Video: OMB Controller on modernizing government with fewer resources

Danny Werfel, Controller at the Office of Management and Budget, spoke at Excellence in Government on May 7, 2012. There, he spoke about the lessons he learned from setting up Recovery.gov, how data and transparency are key to transforming government and how, despite declining resources, we can still modernize government.

“How do you modernize an environment where the resource base is declining? Well, you’ve got to be smart and strategic about your investments. In particular...you’ve got to eliminate unnecessary costs and non-performing investments...On one side, we’ve got to modernize and invest in new ways of doing business and on the other side we’ve got to tackle the underlying inefficiencies that often exist within our government. 

Whether it’s cutting down on improper payments, eliminating expensive high-risk contracts or managing our real estate more effectively. There are significant opportunities [to cut costs] and we see it throughout our entire government operational footprint. There are always opportunities to do  things more efficiently, to reduce errors, to reduce waste. The demand on us to do this has never been higher. Because ...we have to modernize, we have to meet this mission and we have to do so on a declining budget and resource base.”