Government Performance

Government Performance: News Analysis Background Gov Docs

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OMB Watch Testifies on Government Performance Issues Before a Senate Subcommittee
Adam Hughes testified before the Senate Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information, and International Security on June 13. The hearing was on the government's use of performance data. OMB Watch has prepared a summary of the hearing.

OMB Watch Critical of President's Proposal to Institute Results, Sunset Commissions
The White House submitted a legislative proposal to Congress on July 1 that would imperil the balance between the executive and legislative branches by concentrating power in the White House free of democratic accountability and would expose long-standing public protections to powerful special interests and industry insiders.

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News

Free Market Ends as Washington and Wall Street Merge 09/23/2008
Following a string of guarantees, buy-outs, and bailouts for various financial firms, Congress is now rushing to authorize the Treasury Secretary to spend $700 billion to bail out the rest of Wall Street. Since its role in the sale of investment bank Bear Stearns to rival J.P. Morgan in March, the federal government has intervened three times in the nation's financial markets by using taxpayer dollars to prop up the value of various private banking and mortgage entities. While taxpayers ought to be concerned about the sums of money involved in these transactions, a more fundamental problem exists: the bottom-line cost is anybody's guess. Read More

Senate Clears Contracting Reforms after Resolving Earmark Dispute 09/23/2008
The Senate passed important contracting reforms Sept. 17 when it approved the FY 2009 Defense Authorization Act (S. 3001) by an 88-8 vote. Among other measures, the legislation included a provision to create a national contractor misconduct database. Read More

Government Performance Workshop 09/12/2008
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Defense Contract Oversight Faces Multiple Challenges 08/19/2008
Over the last seven years, the Defense Department has doubled the amount of money spent on private contractors, yet it has remained disturbingly lax on contractor oversight. Recent evidence has emerged showing that the Pentagon spends too little on contract oversight and interferes with current auditors to restrict the length and scope of investigations. Read More

Contracting Reform Agenda Makes Gains 08/05/2008
When President Bush signed the FY 2008-2009 war supplemental bill into law on June 30, he approved a pair of contracting reforms that had long been stalled in Congress. The enactment of these provisions has validated the legislative strategy of reform-minded legislators to pass federal contracting measures. Read More

Obama and Coburn Shine Brighter Light on Government Spending 06/10/2008
Sens. Barack Obama (D-IL) and Tom Coburn (R-OK) have joined forces again to craft legislation that would increase the transparency of how the federal government spends taxpayers' money. The Strengthening Transparency and Accountability in Federal Spending Act (S. 3077), introduced June 3, is a follow-up to the 2006 Transparency Act, which was also spearheaded by the two senators. Obama and Coburn, along with Sens. Tom Carper (D-DE) and John McCain (R-AZ), introduced the new legislation with the goals of making important new data easily accessible and enabling citizens to hold our government accountable for the fiscal stewardship of our shared resources. Read More

Congressional Hearings Explore Contracting Waste, Fraud, and Abuse 05/13/2008
The Senate Democratic Policy Committee (DPC), the political arm of the Democrats in the Senate, has been holding a series of investigatory hearings concerning contracting problems during the Iraq war. The series of hearings has been aimed at increasing accountability and oversight of the federal contracting process, particularly related to the reconstruction of Iraq and the increased outsourcing of key military functions during the war. Read More

Contract Reform Takes Center Stage in House 04/29/2008
A group of reform bills that would bring accountability and transparency to the federal contracting process has been approved by the House in the last few months, potentially setting the stage for federal contracting reform to be a major area of legislative action in the remaining months of the 110th Congress. Read More

Despite New Majority in Congress, Fiscal Policy Still Mostly Stuck in Neutral 12/18/2007
A new congressional majority in 2007 promised a clean break from past practices of a Congress noted for its corruption, dysfunction and profligacy. It moved on a modest agenda and successfully enacted a few important policies, but overall, it failed to chart a new direction in fiscal policy. This failure was due in large part to the majority underestimating the ability and willingness of a coalition of conservative policymakers and the president to fiercely obstruct even the modest reform policies on the new Congress's agenda. Read More

White House Attempts to Entrench PART at Federal Agencies 11/20/2007
The White House issued an executive order (E.O. 13450) on Nov. 13 that would attempt to entrench the administration's controversial Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART) within federal agencies long after President Bush leaves the White House. The order would create a point person within agencies responsible for program performance, allow the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) more leverage over specific aspects of program implementation and solidify the PART program review process as the evaluator of government programs. Read More

Research Questions Cost-Efficiency of Privatization 10/10/2007
Public debate over government contracting has centered largely on issues of accountability. But recent scholarship on the efficiency of using contractors to deliver government services shows that a broader discussion is warranted. The assumptions about the relative efficiency of government contracts are on shaky ground, and cost measurements show no clear advantage to private contractors. Read More

Wartime Commission Would Investigate Contracting Abuses in Iraq and Afghanistan 09/25/2007
Sens. Jim Webb (D-VA) and Claire McCaskill (D-MO) have sponsored a bill (S. 1825) that would set up a commission to investigate and reform wartime contracting. It is likely the bill will be introduced as an amendment to the Defense Reauthorization Act that is currently being debated in the Senate. Read More

The Year in Fiscal Policy...So Far 08/21/2007
After the elections in November 2006, with a new majority and low public confidence in Congress following multiple lobbying and ethics scandals, members vowed to restore integrity and responsibility to the legislative process, particularly in fiscal policy. Congress pledged it would prioritize funding for domestic needs and abide by pay-as-you-go rules for new mandatory spending and taxes. It would shed light on the earmarking process and spend more time minding the people's business in Washington. In short, the new Congress said it would clean up Washington and rebuild public confidence in government. Read More

Another Attempt at Ending IRS Privatization Program Moves Forward 07/24/2007
Both the House and Senate have taken important steps toward ending the wasteful and risky Internal Revenue Service (IRS) private tax collection program. The House Ways and Means Committee approved a bill (H.R. 3056) that would repeal the program, and the Senate Appropriations Committee cleared a bill (H.R. 2829) that would tightly limit the funding available at the IRS to administer the program. Read More

Congress Demands Answers to USDA Security Breach 05/30/2007
On April 13, a user of FedSpending.org, an online database on government spending run by OMB Watch, discovered that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) was publishing personally identifiable information about a loan she received from the agency. Read More

Contracting Reform Bills Move in Congress 03/20/2007
Congress is moving forward on bills to reform the federal contracting system, as the House approved a bill that improves contracting procedures, and the Senate introduced a comprehensive contract reform bill. The bills are an encouraging sign that Congress is working to fix some of the broken parts of the contracting system, but it will need to do much more to address the full scope of the problem. Read More

Congress Seeks to End IRS Privatization Program 02/21/2007
Legislation has been introduced in the House and Senate that would halt an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) program that outsources certain tax collection responsibilities to private companies. The costly and dangerous program has been soundly criticized by Congress, the IRS National Taxpayer Advocate, and outside consumer groups since it began last fall. Read More

Congress Continues Insufficient Oversight of Federal Contracts 11/07/2006
Even as reports of contracting fraud and contractor malfeasance continue to stack up, Congress has taken steps to reduce the federal government's capacity to investigate and oversee how government contracts are awarded and administered. Read More

FedSpending Spotlight: Skyrocketing Contracts, Less Competition 10/24/2006
Lurita Doan, the new head of the General Services Administration (GSA), recently complained about the growth of Government-wide Acquisition Contracts (GWACs) and the loss of contracting efficiency. Data from FedSpending.org reinforces these efficiency concerns by revealing the fast growth in federal contracts and, specifically, the remarkable growth of contracts for which there was little to no competition. Read More

Spending Transparency Bill Passes Senate, House Approval Imminent 09/12/2006
After a month of secret holds, back-room maneuvering, stall tactics and butting of heads, the Senate quietly passed the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act (S. 2590) on Thursday, Sept. 7 by unanimous consent. The bill will dramatically increase government accountability and public access to federal spending data, by creating a free, public, searchable website of all federal spending, including government contracts and grants. The House is expected to amend the bill slightly before passing it this week. Read More

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