinois informed him that they had put the program on hold. Apparently they had sold five cars and had yet to be paid by the government. He then contacted another dealer in Indiana and was told that they had also stopped honoring the program. They had sold 38 cars and had yet to be paid by the government and… Continue

With the recent confirmation of the first federal Chief Performance Officer (CPO), Jeffrey Zients, a sprig of hope has emerged among the performance management and improvement crowd.



The appointment marks the first time that a seasoned performance improvement leader has been selected to provide structure, vision and real, accountable results. Every administration has had a “what” when it came to improving government performance – for the first time it appears we may now have a “how”… Continue

In a recent survey completed by Government Executive Magazine’s research arm, the Government Business Council, data revealed that only 66% of government managers who were aware of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) anticipated meeting or exceeding the expectations of the funding program. At the same time, only 11% of respondents of the survey felt the current infrastructure was sufficient for managing the stimulus funds and over 54% claimed they were overwhelmed or anxious about… Continue

In a recent interview on Fox Business channel, I had the opportunity to discus how effectively the stimulus funds are being deployed. The discussion focused on how federal and state agencies now are not prepared for the challenges of such an enormous task. In fact, APQC recently reported that only 24% of state and federal agencies reported being fully… Continue

You've seen a lot of posts from me regarding the social media activities of other agencies. Never have I highlighted an endeavor from my own organization. Well, this post changes everything! Here's the backdrop:



Throughout its history, the Graduate School has always adapted in creative ways to the changing needs of government. A few weeks ago, several colleagues and I gathered to discuss the ways in which the Graduate School could… Continue

I've found two states, Colorado and Nebraska, that are tweeting their spending of stimulus money.



@CO_recovery

@recoverynegov





Examples from Nebraska feed:



First Recovery Funds Awarded for State Road Improvements: Gov. Dave Heineman today an.. http://tinyurl.com/c954751:49 PM Mar 17th from twitterfeed



Food Stamp Benefits to Increase in April: Food stamp benefits will increase starting .. http://tinyurl.com/c73pm55:50 AM Mar 17th from… Continue

Transparency. It’s the buzz word around the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) and the planned disbursement, tracking and reporting of the $787 billion federal stimulus package to states. Every state and many local jurisdictions have responded in some way to the… Continue

This event is still several weeks away, but with all of the talk about ARRA, government oversight, and transparency, I thought people might be interested in the AABPA April Program Meeting; open to members and non-members.





Oversight and the Stimulus Law



In the months following the enactment of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), the federal government will face a number of challenges. One of these relates to oversight. The law included a number… Continue

On Tues., March 3, 2009, President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden unveiled an official logo to designate projects funded by the ARRA. You can read the official notice on the recovery.gov Web site and watch the President's speech by clicking… Continue