Weekly Round Up - June 22, 2018
Submitted by MKeegan on Fri, 06/22/2018 - 12:03
Friday, June 22, 2018
Michael J. Keegan
Trump reorg moves federal personnel policy to WH, employee services to GSA. In what it described as attempt to elevate the status of the federal workforce, the Trump administration on Thursday proposed a massive reorganization of the Office of Personnel Management. The White House released its long-awaited reorganization report, which follows the executive order the president signed last spring and subsequent agency guidance from the Office of Management and Budget. It proposes a wide variety of moves, transfers and consolidations of departments, agencies and subcomponents across government. Perhaps most notably for federal employees, the administration proposes a significant shift of OPM’s existing functions to other agencies in government, as Federal News Radio previously reported.
White House’s governmentwide reorg plan wants to ‘rethink’ federal real estate. Federal real estate is not immune from the White House’s new comprehensive governmentwide reorganization plan. The proposals aim to speed up sales process for offloading surplus property and create a permanent building project fund.
A new push for more actionable IT spending data. The General Services Administration wants to accelerate the use of spending metrics to reform federal IT procurement. The agency, in partnership with the Office of Management and Budget, posted a request for information June 18 about adopting Technology Business Management across government. "Increasing transparency on IT spending will empower federal leaders to make better informed, data-driven decisions and provide greater accountability when investing taxpayer dollars on needed IT solutions," said GSA head Emily Murphy in a statement announcing the solicitation.
Agile at DOD -- going beyond sticky notes and standing meetings. Steve Kelman reports on how the military is applying agile and DevOps to Pentagon-scale projects.
John Kamensky
Reorg: A Space Force. Government Executive reports: “President Donald Trump said Monday that he had directed the Pentagon to establish a Space Force, describing it as a sixth branch of the U.S. military. It would be the first time the Pentagon has stood up a new service since the Air Force received its independence after World War II.”
GEARs of Government Award. Government Executive reports: “Following up on the president’s management agenda unveiled in March, the White House budget director on Tuesday announced a program to recognize federal employees for outstanding achievement—dubbed the Gears of Government Awards. . . . In a memo to agency heads, Mick Mulvaney invited nominations of individuals or groups whose “performance and dedication support exceptional delivery of key outcomes for the American people: mission results, customer service and accountable stewardship.”
OPM Reorg Plan. Federal News Radio reported on Wednesday: “Under the Trump administration’s reorganization initiative, the Office of Personnel Management may be a much smaller agency and may carry far less influence as the government’s independent entity responsible for administering longstanding merit principles, federal employee benefits and other human resources services.”
President’s Reorg Plan. Government Executive reported on Thursday: “The Trump administration on Thursday released a blueprint for a massive overhaul of the federal bureaucracy, one that if implemented would touch virtually every agency and the way all Americans receive government services.”
Digitize the Government. NextGov reports: “Under a new reorganization plan from the Trump administration, federal agencies would have less than four years to digitize all their paper processes. . . . “Government in the 21st century is fundamentally a services business, and modern information technology should be at the heart of the U.S. government service delivery model,” the report’s introduction states.”
Next Week on The Business of Government Hour: Interview with Henry Darwin, Assistant Deputy Administrator and Chief of Operations at EPA. How is the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) getting back to basic? What are EPA’s strategic priorities? AND How is EPA changing the way it does business? Join host Michael Keegan next week as he explores these questions and more with Henry Darwin, Assistant Deputy Administrator and Chief of Operations at EPA. That's next week on The Business of Government Hour.
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