OMB chief talks management

Office of Management and Budget Director Rob Portman addressed federal officials and academics at a luncheon Tuesday, speaking specifically about management issues for the first time publicly since he took office in May.

Drawing on his own congressional background as a 12-year representative from Ohio, Portman said OMB needs to provide more and better information to lawmakers so they can understand the benefits of management initiatives.

Congress "is a target-rich environment -- there are plenty of members of Congress who need to hear more about management," Portman said, noting that the few members who do focus on management "can be extremely helpful to us in spreading the word and … making it a politically and substantively interesting issue."

He praised the integration of management and budget under one roof at OMB, saying the high profile of budget issues allows management to piggy-back for greater visibility. But he said it was important to have people dedicated to the management side since budget issues sometimes command the vast majority of his time as director.

As a case in point, Portman left the luncheon, hosted by the IBM Center for the Business of Government, early to attend a bill-signing ceremony. That left Deputy Director for Management Clay Johnson to speak to the administration's progress on key points in the President's Management Agenda.

Johnson framed some of those updates in terms of the lasting impacts of the initiatives, suggesting a new focus on the legacy this administration leaves, but shared few new ideas for how OMB would convince a reluctant Congress to adopt measures that have proven controversial.

He credited employees' strong commitment to the management agenda for a good showing overall, with about 90 percent of agencies now earning a green score, for success, on their progress. "Some [employees] may be loyal to this president, some may not be loyal to the president, but their primary loyalty and affiliation is to the agency, and if something is good for the agency … they will be for it," he said.

On competitive sourcing, Johnson said OMB's ability to educate and illuminate "hasn't been what it could be," citing estimates that the government could save $4 billion to $6 billion a year from a greater use of public-private job competitions. He suggested that the administration might enlist the support of bloggers to draw attention to members of Congress who oppose the competitions.

Speaking on the administration's use of the Program Assessment Rating Tool, Johnson confirmed that OMB will soon complete reviews of all government programs, a process that has rolled out incrementally over five years.

Johnson said OMB will prepare to re-evaluate programs that "are ready for that," noting those rated poorly two or three years ago have had time to make improvements, and many would like to see an update to the ExpectMore.gov Web site, which makes program ratings available to the public.