Q4 Priority Goals Update: Notable Progress on Government Effectiveness and Efficiency

Almost one year ago, the Administration committed to ambitious improvements in Government services and better outcomes for the American public.  We established 15 new Cross-Agency Priority (CAP) Goals and every Federal Agency published a small number of Agency Priority Goals, totaling 91 across Federal the Government. Now, a year in, we are seeing notable progress and success as agencies work together and break down silos. Additionally, as a result of setting these goals and measuring progress against them, teams supporting the goals have identified new strategies to deal with roadblocks they have encountered. I wanted to share a few examples below, but you can find much more information by visiting Performance.gov where quarterly progress updates were published today. 

• Benchmarking Cross Agency Priority Goal.  To enable Agencies to make data -driven decisions, GSA and OMB have partnered with the 24 largest Federal Agencies to unleash 40 metrics that benchmark the efficiency of government functions across more than 150 organizations in the areas of Acquisitions, Finance, Information Technology, Human Capital and Real Property. The Benchmarking initiative is the first of its kind across Federal Government and offers huge potential to deliver markedly higher efficiency and better performance from Federal mission-support functions, including through identifying opportunities to apply private sector standards where appropriate. As a result of this effort, we are already seeing results. For example, some agencies have experienced as much as a 10% increase in their reporting of contractor past performance, a vital way in which the federal government tracks the performance of its contractors.
• Shared Services Cross Agency Priority Goal. In order to improve the way government delivers services externally, we need to aggressively reform the way government delivers services internally.  Greater use of high-quality, high value shared services will improve performance and efficiency throughout the government.  During Q4 for FY 2014, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Financial Innovation and Transformation (FIT) developed guidance related to the governance of Federal financial management shared services.  The guidance, developed in conjunction with the designated financial management Federal Shared Service Providers (FSSP) and the Chief Financial Officers (CFO) Council defines the roles and responsibilities of key stakeholders and processes to foster consistent operational management among the FSSPs. To date, four agencies have already started switching to financial management shared service providers. This framework can also serve as the basis for adopting a shared services model in other management functions.

In addition to our CAP goals, it is also encouraging to see many examples of strongly improving performance trends and a focus on continuous improvement in our Agency Priority Goals (even where specific stretch targets may not have been met).  For example, the State Department and USAID have made progress on their Climate Change Agency Priority Goal, and making low-emissions, climate-resilient sustainable economic growth a priority. To do this, they are measuring how the US strengthens capacity in countries and among people to ultimately reduce national emissions trajectories.  Where data is available, State/USAID have exceeded their intermediate targets on progress for this goal. For example, as of Q4, State/USAID report that 13 countries they support through the Low Emission Development Strategies (LEDS) Global Partnership have planned, proposed, strengthen, or adopted one or more strategies, plans, policies, processes, or activities  to support LEDS development and implementation as a result of their participation. Moreover, through the LEDS Global Partnership 2,386 officials and practitioners have received relevant training or assistance.

Another example is GSA’s Strategic Sourcing Agency Priority Goal. The Strategic Sourcing Goal is both an agency goal of GSA, and a Cross-Agency Goal of government. The GSA effort saved $97 million, but still fell $13.4 million short of its $111 million savings goal. This challenge has propelled the GSA Goal Team to expand the reach of the effort and in turn, to develop a new policy approach that emphasizes category management expanding acquisition staff capabilities. 

The Performance Improvement Council (PIC), who works closely on goal-setting and implementation for the goals discussed above, has just announced the launch of their own website - PIC.gov. PIC.gov provides an overview of the PIC staff, the council members, and all the work they do together to advance and expand the practice of performance management and improvement in the Federal Government. 

Beth Cobert is the Deputy Director for Management at the Office of Management and Budget.