Collaboration

Typically, the cultural, administrative, and legal barriers to working together collaboratively inside the federal government are too high and they discourage efforts to collaborate (more on this in a future post).  The Obama Administration has taken some steps, such as the president’s directive last year that encourages administrative flexibility by federal agencies when working with state and local governments.

Should government use Legos to inspire its reorganization approach?

Structural reorganization initiatives – like the creation of the Department of Homeland Security -- are slow, take an enormous amount of effort, and require years to become effective.  Ultimately, the new structure becomes rigid and needs to be revisited.  Many observers advocate creating more adaptable approaches that allow a mix and match of capabilities.  What are some potential options for doing this?

Executive Branch Options

When Vice President Gore’s reinventing government team was being formed in the early 1990s, he encouraged it to not focus on reorganizing agencies and programs, but rather to fix what’s inside the agencies.  He also advocated the creation of “virtual agencies.”  At the time, no one really understood what he was talking about, but today – with the technologies now available – it is really possible.

What are some of the lessons from past efforts?

Beginning in 1932, presidents were periodically granted authority by Congress to submit plans to reorganize agencies.  Over time, it became increasingly limited in scope and when this authority expired in 1984, presidents since then have not asked for it to be renewed, until now.

The President’s FY 2013 budget announced the first set of cross-agency priority goals – seven focus on mission-related goals such as doubling the number of U.S. exports by 2014, and seven focus on mission-support goals, such as closing critical skill gaps in the federal workforce. “Lead government officials” were named to lead each of these goals. How will they choose to approach their tasks? A friend just sent me a copy of a new book “Networks that Work,” by Paul Vandeventer and Myrna Mandell.

accountability to the American people? Last month, Comptroller General Gene Dodaro joined me on The Business of Government Hour to explore these questions and so much more. Here are some insights from this discussion:

The President’s FY 2013 budget announced the first set of cross-agency priority goals – seven focus on mission-related goals such as doubling the number of U.S.

The Senate hearing focused on recent U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) reports on duplicative and fragmented programs and the Obama Administration’s efforts to undertake reorganization efforts.