Weekly Roundup: October 3 - 7, 2016

Darcie Piechowski

Innovation’s in the Air (Part 1).  TechCrunch reports that the Beeck Center at Georgetown University has released a report with ideas for the transition teams for the next president:  “The Architecture of Innovation: Institutionalizing Innovation in Federal Policymaking.” This report provides recommendations on how the next administration can further embed and more importantly, scale, innovation in government.

John Kamensky

Innovation’s in the Air (Part 2).  FedScoop reports: “Innovation within the DOD is disconnected, and the Defense Innovation Board believes a chief innovation officer could help connect bright ideas for greater impact.” . . . . And “Government needs to stop creating new positions as a blanket solution for its innovation problems, D.C. CTO Archana Vemulapalli said Thursday [at the Beeck Center event] . . . he notes “that every time government tries to redefine its structure to promote innovation at the federal, state or city levels, it keeps adding positions that are setup to fail.”

Solid Start on Transition.  Government Executive reports: “The current Trump and Clinton presidential transition teams are benefiting from three laws enacted over the past six years, new federal funding and a longer timeframe before one of those teams wins and begins preparing for the Inauguration, two veterans of past White House changeovers said on Friday.”

Data Federation Launched.  Government Executive reports: “As part of the Obama administration’s final push in the open data movement, the General Services Administration on Thursday launched the U.S. Data Federation with the slogan “Bringing together the United States of data.” . . . .The effort supports data interoperability and harmonization across federal, state and local government agencies by highlighting common data formats, application program interface specifications and metadata vocabularies.”

Pay for Success Questioned. Urban Institute’s Justin Millner writes in Government Executive: “Testing and implementation of the pay for success model are still in their infancy. Twelve pay for success projects are now active across the country—with dozens of jurisdictions exploring possible future initiatives—and results are just starting to come in. . . . Criticisms of the model are emerging as more and more projects launch. It is important to distinguish between legitimate concerns and less justified critiques.”

Artificial Intelligence Community Launched.  Federal News Radio reports that GSA’s Justin Hermann “said the hope for the interagency community is to provide opportunities for agencies to learn more and work better with other agencies that have expertise in the realm of AI, as well as with the private sector companies,” who are going to likely be developing the cognition as a service tools that agencies will probably be purchasing in order to cover these services.” (Note: a private sector AI community was also launched this past week)

Step-by-Step Reforms Needed.  Government Executive reports: “The government needs a measured approach to civil service reform, according to current and former top federal human resources executives, who argued a piecemeal approach would help sustain the progress already made and effect more realistic change. . . . Comprehensive reform, said Dan Blair, president of the National Academy of Public Service and former deputy and acting director at the Office of Personnel Management, is “nice in theory, but I’m not sure it can happen.”

SES Rotations Happening.  Federal News Radio reports: “Nearly one year after agencies got new requirements to recruit, retain and develop senior executives, some are beginning to see some early signs of success. . . . Specifically, a few agencies are starting to embrace the concept of rotational assignments as a valuable tool to give their Senior Executive Service members more training and development opportunities.”

Agency Switcher Website.  Government Executive reports: “Lateral-Me.com, a self-proclaimed “revolutionary” website that went live on Sept. 20, lists an array of internal federal job openings “with the intention of making hiring and applying for federal jobs easier.” . . . With a layout more spare than the official federal recruiting site USAJOBS, Lateral-Me.com’s vacancy listings are free and available immediately.”

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Next Week’s The Business of Government Radio Show.  What can government executives learn from the GAO’s high-risk list? What have agencies done over the years to get their programs off the list? How can programs stay off the list in the first place? Join host Michael Keegan as he explores these questions and more with Dr. Don Kettl, author of the IBM Center report, Managing Risk, Improving Results: Lessons for Improving Government Management from GAO’s High-Risk List.

Broadcast Schedule: The show airs Monday at 11 a.m., and Friday at 1 p.m. on Federal News Radio 1500AM WFED.

If you can't wait, though, you can listen to (or download) this week's program and all our previous interviews at businessofgovernment.org.