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S. Hrg. 113–333 

NOMINATION OF BETH F. COBERT 

HEARING 

BEFORE THE

COMMITTEE ON 

HOMELAND SECURITY AND 

GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS 

UNITED STATES SENATE 

ONE HUNDRED THIRTEENTH CONGRESS 

FIRST SESSION 

NOMINATION OF BETH F. COBERT TO BE DEPUTY DIRECTOR FOR 

MANAGEMENT OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET 

OCTOBER 2, 2013 

Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.fdsys.gov/ 

Printed for the use of the 

Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

( 
(II) 

COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS 

THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware Chairman 

CARL LEVIN, Michigan 

MARK L. PRYOR, Arkansas 

MARY L. LANDRIEU, Louisiana 

CLAIRE MCCASKILL, Missouri 

JON TESTER, Montana 

MARK BEGICH, Alaska 

TAMMY BALDWIN, Wisconsin 

HEIDI HEITKAMP, North Dakota 

TOM COBURN, Oklahoma 

JOHN MCCAIN, Arizona 

RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin 

ROB PORTMAN, Ohio 

RAND PAUL, Kentucky 

MICHAEL B. ENZI, Wyoming 

KELLY AYOTTE, New Hampshire 

JEFF CHIESA, New Jersey 

RICHARD J. KESSLER, Staff Director 

JOHN P. KILVINGTON, Deputy Staff Director 

LAWRENCE B. NOVEY, Chief Counsel for Governmental Affairs 

TROY H. CRIBB, Chief Counsel for Governmental Affairs 

DEIRDRE G. ARMSTRONG, Professional Staff Member 

KEITH B. ASHDOWN, Minority Staff Director 

CHRISTOPHER J. BARKLEY, Minority Deputy Staff Director 

ANDREW C. DOCKHAM, Minority Chief Counsel 

JOELLE CANNON, Budget Director, Office of Senator Coburn 

LAURA W. KILBRIDE, Chief Clerk 

LAUREN M. CORCORAN, Hearing Clerk 
(III) 

C O N T E N T S 

Opening statements: Page 

Senator Carper ................................................................................................. 1 

Senator Coburn ................................................................................................. 4 

Senator Johnson ............................................................................................... 12 

Senator Chiesa .................................................................................................. 16 

Senator Ayotte .................................................................................................. 22 

Prepared statements: 

Senator Carper ................................................................................................. 27 

WITNESSES 

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2013 

Beth F. Cobert, to be Deputy Director for Management, Office of Management 

and Budget 

Testimony .......................................................................................................... 5 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 29 

Biographical and financial information .......................................................... 31 

Letter from the Office of Government Ethics ................................................. 47 

Responses to pre-hearing questions ................................................................ 51 

(1) 

NOMINATION OF 

BETH F. COBERT 

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2013 

U.S. SENATE,

COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY

AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS, 

Washington, DC. 

The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:07 a.m., in room 

SD–342, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Thomas Carper, 

Chairman of the Committee, presiding. 

Present: Senators Carper, Coburn, Johnson, Ayotte and Chiesa. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF CHAIRMAN CARPER 

Chairman CARPER. The Committee will come to order. 

Good morning, everybody. 

Ms. Cobert, great to see you and your family. Your mom, your 

husband, daughter, another friend right behind you. It is great to 

see you. 

We are here to consider your nomination to be Deputy Director 

for Management at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). 

This Committee comes together at an unfortunate time for the 

American people, for Congress, and for our democratic process. 

Much of our government, as you know, is officially closed for business and hundreds of thousands of public servants have been 

forced to stay home. It is not fair to them also not fair to the people 

who we are here to represent, who pay their taxes and will not get 

the government services they expect and deserve. 

I think this is an embarrassing avoidable failure that highlights 

the dysfunction that has dominated Congress for the past several 

years. But I am happy to say it does not characterize this Committee where we have a great relationship and work, I think, really 

well together. 

Our current method of stopgap, crisis governing is no way to run 

a government or a business let alone a Nation of our size and stature. This type of crisis governing with last-minute stopgap funding 

measures and government shutdowns is actually the most inefficient, expensive way to govern. We need to do better and we can 

if we begin working together once again stopping some of these 

needless acts of political brinksmanship. 

Much of the work of our congressional Committees is suspended 

at this time. I believe it is essential and Dr. Coburn believes it is 

essential for this Committee, though, to meet today to consider Ms. 

Cobert’s nomination, and we will have another hearing imme-
2 

diately after this one for the two other nominees for the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC). 

The Deputy Director of Management, if you ask most people in 

this country how important is that, they would not have any clue, 

because most of them are not familiar with this position. 

But to Dr. Coburn and I, to our staffs, to the Members of this 

Committee, it is a really important job. It is really important for 

not just OMB and it is not just important for the Administration. 

It is really important for our country. It is important for us because 

we look to create, I talked with you earlier when we met, about leverage and trying to leverage. 

Dr. Coburn and I, even Senator Johnson and Senator Chiesa and 

others, we are trying to figure how do we get better results for less 

money in everything we do. And, you or the person who holds your 

position in the past and in the future, you are just a key person 

in making that happen. 

But the Deputy Director of Management is one of the top three 

leaders at the Office of Management and Budget. In the midst of 

this very partisan time, one thing that Republicans and Democrats 

agree on is that we need to make every effort to find savings 

through better management of our government. 

I said it before but something that is important and bears repeating often is that to achieve a long-term solution to our fiscal problems we need to do three things. We need entitlement reform that 

saves money, saves these programs for our kids, for our grandchildren, for your kids and for their children; and also does not savage old people or poor people. 

We need tax reform in my view that raises some money for deficit reduction; and we need to look at everything we do and ask 

this question: how do we get a better result for less money in everything that we do. 

In the years that I have served on this Committee, many of them 

with Dr. Coburn, a couple of them with Senator Johnson and only 

a couple of months with Senator Chiesa and we have one of your 

constituents out there, 90 years old, is that right? 

She came all the way down on the train today and it is a thrill 

to see her and her daughter will be introducing her in just a 

minute. 

But in the years that I have served here with Dr. Coburn and 

others and with presidents of both parties, we have worked to try 

to find ways to better manage our government programs and our 

government and we put our noses to the grindstone. I think we 

have achieved some good results. 

Maybe one of the best results is what we have done with respect 

to improper payments. Improper payments are payments that are, 

as we know, not necessarily fraud but just a mistake, paying the 

wrong beneficiary or the wrong contractor or paying them too much 

or may be too little. 

More effective management and oversight has led to enormous 

savings, enormous savings, by preventing these errors by agencies 

across the government. In fact, improper payments have been on 

a downward trend dropping from $121 billion in fiscal year 2010 

to $108 billion in fiscal year 2012. We are looking forward to see 

how we did in 2013. We should know that before long. 
3 

But while a lot more work needs to be done to identify, recover, 

and prevent improper payments, it is clear that we are making 

progress and we need to keep it up. 

We have helped to improve government management in other 

ways as well. For example, over several years our Committee has 

given focused attention to the challenges faced by the Department 

of Homeland Security (DHS) in integrating its separate management systems into one department. The Government Accountability 

Office (GAO) recently recognized the department’s substantial 

progress in this area. 

Likewise, our Committee, GAO, and a number of Federal agencies have all worked to focus attention on wasteful spending that 

can occur in interagency contracting which occurs when one agency 

spends money through a contract negotiated and managed by another agency. I was pleased to learn earlier this year the GAO removed interagency contracting from its high risk list of troubled 

government operations. 

Our Committee has much more important work ahead to address 

other serious, often long-standing management problems. The management of Federal real property is added example. One of the first 

things that Tom Coburn and I did was visit a post office, a big old 

abandoned post office building in, I think it was in Chicago, to figure out why we have buildings like that all over America where we 

spend a lot of money maintaining them, and securing them, providing for the utilities but nobody is there. We are not really using 

it or we are underutilizing them. 

But what there is still going on is that there is too much, still 

too much duplication, something that Tom focused on a whole lot, 

and wasteful spending in Federal information technology (IT) 

projects. 

We just need to tap into billions of dollars in potential savings 

through strategic sourcing. We had a hearing here on that just 

about a month or so ago with our friends from the General Services 

Administration (GSA), and that is one of the ways where we can 

leverage the government’s buying power to get discounted prices 

when the government buys things. 

As my dad would say, that is just common sense. And of course, 

we face a major management challenge in recruiting, training, and 

retaining a Federal workforce for the future. The list goes on and 

on. 

I just want to say just a quick word. We have a lot of Federal 

employees who did not come to work today, not because they did 

not want to, not because they did not need to, because we told 

them not to; and I would just say to folks who serve, whose life 

work is to serve the people of this country, we appreciate them, we 

appreciate the hard work that they do and a lot of times they get 

a bad rap. 

I have heard my colleagues call them faceless bureaucrats, and 

I hate that when I hear that. These are people who have good 

hearts, are good servants, and they deserve our respect. We work 

hard. We expect them to work hard and give the taxpayers a day’s 

work for a day’s effort. 

But saving money is not the only reason to have good management. We deliver better service to the American people when we 
4 

have good management. It is the case in every area of the government from border security to Social Security. Unfortunately, delivering quality services are the harder in this area of stopgap, crisis 

governing with agencies struggling to do the best work they can despite uncertainty about their budgets. 

So, I am eager to help move of this nomination forward, get a 

Deputy Director for Management. I think Dr. Coburn is eager to 

get you on the job and go to work with Sylvia and the gang and 

get us on the road to where we need to go in terms of our management and our budget, to help promote long-term management reforms. They are going to deliver better results and save some 

money for taxpayers. 

And with that, I will turn to Dr. Coburn and then I will introduce you and give you the oath so you can testify. Thank you. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR COBURN 

Senator COBURN. Well, welcome. We are glad you are here. I 

would like to say, first, for the record, it takes a certain amount 

of courage and patriotism to give up a very well-paying job to come 

and do service for your country. It is not something you have to do. 

It is something you choose to do, and you have actually chosen one 

of the most difficult jobs in Washington because of the problems. 

So, I want to recognize publicly the sacrifice that you will be 

making should you be confirmed, and I believe you will be, both in 

terms of your family, your two children and your husband, but also 

the travel that will be involved and the terribly long hours that are 

associated with this job. 

I also very much appreciated our conversation yesterday. I think 

you have a great understanding of what the real problems are. The 

Office of Management and Budget is just that. It is an office of 

budget and management and too often it is about the budget and 

not the management. 

So, I welcome you here today, applaud your sacrifice and a willingness to do it. My hope would be we would have more experienced people from the private sector fulfill positions such as this 

one; and I look forward, following your confirmation, to work closely with you in terms of changing. 

I would just say it is not billions. It is hundreds of billions that 

the American people are not getting any value for, and it does not 

have anything to do with our employees. It has to do with Members 

of Congress and the fact that we are inappropriately not overseeing 

the areas where we can make a difference and I hope with your 

guidance at OMB, we can work together so that we can highlight 

for the American people where we are failing, not to recognize failure but to recognize problems so that we can change it. 

The next 20 years in front of this country are going to be very 

difficult in terms of our finances and it has to start with good management. And so therefore, I appreciate you being willing to sacrifice. 

Thank you. 

Chairman CARPER. Thank you, Dr. Coburn. 

At this point in our hearings, we always ask our witnesses to rise 

and to take an oath; and if you could do that at this time, I would 

appreciate it. Raise your right hand. Do you swear the testimony 
5 

1The prepared statement of Ms. Cobert appears in the Appendix on page 29. 

you will give before this Committee will be the truth, the whole 

truth, and nothing but the truth so help you, God? 

Ms. COBERT. I do. 

Chairman CARPER. Please be seated. 

Let me take just a moment just to share publicly just a one-pager 

on part of your background. Beth Cobert, senior partner at 

McKinsey and Company, where she has worked for nearly 30 

years. She is the firm’s global leader for functional capability building, responsible for fostering skills among over 9,000 consulting 

staff at the firm, 9,000. Ms. Cobert is also a global leader of 

McKinsey’s marketing and sales practice and chairs the firm’s pension fund. 

From 1980 to 1982 prior to working at McKinsey and Company, 

she worked as an analyst at Goldman Sachs. Ms. Cobert received 

her Bachelor of Arts from Princeton, her Master of Business Administration from Stanford Graduate School of Business; and as 

Dr. Coburn has said, we are grateful. 

Obviously, you do not have to do this job. For you to basically 

leave a great job with a great company and to take on this responsibility and for your family to be willing to share you with our 

country, for your mom and dad to have raised you and instilled the 

kinds of values in you that led you to this place today and to your 

husband for his willingness to be supportive and to encourage you 

in this way and your son who is here and your daughter who cannot be here, we are just grateful that they share their mom with 

all of us. 

With that, your whole statement will be made part of the record. 

Feel free to summarize as you wish and then we will ask you some 

questions. 

TESTIMONY OF BETH F. COBERT1 TO BE DEPUTY DIRECTOR 

FOR MANAGEMENT, OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET 

Ms. COBERT. Thank you, Chairman Carper, Dr. Coburn, and 

Members of this Committee for welcoming me today. It is an honor 

to be considered by this Committee as President Obama’s nominee 

for Deputy Director for Management of the Office of Management 

and Budget. 

I am very pleased that some of my family could join me today, 

including my husband Adam Coith, my son Peter Cioth, and my 

mother Shirley Cobert. My husband and children, including my 

daughter Talia, who could not join us today, have been exceptionally supportive over the years even when the demands of my job 

and community commitments meant time away from them. I greatly appreciate their support as I take on this new role. 

I would like to especially recognize my mother. She and my late 

father were role models to me of the importance of being engaged, 

involved citizens in giving back to the community. 

My mother is still an active volunteer at age 90, including continuing to be a stalwart in civic engagement efforts in adult education programs in Montclair, New Jersey, where I was raised. 
6 

I want to thank President Obama for nominating me to this position, and I also want to thank Director Burwell and Deputy Director Deese for their support and confidence in me. 

Finally, I want to thank Members of the Committee and their 

staff for taking the time to meet with me. If I am confirmed, I look 

forward to continuing our conversations and strengthening the 

vital relationship between OMB and this Committee. 

If confirmed, I would hope to help advance the effort to improve 

government management and performance. I would focus on the 

four pillars the President has emphasized in his second term management agenda—effectiveness, efficiency, economy, and people. 

These pillars form the base of strong government performance. 

Improving how the Federal Government delivers services to the 

public, including through the enhanced use of new technologies, 

will increase our effectiveness. Eliminating waste and finding operational savings in programs, processes, and systems will build efficiency. 

Taking steps to ensure the government is enhancing economic 

growth, such as opening up government data to create new businesses and economic opportunities and the ongoing effort to speed 

up the Federal permitting process, will strengthen our economy; 

and importantly, focusing on how the government attracts, develops, retains, and optimizes a first-class Federal workforce will help 

us ensure that the best and brightest are serving in the Federal 

Government and enable us to compete successfully in a 21st-Century economy. 

I believe that these are the right pillars on which to focus our 

government’s management efforts. Given the tremendous fiscal 

constraints our government is operating under, it is more important than ever that we carefully integrate management efforts into 

our budget processes and the delivery of government services. I believe the President’s management agenda will ensure that taxpayer 

dollars are spent wisely and that we are maximizing the value of 

the services we deliver. 

If confirmed as Deputy Director for Management and also in my 

role as Chief Performance Officer, I would work with Congress and 

the dedicated staff at OMB and Federal agencies to drive this 

agenda forward on half of the American people. 

I recognize that the Administration, working with Congress, has 

already made great strides in the management area, steadily improving the effectiveness and efficiency of our government. And, I 

want to commend Steve VanRoekel, who currently serves as Acting 

Deputy Director for Management, for his outstanding work. 

As Chairman Carper noted, I come from the world of management consulting. I am currently a director and senior partner at 

McKinsey and Company where I have worked since 1984. I believe 

my experience and skills as a management consultant would serve 

me well in the position of OMB’s Deputy Director for Management 

as well as the designated role of Chief Performance Officer. 

Over the last 29 years at McKinsey, I have worked with corporate, nonprofit, and government entities on key strategic, operational, and organizational issues. I have led major projects to generate performance improvements, to process streamlining, and enhanced customer service, improve deployment of technology, more 
7 

effective marketing programs, and strengthened organizational effectiveness. 

I have also held leadership roles at McKinsey in people management, including recruiting, training, developing, and performance 

evaluation of staff. These represent the same areas of performance 

improvements that are at the heart of President Obama’s second 

term management agenda. 

If confirmed, I will work to build on the Administration’s successes and utilize my knowledge of private and public sector best 

practices to help make even further progress. 

Again, I want to thank the President for giving me this opportunity to serve and the Committee for considering my nomination. 

I look forward to answering any questions you may have. 

Chairman CARPER. Well, thank you, thank you for that statement. I have three questions. In every confirmation hearing we 

have, I try to remember to ask these three questions. I will start 

with those. 

Is there anything you are aware of in your background that 

might present a conflict of interest with the duties of the office to 

which you have been nominated? 

Ms. COBERT. No. 

Chairman CARPER. Do you know of anything personal or otherwise that would in any way prevent you from fully and honorably 

discharging the responsibilities of the office to which you have been 

nominated? 

Ms. COBERT. I do not. 

Chairman CARPER. Do you agree without reservation to respond 

to any reasonable summons to appear and testify before any duly 

constituted Committee of Congress if you are confirmed? 

Ms. COBERT. I do. 

Chairman CARPER. Thank you. 

Ms. COBERT. You are welcome. 

Chairman CARPER. As I noted in my opening statement, you 

have quite a distinguished career in the private sector. You are one 

of the senior leaders of one of the largest, most successful consulting firms I think in the country, maybe in the world. 

Tell us a little bit more about the roles you have played at 

McKinsey and how you will translate that background into the responsibilities that you will be assuming if you are confirmed as 

Deputy Director for Management. 

Ms. COBERT. Sure. I think that the experience that I have had 

at McKinsey and in working with my clients at McKinsey translate 

quite directly to the roles I would be playing as Deputy Director 

for Management, if confirmed. 

There are a number of specific topical areas where I have worked 

with clients of different sizes and in different industries to help 

make real improvements in performance. I have worked with clients on better deployment of technology, as I mentioned, trying to 

make the more standard parts of that technology more efficient and 

to use technology tools to enable them to deliver better customer 

service. 

I have worked with companies on procurement programs, trying 

to help them buy smarter, to buy what they needed at right prices, 
8 

and to make sure they are buying the right things, what they need 

to deliver against their goals and not more. 

I have worked on a range of issues about strengthening performance management systems, something that I think is at the heart 

of the process of generating a mindset of continuous improvement, 

of using data and learning from that data to help make performance better and to build a mindset and a culture where the individuals doing their jobs everyday are thinking about how they can do 

their work better. 

So, there are a number of things in that arena in terms of working with my clients. I have worked with them on issues around 

customer service, how do you simplify processes so that customers 

are better served; and what I have found in that experience is 

when you simplify that process you not only make it better for customers, you make it better for the people doing the work. 

You create opportunities for people to spend their time doing 

things that are more in line with their performance versus fixing 

mistakes in a process. So, there is a set of things there. 

I have also spent a lot of time within McKinsey around people, 

personal leadership and personal development. I had been involved 

in efforts around recruiting, how do we bring great talent into the 

firm, how do we take people at the beginning of their careers and 

help them build the skills to be successful, how do we instill within 

them a process of thinking systematically about issues, of being 

able to break down a problem and look at the facts, and follow up 

to make sure things were being done. 

I have worked on training. I have worked on career development. 

And so, that is the content of the work. 

I think there is another element around the way that I have 

worked as a consultant that would be particularly helpful in the 

role of Deputy Director for Management at OMB, if I have the 

honor of being confirmed. 

At McKinsey we often had a small team of McKinsey folks coming into an organization trying to make change happen at a much 

larger scale. To me that is analogous to what OMB is trying to do 

in working with the agencies. To do that you have to find a way 

to tap into the expertise that exists in the client organization as 

the way of OMB has to tap into the expertise of agencies. 

You have to listen to stakeholders. You have to learn about different perspectives, be open to having input and have a process of 

going back so they understand what you have done with that input 

and the decisions that you have made, and you have to find a way 

to get people to own the solutions and your recommendations because a small team of McKinsey people, without the commitment 

of our clients, cannot make change happen. 

And when we think about what we are trying to accomplish, 

when I think about what I was trying to accomplish at McKinsey, 

it was about making change happen. It was about making change 

stick. 

And so, those topical areas and that ability to leverage a small 

team to create change on a larger scale are experiences that I think 

are particularly relevant for the role of Deputy Director for Management. 
9 

Chairman CARPER. Good. When you and I met, we talked about 

leverage; and I mentioned that one of the things that Dr. Coburn 

and I did when we were leading a Subcommittee of this Committee 

called Federal Financial Management (FFM), we sought to leverage 

the effectiveness of a small Senate Subcommittee. To get better results for less money has really been our focus for a long time. 

And, we did that by working with OMB. We did that by working 

with GAO, we did that by working with the Inspectors General 

(IGs), by working with the General Services Administration, working with a number of groups in the private sector. 

And, we did that I think to some success and now we get to lead 

the full Committee, and we are still attempting to leverage the effectiveness of the full Committee with the help of all the members, 

Democrat and Republican, and all our staff. And, these partnerships are just extremely important. 

One of the things that we have going for us who have been here 

for a few years, we have relationships with our colleagues and also 

with folks in OMB and GAO. I met yesterday Gene Dodaro, who 

is Comptroller General, and with a number of the IGs. Dr. Coburn 

really shepherds and follows the IGs. We are trying to make sure 

we have IGs at all the right spots. 

One of the problems we face right now is, as I said to you before, 

is I call it executive branch Swiss cheese. And we have so many 

senior positions that are vacant and yours is important one to fill. 

We are anxious to get it filled. 

Talk to us about in terms of leverage about how you plan to develop some of the relationships. When I met with Gene Dodaro yesterday, I said we have a new woman coming in over as Deputy for 

Management over at OMB, and he is anxious to meet with you and 

begin to partner with you. How do you plan to reach out to develop 

and cultivate the kind of relationships that will enable you in the 

next 3 years and 3 months, hopefully, to be especially effective? 

Ms. COBERT. Sure. If confirmed as Deputy Director for Management, I think establishing those relationships, establishing that 

open dialogue is a very important part of this role and what it will 

take to be successful and to have impact. 

I know that everyone in those roles shares the same commitment 

about trying to make sure that the Federal Government is being 

effective, is being efficient, is not spending money, is trying to reduce waste, fraud, and abuse. So, we come with the same goals. 

I think there is a very important dialogue to be had and I would 

want to delve deeper into those things. I also want to be able to 

take advantage of what they have learned and the reviews that 

they have undertaken over time, not only just address a set of specific issues but to understand and work with them and think about 

what are the underlying root causes that are creating some of these 

issues. How do we tackle those that, when we solve one problem, 

we do not see it occur in another place. 

So, those relationships with GAO, with the Inspectors General 

would be an important element for me to take on, if confirmed in 

this position. 

Chairman CARPER. OK. One of the areas that I said earlier that 

Dr. Coburn and I have focused on is improper payments. We like 
10 

to say where you cannot measure, you cannot manage. You probably said that a few times in your life. 

The folks at the Department of Homeland Security have made 

progress as measured against some of the metrics set up by GAO. 

They have actually made reasonably good progress. They are in a 

position auditable now, have not been audited yet, have not at least 

passed an unqualified audit. But we still have problems at the Department of Defense (DOD). 

The last Secretary, Leon Panetta, when he was literally going 

through his confirmation hearings, just like you, one of the things 

we talked about is, how to get Department of Defense not just off 

the high risk list for not having auditable financials, but how do 

you do so in a way that actually enables us to save some money, 

provide for the needs of our warfighters and save some money for 

the taxpayers? 

I have had the same conversation with Chuck Hagel, and they 

are still years away from being able to get an unqualified audit. 

And, I would just urge you to reach out, maybe to Secretary Chuck 

Hagel if you have a chance, but also the Deputy and just to reiterate, as we have, how important it is that they be able to meet 

this requirement under the law. And, if you have any comments on 

how you might do that, I would love to hear it. They probably do 

not know who you are from Adam. I hope they will soon. 

Ms. COBERT. I do not have comments on the specifics, but I share 

your belief that having accurate, reliable financial information is 

absolutely a vital starting point. You need to have that information 

to understand operations, to understand where money is being 

spent, and to be the foundation for important management decisionmaking processes. 

So, I would want to understand what could be done. I would 

want to understand what could I do in my role, if confirmed as 

Deputy Director for Management, to help move that important 

process forward. 

Chairman CARPER. Good. Well, our role is to do oversight and we 

focus on it big time and we will continue to do this. Sometimes we 

think the expectation is these folks know we are going to have 

them before this Committee and we are going to be asking these 

questions, why have you not made more progress. 

So, we will be playing our role, and we want to play it, whether 

it is good cop, bad cop. But we have got to make more progress 

here. Thank you. 

Dr. Coburn please. 

Senator COBURN. Thank you again for being here. 

One of the difficulties we have as Members of Congress, especially if you want to do oversight, is getting responsiveness out of 

the Administration. I have over 100 letters outstanding that have 

not been answered or recognized by agencies, and I believe you and 

I have had a good conversation. 

Will you affirm to the Committee that you will be responsive in 

terms of our letters and inquiries? 

Ms. COBERT. I would absolutely affirm to the Committee that I 

would be responsive. I know Director Burwell has made it a very 

important priority for the overall team at the Office of Management and Budget to ensure that there is an effective dialogue that 
11 

sets the appropriate level of responsiveness, and I share that commitment with her and the rest of the leadership team at the Office 

of Management and Budget. 

Senator COBURN. And the other thing, and Senator Carper 

touched on this, we have done a lot of things through the years to 

try to get better. We have the IG Act. We have the Government 

Accountability Office. We have the Congressional Research Service 

(CRS). 

And when you look, one of the problems is most of the agencies 

do not pay any attention to their reports because of all the open 

recommendations that we have year after year after year, we have 

all these things on the GAO high risk list and they do not get addressed. And, you and I talked about really having somebody on 

your staff that has knowledge of all the recommendations that the 

IG has made by agency and the GAO has made by agency and how 

does that fit into the overall management change or process change 

there. 

And so, I was excited to hear that you concurred that is important information, maybe not to follow every one of those but at 

least to have the input of here is an opinion that the agency is not 

addressing and then measure whether or not that is effective. 

Would you agree with that? 

Ms. COBERT. I do. As we discussed, understanding the GAO reports, understanding their findings, understanding what actions 

are underway, understanding how OMB can interact most effectively with that process is something I believe is an important 

input as we set priorities for the management agenda, as we understand what areas to focus on. 

So, getting that level of understanding would be an important 

priority for me, if confirmed. 

Senator COBURN. We discussed, and I know you know this with 

your experience, but we have a bill that is a bipartisan bill called 

Audit the Pentagon Act; and it has got a hammer in it. 

The Constitution says that you have to give an account for what 

you spend, and unfortunately the Pentagon cannot. They spend 

half $1 trillion a year and they cannot account for where they 

spent the money. 

And, the hammer in that is we take the payment function out 

of the Defense Department and put it at Treasury where all the 

rest of the payment is, and we have not gotten a lot of support 

from that from our members because the Pentagon is fighting that 

so hard. 

But the fact is the reason why we are in trouble in our Defense 

Department is because we have no significant, good metrics with 

which to manage the decisions we make. 

And so, one step on that is auditing the Pentagon and making 

sure they can pass an audit, not a qualified opinion, but an unqualified opinion to where they can actually meet the expectations 

of what the Constitution literally says. Now, every other agency 

can do that except the Pentagon. So, I think it is pretty important. 

The Department of Homeland Security has 455 open, outstanding GAO recommendations that they have not addressed. 

That is just the Department of Homeland Security. 
12 

So, we have thousands. We spent the money to research it. We 

spend the money to look at it, but we have thousands of recommendations all across the government agencies that are not 

being addressed. 

And so, my hope would be is that you really actually spend some 

personal time looking at how much of this is accurate. We have 

found on this Committee that GAO is not right 100 percent of the 

time but they certainly are right in raising problems, and their solutions may not be the best because they do not have all the insight. 

But I just think it is important to me and I think Senator Carper 

and this Committee that somebody inside OMB is actually paying 

attention. We are spending all this money on GAO and IGs and it 

does not look like we are getting progress in terms of moving on 

the recommendation, and especially at the Department of Homeland Security. 

So, I would take a little issue with Tom on how much they have 

improved. I think they have a long ways to go with 455 open recommendations. But again, I appreciate your being here; and as I 

said in my opening statement, you have my full support. I will help 

you get through the Senate and I will help you do whatever you 

need to do over there to help us as Americans be more successful 

and better stewards of the taxpayers money. 

Thank you. 

Ms. COBERT. Thank you. 

Chairman CARPER. Before we turn to Senator Johnson, let me 

just go back to something that Dr. Coburn said. 

We have too many departments where we have no confirmed Inspector Generals. A big one is the Department of Homeland Security, and it is a huge problem. We have been in this situtation over 

2 years. For about a year one of our colleagues held up a nominee. 

Then, for basically 2 years we have had someone in an acting capacity. That person is under investigation by a Subcommittee of 

this Committee, and meanwhile the Administration has been unable to vet somebody and get somebody to us as a nominee. Not 

a good situation. 

And, I would ask you that you make it at early priority getting 

the Administration to get somebody nominated to be the Inspector 

General for the Department of Homeland Security. 

Some of these 400 recommendations that Tom talked about, the 

IG should be working on some of these ads are well. 

Senator Johnson. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR JOHNSON 

Senator JOHNSON. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Ms. Cobert, I would like to join Senator Carper and Senator 

Coburn in just thanking you and your family for your willingness 

to serve. I mean, this is just an absolutely fascinating nomination. 

I commend whoever found you. 

Senator COBURN. Sylvia. 

Senator JOHNSON. Sylvia. I mean, that is fabulous. We are looking forward to our meeting tomorrow. 

Ms. COBERT. Great. 
13 

Senator JOHNSON. Your skill set is exactly, I think, what this 

government needs across the board and I would like to see hundreds of people with your background. 

You listed the number of different areas that you have consulted 

on. I am interested in just having you describe what your process 

was when you go into a business, and you talked about a small 

team trying to make large-scale impact. I mean, there is nothing 

larger scale than this as a financial entity and the task is really 

overwhelming. So, can you just tell me what your process was and 

what your process will be? 

Ms. COBERT. Sure. Thank you for the question and thank you for 

your kind words. 

Let me try and describe some principles about how I have tried 

to work at McKinsey and maybe illustrate that with one example 

that might be helpful here. At McKinsey we have a number of principles that underlie our approach to any problem. 

One is being clear what is the objective we are trying to maneuver against, what kind of performance are we trying to deliver for 

customers, for the business, for the people who are working in that 

business. 

So, we start with a clear objective because that is the objective 

that is going to drive our recommendations. There is then a process 

of looking at data and formulating hypotheses it. What are some 

alternatives for how things can work and what are the facts going 

to show us. 

We then spend a lot of time thinking about data. That data can 

take the form of understanding financial performance. It can be understanding feedback from customers. It can be looking at changes 

going on in the economy. So, you can understand what the actions 

might be involved and what the costs and benefits might be. 

And finally, there is a process of testing alternatives, building 

recommendations, and importantly, once you have a set of recommendations, developing a set of metrics where you are going to 

measure performance. 

You are going to be dogged about coming back again and again 

to say what did we do, did it work, is it delivering the way we 

thought it would, and if not, what are we going to do to change 

things. 

I can think about an example of a telecommunications company 

I worked for which was plagued with problems of when they were 

signing individuals up phones were coming back, customers were 

not satisfied, peoples would then drop the service. 

So, they had gone to all of this trouble to bring these customers 

on board but they got them on board and then they left again because the process of getting them engaged did not work. It involved 

lots of different parts of the company. 

You had to find out what was happening at the frontline at the 

store when people walked in. You had to find out why things were 

sometimes getting delayed in getting their service turned on. You 

had to find out whether you had actually put them in the right contract in the first place, one that really fit their needs, because if 

they ended up in a program that did not work, they then were either paying too much or not getting the services they really wanted. 
14 

We did that through a process of working with individuals from 

all of those different parts of the organization. We looked. We had 

people from the finance function. We had people from the frontline. 

We had people from the call centers who are getting the calls from 

the angry customers. We had people from the logistics group who 

were actually supplying the phones back and forth. 

And, what we tried to do in that case was get a picture of the 

process end to end from the view of the consumer—what were the 

customers seeing, what was working for them, and how do we start 

to measure it in a way that took it from the customer’s perspective? 

Each of those individual groups were trying to do their job well. 

Someone was counting whether they were putting the data in it accurately but they did not know what happened when the data left 

their shop. 

So, what we did there is say how can we bring this together, how 

could we collectively redesign a process, and in this case how did 

we put in new metrics, metrics that were not just about getting in 

people’s hands but having those people 30 days in, 60 days in still 

be customers and be highly satisfied customers. 

So, it is that mix of the end product which was keeping customers, getting them happy, the data from the different places, getting people to own that, and then having something to measure at 

the and to see if he were being successful. 

Senator JOHNSON. I mean, not to put words in your mouth but 

to me it sounds like you are describing a basic strategic planning 

process. I mean, would you go in there and did you have a basic 

strategic planning process that you would implement kind of the 

first thing out of the box? 

Ms. COBERT. There is a strategic planning process which you 

would then translate into operational activities, which you would 

translate into a budget. So, it is that whole cycle, and then into 

performance metrics and evaluation. 

Senator JOHNSON. It is interesting. You said you first started 

with objectives. I guess from my standpoint, that would be the second step. I mean, really is it not the first step in the strategic planning process trying to ascertain reality and really getting the facts 

on the ground? I do not want to quibble with you but I think it is 

somewhat important in terms of my next question. 

Ms. COBERT. Sure. I think both of those go together so it has to 

be iterative. When we think about objectives, they are pretty broad 

objectives as opposed to the tactical objectives. So, they do relate 

to the context. 

And again, I think it is important to be iterative. As you learn 

more about the context, you can go back and check those objectives. 

So, this process of sort of learning and feedback is very much embedded. 

So, we find sometimes it is helpful to start with where do we 

think we want to go, how do we adjust that, and then how do we 

refine it before you make a firm commitment. 

So, the two go together. 

Senator JOHNSON. OK. From my standpoint, we are dealing with 

the reason I came here, and by the way I have a pretty similar 

business background from the standpoint of the number of years in 

the private sector and then all of a sudden being here. 
15 

We are dealing with the fiscal situation here. We are dealing 

with financial problems. It requires numbers. If there is one thing 

that has driven me nuts as an accountant is the inability to come 

up with a common set of numbers and being able to just get information. 

So, I guess, that is my next question. Do you basically agree with 

that assessment? Is that going to be a primary goal of yours is trying to describe our problems numerically? 

Ms. COBERT. I do think having reliable financial data, as I said 

earlier, is a critical priority. You need reliable data. And I think 

there have been a number of efforts underway to try and make 

that data more available, more visible to the public. 

I have also found that as you use data more, as you use it to 

make decisions, the individuals who are generating that data begin 

to even more recognize its importance, depend on it for reliability. 

If people are going to use it to assess their performance, if someone 

is going to hold them accountable, their interest in having accurate 

data to start with gets much higher. 

So, I believe there is a lot of value there. I know that there has 

been efforts on that and I know that there is more to do. 

Senator JOHNSON. OK. Again, I am just looking forward to working with you. Just my final comment is, if you are going to solve 

a problem, you first have to admit you have one, and we do not 

have enough people in this town truly admitting the depth of our 

problem; and second, you have to accurately describe it. 

You have to define it; and from my standpoint, we are not dealing with just a 10-year budget window problem. We really are dealing with a 30-year demographic problem. We have made all of 

these promises to the baby boom generation. We did not make adequate provision to pay for them. 

So, I have been working with the White House trying to define 

this over 30 years. What are our long-term debt and deficit issues, 

and I am hoping that you will work with us to come to common 

understanding in terms of what the depth of that problem is and 

then start trying to format the solutions. 

I keep calling it the solution menu, just putting in options so we 

are actually dealing with real information, not demagoguery, but 

describing this with real information. That is certainly what I am 

looking forward. With your background I think you are in a perfect 

position to work with us to do that. 

So, thank you. 

Ms. COBERT. Thank you. 

Chairman CARPER. Thank you, Senator Johnson. 

Now, we will hear from Senator Chiesa. 

And I would just say to your mom from New Jersey out in the 

audience, Ms. Cobert, you have two good senators and we are going 

to lose this one maybe by the end of this month but he has taken 

and filled the shoes of Frank Lautenberg very well and he has been 

a joy for us to serve with. So, I think you can be proud of the representation you have here. 
16 

OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR CHIESA 

Senator CHIESA. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and welcome especially to my fellow New Jerseyan, Mrs. Cobert. Nice to have you 

here today. 

I have not had a chance to meet with you before the hearing. You 

answer your question with a precise analytical mind. 

How did you come to the decision to uproot your life and take 

on this enormous responsibility on the other side of the country? 

Ms. COBERT. When presented with this opportunity, it was actually a very clear decision in my mind. My parents raised me with 

a set of values that said community service and public service is 

valuable and important. 

My father was a veteran. My parents have both been active volunteers in Montclair as long as I can remember. I have also had 

a great deal of personal involvement in community organizations. 

One of the things I am proudest of over the last few years was 

being the chair of the United Way of the Bay Area and the programs we put in place with the private sector, with government, 

with the city of San Francisco, with companies large and small, 

and with many citizens. 

Last summer, for example, we helped to organize a joint effort 

between the city of San Francisco and businesses across the city to 

create 6,000 jobs for high school youth, setting them on a path to 

employment and economic prosperity over time. 

So, it is those two things and also, frankly, this Administration’s 

commitment to thinking about management, how can we build 

management within government for the 21st Century. 

In working with organizations of all types, I have seen the opportunities that exist when you really try and tackle that, when you 

think about how you can deploy technology, when you think about 

the skills you need in the workforce. 

So, it was the combination of the values with which I was raised, 

my own experience and the awards I have gotten from public service, and the opportunity to work with this Administration, with 

Members of Congress to try and really make a difference today 

when we really need, as the Senators have said, more effective 

management in government. 

Senator CHIESA. Thank you. You talked in one of your answers 

about identifying waste, fraud, and abuse. Honestly, it drives the 

people crazy when they hear about whatever the story may be, 

many of them sensationalize. 

I think it is hard, at least I do not know the precise figure that 

we attach to the losses that are attributable to those things. In 

your own mind, have you done any preliminary assessment as to, 

of those three: waste, fraud, abuse, the thing most troubling to you 

in the Federal Government right now? 

Ms. COBERT. The issue of waste, fraud, and abuse collectively is 

a big issue; and if confirmed to take on this role, it is getting to 

the specifics of that is important. 

I know that there are many efforts underway, through efforts 

working with this Committee, to move forward. I think there are 

clear opportunities. For example, how is the government effectively 

using data to understand those issues even before they occur, doing 
17 

those in a way that respects obviously the importance of privacy 

and information sharing. But there are opportunities to do that. 

I have seen in the private sector, for example, when you can use 

information technology and data to understand where there are 

patterns which you then can go look at. 

I know that some of the efforts like the do-not-pay list are a way 

of trying to get to those issues before they occur. It is always easier 

to tackle those things before the money goes out than trying to recover it later. 

So, I think there are a number of opportunities there; and if confirmed, I would want to learn more about what is the best and 

highest impact place to move forward. 

Senator CHIESA. Can you talk a little bit about, in your private 

sector experience, the things and tools that you used at McKinsey 

to address—because I am sure when you go into these problems, 

you talked about that telecommunications customer-service operational issue that you dealt with. 

You must also get called in where someone is just throwing their 

hands up in the air, we cannot understand where all of our money 

is going. 

Is there an internal investigations focus? Is there an accounting 

focus? How did you go about addressing those issues at McKinsey? 

Ms. COBERT. Sure. When we came in, as McKinsey we are management consultants, not auditors. So in general, our focus was on 

what is the most effective way that clients are spending their 

money and is it accomplishing the goals that they set out. 

In doing that, it typically involved working with individuals from 

across the organization to understand the specifics of what was 

being spent and to what end. 

Accounting records are a place to start, integrating those with 

understanding of who those payments were. We used a lot of analytical tools around looking at patterns and payments. Lots of people at McKinsey, including myself, looked at how do you use statistics to say where are the patterns, where is the deviation from the 

norm, what might be causing that. 

And again, I think the core thing is to keep asking why. It is a 

series of questions. When you see a pattern, what does it indicate? 

The other piece in the network that we typically try to do was 

to say let us tackle the biggest problems first. So, let us try and 

identify the areas that there is the biggest opportunity for impact 

both because they represent the most dollars and they represent 

something that is catchable. 

So, trying to set priorities was another important way trying to 

get at those issues. You are going after places where there is the 

biggest impact in your actions. 

Senator CHIESA. Great. Well, you have an extraordinary background. It is a big job to take on. You and your family are to be 

thanked for the commitment that you are making and you will 

have my support. 

So, thank you. 

Ms. COBERT. Thank you. 

Senator CHIESA. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Chairman CARPER. You bet. Thank you very much. 
18 

I think I mentioned when we met, we talked a little bit about 

the General Services Administration; and for reasons I cannot really explain, I have historically kind of overlooked the importance of 

their role in helping us get to better results for less money, trying 

to create almost a change of culture here in the Federal Government that focuses on that. 

But Administrator Dan Tangherlini was here, my gosh, a month 

or so ago, for a hearing on strategic sourcing, and my guess is you 

have dealt with that in the past to some considerable extent to see 

how companies in the private sector actually save money by using 

strategic sourcing. 

Would you talk with us specifically about that subject and 

whether what you worked on in the private sector might be transferable to the public sector and how you might build on that experience? 

Ms. COBERT. I had considerable experience working with a range 

of companies to improve their sourcing efforts, to think about strategic sourcings; and I certainly look forward, if confirmed, to working with the GSA on this issue. I think it presents a real opportunity for the Federal Government. 

In creating those efforts, I think there has been a couple of 

things in mind. One is how do you bring disparate parts of an organization together to leverage their buying power. It is important in 

that process to understand where their needs are common so you 

can actually take advantage of things and where there might be 

places that are unique. So, you can leverage your buying power. 

Another important element that we found, that I found in strategic sourcing is making sure you are buying the right things, not 

just that you are getting the best price but you are actually buying 

the right things for the right price. 

I can think of one of the clients that I served in the financial 

services where the folks at the frontline needed very high-powered, 

very light, very robust laptops because they were doing a lot of 

work in the field that involved a lot of graphics. They needed powerful machines. 

So that became the standard of what everybody was using across 

the company; but when you looked at what the needs were, there 

were other people who needed something that was much simpler. 

So, the way to save money and get people what they need was 

to actually not buy them an expensive laptop for a low price but 

to actually buy them the laptop that had what they needed but not 

more. 

So, there is both taking advantage of leveraging buying power 

and making sure you are buying smart, and in bringing people 

along in that process so they can see the benefits to themselves and 

their organization to making it tangible, in this case, to the owners 

of these business units. 

The other elements that I thought were really important was actually having a talented procurement group in the case of here the 

acquisition workforce who understands the commodities that they 

are buying. They understand the needs of the different users so 

they can be an effective partner in thinking about how to buy costeffectively, how to buy what you need, how to manage demand. 
19 

So, I think that it is another elements and a challenge here as 

well as, again, in the Federal context thinking about how do you 

engage small business in that effort and take advantage of the 

great services and products that can be procured through many 

small businesses. 

Chairman CARPER. One of the things that Dr. Coburn has focused on a whole lot is duplication and trying to eliminate duplication where we have it. One of the areas in terms of the IT world 

where we have duplication is, in some cases, the data centers. 

In some cases, we have the IT projects where we spend a lot of 

money and just do not get the kind of result that we need. 

If you will, talk to us about, what we can do on the data center 

side in order to reduce all the ones that we have, to be able to get 

better results for less money in this regard too, because there is a 

lot of money to be saved. I think we saved some money and we put 

a big effort, put a spotlight on this, but talk to us about that. 

Ms. COBERT. I know that getting greater efficiency and effectiveness out of IT has been a priority for this Administration. I know 

that Steve VanRoekel in his role as Chief Information Officer has 

made this a very important priority and that I understand the Administration is making progress. 

But in the world of technology there is always more to do and 

there is always something new. I come from the Bay Area where 

the world of technology is sort of exploding around us with lots of 

opportunities to continue to be more effective and efficient. 

So, I understand that there have been efforts underway on data 

centers and I know that there is more work to be done. I think 

processes that have been put in place as best I can understand 

them as a citizen around PortfolioStat, around TechStat, create the 

kind of discipline around measuring performance, looking at how 

you are doing and figuring out where there are savings. 

And I think, while it is important everywhere, it is particularly 

important around IT as the capabilities of IT continue to evolve a 

mindset that says we have now gotten improvement but what is 

the next step. This continuous improvement mindset is particularly 

critical. 

And also, it is critical to think about this as a responsibility not 

just of the IT department but of the users. The IT department really needs to have that dialogue so that you are, in fact, getting the 

services that you need, not more, not less. 

What are the requirements that the businesses or the mission 

side is asking for and what is the best way to deliver them, because 

often times as I have seen in the private sector experience, and I 

can think of one case in this issue, for the folks on the business 

side it was a relationship management system and they wanted a 

number of elements in it that to them seemed logical and they 

started to build the system to do that. 

When they actually had a discussion with the IT folks and said, 

look, if we track this data a slightly different way it will cost a lot 

less, they were able to say, OK, let us change what we are specifying. 

So, it is a matter about being disciplined about specifications and 

having a dialogue that says how can we make this better, how can 

we have these metrics in place. 
20 

And so, looking at how to continue the efforts around data centers, and around PortfolioStat, TechStat I think that would be an 

area that I absolutely would want to continue going forward. There 

is a lot of opportunity there. 

Chairman CARPER. How are you going to find time in your life 

to do all of these things plus still try to be a daughter, a wife, a 

mom? There are only 24 hours in a day. How do you do this? 

Ms. COBERT. Setting priorities is one thing. I also have had the 

privilege of getting to know some of the staff at OMB in this process and it is a terrific set of people. 

They are hard-working. They are dedicated. They believe quite 

strongly in the mission that they have taken on around management effectiveness; and so working with them, working with agencies and figuring out how to take advantage of them and work with 

them together will be really important. 

Chairman CARPER. Good. Well, when Sylvia was nominated by 

the President, I reached out to Erskine Bowles with whom she had 

worked in the Clinton White House and who just said extraordinary things about her and her abilities and all; and when Sylvia 

was going through the process, Dr. Coburn and I were very impressed with her and wanted to get her confirmed and confirmed 

quickly. 

And, I pledge to her that we would do whatever we could to move 

her nominees that the President would submit to us for her leadership team at OMB. I think you are the last major piece, your position would be the last major piece. 

When you look at the team that you will lead, there may be some 

other folks that we need to confirm. I do not think so but there 

may be. I just do not know off the top of my head. But in terms 

of your direct reports, do you have any idea like how strong they 

are, the positions that are filled, are going to need to be filled? 

Ms. COBERT. I know that there are some open positions still, the 

office of Federal Financial Management position. 

Chairman CARPER. Yes. 

Ms. COBERT [continuing]. We have an interim, for example. 

So, I would want to work closely with Director Burwell, with 

Deputy Director Deese, with the folks that are in those roles now 

to understand how we can bring in people who have great talent, 

who have dedication, who have a mix of experiences and who have 

a commitment to working collaboratively with each other, with this 

Committee, with the agencies to make progress on our agenda. 

Chairman CARPER. All right. I have said this before. I think it 

bears repeating. The Administration needs to nominate good people 

for positions that require confirmation. 

We have wonderful people that are willing to step up and serve 

in an acting capacity. We are grateful for that. But the Comptroller 

General recently said to me, in terms of the effectiveness, he said 

it makes all the difference in the world if you have Senate-confirmed rather than in an acting positions. 

My message to you back to the Administration and I have used 

every avenue I can think of is they need to send us good names. 

They need to be vetted properly. We have a responsibility to vet 

and then to the good, confirm them; if not, turn them down. But 

treat them with respect. But we have to fill these positions. 
21 

The last thing the last question I would have is this. Sometimes 

we look at people’s academic records. We look at their work experience and all of that but we do not talk about the values that they 

bring to the job and you talked a little bit about your mom and 

dad. 

Just in closing, tell us a thing or two that you learned from your 

mom and dad that sort of prepares you for this, maybe a thing or 

two that you learned in your role as a spouse to your husband and 

maybe a thing or two you learned as a mom to these two kids that 

you have raised, that you both have raised, would you just close 

with that? 

Ms. COBERT. Sure. There are a number of things that I have 

learned from my parents, from my husband, from my children that 

guide the way I approach frankly whatever task I take on. 

The first is about doing the right thing, that it starts with doing 

the right thing and a sense of values and purpose. Second, about 

hard work. If you are going to take something on, you have to do 

it well. And so really delivering against the best of one’s capabilities. 

Third, and I learned this actually, when I was in high school I 

worked at the textile manufacturing company where my dad 

worked and so I actually got to see him as a manager firsthand 

which is something you did not get to see as a kid, and I saw him 

being an incredibly thoughtful listener to the folks that were working for him and really thinking about how he could make them better. He might have had an answer but he wanted them to discover 

it. 

So, this process of listening and collaborating and learning from 

others is something that is really important. 

I also through all of them have actually learned that really the 

important objective function is the goal, how we build support to 

a goal. It is not about taking credit. It is not about who gets it 

done. It is about whether it gets done. And if I can contribute to 

that, that is great. So, it is about this collective leadership and 

partnership. 

And finally, it is about taking responsibility for the things that 

you are responsible for. If you say you are going to do something, 

you live up to those commitments and you do it. And probably, and 

this one may be from my husband, but certainly from my children. 

Patience. 

I still work hard on that one. I am not sure I fully internalize 

that as much but just coming to things with a sense of patience 

and also assuming goodwill. That the individuals, as you said earlier, who are coming to work everyday are coming to work trying 

to do a good job and you start with that basic belief and your role 

is to figure out how you can help facilitate that. 

So, those are some of the values that I would bring to the role 

of Deputy Director, if confirmed. 

Chairman CARPER. Those are great values. We would all do well 

to embrace them. 

I have been joined by Senator Ayotte. She is just pulling into her 

chair and pulling up to the dais. Our nominee, Beth Cobert, is just 

wrapping up but you are recognized if you would like to make a 
22 

statement or to ask a question feel free if you like and I know you 

just sat down. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR AYOTTE 

Senator AYOTTE. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Chairman CARPER. None of the rest of us are very impressed 

with her so maybe. 

Senator AYOTTE. No. I appreciate it. I am impressed with her 

qualifications, and I believe already you have been asked the questions about the data center consolidation and that was at the top 

of my list and obviously looking back at what OMB had said about 

it. 

So, I appreciate that you are going to focus on this so that we 

can really get this right and save money and also make sure that 

we are achieving our goals. 

As the Deputy Director for Management at OMB, you will have 

obviously an opportunity to lead efforts to prioritize and implement 

governmentwide efficiency improvements. 

Can you identify some examples of your experience in the private 

sector that have led to improved efficiency and what you think you 

could bring in terms of this position to improve efficiency within 

the Federal Government because in this position I think your private sector experience is going to be able to help us save money in 

so many ways where we know there are tremendous inefficiencies 

right now existing in the government? 

Ms. COBERT. Sure. I can think about examples from a number of 

different disciplines that are relevant to the role of Deputy Director 

for Management where I had hoped to bring that experience. Let 

me highlight a couple of examples for you. 

I have done some work with a large business services firm looking at their IT expenditures; and in that place, we sort of framed 

it as a function of looking at what we called the factory, how did 

they get their basic infrastructure working well to be reliable, to 

be efficient, and to meet their business needs as their business was 

growing. 

What could they do themselves, what were places where they too 

could consolidate their data centers or look to cloud-based solutions 

as an alternative to building systems themselves. 

So, that is something in the IT world. I have done some work 

with a number of clients on purchase services and procurement, 

making sure that they were leveraging the buying power in this 

case of a broad-based enterprise across the United States that had 

different business units purchasing differently. 

So, how could they leverage that buying power, how could they 

standardize things by having uniform cell phone contracts that actually recognize that they were sending lots of individuals overseas, 

and so you could actually negotiate different kinds of rates for that. 

How could they make sure that they were buying the right 

things. It was a company in financial services and getting accurate 

and timely market data was important but it was really important 

for people who were sitting on trading desks to have daily, real 

time data. It was not so important for people in different roles; and 

so if they got data that was delayed by a few hours, it cost 50 percent less. 
23 

So, you are thinking about what you are buying, how you are 

leveraging buying power, how you are doing the right thing. 

I did work with an insurance client looking at their entire customer service operations and thinking about from the consumers 

perspective how could they do a better job of filling requests to 

change policies. 

As we looked at that from the customer’s perspective, one of the 

things that we saw that the customers actually wanted to do it 

themselves. So, in this case it was how to take a process that, instead of having to talk to somebody on the phone, you could actually go on their Web site and get that changed done, get it confirmed. 

It was much more efficient for the company. They did not have 

to have somebody taking it down. It was much more accurate because you are not getting miscommunications, and it enabled those 

resources that instead of spending time doing things like processing address changes or extending terms of policies those individuals could have dialogues with customers about what were the additional products and services that they needed. 

So, they were able, in fact, to transform that service staff into a 

sales staff and get both lower costs and better revenue from that 

effort. Those were a couple of examples. 

Senator AYOTTE. Do you think you will be able to translate that 

now going to work for OMB and, just having been around here only 

for a couple of years—I got elected in 2010—I worry that there are 

so many GAO reports that sort of sit on a shelf of very good ideas 

about how we can implement efficiency, how we can find savings, 

and I know both the Chairman and the Ranking Member in particular have focused on wanting to get those things done. 

And as you go into the sort of government setting, how do you 

see you translating that and making things happen, because I 

think that is the great frustration that all of us share and the 

American people often as we see roadmaps of good people who have 

looked at it, whether it is GAO or others who have made important 

recommendations and they never get implemented? 

Ms. COBERT. So, I think there is a lot to learn, as I said before, 

from the reports from GAO, understanding what is there, understanding the root causes of the problems. 

And, I do believe there is an opportunity to apply these lessons 

from the private sector. I think it takes real discipline. I think it 

takes being consistent and having clear goals, holding people responsible, and being consistent and coming back. 

If things are not making progress, why? Why not? What is getting in the way and how do you help remove those roadblocks and 

how do you help build that commitment, not just at OMB but in 

the agencies to make these changes so that they can deliver better 

government services and do so with greater efficiency? 

So, that disciplined performance management is one way to get 

there, being clear about priorities, and understanding what are the 

constraints and trying to help work with agencies and work with 

Congress to get those removed. 

Senator AYOTTE. Thank you. I appreciate your willingness to 

serve in this position, and let me just say that you will find many 

partners here who want to help you with this and I hope that you 
24 

will use this Committee as a resource to help you implement efficiency and savings and the things that you would like to do to 

make a better service within OMB and within the overall government that we can help you with that. 

So, thank you. 

Ms. COBERT. Thank you. I know this Committee shares that commitment and I look forward to working with this Committee and 

their staff on pushing this agenda forward. 

Senator AYOTTE. Great. Thank you. 

Chairman CARPER. Senator, thank you so much for joining us 

with everything else you have going on. 

Thank you. 

We are going to wrap it up here. 

Dr. Coburn, any parting comments? OK. 

I will just go back to reiterate a couple of things if I could. You 

mentioned when I asked you the values that you have inherited or 

brought from your mom in your role as a daughter and you said 

at the end one of the things that you learned from being a spouse 

and being a mom is patience, the importance of patience. That is 

a great one. I always heard all of my life patience is a virtue, and 

I believe that. 

Conveying a sense of urgency is also a virtue, and I think you 

have probably spent your life, your life’s work conveying a sense of 

urgency in the work you have done for McKinsey and Company. 

And I would just say in this role you will need it more than ever, 

being able to convey that sense of urgency. 

And, there is no way you could do all of this by yourself or even 

with your team that you can do it by yourself. We need each other 

pulling in the same direction and we need our friends at GAO. We 

need those IGs. We need those IG positions filled. We need the 

kind of close working relationship with Dan Tangherlini and everybody that he leads at GSA, and we need folks outside of the government, folks outside the government to work with us. 

And if we get all of us pulling in the same direction, we can get 

a whole lot done. And, we have gotten a fair amount done even 

when we are not all pulling in the same direction. So, I would just 

say that in closing. 

Again, our thanks to your mom. Mrs. Cobert, again thank you so 

much for making the trip, thanks for riding Amtrak. As an old 

board member of Amtrak, thank you for taking the train. To your 

husband who is up there listening in, looking down probably on his 

daughter and you and your family in absentia thank you to him. 

To your husband, to Adam Cioth. That is a great name but 

Adam, thanks for all you do with your life and especially for helping raise these two kids and for sharing Beth with all of us. 

And for Peter, it was very nice to have met you. I wish you well 

back at Tufts. 

Maybe someday I will get to meet your daughter Talia but we 

wish her well at Northwestern. Ask her not to beat up on my Buckeyes too much. 

Any last words? 

Ms. COBERT. I just would like to thank this Committee for the 

time, for their willingness to engage in this dialogue, and I look forward to working with you, if confirmed. 
25 

Chairman CARPER. All right. Let me say in closing the nominee 

has filed responses to biographical and financial questionnaires, 

answered prehearing questions submitted by the Committee and 

had her financial statements reviewed by the Office of Government 

Ethics. 

Without objection, this information will be made part of the hearing record with the exception of the financial data which are on file 

and available for public inspection in the Committee offices. 

The hearing record will remain open until noon tomorrow for the 

submission of statements and questions for the record. 

Tom, my staff just told us that the majority leader’s office is saying that they are not going to entertain nominations on the floor, 

debating and voting on nominations on the floor which, it is not 

something I discussed with him. I was not happy to hear that. 

Can you cast a light on that? 

Senator COBURN. I am not aware that there is a statement of 

that, but to me that would be indicative of the whole mindset of 

the problem in Washington today. The entire government is not 

shut down. The Senate is not shut down, and the fact that we 

would not process a nominee that is important and vital to establishing what we need at OMB seems to me like you are shooting 

at your own feet. 

Chairman CARPER. All right. We have tried for months now by 

unanimous consent to have a chance to go to conference on the 

budget resolution. We have not been very successful yet, and 

maybe we can try that approach here with a little more success. 

Thank you very much. And with that, I bid you all good bye and 

we will look forward to working with you, God willing, in the 

months and years to come. 

We are going to adjourn this hearing and invite our second panel 

to start in the second hearing. 

With that, this hearing is adjourned. 

Thank you. 

Ms. COBERT. Thank you. 

[Whereupon, at 11:15 a.m., the Committee was adjourned.] 

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