Excellence in Government

How a culture of unaccountability permeates the federal government

COMMENTARY | Accountability is essential for an organization to function effectively.

  • Jeffrey Neal

VA is leading the way to restoring trust in government

COMMENTARY | The hard work of improving customer experience can restore faith and trust in government institutions.

  • G. Edward DeSeve and Srikant Sastry

Honoring our heroes and a call to serve at the VA

COMMENTARY | The Veterans Affairs Department offers an unparalleled opportunity for doctors, nurses, and mental health professionals to give back to those who have already given so much.

  • Michael Embrich

From payment accuracy to program integrity

COMMENTARY | The staggering level of pandemic fraud coupled with mounting concerns about the size and trajectory of the nation’s debt load should elevate program integrity as a top management focus, writes one observer.

  • Doug Criscitello

Private sector’s best practices can help agencies bring feds back to the office

COMMENTARY | Federal agencies can help employees ease their way back into the office this fall by creating a healthy and flexible workplace culture, writes one observer.

  • Michelle Hay

Meet the winners of this year’s ‘Oscars’ of public service

The recipients join the over 750 awardees of the Partnership for Public Services’ recognition program since it began in 2002.

  • Natalie Alms

What I learned covering government for 34 years

The privilege of reporting on the stuff that really matters.

  • Tom Shoop

‘Neutral competence,’ partisanship and efforts to overhaul the civil service

COMMENTARY | One scholar argues that a radical movement to shift powers to the president would be disastrous for the federal workforce.

  • Donald F. Kettl

Efforts grow to undercut prosecutors’ authority

COMMENTARY | Some Republican lawmakers in Georgia are looking to remove District Attorney Fani Willis, a Black Democrat representing a majority Black district, from office. The effort in Georgia is not happening in a silo.

  • Rodney Coates, The Conversation

Reinventing government: Reflections 30 years later

Three leaders of government reinvention under Vice President Al Gore reflect on their favorite accomplishments and what they see as challenges for leaders of the future.

  • Elaine C. Kamarck, Bob Stone and Morley Winograd

A basic flaw in the federal pay system

COMMENTARY | The system wasn’t designed to be competitive with the private sector, and that’s a problem in today’s job market.

  • Howard Risher

What the United States can learn from Australia’s recent catastrophic failure to listen to career government experts

COMMENTARY | A hastily launched 2016 program to reduce overpayment of government benefits was plagued by “unfairness, probable illegality and cruelty,” an Australian commission later found.

  • Donald F. Kettl

A fresh look at the federal workforce and the skills needed to solve today’s pressing problems

COMMENTARY | A new book offers a roadmap for recruiting and training employees who can build bridges within government and across sectors.

  • Mark A. Abramson
Featured eBooks
Budget Outlook for Fiscal 2025
AI in the Workplace
Asia-Pacific Outlook

Trust in the federal government is in a tailspin. Here’s how agencies can rebuild it.

COMMENTARY | Agencies must prove they are competent and support values such as transparency.

  • G. Edward DeSeve and Srikant Sastry

Transparency in numbers: Federal contractors must be held accountable for their diversity efforts

COMMENTARY | A more diverse talent pool will result in government services—and access to those services—that are more reflective of the constituents those services support.

  • John Foster

Adjusting Jobs to Protect Workers’ Mental Health is Both Easier and Harder Than You Might Think

The tasks employees perform are often not what leads to their mental health degradation. Instead, an employer’s culture and the way its jobs are designed play big roles.

  • Emily Rosado-Solomon, Jaclyn Koopmann and Matthew A. Cronin

To Advance Equity in Contracting, Make It Easier and Cheaper to Sell to the Public Sector

COMMENTARY | The key to making procurement more inclusive will be to systemically reduce the cost of doing business with public entities—by an order of magnitude.

  • Mariel Reed

Phil Kiviat, Long-Time Advocate for Better Government, Dies at 85

He will be remembered for his work to foster closer relationships between government and industry through building trust.

  • Nick Wakeman

It’s Time to Act on the Workforce Portion of the President’s Management Agenda

Despite human capital reforms being referenced in recent management agendas, not much has actually changed.

  • Marcus L. Hill

It’s Time to Rethink Degree Requirements for Federal Contractors

Outdated mandates that job candidates have 4-year educational degrees create barriers to getting the best people on the job.

  • Betty Thompson

Federal Retirees Could Be a Great Talent Source, If Only It Were Easier to Bring Them Back  

There are lots of job ready federal retirees out there prepared and willing to return to work for Uncle Sam, but we need to eliminate the biases and disincentives that make it too hard for them to do so. 

  • Ronald Sanders and William Shackelford