Open Government as an Efficient and Effective Public Financial Management Framework

7/30/2019 Open Government as an Efficient and Effective Public Financial Management Framework

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Open Government as an Efficient

and Effective Public FinancialManagement Framework

H. Giovanni Leusch-Carnaroli, Grant Thornton

Nick Skytland, NASA

May 22,

2013


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"The main reason why the most important data is eithernot published, not standardized, or both is that it'snobody's job," Hollister explained. "Consider federalspending data as an example. Grantees and contractors

report to the agencies on how they spend federal funds.Agencies report their financial statements to Treasuryand their budget actions to OMB. GSA maintainsdatabases of grants and contracts. Treasury cuts all thechecks and maintains a record of expenditures. All of

these different compilations are maintained by differentoffices of different agencies and organized differently....Nobody is in charge of putting the data together andpublishing it."

Why we are here

Tuutti, Camile (2013, March 10). Transparency Advocates Give Administration Mixed Marks. Federal ComputerWeek. Retrieved on March 12, 2013 from http://fcw.com/articles/2013/03/10/open-gov-advocates.aspx


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A new initiative comes along

The President issues OpenGovernment Directive, Agencies must

implement and measure the value.How do you get there?

Open Government is not a program unto itself it is, first and foremost, a business

transformation tool designed to drive miss ion per formanceandpub l ic value.


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Open Government strategic direction & goals

T Threats

SStrengths

O

W

Opportunities

Weaknesses

Challenges

Solutions

Agencies should Identify the key strengths and opportunities through the SWOTanalysis, as well as the challenges and strategies for mitigating and solving the

risks posed by these issues.


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Strategic approach

To take root, Open Gov principles should be promoted at all levels of an agency.


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What are the end goals of transparency in Federalspending?

Be accountable to the public

Put Federal spending in context

Show performance

Describe what taxpayers get for the money

Outline how funds are being allocated

Promote accomplishments and results

Facilitate decision-making

Educate the public with information

Enhance public engagement and collaboration

Move to customer-centric focus


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Outlining how funds are spent can be fun!

http://blog.ohmygov.com/blogs/general_news/archive/2011/04/09/7-Infographics-That-Almost-Make-the-Federal-Budget-Fun.aspx


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Financial transparency takes center stage in the U.S.


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Transportation accounted for $80 billion in grants

http://arra-gis.dot.gov/#


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States were quick to adopt 'best practices'

http://www.in.gov/itp/2340.htm


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States embraced financial transparency

http://www.texastransparency.org/


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Excellence is evident at all levels of government

http://www.co.hidalgo.tx.us/index.aspx?NID=935


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With counties providing great examples of transparency

http://lookatcook.com/


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Meanwhile, in the Nation's capital


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Several cities have led the way in transparency

https://data.cityofnewyork.us/


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Civil society organizations have kept a watchful eye

http://sunlightfoundation.com/


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Tying transparency to democracy


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What are the challenges in making Federal spendinginformation transparent?

Reporting burden versus utility of the information(cost/benefit)

Rationalizing different reporting requirements

Putting information into contextUnderstanding what the public wants to see

Determining how to display or present the information,

including making the data availableInitiating efforts to push financial information to

constituents rather than having them focus solely onhaving them pull information


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Transparency is to reduce waste, fraud and abuse

New charges filed in bid-rigging case

Mar. 25, 2013

"A once-prominent Northern Virginia technology contractor isfacing bribery charges accusing the firm of paying millions ofdollars in kickbacks for contract work and using bogusreferences to gain entry into a government set-asideprogram the latest development in the largest bid-rigging

case in U.S. history."

http://www.federaltimes.com/article/20130325/ACQUISITION03/303250004/New-charges-

filed-bid-rigging-case?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE


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When there is transparency there is oversight

$6.4 Billion Stimulus Goes to Phantom Districts

November 17, 2009

"Just how big is the stimulus package? Well for one, it has

doubled the size of the House of Representatives, according torecovery.gov, which says that funds were distributed to 440congressional districts that do not exist. According to dataretrieved from recovery.gov, nearly $6.4 billion was used tocreate or save just under 30,000 jobs in these phantom

congressional districtsalmost $225,000 per job. "

http://watchdog.org/1530/6-4-billion-stimulus-goes-to-phantom-districts/


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Accountability law ignored by recipients of stimulus moneyJuly 13, 2010

"Taxpayers are left wondering how more than $1.175 billion in

federal stimulus money was used because in hundreds of casesrecipients ignored the law and did not report how they spent it."

http://watchdog.org/5762/accountability-law-ignored-by-recipients-of-stimulus-money/

Need to enable agility, manage risk


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Are we measuring the right things?

Balance error rate messaging with payment accuracyand program integrity contextReport error rate segments by root cause and focus

actions on citizen-centric, high-impact portions of the rate

Engage IG/audit community together with program andfinance officialsExplore techniques/tools to estimate potential fraudEnsure that error rates and related messaging are

appropriately characterized so resources are focused onactions that have greatest impact on reducing waste,fraud and abuse in Federal programs


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Putting spending information in context

http://usaspending.gov/


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What story should spending information tell the public?

http://yourbudgit.com/index.php/home/visualize

http://yourbudgit.com/index.php/home/visualize

Th O G t P t hi i itt d t


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The Open Government Partnership is committed toglobal transparency


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Measuring outcomes can be challenging

One of DOTs strategic objectives is Safety. To further that objective, DOT initiated the Global

Campaign to End Distracted Driving, a traditional and social media approach to a policy issue.

Some Statistics on DOT Secretary 8,753 Likes on Facebook 28,422 followers on Twitter

So where are we now? 35 states (plus DC & Guam) ban text

messaging for all drivers. Twelve of thoselaws pas sed in 2010 alone!

9 states (plus DC & Virgin Islands) prohibithandheld cell use while driving

Its not just social media its theappl icationof a powerful tool to communicate

the Departments mission in an open way to

generate positive mission outcomes,

communicate performance objectives, and

achieve them.


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USASpending.gov numbers off by $1.3 trillion, report says

Sept. 8, 2010

"HHS did not report $495 billion in spending to USASpending.gov in 2009, whichrepresented more than half of the departments total spending that year, the report

states.

Ranking second through fifth in failure to report in the watchdog group's ClearSpendingproject report were:

The Veterans Affairs Department, $48 billion unreported.

The Agriculture Department, $14 billion unreported.

The Social Security Administration, $13 billion unreported.

The Railroad Retirement Board, $11 billion unreported."

http://fcw.com/articles/2010/09/08/usaspending.gov-numbers-off-by-1.3-trillion-watchdog-says.aspx

Criticism should not detract from the ultimate goal


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Fully using needed technology that is alreadyprovided in software solutions

Identify/establish key linkages of financial andnon-financial information

Increase use of Communities of Practice aroundcommon functions

Standardization of platforms

Automated, real-time reconciliationsReuse of data/information

Engage citizens and other stakeholders

How can we leverage technology to increase efficiencyand information availability?


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Citizen engagement combines science + data + design

http://solweather.com/http://marsweather.ingenology.com/


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Adoption of social media will continue to rise

Gartner Research, "Hype Cycle for Business Use of Social Media" 2010

The rise of the socialmedia and new techmarket has provided

opportunities foragencies to become

more transparent.

Although these toolshave been available forseveral years, adoption

in has shownsignificant increase in

the public sector.


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Using data for useful applications


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provides transparency in financial data to public

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.appbuilder.u187845p449799


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Data and challenges combined to add value

http://www.transparency.org/hackathon/


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Creating digital public space for better decision-making

Much of what U.S. DOT does has a strong public involvement angle - better involvement means

better policies, and an effective digital space can enable this.

Some Statistics

Piloted 4 rules on Regulation Room over1,200 users and 24,000 comments

Conducted online dialogues around DOT,FAA, and FMCSA strategic plans

Created national dialogues on blue-collarwomen in transportation, regulatory review,and environmental justice

Does it work?The dialogue on the Digital TransportationExchange extended wel lbeyondWashington, DC.
http://www.dot.gov/open/DTE/index.html


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Participation map who are the key stakeholders?

The extent of the participation drove the quality of the dialogue.


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Conclusions

Both financial data and performance data neededfor decision-assist

Access to, and quality of, data is essential

Focus on significant performance metrics

Move out of compliance into predictive analysis

Engage in stakeholder dialogue

Engage citizens in the process!

The mission and the objective drive the process and thetechnology, but the people make it happen


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Questions


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Open Government as an Efficient and Effective Public Financial Management Framework