End of Year Projects to Set Agencies Up for Success in the New Year
Need a lifeline? We’re here for you. Visit WAEPA.org.
The prompt for this round of the FEDforum is better late than never. This week, hear from the National Academy of Public Administration.
As we have begun a new fiscal year for the Federal Government and closed the books on Fiscal Year 2022, we can look back at the urgency that impacted activities in the month of September. The National Academy of Public Administration* (the Academy) worked to assist agencies to meet some end-of-year targets and to establish a path forward for the next fiscal year to make progress and deliver impact through our funded study work and Strategic Initiatives. Rather than say “better late than never,” we are approaching new studies and partnerships with a focus on how to deliver findings and recommendations, both rapidly and comprehensively. We are welcoming the challenges that require timely responses and thoughtful approaches to improved organizational performance.
Some of the new assignments the Academy is taking on include working with USDA’s National Finance Center and the Farm Production and Conservation Business Center to assist their efforts to modernize and improve the customer experience. This requires a commitment to the urgency of demonstrating measurable outcomes and meeting quick deadlines to accomplish these transformations. The Academy is also working with the Department of Defense to conduct a study that addresses the roles and responsibilities of the various components of the Department of Defense as they pertain to Integrated Air and Missile Defense (IAMD). The urgency to identify opportunities for deconflicting mission sets, eliminating areas of unnecessary duplication, reducing waste, and improving efficiency across the full range of IAMD activities, speaks for itself as we think about the important mission of IAMD and our national security. One more example of the urgency of identifying solutions and operationalizing strategies for improvement is the Academy’s work with the Department of Justice (DOJ) Law Enforcement Classification Study. This study is identifying ways to more accurately classify positions within the DOJ and benchmarking the classification of law enforcement positions across the federal government. These classifications play a key role in ensuring employees possess the right skills to meet the unique mission of federal law enforcement.
The Academy’s recent report on Agile Regulation is another example of efforts to address federal regulation, and to help federal agencies meet public needs in an increasingly fast-paced and dynamic environment. This framework is offered in the spirit of a deep and abiding belief in the public sector’s importance and the need for regulation, and within timelines that are increasingly demanding. In an effort to ensure that information about all of this work can be easily and quickly accessed, the Academy has developed a Virtual Library to make it easy to search nearly all of the Academy’s content and to continue to work towards improved outcomes in the public administration space.
*The National Academy of Public Administration (the Academy) is an independent, nonprofit, and nonpartisan organization established in 1967 to assist government leaders in building more effective, accountable, and transparent organizations. Chartered by Congress to provide nonpartisan expert advice, the Academy’s unique feature is its over 950 Fellows—including former cabinet officers, Members of Congress, governors, mayors, and state legislators, as well as prominent scholars, business executives, and career public administrators. The Academy helps the federal government address its critical management challenges through in-depth studies and analyses, advisory services and technical assistance, congressional testimony, forums and conferences, and online stakeholder engagement. If you would like to find out more about how the Academy can support your organization, please visit us at www.napawash.org.
The column from the National Academy of Public Administration is part of the FEDforum, an initiative to unite voices across the federal community. The FEDforum is a space for federal employee groups to share their organizations’ initiatives and activities with the FEDmanager audience.
Be sure to subscribe to FEDmanager so you never miss an update!