Is Your Privacy Worth 50 Foiled Terror Plots?
Postal Service Eyes Cuba
Tangherlini As GSA's Mr. Fix-It?
Lew Cleans Up Signature for the Nation's Currency
The Plan to Open More Military Jobs to Women
Should Leaders Ever Lie?
AUTHOR ARCHIVES
Contractors, others spar over proposed acquisition rule change
November 30, 2004 Private contractors and others with a stake in federal acquisition policy publicly critiqued a proposed rule change that would allow agencies to award more contracts based on time and other expenses, rather than establishing costs in advance. In September, two councils in charge of acquisition policy, the Civilian Agency Acquisition ...
Government needs a new management style, scholars say
November 29, 2004 A new book by two government reform experts urges agency leaders to adopt a new management style, one that focuses on relationships with people outside their own departments, including private contractors, nonprofit partners and other government agencies. Stephen Goldsmith, former mayor of Indianapolis, and William Eggers, a director at Deloitte ...
Job competition controversy a replay from previous years
November 23, 2004 For lawmakers looking to rein in the Bush administration's competitive sourcing initiative, the events that unfolded over the weekend during Congress' consideration of the fiscal 2005 omnibus spending measure felt uncomfortably familiar. At the last minute, language that would have placed new limits on efforts to subject federal jobs to ...
Amtrak headed toward failure, says inspector general
November 22, 2004 Ongoing problems at Amtrak could lead to a major crisis unless Congress intervenes, according to a report by the Transportation Department's inspector general released Monday. The IG, Kenneth Mead, said Amtrak has not invested in much-needed capital investments, including repair for old bridges and tunnels. "Deferral brings Amtrak closer to ...
Congress drops effort to limit Bush job competition initiative
November 19, 2004 In the face of a White House veto threat, members of Congress agreed late Friday to drop efforts to place new limits on the Bush administration's initiative to put federal jobs up for competition from private firms. The Office of Management and Budget sent a letter Wednesday to Rep. Bill ...
Pentagon urged to put executive in charge of financial overhaul
November 19, 2004 David Walker, head of the Government Accountability Office, said the Defense Department should create a new top management position whose responsibilities would include overhauling the agency's financial management systems. At a hearing Thursday, the Senate Armed Services Committee questioned comptrollers from the armed services on why they continue to be ...
Management challenges abound, says Transportation IG
November 18, 2004 The Transportation Department faces significant budget and management challenges, especially within Amtrak and the Federal Aviation Administration, according to the department's inspector general. In a report submitted to the Office of Management and Budget Monday, Transportation Inspector General Kenneth Mead outlined financial challenges at Amtrak and said while the system ...
Agencies seek to improve job satisfaction rankings
November 16, 2004 Managers everywhere face the same basic question: How do you get your employees to enjoy their jobs? To help managers at federal agencies answer that question, the Partnership for Public Service and American University's Institute for the Study of Public Policy Implementation started publishing "Best Places to Work," which ranks ...
Political appointees not managing for results, scholar says
November 15, 2004 Despite legislative and executive branch efforts to emphasize results, a new report from the IBM Center for the Business of Government says political appointees still don't focus enough on performance goals and measures. The report presents itself as a guide to appointees hesitant to embrace results-oriented legislation, such as the ...
IRS gets clean audit, but problems linger, says GAO
November 12, 2004 The Internal Revenue Service has an unusual problem when reporting its financial statements: Many of its numbers are secret. This poses extra challenges for the agency, which is required by 1990 Chief Financial Officers Act to file audited financial statements every year, forcing the tax-collecting behemoth to publicly report on ...
