Government Performance

Feb 8, 2016

Top 400 Taxpayers See Tax Rates Rise, But There’s More to the Story

As Americans were gathering party supplies to greet the New Year, the Internal Revenue Service released their annual report of cumulative tax data reported on the 400 tax r...

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Feb 4, 2016

Chlorine Bleach Plants Needlessly Endanger 63 Million Americans

Chlorine bleach plants across the U.S. put millions of Americans in danger of a chlorine gas release, a substance so toxic it has been used as a chemical weapon. Greenpeace’s new repo...

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Jan 25, 2016

U.S. Industrial Facilities Reported Fewer Toxic Releases in 2014

The Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) data for 2014 is now available. The good news: total toxic releases by reporting facilities decreased by nearly six percent from 2013 levels. Howe...

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Jan 22, 2016

Methane Causes Climate Change. Here's How the President Plans to Cut Emissions by 40-45 Percent.

UPDATE (Jan. 22, 2016): Today, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) released its proposed rule to reduce methane emissions...

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more news

GAO: Lack of Competition in Some Contracting Difficult to Overcome

In a recent report to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found systemic hurdles to reducing the dollars spent on contracts not competed or those that are competed but only receive one bid. The reasons provided to GAO for the use of these contract vehicles reveal the difficulties that the Obama administration and Congress will face in instituting further reforms; they range from technical hegemony or general expertise by contractors to institutional indolence.

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Posting Federal Contracts Online: Let's Do It

Sep 2, 2010 by Gavin Baker

OMB Watch supports a rule to post federal contracts online.

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Waging War via PowerPoint

Aug 31, 2010 by Gavin Baker

The NATO command in Afghanistan last week fired a staff officer for publicly criticizing the military's use of Microsoft's presentation software PowerPoint.

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Is Standard Coding Just Around the Corner?

Aug 26, 2010 by Gary Therkildsen*

It wasn't three weeks ago that Earl Devaney, head of the Recovery Accountability and Transparency (RAT) Board, told Congress that conducting oversight of Recovery Act funds was unnecessarily burdensome due to the lack of a standardized coding system for government contracts, and now the procurement regulating arm of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has proposed a solution.

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Administration Targets High-Risk IT Projects

Aug 24, 2010 by Gary Therkildsen*

I'm sorry, Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that.

The Obama administration released yesterday a list of 26 mission-critical information technology (IT) projects that will receive immediate attention from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) because they "have experienced problems such as significant cost increases or schedule delays." This reassessment process of IT projects, which is part of the administration's reform-minded 2012 budget process and their larger Accountable Government Initiative, seeks to set the programs straight before they waste any more taxpayer funds.

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Advocates Call for Transparency in Development Aid

Aug 24, 2010 by Gavin Baker

Experts from around the world are meeting this week in London to advocate for transparency in development efforts. The Conference on Transparency, Free Flow of Information and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) is being held in advance of next month's UN Summit to review progress toward the Goals.

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Bad Idea: Stand up a Private Army in Iraq to Take the Place of Departing U.S. Forces

Aug 23, 2010 by Gary Therkildsen*

The pullout of the final U.S. combat brigade from Iraq last week was the penultimate step in the military's withdrawal from the country at the end of 2011. At that time, the State Department, utilizing a large number of private security contractors (PSC), will take responsibility for performing many of the tasks the Department of Defense (DOD) has been carrying out. Problem is, State isn't very good at overseeing contractors.

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Karzai Outlaws Private Security Contractors in Afghanistan

Aug 18, 2010 by Gary Therkildsen*

On Monday, the administration of Afghan President Hamid Karzai announced that all security contractor firms would have to end operations in the country within the next four months, allowing employees to either join the Afghan police force or look for another line of work. Successful implementation of Karzai's order, though difficult, could radically transform the debate around the use of private security contractors (PSCs) in war zones.

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BP Agrees to $50.6 Million Penalty for Safety Violations that Killed 15

The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced Aug. 12 that BP has agreed to pay a $50.6 million penalty for safety violations related to the 2005 explosion at its Texas City, TX, refinery that killed 15 workers and injured 170 others. In addition to the fine, BP has also agreed to allocate about $500 million to address unsafe conditions at the refinery.

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Senate Food Safety Compromise Would Require Fewer Inspections

Aug 13, 2010 by Matthew Madia

Yesterday, I blogged about a bipartisan compromise reached in the Senate on pending food safety legislation. Over at Food Safety News, reporter Helena Botemiller has an overview of what’s in the compromise, which takes the form of a managers’ amendment, as described by Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA).

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