Administration outlines progress on reform efforts

On the eve of a historic election marked by the belief of many Americans that government has fundamentally failed its citizenry, the Obama administration's federal management reform team appeared together Monday to deliver a status report on efforts to make the government more accountable and transparent.

Jeffrey Zients, acting director of the Office of Management and Budget, told hundreds of attendees at the Excellence in Government conference, sponsored by Government Executive, that the administration has made progress in eliminating improper payments, reforming technology practices and making it easier to apply for federal jobs.

"There is much left to do but the progress to date gives me a lot of optimism," said Zients, who also holds the dual titles of federal chief performance officer and OMB's deputy director of management. "We are building a lot of momentum … which will lead to structural improvement."

The other panelists included federal Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra, Controller Danny Werfel, Associate Director of Performance and Personnel Management Shelley Metzenbaum and Deputy Administrator for Federal Procurement Policy Lesley Field.

Zients and his management team discussed six areas of reform that make up the administration's reform effort, which was recently coined the Accountable Government Initiative. They include meeting high priority performance goals; reducing waste and cutting inefficiencies; reforming federal procurement; closing the federal information technology gap; attracting top talent to the government and driving results through open government.

The administration plans to unveil a new website later this year, Performance.gov, in which the public can track the progress and performance of agencies in each of the six key areas. But on Monday, Zients provided federal managers and industry officials with a detailed and itemized status report on progress to date.

"We are making big strides in planning and executing and we are putting points on the board," Zients said.

For example, he said, the much-maligned federal hiring process is being simplified and made more user-friendly. Job descriptions have been shortened and rewritten in plain English. The often unpopular practice of requiring essays from job applicants has also been reduced, with a greater emphasis on resumes and cover letters.

As an example of the reforms in action, Zients pointed to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, which has begun chipping away at its 139-day, 40-step hiring process.

Likewise, the administration has begun improving its effectiveness in managing and procuring information technology -- a sector in which Zients said the gap between the public and private sectors is largest.

Through OMB's IT Dashboard, officials have held 35 detailed review sessions for major technology projects. The reviews indicated that five programs were on course; 19 needed to be accelerated; and eight should be reduced. Three projects were terminated altogether.

In the coming months, OMB will launch a new initiative focused on improving the standard of services provided by agencies. The General Services Administration also will move forward on several new consolidated purchasing agreements for telecommunications and other IT items.

But officials warned that many of the reforms require federal funding and that in the absence of fiscal 2011 appropriations -- the government has been operating under a continuing resolution since the beginning of the fiscal year -- some of the efforts could be scaled back.