Weekly Roundup: October 10 - 14, 2016

John Kamensky

GAO on Open Innovation. GAO has released a new report that says: “We identified 7 practices that agencies can use to effectively engage the public when using open innovation tools.”

IT Optimism.  According to FedScoop: “Tony Scott is optimistic the Modernizing Government Technology Act will pass but calls its lack of funding "a problem that we hope to correct as we go further down the process." He also says that his office will shortly be issuing a “state of IT in the federal government” report soon, with agency-by-agency assessments.

DOD Dep Sec Should Manage. According to Government Executive: “Regardless of the outcome of the upcoming presidential election, the Defense secretary sworn in after Jan. 20 should curb overhead, elevate the department’s comptroller and make his or her deputy a true manager, according to presidential transition recommendations released Tuesday by the Defense Industry Board.”

Prioritizing Performance Practices.  Government Executive reports: “The next administration should accelerate governmentwide adoption of the performance- and evidence-based management begun under its predecessors to ensure the federal government is doing its best to improve people’s lives, according to two former Office of Management and Budget officials.”

Army Sheds Tasks. Federal News Radio reports:  “Eric Fanning, the secretary of the Army . . . said last week that he’s ordered a new initiative designed to reduce time-consuming requirements directed by Department of the Army headquarters, particularly with regard to training. Why? “Because they are not humanly doable?”

Ready for Category Management?  Federal News Radio’s Jason Miller writes: “In many ways, the jury still is out on category management. One year isn’t a long time to judge the effectiveness of a new initiative and many in industry question whether agencies are getting better prices.

Lessons in Being Bold.  A NextGov panel of speakers offers three tips on being bold and innovative in government.

Management Reforms Recycled.  Federal News Radio reports: “The traditional good government groups, such as the Partnership for Public Service, have been working the campaigns for a year or more. . . . But recently, the traditional Washington think tanks also are lending their voice, and opinions, to the ever-expanding community of commentators. . . . Both the Heritage Foundation and the Reason Foundation released white papers/blog posts trying to drum up support for President George W. Bush-era initiatives.”

Michael Keegan

DHA director touts 'more complete' DOD health record. Defense Health Agency Director Vice Adm. Raquel Bono said the Defense Department's new $4.3 billion commercial electronic health record system will enable greater patient involvement and provide more complete, responsive and effective health care. Bono credited broadening the definition of interoperability beyond the confines of connectivity and data sharing between DOD and the Department of Veterans Affairs with playing a key role in her agency's approach to the MHS Genesis system.

What VA wants to learn from DOD's $4.3 billion EHR. As the Defense Department prepares to launch its new electronic health record system, Department of Veterans Affairs officials are hoping to learn from the effort and apply those insights to their own EHR plans for fiscal 2017. The two agencies were asked to merge their systems into a single EHR in the early days of the Obama administration. Although that effort fizzled, DOD and the VA are operating under a legislative mandate to share data. They told Congress that they have functional interoperability between their systems, although some on Capitol Hill remain unconvinced.

What the next administration needs to do about the workforce. Through consultations with industry and government, ACT-IAC came up with both short- and long-term actions the next administration should take to solve federal workforce problems, particularly in the IT sphere.

Defense Business Board makes recommendations for transition. The Defense Business Board has new advice for Pentagon career officials concerning the upcoming presidential transition. The board recommended the deputy Defense secretary become a chief operating officer, rather than what it called a shadow or backup defense secretary. And it urged the Pentagon to contain overhead costs by trimming bureaucracy. The board, made up of industry executives, emphasized the need for quality appointees, and being ready to work on the first day of the new presidency. (Department of Defense)

OMB, GAO frameworks to help agencies enter new era of risk-based fraud prevention. The Government Accountability Office says it’s helping agencies move from a “pay-and-chase”mentality to a broader, more risk-based approach to combating fraud. Yet even with help from GAO and OMB, agencies still need better data analytics tools and stronger leadership attention to address the root causes of fraud.

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Next Week’s The Business of Government Radio Show.  What are NASA’s key science priorities? What is NASA doing to promote Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education? When will we have definitive evidence of life outside of Earth? Join host Michael Keegan as they explore these questions with Dr. Ellen Stofan, NASA Chief Scientist.

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.