Older Feds Aren't Playing to Their Strengths
Is It Too Hard to Fire Misbehaving Feds?
Americans Still Like the Postal Service
A Forced 4-Day Weekend for Many Feds
No More Tax-Cheating Feds, Senators Say
Video: The Daily Show on Apple's Taxes
AUTHOR ARCHIVES
OMB to seek governmentwide personnel reform
January 26, 2005 The Office of Management and Budget will propose revamping personnel rules across federal agencies, as well as creating two commissions to evaluate federal programs, OMB deputy director for management Clay Johnson said Wednesday. All three proposals require congressional approval, and Johnson said he was optimistic about receiving it. They will ...
Defense practices and interagency contracting labeled ‘high risk’ by GAO
January 25, 2005 The Government Accountability Office added two Defense Department management issues as well as interagency contracting and homeland security information-sharing mechanisms to its high-risk list of federal functions Tuesday, while noting overall improvements in government efficiency. GAO removed student financial aid programs and financial management at FAA and the Forest Service ...
Agriculture facility uses hiring freeze to reduce job loss from competition
January 24, 2005 An Agriculture Department facility in Beltsville, Md., is trying to soften the effects of its competitive sourcing initiatives with a hiring freeze. Earlier this month, in-house teams at the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, one of the largest research facilities in the world, won two competitions, for animal care and maintenance ...
OMB reports job competitions saved $1.4 billion last year
January 21, 2005 Agencies saved $1.4 billion in fiscal 2004 by holding job competitions between federal employees and the private sector, according to the Office of Management and Budget. That figure, up $300 million from 2003, represents the projected savings over the next three to five years. The announcement was included in remarks ...
OMB lowers management grades of four agencies
January 20, 2005 Federal agencies received a harsh report card for their management efforts from the Office of Management and Budget this week. On the President's Management Agenda score card, the Defense Department's rating on competitive sourcing score fell from green, the highest rating, to yellow, the middle rating. Three other agencies--the Veterans ...
Performance-based energy savings contracts may cost government
January 19, 2005 Energy savings performance contracts, which enable the government to use contractors to finance energy-saving capital improvements, were dealt a setback Tuesday when the Government Accountability Office said they can cost significantly more money than traditional financing through the appropriations process. In six case studies examined in the report (GAO-05-55), the ...
AID relies on outside help in relief effort
January 18, 2005 When a massive tsunami hit countries in the Indian Ocean last month, the U.S. Agency for International Development immediately pitched in to help coordinate relief efforts. But agency officials knew that with a disaster of this magnitude, they couldn't act on their own. So they immediately began coordinating their efforts ...
Financial management reform bill on the way
January 14, 2005 Rep. Todd Platts, R-Pa., chairman of the House Government Reform Subcommittee on Government Efficiency and Financial Management, plans to introduce a comprehensive financial management bill that would replace the hodgepodge of current law. Instead of forcing federal financial managers to wade through 800 pages of text from the past 20 ...
Publications give executives new management tools, ideas
January 13, 2005 Two new publications, one from the IBM Center for the Business of Government and the other from the RAND Corp., tell executives how to better manage their agencies. While the IBM report focuses on appointee-careerist relations and the RAND book looks at broader issues including agency organization, the nomination process ...
OMB orders agencies to strengthen internal controls
January 11, 2005 The Office of Management and Budget has released new auditing rules that require agencies to review their internal controls over financial management, fix potential shortcomings and submit an annual report on their activities. In the wake of the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which calls for publicly held companies to obtain audits ...
