Weekly Round-up: March 01, 2013

This article has been updated to include Dan Chenok’s contribution.

Gadi Ben-Yehuda

• Mobility helping government caseworkers. In Governing, William Eggers writes about his new report “Gov on the Go: Boosting Public Sector Productivity by Going Mobile,”
• Pinterest helping home-cooks everywhere. A few weeks ago, I wrote and spoke about 10 Pinterest boards that I’d like to see from the federal government. This week, USDA scratched #8 off my list. Behold! MyPlate Recipies Pinboard The launch prompted this, from prolific Tweeter @Dan_Munz: In which @FLOTUS and @USDA launch the exceedingly rare Actually Useful Pinterest Page: pinterest.com/MyPlateRecipes/
• Howto.Gov on making social media accessible to everyone. A new post on the blog HowTo.Gov begins with: “As social content, data, and platforms become more diverse, agencies have a responsibility to ensure these digital services are accessible to all citizens, including people with disabilities.” It continues with a number of ways in which content providers an every agency can make sure that their information is available to any person, regardless of how they access the social web.
• Saluting the Dreamers, Drivers, and Doers. Government Technology has released their annual issue recognizing “Top 25 Doers, Dreamers, and Drivers of Public-Sector Innovation”

Dan Chenok

• OMB official guidance to agencies on the sequester.
• Hill hearing focuses on CIO reform:
  IT reform bill needs to ‘beef up’ people section, experts say – Federal News Radio, Feb. 28
  Issa, Spires sketch visions for IT reform and CIO authority – FCW, Feb. 27
  Lawmakers urge increase IT consolidation, sharing Federal Times February 27, 2013
• Need for better communications between government and industry on acquisitions.
• US Government enhances communications with industry on cyber threats.

John Kamensky

• Reinvention Hits 20^th Anniversary. President Clinton announced his National Performance Review on March 3^rd, 1993. In May of this year, the Excellence in Government Conference (which originally began as an NPR effort, before conferences were a bad thing) will host a retrospective of the reinvention movement which will be keynoted by former Vice President Al Gore, who spearheaded the NPR and the implementation of its recommendations.
• Bloomberg Innovation Award. Inspired by the federal challenge.gov effort to identify innovative solutions to public problems, New York Mayor (and billionaire) Michael Bloomberg is sponsoring a “mayor’s challenge” to identify city-level innovations from across the U.S. The field has been narrowed to 20 finalists. You can now “favorite” any of the innovative ideas on the website.
• Innovation Fellows Program. Federal chief technology officer Todd Park reports on the progress of the Presidential Innovation Fellows Program and proposes to expand it, according to Federal Computer Week. Launched last year as a pilot effort, the successful efforts portent good things to come!
• GAO Data Driven Performance Review. GAO issues a report on the use of “PerformanceStat” reviews by federal agencies. These reviews are required to be conducted quarterly by agencies to assess progress on their priority goals. GAO’s report helpful “identified nine leading practices to promote successful data-driven performance reviews.” GAO reviewed efforts underway by SBA, Energy, and Treasury.

Michael Keegan

• Special Report: Low morale? You’re not alone, new federal survey shows
  Sequestration? Furloughs? Pay freeze? Fed bashing? Poor leadership? The list of morale killers goes on and on. A new Federal News Radio survey on employee morale and leadership — part of its special report, Leaders in Federal Service — shows just how bad people are feeling in the federal workforce.
• Continuity plans sport a new look
  Telework, cloud computing and BYOD policies are strengthening continuity-of-operations plans. They come with some hurdles to jump, but agencies are starting to see success.
• Issa, Spires sketch visions for IT reform and CIO authority
  House hearing on draft legislation explores budget authority, chains of command and the sheer number of agency CIOs.
• Acquisition officials still wary of talking to industry
  A new IT acquisition bill could ease some of the fears federal procurement officials have about interactions with industry, the fears that the Office of Federal Procurement Policy’s “myth-busting’ campaign sought to address, according to Dan Gordon, former OFPP administrator and now associate dean of government procurement law studies at George Washington University.
• After the sequester: Why March 27 is even scarier
  The debate over government spending is shifting from across-the-board cutbacks in agencies to a more sweeping focus on all federal accounts. With a March 27 deadline to extend a vital continuing resolution and prevent a shutdown of all operations, President Obama and Congress—who have tied themselves in knots in budget debates—face the challenge of finding new steps to loosen the policy stranglehold.

The Business of Government Radio Show: Nicole Lurie, M.D., M.S.P.H.

Mondays at 11 a.m., Wednesdays at 12 p.m.

The Business of Government Hour features a conversation about management with a government executive who is changing the way government does business. The executives discuss their careers and the management challenges facing their organizations.

Nicole Lurie, M.D., M.S.P.H.is the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) at the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). She serves as the Secretary’s principal advisor on matters related to bioterrorism and other public health emergencies. The mission of her office is to lead the nation in preventing, responding to and recovering from the adverse health effects of public health emergencies and disasters.

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