OMB Director Shaun Donovan

OMB Director Shaun Donovan Susan Walsh/AP

OMB Creates Inter-Agency Customer Service Council

The council will help achieve cross-agency goals, where progress has been made on open data and energy efficiency.

White House budget director Shaun Donovan on Wednesday announced the establishment of a council to coordinate agency customer service and continue progress toward cross-agency priority goals.

The new Core Federal Services Council will serve as a “governmentwide governance vehicle to improve the public’s experience with federal services, from experiences of Americans who visit a Social Security Administration office, to those who pass through a Transportation Security Administration check at the airport, check online with the Internal Revenue Service for an answer to a tax question, or reserve a campground at a National Park,” Donovan wrote. It will consist of representatives of the 28 agencies that interact directly with the public and will be led by the Office of Management and Budget.

A key part of President Obama’s management agenda for the past two years has been multi-agency pursuit of mission-based goals to “foster a government that works smarter, better and more efficiently to deliver results for the American people,” Donovan wrote in a blog post.

OMB released the first quarter update of the administration’s 15 cross-agency priority goals for fiscal 2016, highlighting upward movement in education, data transparency, mental health and energy efficiency.

“Over the past seven years there has been growing momentum for evidence-based approaches at all levels of government, as well as among nonprofits, foundations, faith-based institutions and community-based organizations,” Donovan noted. “The administration’s embrace of this approach has resulted in important gains in key priorities, from protecting individuals and communities, to modernizing infrastructure, to investing in our children, to taking care of the most vulnerable.”

Donovan highlighted four broad goals toward which agencies have demonstrated progress.

Federal efforts in renewable energy and energy efficiency advanced in December when the General Services Administration awarded a contract for the first-ever joint solar power procurement, in partnership with the Energy Department, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Forest Service. Located in California and Nevada, the project will save agencies $5 million in energy costs and help the overall government move to obtain 30 percent of its energy from the sun, wind or water by 2025.

“That’s four times the fiscal 2014 CAP goal of 7.5 percent,” OMB said. “Moreover, this project will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 40,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide, which is equivalent to taking 8,400 cars off the road for one year.” GSA also awarded a contract to install solar energy systems on rooftops of 18 federal buildings in Washington, expected to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by more than 2,400 metric tons annually.

To encourage more students to study science, technology, engineering and math, the Education Department joined with others represented on the National Science and Technology Council on two new websites aimed at undergraduate and graduate students. The sites “leverage federal assets, expertise, and partnerships to provide a single source of reliable information for both students and universities interested in federally-sponsored STEM education training and funding opportunities,” OMB wrote.

Continuing the open data movement, OMB cited strengthening mental health and suicide prevention, reporting that some 200,000 related data sets have been opened on Data.gov over the past two years, generating 10 million page views in 2015 alone.

Contributors of those data sets include the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and the departments of Health and Human Services, Veterans Affairs and Transportation, along with GSA and civil society nonprofits. The effort “helped stimulate collaboration and new research, while encouraging innovative development of data visualizations, web tools, and mobile applications,” as well as case studies and documents featuring lessons learned, OMB said.

Continuing the administration’s push toward procurement reform using category management of purchases of common goods and services, OMB reported that two new governmentwide software agreements signed in December are expected to save $4 million annually. Already $2 billion has been saved annually through such efforts as reducing 700 duplicate professional services contracts.

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.