government – Resource Library

I’ve been in Federal Service excluding military time for about 15 years and my main responsibility is managing the Human Capital Office for the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Under that responsibility, I’m responsible for talent acquisition for general schedule employees.

If you’ve ever wondered how Congress and Federal agencies interact to get budgets approved or who the key players are that make the critical decisions about taxpayer dollars and the roles they play in the Federal budget process, then read on.

In March 2018, the President’s Management Agenda (PMA) was released to the public. The PMA “lays out a long-term vision for modernizing the Federal Government in key areas that will improve the ability of all agencies to deliver mission outcomes, provide excellent service, and effectively steward taxpayer dollars on behalf of the American people.”

It was Christmas in April at Management Concepts. At least for me. I worked with our colleague Meghan to pull down the Single Audit Clearinghouse as of March 31, 2017.

So every few days I’ve started to play with the data to figure out what path I want to go down from a research perspective – or to find out what would help our students. I admit – I could play with this information all day. Which is why no one has taught me how to program our internal dashboards.

The old saying goes, “Waiting for the other shoe to drop,” but, when working in or with the government, “Waiting for the money to drop” is more like it. The last time the United States Congress passed a budget was in May of 2015. Prior to that, the last time a budget was passed was in 2009. Suffice it to say, the Federal Government has adopted the business practice of funding its operations with Continuing Appropriations Resolutions and with them comes funding uncertainty.

It’s always great to hear from Rhea Hubbard, Senior Policy Analyst at the Office of Management and Budget, in any setting. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate that the President’s Management Agenda Cross-Agency Priority Goal #8 is all about grants – and that we’re keeping on keeping on with the long slog of grant reform.

At the February 2018 ACT-IAC conference Lifting the Curtain: Requirements Development in Federal Acquisition and Reverse Industry Day, the question of when to engage industry emerged. The most controversial idea was presented by James William, Partner at Schambach & Williams Consulting. During Panel I- Behind the Scenes: Understanding the Government Requirements Gathering Process, Mr. Williams offered that government could invite industry to the table to assist in the creation of the statement of need and the evaluation factors. By engaging industry in the requirement development process, early and often, requirements will be better defined, better solutions will be offered, the evaluation process will be streamlined, the Procurement Acquisition Lead Time (PALT) will be minimized and the government will achieve best value.

KerriLaine Prunella serves as Deputy Assistant Inspector General for Administration. Here is our Federal Spotlight interview:

The end of the 2017 fiscal year has come and gone, and most organizations are in the midst of performance appraisals and planning for 2018. Whether you are a front-line supervisor, an experienced senior leader, or a new employee in the Federal government, this is an important time for reflection on how you can improve and expand your capabilities.

Tag: government