Building the Enterprise - Booz Allen Hamilton

For example, it is easy to documenthow much money is budgetedfor a particular job training program,how many training classes that moneybuys, the number of people whoapply for and complete classes andeven the number who get jobs. However,it is difficult to determine causeand effect, that is whether traineesgot jobs as a result of the program.We recommend the establishmentof an Office of Evaluation, independentof agencies, within theExecutive Office of the President orOMB, to conduct rigorous performanceassessments that will determineif programs are meeting theirgoals. This information will assistenterprise goal leaders, the PMCand OMB in making judgments onprogram effectiveness and on waysto make improvements. As one governmentofficial observed, “Whathas struck me is how few programevaluations are really done. Thereare 47 employment training programsand only four have had anyevaluations. There are some 18 foodand nutrition programs and onlythree of them have had any substantiveevaluations. It’s very difficult todeal with the problems if you don’tknow which programs are workingwell and which ones are not.”The evaluation office should bepositioned, staffed and funded totake full advantage of today’s revolutionof big data, with access to thegovernment’s vast data resourcesand an analytic staff of the best andbrightest evaluators.The office must be positionedto evaluate the portfolios of relatedprograms, rather than just one ortwo in isolation, and make judgmentson how they contribute collectivelyand separately to a particularoutcome to provide goal leaderswith informed assessments.Since evaluation of governmentprograms can easily become ensnaredin politics, the office must beled by a respected career executiveon a seven-year term and administrativelyfirewalled from outsideinfluence. Only then can it help goalleaders make hard calls.In keeping with objectives oftransparency and public accountability,the office should provideaccess to full performance data onportfolios and their programs onthe Performance.gov website, unlessclassified or containing personallyidentifiable information. The missionof the assessment office won’tbe easy. One interviewee noted thatassessing and measuring whetherprograms are producing results willtake “relentless, sometimes evenruthless, follow-through.”To get the attention of departmentand agency officials accountablefor programs, the evaluationoffice should issue program scorecardsto make the results of theevaluations clear and impactful. TheGeorge W. Bush administration useda scorecard to measure agency progressand effectiveness in each of itsfive management reform areas. Oneinterviewee noted that PresidentBush regularly asked Cabinet membersabout their red, green or yellowstatus on the scorecard. “I don’tknow how much he knew aboutit, or how much the Cabinet headsknew about it, but they knew theydidn’t want to be red or yellow. It gotpeople’s attention.” The system usedeasily understood stoplight ratings—green for success, yellow for mixedresults and red for unsatisfactory. •The five strategies recommended so far focus on improvingthe effectiveness of departments and agencies asthey confront today’s cross-cutting mission challenges.The enterprise approach also will produce order-of-magnitudeimprovements in efficiency by compelling agenciesto integrate across the resource base of the governmentas a whole. By treating commonly purchasedgoods and services as elements of a federal commons,rather than agency property, the enterprise approachwill accelerate nascent efforts to reduce duplication. Theenterprise will leverage economies of scale and provideor procure better, cheaper common goods and servicesranging from email and data storage to personnel andpayroll support, and almost everything in between. Theapproach also will rebuild the civil service as a more cohesiveand agile corps. The following are strategies to accomplishthese goals.16 PARTNERSHIP FOR PUBLIC SERVICE | BOOZ ALLEN HAMILTON