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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Commentary: Defense Acquisition Reform -- Where Do We Stand?

Recent events are pointing to a shift in the way the Department of Defense (DOD) will implement future government contracts. The passage of a new law, the planned addition of much-needed acquisition personnel at DOD – by far the government's largest contracting agency – and an intended top-to-bottom overhaul of the Air Force's procurement process are all geared toward reforming a system ripe with waste, fraud, and abuse. Despite significant progress, these reforms face critical challenges ahead.

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Wartime Contracting Commission Warns Congress of Potential Significant Waste

Jun 11, 2009 by Gary Therkildsen*

At a House Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee hearing yesterday morning, members of the Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan provided an interim report warning of potential contracting waste, fraud and abuse during the future drawdown of U.S. troops in Iraq and subsequent surge in Afghanistan.

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Confirmation Hearing of Chief Performance Officer Nominee Jeffrey Zients

Jun 11, 2009 by Adam Hughes*

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committee held a confirmation hearing yesterday to consider the nomination of Jeffrey Zients, President Obama's pick to be Deputy Director of the Office of Management and Budget and sit in the newly created position of Chief Performance Officer. The hearing was uneventful and short, lasting less than an hour, and Zients received mostly praise and kinds words from Senators.

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FDA Missed Chances to Halt Contaminated Syringes

Jun 10, 2009 by Matthew Madia

The Food and Drug Administration failed to stop a derelict manufacturing plant from shipping contaminated syringes that led to more than 160 illnesses and at least four deaths, according to an investigation by ProPublica and the Chicago Tribune.

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Acquisition Experts of Little Help to Congress on Defense Reform

Jun 8, 2009 by Gary Therkildsen*

Last Wednesday morning, I attended a House Armed Services Subcommittee hearing convened by the recently formed Defense Acquisition Reform Panel. The three witnesses – Gordon R. England, a two-time Secretary of the Navy and former Deputy Secretary of Defense, Edmund P. Giambastiani, Jr., a retired Navy admiral and former Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Ronald T. Kadish, a retired Air Force Lieutenant General – all emphasized the same abstract fix and provided little, if any, concrete guidance.

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Defense Acquisition Reform: Where Do We Stand?

Jun 5, 2009 by Gary Therkildsen*

Recent events are pointing to a shift by the Department of Defense (DOD) and at least one of the branches of the military in the way they will implement future government contracts. The passage of a new law, the planned addition of much-needed acquisition personnel at DOD – by far the government's largest contracting agency – and an intended top-to-bottom overhaul of the Air Force's procurement process are all geared toward reforming a system ripe with waste, fraud, and abuse. Despite this, barriers remain and these reforms will face critical challenges ahead.

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"Inherently Governmental" = Pornography?

Jun 2, 2009 by Adam Hughes*

Elizabeth Newell over at FedBlog had an interesting post up yesterday about some reviews being conducted at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). In particular, DHS is reviewing service contracts to make sure no inherently governmental work is being done by contractors. Yet the poor definition of that term may inhibit any actual reforms from taking place.

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USAspending.gov Adds Recovery Act Spending Data Months before Recovery.gov

In late May, USAspending.gov started posting data that identified grants and contracts given out under the Recovery Act. This is in addition to the regular data on government spending on the site. Up until now, there has been a disappointing lack of specific data made available about Recovery Act spending, particularly on the Recovery.gov website – the main vehicle created for information on implementation of the act.

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GAO Finds Federal Government's Contractor Measurement Tool Lacking

May 28, 2009 by Gary Therkildsen*

In a report released last week, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that the Past Performance Information Retrieval System (PPIRS), a database on contractors consulted by federal agencies to award contracts, is woefully deficient in the value of information it provides.

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Discarded IRS Website Worse Than That Old Mac Software You Used in College

May 27, 2009 by Gary Therkildsen*

Last week, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced its intention to scrap a two-year-long, $19.5 million project to create a new tax-filing website. The agency's Chief Information Officer cancelled the new website due to "the lack of a comprehensive enterprise strategy that considered industry best practices or advancements in portal technology, and budget challenges due to the significant expenditure requirements necessary to replace existing equipment." That's government speak for, "We let this project get out of hand by not employing proper oversight, and so, now the stuff we were going to buy to utilize our newfangled website won't work with it." You can read the rest of the agency's explanation in their report. Guess those new heights of customer service IRS was striving towards will have to wait a few years.

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