PRESIDENT'S 

MANAGEMENT

 A G E N DA 
TABLE OF CONTENTS 

THE OPPORTUNITY................................................... 2
 

Where We Are: Federal Context ................................................................................... 3
 

How We Got Here: Root Cause Challenges and Effects .......................................... 4
 

HOW WE WILL GET THERE........................................ 6
 

KEY DRIVERS OF TRANSFORMATION ........................ 10
 

IT Modernization .................................................................................................................11
 

Data, Accountability, and Transparency .................................................................. 15
 

People - Workforce for the 21st Century .................................................................... 18
 

WORKING ACROSS SILOS .......................................... 22
 

PRIORITY AREAS FOR TRANSFORMATION ................. 26
 

Improving Customer Experience with Federal Services ....................................... 28
 

Sharing Quality Services .............................................................................................30
 

Shifting From Low-Value to High-Value Work .......................................................... 32
 

Category Management - Leveraging Common Contracts and Best Practices
 

to Drive Savings and Efficiencies ............................................................................... 34
 

Results-Oriented Accountability For Grants............................................................36
 

Getting Payments Right ............................................................................................... 38
 

Improving Outcomes Through Federal IT Spending Transparency.................... 40
 

Improve Management of Major Acquisitions ........................................................... 42
 

Modernize Infrastructure Permitting......................................................................... 44
 

Security Clearance, Suitability, and Credentialing Reform................................... 46
 

Improve Transfer of Federally-Funded Technologies from Lab-to-Market ....... 47
 
President’s Management Agenda

1 

THE PRESIDENT’S MANAGEMENT AGENDA: 

Modernizing Government for the 21st Century 

Most Americans may not think about the Federal Government every day—but when they 

need Government services, they expect them to work. As the President has stated, “at 

all levels of Government, our public servants put our country and our people first. The hard 

work of our mail carriers, teachers, firefighters, transit workers, and many more, creates an 

environment that allows individuals and companies to thrive.” 

The President’s Management Agenda lays out a long-term vision for modernizing 

the Federal Government in key areas that will improve the ability of agencies to deliver 

mission outcomes, provide excellent service, and effectively steward taxpayer dollars 

on behalf of the American people. 
THE OPPORTUNITY 
President’s Management Agenda

 

 

3 

WHERE WE ARE: FEDERAL CONTEXT 

When America’s Founders wrote the Constitution, 

they laid out a clear vision for the United States 

Government: to establish justice, ensure domestic 

tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare and secure the blessings 

of liberty. To this day, the business of Government 

remains to serve the American people in these foundational areas. 

Two decades into the 21st Century, the public still 

believes that the Federal Government serves critical 

roles and, in some areas, performs them well.1 Yet 

public trust in the Federal Government continues to 

decline, sitting at near-historic lows.2 The Nation also 

faces significant national debt and annual deficits 

that require Government to change how it operates. 

Public trust in government 

near historic lows 

% who say they trust the federal government to do what is 

right just about always/most of the time... 

Notes: From 1976-2017 the trend line represents a three-survey moving average. 

Source: Survey of U.S. adults conducted Nov. 29-Dec. 4, 2017. 

Trend sources: Pew Research Center, National Election Studies, Gallup,

ABC/Washington Post, CBS/New York Times, and CNN polls. 

PEW RESEARCH CENTER 

80 

70 

60 

50 

40 

30 

20 

10 

0 

1958 1964 1970 1976 1982 1988 1994 2000 2006 2012 ‘17 

1 Pew Research Center, December 2017, “Government Gets Lower Ratings for Handling Health Care, Environment, Disaster Response.” 

2 Pew Research Center, May, 2017, “Public Trust in Government Remains Near Historic Lows as Partisan Attitudes Shift.” 
President’s Management Agenda

 

 

 

 

4 

HOW WE GOT HERE: ROOT CAUSE CHALLENGES AND EFFECTS
 

Despite good intentions, the Federal Government has 

become overly bureaucratic and complex in ways that 

have prevented agencies from seamlessly transitioning 

services to meet the needs of the 21st Century. Many of 

these challenges and shortcomings arise from statutory, 

administrative, management and regulatory practices 

designed in the past that no longer align to the realities 

of today. Major root cause challenges facing the Federal 

Government include: 

Accumulated regulatory burden. Over many decades, 

Federal agencies have imposed countless regulatory 

requirements on individuals, businesses, landowners, 

and state and local governments. Some of these regulations serve important public purposes. Many regulations, however, are outdated, duplicative, or unnecessary, yet they continue to impose costly burdens. Careful 

reconsideration of the regulatory burden is necessary to 

promote economic growth and individual freedom. 

Structural issues. Silos across Federal agencies and 

offices can hurt cross-agency collaboration, resulting in 

fragmented citizen services or excessive cost to deliver 

the mission. For example, there are still more than 80 

single-purpose welfare programs that comprise a Federal 

safety net intended to help those living in poverty. Greater 

coordination is also needed within and among agencies 

and with Congress to improve how we manage the Federal Government and to remove outdated regulations and 

other obstacles to change. 

Decision-making and processes. Efficient and effective 

decision-making is fact-based and transparent. However, 

Government agencies do not consistently apply datadriven decision-making practices. Smarter use of data and 

evidence is needed to orient decisions and accountability 

around service and results. Moreover, despite advances in 

interactive, user-centered design, the American public often 

lacks the same opportunity to provide feedback on Federal 

programs and services that it has for services it receives 

from the private sector, making it harder to continuously 

improve Federal services. 

Leadership and culture. Achieving beneficial outcomes that 

serve the public should be the Government’s primary focus. 

Managers need sufficient discretion to execute programs 

effectively, foster the highest-performing workforce, and 

solve real-time problems. Yet service delivery sometimes 

suffers due to unnecessary bureaucratic hurdles. 

The Administration will establish a transparent and datadriven accountability structure through quarterly reviews and 

public updates on www.performance.gov that identifies 

successes and areas that need management attention. 

Capabilities and competencies. Antiquated, unsecure 

technology risks can leave the public frustrated and vulnerable. Too many Federal employees perform outdated 

duties that rely on outdated skillsets, and Government 

too often struggles to award effective, timely contracts. 

For example, one study found that the Department of 

Veterans Affairs (VA) spent more than 150 million hours 

on documenting and recording information, and the 

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) could save 

800,000 hours annually by increasing automation of 

compliance with standards. The Government needs 

more nimble and effective approaches to keep technologies and workforce skills current and to ensure that the 

Federal workforce can meet future needs. 

Keeping country 

safe from terrorism 

Responding to

natural disasters 

Ensuring safe

food and medicine 

Managing

U.S. immigration system 

Protecting the environment 

Maintaining infrastructure 

Strengthening the economy 

Ensuring basic 

income for 65+ 

Ensuring access to health care 

Ensuring access to quality education 

Helping people

get out of poverty 

Setting standards

for workplaces 

% who say the federal government is... 

Source: Survey of U.S. adults conducted Nov.29-Dec. 4, 2017 

PEW RESEARCH CENTER 

Doing a 

good job 

Should play 

a major role 

Low ratings for government on several issues; 

majorities say it should have a ‘major role’ 

66 94 

64 89 

61 87 

32 80 

44 76 

51 75 

53 75 

41 71 

36 69 

44 68 

26 67 

65 65

0 25 50 75 100 
President’s Management Agenda

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HOW WE WILL GET THERE 
President’s Management Agenda

 

 

7 

HOW WILL WE GET THERE 

The vision for reform must be multi-generational, 

enabling the Federal Government to adapt to changing 

needs over time. We cannot pursue short-term fixes only 

to see Government quickly become outdated once again. 

Deep-seated transformation takes time and will not happen in one or two years. 

This Administration believes that modernizing Federal Government represents a profound bipartisan opportunity to 

work across branches of Government and political differences to align the mechanics of government to better meet 

America’s needs. To this end, the Administration looks 

forward to working with Congress and non-Federal entities 

to promote dialogue that quickly leads to action. 

The President’s Management Agenda sets out a longterm vision for effective and modern government capabilities that work on behalf of the American people and 

focus on the following: 

•	 Mission: The American people count on the Federal Government every day, from national security to 

infrastructure to food and water safety. Public servants must be accountable for mission-driven results 

but must also have the necessary tools and resources 

to deliver. 

•	 Service: Federal customers range from small businesses seeking loans, to families receiving disaster 

support, to veterans owed proper benefits and 

medical care. They deserve a customer experience 

that compares to—or exceeds—that of leading 

private sector organizations, yet most Federal services lag behind the private sector. 

•	 Stewardship: Effective stewardship of taxpayer 

funds is a crucial responsibility of Government, from 

preventing fraud to maximizing impact. Taxpayer 

dollars must go to effective programs that produce 

results efficiently. For example, the 2019 Budget 

conservatively projects that $187 billion in savings 

can be achieved over the next decade through the 

prevention of improper payments alone. 

Progress on these complex and interconnected challenges has been attempted in the past but often failed 

due to siloed efforts. Getting traction calls for broader, 

system-level thinking to tackle interconnected barriers to 

change, most notably related to aging technology infrastructure, disconnected data and an outmoded civil service 

framework. As a result, modernizing Government for the 

21st Century requires work in three key areas: 

•	 Modern information technology must function as 

the backbone of how Government serves the public 

in the digital age. Meeting customer expectations, 

keeping sensitive data and systems secure, and 

ensuring responsive, multi-channel access to services are all critical parts of the vision for modern 

Government. 

•	 Data, accountability, and transparency initiatives must provide the tools to deliver visibly better 

results to the public, while improving accountability to taxpayers for sound fiscal stewardship and 

mission results. Investments in policy, people, 

processes and platforms are key elements of this 

transformation and require cross-agency cooperation to ensure an integrated Data Strategy that 

encompasses all relevant governance, standards, 

infrastructure and commercialization challenges of 

operating in a data-driven world. 
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MODERNIZING IT: 

CENTERS OF EXCELLENCE 

Agencies have unique missions, but the systems 

they build to deliver those missions rely on foun 

dational capabilities that are not unique. To help 

agencies accelerate the modernization of IT infra 

structure across the Government while leverag 

ing private sector expertise, the General Services 

Administration (GSA) is standing up Centers of 

Excellence to centralize best practices and offer 

hands on implementation assistance. Start 

ing with the United States Department of Agricul 

ture (USDA), Centers of Excellence will improve 

service design and customer interactions with key 

agencies and programs. 

•	 The workforce for the 21st Century must enable 

senior leaders and front-line managers to align 

staff skills with evolving mission needs. This will 

require more nimble and agile management of the 

workforce, including reskilling and redeploying 

existing workers to keep pace with the current pace 

of change. 

This Administration will make investments in this vision 

for transformational change, paving the way for sustained improvement over time that is efficient, effective 

and accountable. The Administration will carry out this 

important work using multiple tools that, together, will 

yield tangible improvements for the Nation, its people, 

and the economy. The President’s Management Agenda 

lays the foundation for this work that will address critical 

challenges where Government as a whole still operates 

in the past. 

Tools for Transformation 

Over time, these changes will target broad structural 

issues that are barriers to a more effective and efficient 

Government. Most importantly, the Administration 

cannot fully equip the Government to meet modern 

management challenges without support from Congress. In some cases, real change will demand different agency structures. In other cases, we may need to 

update rigid requirements from the past that hold back 

Government. The Administration looks forward to working with Congress on key legislative changes that will 

enable agencies to operate effectively and drive improvement in the present day. Examples of potential areas for 

legislative change include: 

•	 Consideration of the reorganization and reform 

plan proposals included in the President’s FY19 

Budget and that will be released later this year. 

•	 Consideration of proposals for appropriate access 

to existing Government data that can inform and 

improve Federal programs. 

People — Workforce 

of the Future 

Data, 

Accountability and 

Transparency 

IT Modernization 

MISSION 

SERVICE 

STEWARDSHIP 
President’s Management Agenda

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Tools for Transformation 

Time 

Enabling Mechanisms Initiative Return 

What’s Different This Time 

Vision 

Transformational 

Opportunities

Major “Big Rocks” 

Quick Wins 

• CAP Goal Actions 

• Paperless Government 

• Regulatory Reform 

• Government Reorganization 

• IT Modernization Centers 

of Excellence 

• Technology Modernization Fund 

• Workforce Fund 

• Coordination with Congress 

• Public/private partnerships 

• New incentive structures 

Identifying Cross-Agency Priority Goals to Move from 

Vision to Action: Government must recognize that 

it can no longer meet modern needs with the same 

approaches, technology, and skillsets from centuries 

past. By acknowledging shortcomings, setting a modern 

vision, and delivering on concrete goals, we can adapt 

Federal programs, capabilities, and the Federal workforce to efficiently, effectively and accountably meet mission demands and public expectations. 

The President’s Management Agenda identifies CrossAgency Priority (CAP) Goals to target those areas where 

multiple agencies must collaborate to effect change 

and report progress in a manner the public can easily track. CAP Goals are being established for each of 

the three primary drivers of transformation, as well as 

three cross-cutting priority areas and five functional 

priority areas. Additional CAP Goals may be established throughout the Administration as policy priorities 

are identified. To avoid creating new silos, these CAP 

Goals will be managed to reinforce the interrelationships between areas. Summaries of actions being taken 

appear on the following pages. 
KEY DRIVERS OF 

TRANSFORMATION 
President’s Management Agenda

 

 

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IT MODERNIZATION:
 

CREATING THE PLATFORM FOR CHANGE
 

In the 21st Century, most Government agencies rely on 

technology to deliver services to the American people 

and support the work of the Federal workforce in delivering those services. The Information Technology Modernization framework provides an integrated view of 

addressing IT challenges that leverages common capabilities to ensure that, going forward, strategic IT projects 

are better positioned for success. 

The Report to the President on Federal IT Modernization is focused on modernization efforts to improve the 

security posture of Federal IT and is a key component 

of this Administration’s efforts to modernize Federal IT. 

Setting forth the current challenges facing the Government and its aging IT infrastructure, the report articulates actions to drive improvements in how Government 

engages with the public. In addition to setting forth a 

broad government-wide plan, the report complements 

agency efforts to modernize citizen facing services – by 

moving to a more secure, agile, and cost effective infrastructure, much of which will be provided by shared 

services. The government-wide plan articulated in the 

report identifies a series of near-term actions which will 

help agencies accelerate IT Modernization activities and 

enhance their ability to successfully transform their IT 

service delivery and security over the long term. 

Agency IT Transformation Priorities. In determining the 

top opportunities for modernization, both the Administration and individual agencies will be able to more 

strategically address existing needs and decide how 

best to address them. Some of these projects are to be 

funded through new tools and resources, such as the 

Technology Modernization Fund, while others will rely 

on traditional, agency-specific appropriations or other 

existing funding mechanisms. Regardless of funding 

method, the Administration will promote opportunities 

to leverage Federal buying power, utilize goverment-wide 

vehicles such as the Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions 

contract to pivot to modern architectures, and clear 

obstacles agencies encounter, such as overly burdensome reporting and compliance checks, as they seek to 

enhance their ability to better deliver services to their 

customers while ensuring that these changes appropriately improve Federal cybersecurity. 

Enhancing Federal information systems to better serve the 

public is at the heart of the Administration IT Priorities. 

Guiding the Administration’s efforts to modernize Federal 

IT will be three priorities: 

IT Modernization Framework 

ENABLING CAPABILITES 

IT Modernization 

Report 

Opportunities 

Agency IT 

Transformation 

Priorities 

Administration 

IT Priorities 

● Executive Orders and Policy 

● Legislation 

● Implementation Support 

● Flexible Funding Vehicles 

● Innovative Acquisition Capabilities 

•	 Enhancing Mission Effectiveness by improving the 

quality and efficiency of critical citizen-facing services, including through the increased utilization of 

cloud-based solutions such as email and collaboration tools; 

•	 Reducing Cybersecurity Risks to the Federal 

Mission by leveraging current commercial capabilities and implementing cutting edge cybersecurity capabilities; and 

•	 Building a Modern IT Workforce by recruiting, 

reskilling, retaining professionals able to help drive 

modernization with up-to-date technology. 

Agency IT modernization plans must be focused on delivering better service to the public, and in doing so should be 

developed in furtherance of these priorities. This will result 

in building and maintaining a modern, secure, and resilient 

IT, which improves the lives of the American public. 

Enabling Capability: Executive Orders and Policy 

This ambitious effort will require extensive collaboration 

and coordination across the entire Federal Enterprise. 

In addition to the modernization efforts that each 

agency will undertake, government-wide leadership 

will be essential to drive the necessary sustained 

momentum. The Federal Chief Information Officer, 

in coordination with agency partners such GSA, DHS, 

and the Department of Commerce (DOC) will provide 

guidance to Federal agencies on numerous critical 
President’s Management Agenda

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DIGITAL SERVICES AT VETERANS AFFAIRS 

Across the public and private sectors, digital tech 

nologies have become the standard for service deliv 

ery and engagement. The Department of Veter 

ans Affairs (VA) faces an ambitious but critical 

task: use industry best practices to make it eas 

ier for veterans to get the benefits they deserve 

and provide digital tools that empower them 

to discover, apply for, track, and manage their 

benefits online. The U.S. Digital Service team at 

the Department of Veterans Affairs, Digital Service 

at VA (DSVA), is honored to serve those who have 

sacrificed so much to protect our country and work 

to advance this work every day. Already, the DSVA 

team has: 

• 	 Created and launched online terms and condi 

tions to grant access to health tools allowing over 

28,000 veterans quicker access and eliminating 

the need for veterans to travel over 7 hours to 

local VA medical centers to turn in paperwork. 

• 	 Working directly with veterans, built a wizard 

to help them identify which education benefits 

form they need to complete by answering up to 

four basic questions. The GI Bill Comparison 

Tool helps veterans learn about education pro 

grams and compare benefits by school. Veter 

ans can also check the status of their Post 9/11 

GI Bill benefits and access a statement of bene 

fits to verify eligibility with their school. 

•	 Leased a tool to enable veterans to apply for
 

healthcare eligibility on Vets.gov, enabling
 

292,634 veterans to submit applications for
 

health care online.
 

IT-related issues over the next year, including policy 

that supports implementing a unified approach to 

utilizing Federal commercial cloud and data centers. 

To help agencies modernize their systems, including 

the use of cloud email and collaboration tools, the 

Administration will update or revise foundational policy 

documents that strengthen the Federal approach 

to key areas such as moving to the cloud, ensuring 

trustworthy internet connections, managing identity, 

and optimizing data centers. This ongoing and agile 

effort will ensure that policy stays current and relevant 

given changes in technology and the threat landscape. 

Enabling Capability: Legislation 

Authorized as a part of the FY 2018 National Defense Authorization Act (P.L. 115-91), the Modernizing Government Technology (MGT) provisions provide agencies with the authorities and technical expertise necessary to move the Government closer to leading industry practices in modernization, 

pivot traditional bureaucratic problems towards embracing 

technology opportunities, and ultimately allow the Federal 

Government to provide better, more secure, user-centered 

services to the American people. Moreover, MGT provides 

critical capabilities for funding agency progress. 
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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE: 

FARMERS.GOV 

Randy Smith is a forward thinking cattleman with 

a small herd in Georgia. He works closely with Nat 

ural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) to put 

conservation practices on his land and experiment 

with new and innovative conservation approaches. 

While he does some of his business in person, 

Randy needs easy access to information and 

documents online, including contact informa 

tion for his local field office. 

Although the NRCS website has information on Farm 

Bill Programs, Randy cannot always easily find the 

information he needs. More critically, because the 

NRCS website is not optimized for mobile access, 

it is more difficult for him to get the number and 

address of his local service center when not at his 

computer. It is also missing some of the forms he 

needs to complete an application. Thus, Randy may 

need to visit an office to get information or com 

plete some paperwork, taking up time he could 

spend improving his soil health and making his pas 

ture more productive. 

Randy isn t a real person. Randy is one of many per 

sona developed by United States Department of Agri 

culture (USDA) to drive the development of Farmers.

gov. To better serve America s farmers, ranchers, 

and foresters, the USDA s Farm Production and Con 

servation (FPAC) mission area is building a dynamic, 

online customer driven website – Farmers.gov - that 

delivers the information, tools, and first hand advice 

built around the needs of the people who grow our 

food, fiber, flora, and fuel. Farmers.gov is designed 

for customers like Randy. The first release of farm 

ers.gov features a new, mobile friendly service 

center locator. In subsequent releases, he will have 

access to mobile friendly forms that he can submit 

online and print easily. Farmers.gov will also have 

clear Farm Bill Program descriptions with step by 

step instructions to walk him through the application 

process and provide upfront requirement and eligi 

bility information. 

Farmers.gov won t deliver every agricultural 

resource, tool, or story for farmers, ranchers, and 

foresters – and it doesn t pretend to. Instead, FPAC 

is talking to our customers and field employees 

who serve those customers, often farmers and 

ranchers themselves. We re building Farmers.gov

around their needs and ideas through a stream 

lined, user centric approach – bringing the most 

usable information together in a new way. 

13 

Enabling Capability: Implementation Support 

Agencies have unique missions, but the systems they build to 

deliver those missions rely on foundational capabilities that 

are not unique. The United States Digital Service (USDS) and 

the GSA will support modernization efforts by leveraging top 

technical talent to help agencies solve the technical challenges posed by upgrading legacy systems and technologies. 

USDS continues to produce significant value across the Government, using design and technology to deliver quality services to the American public. From recovering failed systems 

to consolidating websites and designing intuitive interfaces, 

USDS partners with Federal agencies to build more secure, 

efficient, and modern services with and for the American 

people. For instance, USDS worked with the Department of 

Health and Human Services (HHS) Centers for Medicare and 

Medicaid Services to change the way Medicare pays doctors and clinicians, rewarding them for the value – and not 

the quantity – of care they provide. With the Small Business 

Administration (SBA), USDS eliminated paper applications for 

small businesses to participate in Federal contracting programs, improving their user experience and reducing their 

burden. Over a five-year period, USDS projects that its current 

projects will save $617 million and redirect 1,475 labor years 

toward higher value work. 

To help agencies accelerate the modernization of IT 

infrastructure across the Government while leveraging private-sector expertise, GSA is standing up Centers 
President’s Management Agenda

 

14 

of Excellence to centralize best practices and offer 

“hands-on” implementation assistance to customer 

agencies for cloud migration, infrastructure modernization 

and other foundational technology and security improvements. Initially, the Centers of Excellence will partner with 

the Department of Agriculture (USDA) to accelerate USDA’s 

IT Modernization Plan. Based on their collaboration with 

USDA, the Centers of Excellence will rapidly improve their 

capability in order to support and work with other Federal 

agencies to improve service design and customer interactions as part of their IT Modernization Plans. 

Enabling Capability: Flexible Funding Vehicles 

and Innovative Acquisition Capabilities 

The Technology Modernization Fund (TMF) is a centralized revolving fund authorized by the MGT for up to $500 

million that will be overseen by the Technology Modernization Board, chaired by the Federal Chief Information 

Officer and administered by GSA, to provide funds and 

technical expertise to agency modernization projects and 

common solutions. The process for utilizing the TMF is: 

1.	 Agencies submit modernization proposals to be 

reviewed by the Technology Modernization Board. 

2.	 The Technology Modernization Board evaluates 

and selects proposals with the greatest impact, 

strongest business case, and highest probability 

of success to receive funding from the TMF. 

3.	 GSA issues funding in an incremental manner and 

tied to performance against established targets 

and milestones. 

4.	 Technical experts provide hands-on support to 

agencies, leveraging resources from USDS and GSA 

to improve team capabilities and troubleshoot 

impediments to success. 

5. Agencies agree in advance on repayment terms 

to the TMF, which drives accountability across 

“C-suite” agency leadership—such as Chief Operating Officers, Chief Financial Officers, Chief Information Officers, Chief Human Capital Officers, 

and Chief Acquisition Officers—and enables the 

fund to be self-sustaining, continually reinvesting 

resources in future projects. 

For more information on the TMF, please see policy.cio.gov. 

How the Technology 

Modernization Fund (TMF) Works

Step 1:

Agencies submit 

modernization 

proposals, which 

are reviewed 

and graded by a 

board of experts. 

Step 3:

Funding is incremental 

and tied to achievement. 

Step 4:

Technical experts 

provide hands­on 

support to agencies. 

Step 5:

Agencies repay the 

TMF, which funds 

new projects. 

Step 2:

Proposals with 

the greatest 

impact and 

probability 

of success 

are selected. 

Proposals of 

similar types 

are grouped 

into common 

platforms. 

Agency IT Working Capital Funds are another vehicle 

established under MGT for agencies seeking to invest in 

IT modernization activities. These funds enable individual agencies to establish revolving funds to direct existing agency funds, subject to individual agency transfer 

authorities, to technology modernization efforts such as 

improving, retiring, or replacing legacy systems, enhancing cybersecurity, and transitioning agencies data and 

applications to modern commercial platforms. 

CAP Goal 1: Modernize IT to Increase Productivity 

and Security. The Administration has established a CAP 

Goal to drive sustainable progress in this area. The Office 

of Management and Budget (OMB) and USDA will lead 

this goal, with DHS, National Security Council (NSC), GSA, 

and Office of Personnel Management (OPM) working as 

close partners. While these entities will lead the effort, 

all agencies will participate in the implementation of the 

strategies and objectives associated with the IT Modernization CAP Goal. 
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DIGITAL SERVICES AT THE SMALL 

BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION 

For many years, Small Business Administration (SBA) 

employees have been hamstrung by not having the 

digital tools they need to quickly process and 

expedite requests from small business owners. In 

turn, small business owners have been extremely 

frustrated by a slow, bureaucratic, paper based pro 

cess that is not responsive to their needs. Thanks to 

the United States Digial Services (USDS) team at SBA, 

small businesses can now apply for Government 

Contracting Programs online in about 1 hour instead 

of days. They can get up to date information from a 

modern map that updates in days instead of months, 

providing owners with key information on locating 

their businesses. 

Since its launch, the system has more than 26,000 

participating small businesses—and more than 

278,000 documents have avoided old-fashioned 

snail mail. Moreover, the SBA has seen a three fold 

increase in participation in the Women Owned Small 

Business program since launch. 

These digital enhancements help support over 

537,000 small business jobs per year while allow 

ing SBA staff to focus on higher value work. 

DATA, ACCOUNTABILITY, AND TRANSPARENCY:
 

CREATING A DATA STRATEGY AND INFRASTRUCTURE FOR THE FUTURE
 

The use of data is transforming society, business, and 

the economy. If the Federal Government does not maintain its role as a preeminent supplier and sophisticated 

user of data it will no longer be able to fulfill the trust 

placed in it by the American people. The Federal Government lacks a robust, integrated approach to using 

data to deliver on mission, serve customers, and steward resources. 

The Administration is developing a Federal Data Strategy 

to leverage data as a strategic asset to grow the economy, increase the effectiveness of the Federal Government, facilitate oversight, and promote transparency. 

The Federal Data Strategy will include four key components: 

•	 Strategy 1: Enterprise Data Governance. Set 

priorities for managing Government data as a 

strategic asset, including establishing data policies, specifying roles and responsibilities for data 

privacy, security, and confidentiality protection, 

and monitoring compliance with standards and 

policies throughout the information lifecycle. 

The enterprise data governance strategy will build 

on examples like: 

▪	 The National Center for Health Statistics’(NCHS) policy on the release of and access 

to vital statistics to make data available as 

widely as possible while being responsive to 

concerns about confidentiality. 
President’s Management Agenda

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USDA: CONSERVATION DELIVERY 

STREAMLINING INITIATIVE (CDSI) 

CONSERVATION CLIENT GATEWAY 

The USDA NRCS Conservation Client Gateway (CCG) 

provides a secure, streamlined means for cus 

tomers in every state and territory to access 

their conservation plans and Farm Bill Conserva 

tion Program financial assistance applications, 

contracts, and payments at any time. Currently, 

CCG is used by more than 6,400 individuals and 400 

agriculture businesses. 

After the CCG was released in December 2014, farm 

ers have been able to report completed contract 

items directly from the cab of their tractor as they 

complete each item in their field. The local Dis 

trict Conservationist can then process the request 

immediately and accelerate the time of payment 

to the producer. These same customers are also 

able to sign critical documents from the comfort 

of their home, saving themselves the time and fuel 

to drive to the local field office, sign the form, and 

drive back home. 

Customers can apply for a number of Farm Bill Pro 

grams, including the Environmental Quality Incen 

tives Program (EQIP), electronically sign their 

applications and contracts, and report completed 

contract items and track their Farm Bill Program 

payments for certified contract items. More than 350 

applications have been made for Farm Bill programs 

by customers through CCG since it was deployed. 

A key component of CCG is the document manage 

ment system (DMS), where both the customers and 

the agency can store and access important files 24/7. 

NRCS currently has several million documents stored 

in the DMS within CCG, allowing producers to access 

their information day or night without having to 

contact their local service center. 

Under the new Farm Production and Conservation 

Mission Area, NRCS, the Farm Service Agency, and 

Risk Management Agency are developing a single 

transactional portal to meet the combined needs 

of the customers. The work that has gone into CCG 

will serve as a key component in the design of this 

new portal, which will allow all three agencies to 

better serve the people who grow our food, 

fuel, flora and fiber. 

▪	 The Federal Statistical Research Data Centers’ 

(FSRDC) success in using common policies, 

technologies, and staff providing researchers 

across the country with secure access to multiple agencies’ restricted-use datasets for statistical purposes. 

▪	 The Federal Geospatial Data Committee’s notable 

successes implementing portfolio management 

processes for Federal geospatial data assets and 

investments helped agencies to more efficiently 

support their mission and priorities. 

•	 Strategy 2: Access, Use, and Augmentation. 

Develop policies and procedures and incent investments that enable stakeholders to effectively and 

efficiently access and use data assets by: (1) improving dissemination, making data available more 

quickly and in more useful formats; (2) maximizing 

the amount of non-sensitive data shared with the 

public; and (3) leveraging new technologies and best 

practices to increase access to sensitive or restricted 

data while protecting the privacy, security, and confidentiality, and interests of data providers. 

The access, use, and augmentation strategy will 

build on work like the DATA Act Information Model 

Schema (DAIMS) open data standard that powers 

websites like USAspending.gov and private sector sites like InsideGov.com and OpenTheBooks.com 

that show how the Government spends taxpayers’ 

money. It will leverage investments in tools like 

Technology Business Management (TBM), which creates standard categories of data on IT spending that 

provide more granularity and consistency and help 

to improve accountability and transparency across 

agencies. For example, from FY2015 to FY2017, early 

use of TBM quadrupled the percentage of IT spending that could be clearly tracked to a specific cost 

category, such as data centers or IT security and 

compliance. 

•	 Strategy 3: Decision-Making and Accountability. 

Improve the use of data assets for decision-making and accountability for the Federal Government, 

including both internal and external uses. This 

includes: (1) providing high quality and timely information to inform evidence-based decision-making 

and learning; (2) facilitating external research on the 

effectiveness of Government programs and policies which will inform future policymaking; and (3) 

fostering public accountability and transparency by 

providing accurate and timely spending information, 

performance metrics, and other administrative data. 
President’s Management Agenda

 

 

17 

The decision-making and accountability strategy 

will build on work like the College Scorecard, which 

links Department of Education (ED) administrative 

student aid data to Internal Revenue Service (IRS) 

administrative tax data to help students and their 

families select the school that is best for them. 

•	 Strategy 4: Commercialization, Innovation, and 

Public Use. Facilitate the use of Federal Government data assets by external stakeholders at the 

forefront of making Government data accessible and 

useful through commercial ventures, innovation, or 

for other public uses. This includes use by the private 

sector and scientific and research communities; by 

states, localities, and tribes for public policy purposes; for education; and in enabling civic engagement. Enabling external users to access and use 

Government data for commercial and other public 

purposes spurs innovative technological solutions 

and fills gaps in Government capacity and knowledge. Supporting the production and dissemination 

of comprehensive, accurate, and objective statistics 

on the state of the nation helps businesses and markets operate more efficiently. 

The commercialization, innovation, and public use 

strategy will build on work like the Census Bureau’s 

The Opportunity Project, which has helped facilitate 

the development of digital tools with Government 

open data that help unemployed Americans build 

skills and find jobs, increase transit accessibility in 

low-income communities, help families navigate 

information on the quality of schools, and tackle 

other pressing challenges. 

Developing a long-term Federal Data Strategy will require 

full utilization of four cross-cutting drivers of change: 

Policy, People, Process, and Platform: 

•	 Policy: Clarify, harmonize, and update existing 

laws, policies, and procedures. 

•	 People: Harmonize roles and responsibilities for 

data management on a government-wide basis and 

within agencies, invest in staff expertise and capacity, and promote a data management culture at 

agencies that prioritizes data use and stewardship. 

•	 Process: Establish routine processes that identify priorities, improve coordination, and promote 

maturity over time. 

•	 Platform: Develop effective governance organizations and a suite of tools and applications available 

across agencies that serve the needs of diverse users 

and facilitate data integration, exchange, and use. 

A Federal Data Strategy for 

Today’s Work Environment 

Decision-Making 

& Accountability 

Four Crosscutting 

Drivers of Change 

Access, Use, & 

Augmentation 

Commercialization, 

Innovation, & 

Public Use 

• Policy 

• People 

• Process 

• Platform 

Enterprise Data Governance 

CAP Goal 2: Leveraging Data as a Strategic Asset. 

The Administration has established a CAP Goal to drive 

sustainable progress in this area. Developing and implementing the Federal Data Strategy will take time, and 

will involve experts and thought leaders from across 

the Federal Government, private industry, and research 

institutions. This work has already begun in meaningful 

ways, and the Federal Data Strategy will accelerate and 

scale these practices into a logical, integrated and coordinated path forward to achieve meaningful results. DOC, 

SBA, OMB Information Policy and Performance Offices 

(Office of the Federal Chief Information Officer, Office of 

Information and Regulatory Affairs, and the Office of Performance and Personnel Management), and the Office of 

Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) will lead this goal. 

Other participating OMB offices will include Economic 

Policy, Office of Federal Financial Management, Office of 

Federal Procurement Policy, and Resource Management 

Offices. Other potential participating partners are the 

Office of American Innovation, GSA, and other Federal 

agency data leaders. 
President’s Management Agenda

18 

-

-

-

-

-

- -

-

ACQUISITION: USCIS 

A key priority of the United States Citizenship and 

Immigration Services (USCIS) is to modernize 

E-Verify, which is part of the Verification Informa 

tion System used by more than 600,000 compa 

nies nationwide to validate employment eligibil 

ity to work in the U.S. Using innovative acquisition 

practices, USCIS was able to award a contract for 

a new myUSCIS customer service portal in just 

half the time projected. The site is helping users 

decrease case status processing time by 30% and 

employer enrollment time by more than 45%. In 

2017, myUSCIS was nominated by satisfied CIS cus 

tomers and won the American Council for Technol 

ogy Industry Advisory Council Igniting Innova 

tion Overall Award, which recognizes transforma 

tive Government and industry solutions to critical 

taxpayer problems. 

PEOPLE - WORKFORCE FOR THE 21ST CENTURY:
 

REALIGNING HUMAN CAPITAL TO SERVE AMERICA’S PRIORITIES
 

Federal employees underpin nearly all the operations of 

the Government, ensuring the smooth functioning of our 

democracy. While most Americans will never meet the 

President or even their Members of Congress, they will 

interact with the Federal employees who work in their 

community, keep them safe at airports, or welcome them 

to a National Park. Among other duties, regional offices 

of USDA and the Department of the Interior (DOI) provide 

services to farmers and ranchers where they live. When 

emergencies occur, entities like the Federal Emergency 

Management Agency (FEMA), the U.S. Coast Guard, and 

the SBA help to save and rebuild communities. 

However, the personnel system supporting Federal 

employees is a relic of an earlier era that has failed to 

keep pace with changing workforce needs. Both employees and managers agree that the performance management system fails to reward the best and address the 

worst employees.3

 With annual civilian personnel costs 

of almost $300 billion, the Government should always 

be seeking to ensure its workforce has the right skills, is 

the right size, and operates with the responsiveness and 

flexibility needed to best accomplish its various missions. 

The Administration intends to partner with Congress on 

overhauling the statutory and regulatory rules that have, 

over time, created an incomprehensible and unmanageable civil service system: 

•	 Realigning the workforce to mission: The Administration is committed to redefining the role of 

the Federal Government by reprioritizing Federal 

spending toward those activities that advance the 

safety, security, and prosperity of the American 

people. Agencies must critically examine their 

workforces to determine what jobs they need to 

accomplish their core missions. 

•	 Aligning total compensation with competitive 

labor market practice: It is important to appropriately compensate personnel based on mission 

needs and labor market dynamics. The existing 

compensation system fails in this regard. The 

President’s Budget for FY 2019 foregoes an acrossthe-board pay increase for 2019, while proposing to 

realign incentives by enhancing performance-based 

pay and slowing the frequency of tenure-based step 

3 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey, 2017. 
President’s Management Agenda

19 

increases. The Administration also proposes a $1 

billion interagency workforce fund as part of the 

FY 2018 appropriations, and supplemented by an 

additional $50 million in the FY 2019 Budget. This 

fund will replace the across-the-board raise that 

increases Federal employee pay irrespective of 

performance with targeted pay incentives to reward 

and retain high performers and those with the most 

essential skills. The Budget also proposes pension 

reforms that better align Federal retirement benefits with those offered by private sector employers, 

with whom the Government competes for talent. 

•	 Human capital management reforms: An Analytical Perspectives chapter on the Federal workforce 

in the FY 2019 President’s Budget outlines a vision 

for change that would streamline the hiring and 

dismissal processes, modernize human resources 

technology, better utilize data to inform workforce 

management, rebalance labor-management relations, align Federal workforce management authorities with private sector best practices, and reduce 

unnecessary red tape to bring the Federal workforce 

into the 21st Century. For further detail, see the 

Appendix for the FY 2019 President’s Budget chapter 

Strengthening the Federal Workforce. 

Strategic Workforce Management. To achieve a 21st 

Century Workforce, the Government needs to do a better 

job of end-to-end strategic workforce management. It 

needs to look at work in a different way – assessing what 

our key missions and outcomes are and understanding how we can best align the workforce to meet those 

needs, particularly through the Administration’s lens 

of using IT modernization to drive increasing efficiency, 

effectiveness, and transparency. It needs to engage in 

constant research and knowledge building, and integrate 

that work into our workforce planning and strategic planning in order to build a leading edge, first-in-class workforce to meet mission needs efficiently. 

In order to best leverage the workforce to achieve our 

mission efficiently and effectively, Government needs to: 

•	 Build agile organizations and processes to quickly 

respond and align to changing mission needs, innovations, and technological advancements; 

•	 Reward top performers and those with critical 

skill sets; 

•	 Acquire and retain top talent to achieve results; and 

•	 Remove employees with the worst performance 

and conduct violations. 

The Administration has developed a road map for three 

key areas of strategic workforce management. By implementing this roadmap, and by taking into consideration 

enabling tools and knowledge to help inform actions, we 

will empower organizations and managers to develop and 

implement a 21st Century workforce. 

Actively Manage the Workforce. The Government 

needs to do a better job in actively managing the workforce. The Government employs some of the world’s 

most talented professionals, from Nobel Prize winners 

to top investigators and scientists who are top recruits in 

their private sector fields. Leading human capital practices begin with rewards and recognition capabilities that 

reinforce results, accountability, and performance. Yet 

Government’s current performance management system provides only a nominal difference in rewards for top 

employees versus mid-level performers, making it difficult to retain top talent. 

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE MANAGEMENT
 

ENABLERS: 

• Leverage data and analytics Actively Manage Develop Acquire Top Talent the Workforce Agile Operations • Utilize information technology and tools 

Improve Employee Reskill & Redeploy Simple & Strategic • Align financial models/incentives 

Performance Management Human Capital 

& Engagement Hiring • Simplify legal and policy framework Resources (requires legislative and regulatory change) 

CONTINUOUS LEARNING: INNOVATIONS, RESEARCH & PILOT PROJECTS 
President’s Management Agenda

 

 

 

 

20 

In addition, Federal managers are reluctant to remove a 

poor performing employee and may receive inadequate 

support from their agency in attempting to do so. Notably, only 31% of Federal employees believe that steps are 

taken to deal with poor performers among their peers.4 

Such management failures inevitably reduce morale and 

engagement in the workplace, even for high performing 

employees. Through the Workforce CAP Goal, the Administration will improve employee performance management to better reward high performing employees, while 

supporting managers in removing poor performers. For 

example, OMB directed agencies to develop a single overarching policy for removing poor performers and forming 

manager support boards to help address performance or 

conduct issues that require immediate action. 

Agile Operations. Perhaps most importantly, the Government needs to become more agile in its organization 

and operations. Currently, the Government is inflexible 

and made up of many component entities that generally function predictably and stably. An operational 

inertia often takes hold, with too little attention paid to 

incorporating operational efficiencies or responding to 

technological advances and innovations. In some cases, 

statutory barriers prevent such adaptation. But, there 

are countless opportunities to evolve. For example, it 

is extremely difficult to shift employees across jobs and 

agencies to match skillsets with need in a responsive 

manner. Actions set forth in the Workforce CAP Goal will 

require agencies to look at operations through a different 

lens – one that stresses the importance of recognizing 

key mission requirements, and aligning the workforce to 

meet those needs. This requires identifying opportunities to more efficiently use the people we have, through 

reskilling and redeployment efforts, and matching 

employees to important and meaningful work. 

Acquire Top Talent. Only 42% of Federal employees 

believe that Government recruits people with the right 

skills.5

 While the Government will work to better align 

existing employees to mission needs, it also needs to 

build a capacity to bring in top talent quickly when 

demand for specific skills exceeds existing capacity. 

The current overly complex and lengthy hiring process, 

frequently results in the Government losing potential 

employees to private sector organizations with more 

streamlined hiring processes. While ensuring fair and 

equitable hiring practices, Government can improve its 

hiring, including by training the human resources workforce to better support hiring managers. 

Continuous Learning. To inform implementation of 

strategic workforce management and better alignment 

of the workforce to mission, Government needs to be 

constantly learning, developing knowledge, and incorporating this knowledge into our management practices. 

By engaging agency thought leaders with experts from 

industry and academe, Government can use feedback 

from ongoing research, pilot projects, and other knowledge creation activities to help inform agency actions 

and priorities in each of the three pillars of this Goal. 

Aligning and managing the Federal workforce of the 21st 

Century means: 

•	 Instating performance management processes that 

help agencies retain top employees and efficiently 

remove those who fail to perform or to uphold the 

public’s trust; 

•	 Reducing skills-gaps and eliminating redundant 

positions; 

•	 Simplifying the hiring process for managers; 

•	 Enhancing personnel management IT, including 

creation of a paperless employee personnel file and 

digitalizing health benefits and retirement 

systems administration; 

•	 Spreading effective practices among human
 

resources specialists;
 

•	 Improving manager satisfaction with the quality of 

the human resources service provided; and 

•	 Rebalancing relationships with Federal employee 

unions to ensure citizens’ interests are kept front 

and center. 

CAP Goal 3: Developing a Workforce for the 21st 

Century. The Administration has established a CAP 

Goal to drive sustainable progress in this area. The goal 

is to align and strategically manage the workforce to efficiently and effectively achieve the Federal government’s 

mission. This will be accomplished by: actively managing the workforce (employee performance management 

and employee engagement); developing agile operations 

(reskilling and redeploying human capital resources); and, 

acquiring top talent (simple and strategic hiring). 

The OPM, the Department of Defense (DOD), and OMB 

will lead this goal. The President’s Management Council 

and Chief Human Capital Officers Council are responsible for coordinating their members for specific tasks. 

All agencies regardless of size will need to meet goals 

related to their workforce. 

4 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey, 2017. 

5 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey, 2017. 
President’s Management Agenda

21

Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey (FY16-FY17) 

Increase From Previous year Decrease From Previous year No Change From Previous year FY17 FY16 

Overall Employee Engagement Index 

The Employee Engagement Index (EEI) is a measure of an agency’s work

environment — the conditions that lead to engagement. The index is 

made up of three subfactors: Leaders Lead, Supervisors, and Intrinsic

Work Experience. 

Satisfaction with Dealing with Poor

Performance 

"In my work unit, steps are taken to deal with a poor performer who 

cannot or will not improve." 

Satisfaction with Hiring People with the

Right Skills 

"My work unit is able to recruit people with the right skills." 

Agency Change Indicator Agency Change Indicator Agency Change Indicator 

DHS 4% 60% EPA 6% 32% DHS 3% 35% 

GSA 4% 76% HUD 4% 32% NASA 2% 57% 

SBA 4% 67% GSA 4% 44% Treasury 1% 36% 

HUD 3% 69% NSF 4% 38% DOD 0% 42% 

DOI 3% 66% USAID 4% 34% HUD 0% 38% 

USAID 3% 72% DHS 3% 26% NSF 0% 61% 

USDA 2% 68% DOI 3% 33% SBA 0% 40% 

DOC 2% 71% SBA 3% 35% DOC -1% 50% 

DOD 2% 68% USDA 2% 30% HHS -1% 51% 

DOE 2% 70% DOC 2% 42% DOI -1% 40% 

HHS 2% 72% DOD 2% 31% DOT -1% 42% 

DOT 2% 69% ED 2% 34% VA -1% 44% 

EPA 2% 69% DOE 2% 36% EPA -1% 43% 

NASA 2% 82% HHS 2% 37% USDA -2% 36% 

NSF 2% 75% State 2% 36% GSA -2% 51% 

DOL 1% 70% DOT 2% 30% OPM -2% 50% 

Treasury 1% 68% NASA 2% 46% DOE -3% 44% 

NRC 1% 75% DOL 1% 36% DOJ -3% 44% 

ED 0% 67% Treasury 1% 36% DOL -3% 46% 

DOJ 0% 68% NRC 1% 35% State -3% 50% 

VA 0% 62% SSA 1% 30% NRC -4% 49% 

OPM 0% 71% DOJ 0% 29% USAID -5% 52% 

SSA 0% 67% VA 0% 29% SSA -6% 35% 

State -1% 69% OPM 0% 44% ED -9% 44% 

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 

Government-Wide Average Government-Wide Average Government-Wide Average 

Fiscal Year Fiscal Year Fiscal Year 

FY17 67% FY17 31% FY17 42% 

FY16 65% FY16 29% FY16 43% 

Note: Satisfaction was measured on a 5-point satisfaction scale. The percentages shown on the bar charts above correspond to the number of respondents indicating they were "satisfied" or "very satisfied" with the associated
 

statements divided by the total number of responses.
 

The change in these graphs is calculated by taking the current year's percentage value minus the previous year's percentage value.
 
WORKING ACROSS SILOS 
President’s Management Agenda

23

The Federal Government’s challenges have not arisen 

in isolation, and it cannot solve them through isolated 

efforts. This Administration will drive Government modernization by working across functional disciplines and 

across agencies, rather than working in silos. To really 

get traction on these complex and interconnected challenges, broader, system-level thinking is needed to tackle 

interconnected barriers to change. 

While the strategies and goals presented as part of this 

agenda are discussed as distinct areas, actions are prioritized which are mutually reinforcing across multiple 

domains. Most notably, there are numerous actions 

being taken with overlap across the three key drivers 

of change, a few of which are highlighted below. 

Where the Drivers of Change Intersect: Example Actions 

IT Modernization 

IT Modernization 

Data, Accountability, 

and Transparency 

Mitigate risks to data, 

systems, and networks by

implementing cutting edge 

cybersecurity capabilities 

People - Workforce 

of the Future 

Improve automation

of the hiring process 

Data, Accountability, 

and Transparency 

Establish key performance

measures to evaluate the 

status of project delivery 

Use data to focus intense 

employee engagement 

improvement efforts on 

the lowest-performing 

organizations 

People - Workforce

of the Future 

Build a modern IT Workforce

through realigning, reskilling, and retaining strategies 

Invest in data science and 

analytical capabilities and 

training across Government 

Taken together, many actions across the President’s Management Agenda priorities represent significant commitments 

toward a transformational long-term vision. For example, combined actions across multiple CAP Goals represent an 

historic commitment to moving toward a paperless Federal Government. 

Improve Efficiency and 

Effectiveness of 

Administrative Services 

across Government 

Develop Workforce for 

21st Century 

Shift from Low­Value 

to High­Value Work 

Improve Customer 

Experience with Federal 

Services 

Crosscutting Example: Moving to Paperless Government 

 Make the majority of Federal payments electronically 

 Implement electronic invoicing for Federal contracts 

 Develop and deploy a standard employee digital record 

 Enable seamless and paperless transfers between agencies 

 Eliminate outdated Congressionally-mandated reporting requirements 

 Improve digital services 

 Develop paperless forms tool, which lets an agency prototype online forms 

eight times faster than current processes 
President’s Management Agenda

24 
President’s Management Agenda

 

25 

The President’s Management Agenda is also interconnected 

with other ongoing activities that will help focus our efforts 

on mission, service, and stewardship. These include: 

•	 Government Reorganization: Last March, the 

President issued a call for change in Executive 

Order 13781, “Comprehensive Plan for Reorganizing the Executive Branch,” where he tasked OMB 

with providing a plan to reorganize the Executive 

Branch. The FY 2019 President’s Budget provided a 

preview of this plan to the American people. Initial 

reform proposals include, for example: 

▪	 Eliminating unnecessary political positions; 

▪	 Using shared services to improve IT services and 

reduce procurement costs by leveraging the 

Government’s economies of scale; and 

▪	 Consolidating or realigning regional offices and 

personnel (for example, improving customer 

service at the DOI by shifting employees away 

from Washington, D.C., and closer to the citizens 

they serve). 

Going forward, the Administration is undertaking 

specific reviews of important agency structures 

and activities to align with the goals of the President’s Management Agenda. For example: 

▪	 Streamlining Federal statistical functions across 

multiple Federal agencies; and 

▪	 Minimizing duplication in and maximizing outcomes from Federal development finance activities across multiple Federal offices and agencies. 

Moreover, the specific President’s Management 

Agenda focus areas undoubtedly will highlight 

additional reorganization opportunities related to 

the drivers of IT modernization; data, accountability, and transparency; and the workforce. In the 

months ahead, the Administration plans to share 

additional reorganization proposals designed to 

refocus programs around current and future needs. 

•	 Mission CAP Goals: The Administration is pursuing 

three CAP Goals focused on specific mission areas 

where agencies work closely together: 

▪	 Modernize Infrastructure Permitting; 

▪	 Security Clearance, Suitability, and Credentialing Reform; and 

▪	 Improve Transfers of Federally-Funded Technologies from Lab-to-Market. 

Brief summaries of these CAP Goals are included 

in the next section of this document, and detailed 

Action Plans are posted at www.performance.gov. 

•	 Regulatory Reform in 2018 and Beyond: The 

Administration’s Unified Agenda of Regulatory and 

Deregulatory Actions and the Regulatory Plan, which 

set forth the Administration’s roadmap for a more 

limited, effective, and accountable regulatory policy, currently projects the elimination of approximately 448 regulations and the addition of only 

131 new regulations. In 2018, Federal agencies are 

committed to cutting more than $9.8 billion in lifetime regulatory costs. Across the Government, this 

Unified Agenda will drive substantial reductions 

in regulatory costs beyond what has already been 

accomplished. For additional information, please 

visit www.reginfo.gov. 

•	 Agency Strategic and Annual Performance 

Plans: Each major Federal agency published an 

updated strategic plan with the Budget, establishing strategic objectives for the Administration’s 

first term and committing to agency priority goals 

for the next two years. These plans outline agency 

mission and management priorities and actions. 

A full list of agency performance plans is available 

at www.performance.gov. 
PRIORITY AREAS FOR TRANSFORMATION 
President’s Management Agenda

 

 

 

27 

The three drivers of transformation—IT modernization; 

data, accountability, and transparency; and the workforce of the future—will push change that resonates 

across the Federal enterprise. As discussed above, the 

Administration has established a CAP Goal for each of 

these drivers to ensure public tracking and accountability. In addition, the Administration will simultaneously pursue change in other priority areas. These areas 

include both cross-cutting priorities that span agency 

management and operational domains and also functional priorities that target more specific areas such as 

financial management, acquisition, and others. In addition to the CAP Goals established for each of the three 

key drivers of transformation discussed previously, this 

section provides a brief summary of the additional CAP 

Goals being established to support these cross-cutting 

and functional priorities. 

CAP Goals related to cross-cutting priorities are led by 

the President’s Management Council. CAP Goals related 

to functional priorities are led by other government-wide 

councils, such as the Chief Acquisition Officers Council, 

the Chief Financial Officers Council, and the Chief Information Officers Council. CAP Goals related to Mission 

Priorities are led by the Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council (Permitting CAP Goal) and Security Clearance, Suitability, Credentialing Performance 

Accountability Council (Security Clearance CAP Goal). 

Detailed action plans for each CAP Goal are also available 

on www.performance.gov, where updates on progress 

will be posted each quarter. Each action plan explains 

the goal, the challenge that it addresses, the public officials responsible for progress, and specific milestones 

and/or metrics to measure success. 

Key Drivers of Transformation 

IT Modernization 

(CAP Goal 1) 

Improving Customer 

Experience 

(CAP Goal 4) 

Sharing Quality Services 

(CAP Goal 5) 

Shifting From Low-Value 

to High-Value Work 

(CAP Goal 6) 

Category 

Management 

(CAP Goal 7) 

Results-Oriented 

Accountability for 

Grants 

(CAP Goal 8) 

Getting Payments 

Right 

(CAP Goal 9) 

Federal IT Spending 

Transparency 

(CAP Goal 10) 

Improve 

Management of 

Major Acquisitions 

(CAP Goal 11) 

Data, Accountability, 

and Transparency 

(CAP Goal 2) 

People - Workforce of 

the Future 

(CAP Goal 3) 

Cross-Cutting Priority Areas for Transformation 

Functional Priority Areas for Transformation 

Managing Across Silos 
President’s Management Agenda

 

 

28 

CAP GOAL 4 

IMPROVING CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE WITH FEDERAL SERVICES 

Federal agencies will provide a modern, streamlined, and responsive customer experience across 

Government, comparable to leading private-sector organizations. 

THE CHALLENGE 

Whether seeking a loan, Social Security benefits, 

veterans benefits, or other services provided by 

the Federal Government, individuals and businesses expect Government customer services to 

be efficient and intuitive, just like services from 

leading private-sector organizations. Yet the 2016 

American Consumer Satisfaction Index and the 

2017 Forrester Federal Customer Experience Index 

show that, on average, Government services lag 

nine percentage points behind the private sector. 

THE GOAL 

This goal will: 

•	 Transform the customer experience by improving the usability and reliability of our Federal 

Government’s most critical digital services; 

•	 Create measurable improvements in customer satisfaction by using the principles 

and practices proven by leading private sector organizations; 

•	 Increase trust in the Federal Government by 

improving the experience citizens and businesses have with Federal services whether 

online, in-person, or via phone; and 

•	 Leverage technology to break down barriers 

and increase communication between Federal agencies and the citizens they serve. 

THE STRATEGIES 

Agencies will focus on four strategies: 

•	 Improving digital services; 

•	 Modernizing customer experiences for 

high-impact Federal programs; 

•	 Rewarding programs and people that 

demonstrate outstanding service; and 

•	 Creating a support and accountability network to ensure sustainable customer experience improvement across Government. 

WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE 

A modern, streamlined, and responsive customer experience means: 

•	 Raising government-wide customer experience to the average of the private sector 

service industry, as measured by external 

organizations; 

•	 Developing indicators for high-impact Federal programs to monitor progress towards 

excellent customer experience and mature 

digital services; 

•	 Providing the structure and resources to 

ensure customer experience is a focal point 

for agency leadership; and 

•	 Examples of programs where improved customer service will impact millions of Americans include Federal Student Aid, Airport 

Security Screening, National Parks, Veterans Health Care, Passport Services, Emergency and Disaster Relief, and Medicare. 

THE TEAM 

The Department of Veterans Affairs and 

the Office of Management and Budget will 

lead this goal. Other participating agencies 

include the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Education, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Interior, Labor, State, and Treasury as well as the 

General Services, Small Business, and Social 

Security Administrations and the Office of 

Personnel Management. 
President’s Management Agenda

29 

2016 American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) Scores

E­Commerce 

Manufacturing/Nondurable Goods 

Manufacturing/Durable Goods 

Retail Trade 

Accommodation & Food Services 

National ACSI Average 

Transportation 

Finance & Insurance 

Health Care & Social Assistance 

Energy Utilities 

E­Business 

Local Government 

Telecommunications & Information 

Federal Government 

0 20 40 60 80 90

82.4 

82.1 

80.9 

78.3 

78 

77 

76.8 

76.5 

76.1 

74.9 

74.3 

72.5 

71.7 

68 

10 30 50 70
President’s Management Agenda

 

 

30 

CAP GOAL 5 

SHARING QUALITY SERVICES 

The Federal Government will establish a strategic government-wide framework for improving the 

effectiveness and efficiency of administrative services by 2020, leading to continual improvements in 

performance and operational cost savings of 20% annually at scale - or an estimated $2 billion over

 the next 10 years. 

THE CHALLENGE 

Families economize by buying in volume or 

taking advantage of the sharing economy 

such as car or vacation rental sharing. Businesses, non-profits, and state governments 

have reduced costs and workload by streamlining administrative activities such as human 

resource transactions, financial management, 

grants management, contracts, and information technology support to reduce costs and 

increase efficiency. The Federal Government 

needs to do the same. For example, the Federal Government outspends the private sector when creating tax-filing paperwork (W-2s). 

Industry has used technology and innovation 

to reduce the cost to around $80 while Government still spends an average of $120. We need 

to close this gap. 

THE GOAL 

This goal will: 

•	 Deliver technology and process improvements 

that will improve citizen services, such as: 

•	 Faster hiring so more border security officers 

can be hired and in place faster; 

•	 Expedited payments to small businesses so the 

economy can continue to grow and thrive; and 

•	 Simpler grants application processes so more 

grant resources are directed to results rather 

than duplicative compliance actions. 

•	 Reduce taxpayer costs by closing the gap 

between the Federal Government’s performance in administrative services and industry 

best in class; and 

•	 Shift time, effort, and funding currently
 

spent on administrative services to core
 

missions in support of American citizens.
 

THE STRATEGIES 

Agencies will advance this goal by: 

•	 Sharing purchases to reduce costs; 

•	 Sharing modern technology and experts; and 

•	 Creating a single location in Federal Government for certain core services. 

WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE 

Agencies will: 

•	 Use benchmarks from high-performing private 

sector models to assess overall performance; 

•	 Increase use of targeted solutions; and 

•	 Measure satisfaction with those solutions to 

make sure they meet needs. 

THE TEAM 

General Services Administration and Office of 

Management and Budget will lead this goal. 

Agencies implementing key solutions for this 

goal include the General Services Administration, Departments of Defense and the Treasury, and Office of Personnel Management. 
President’s Management Agenda

3.84

4.26

4.38

4.52

4.15

4.01

4.16

4.83

3.97

4.31

4.54

4.66

4.69

5.34

5.13

5.61

5.09

4.39

5.08

4.68

4.95

4.16

4.16

3.87

Commerce

DHS

DOD

DOT

ED

Energy

EPA

GSA

HHS

HUD

Interior

Justice

Labor

NASA

NRC

NSF

OPM

SBA

SSA

State

Treasury

USAID

USDA

VA

4.62

4.83

5.22

5.09

5.35

5.25

4.82

5.14

4.95

4.82

5.06

5.22

5.06

5.66

5.17

5.48

4.70

4.68

5.40

5.26

5.19

5.78

4.89

4.82

4.41

4.61

4.63

4.75

5.21

5.11

4.12

4.90

4.63

4.32

4.63

4.98

4.72

5.67

5.29

5.57

4.35

4.76

5.13

4.76

4.86

5.50

4.70

3.96

5.28

4.98

4.61

5.26

4.47

5.21

5.26

5.41

5.35

5.40

5.23

5.27

5.15

5.30

5.43

5.81

3.99

4.64

5.39

5.17

5.08

5.89

5.25

5.17

Median: 4.46 Median: 5.11 Median: 4.75 Median: 5.26

31 

Core Mission Support Services 

Estimated Annual Costs = $28.6 Billion 

30%

53%

CONTRACTS 

FOR MISSION 

SUPPORT 

$8.5B 

INFORMATION 

TECHNOLOGY 

SPENDING 

$5B 

MISSION SUPPORT 

FEDERAL EMPLOYEE 

COSTS 

$15.17B 

17%

Customer Satisfaction Scores 

Function Area Scores among 24 CFO Act Agencies
 

SATISFACTION RESPONSE KEY
 

1 STRONGLY DISAGREE   2  DISAGREE  3  SOMEWHAT DISAGREE  4  NEUTRAL  5  SOMEWHAT AGREE   6  AGREE  7 STRONGLY AGREE
 

Human Capital 

I am satisfied with the quality of 

support and solutions I received 

from the Human Capital function 

during the last 12 months. 

Financial Management 

I am satisfied with the quality of 

support and solutions I received 

from the Financial Management 

function during the last 12 months. 

Contracting 

I am satisfied with the quality of 

support I received from the 

Contracting function during the 

last 12 months. 

Information Technology 

I am satisfied with the quality of 

support and solutions I received 

from the Information Technology 

function during the last 12 months. 

Customer Satisfaction Survey (CSS): In early 2017, GSA surveyed all senior supervisory employees (GS­13 to GS­15 supervisors, SES and equivalents) at 23 of the 24 CFO Act agencies, asking about 

their satisfaction with mission­support services across the previous 12 months. Collectively, the 43,000+ responses provide a detailed picture of satisfaction with 18 service areas within Contracting, 

Financial Management, Human Capital, and IT services. An additional 250,000+ responses were gathered from non­supervisory employees on their satisfaction with IT services. Please note that at 

DOD, the survey was deployed only to senior supervisory employees. Also note: USAID conducted their survey separately and results were incorporated into CSS results where applicable. 
President’s Management Agenda

 

 

 

32 

CAP GOAL 6 

SHIFTING FROM LOW-VALUE TO HIGH-VALUE WORK 

Federal agencies will shift time, effort, and funding currently spent performing repetitive administrative 

tasks and complying with unnecessary and obsolete policies, guidance, and reporting requirements, 

toward accomplishing mission outcomes, with the objective of achieving no new net burden annually. 

THE CHALLENGE 

Too often, requirements persist over time 

despite changes to the circumstances they 

were intended to address. Hundreds of burdensome rules and requirements have built 

up over decades, forcing Federal agencies to 

devote valuable resources to compliance that is 

no longer meaningful. Time, energy, and dollars 

spent complying with outdated, redundant, and 

unnecessary requirements can be better spent 

on accomplishing mission outcomes. 

THE GOAL 

This goal will: 

•	 Eliminate low-value, unnecessary, and outdated policies and requirements issued by 

central-management agencies like the Office 

of Management and Budget, the Office of 

Personnel Management, and the General 

Services Administration; 

•	 Develop a process to assess and minimize the 

burden of such guidance on Federal agencies; 

•	 Create incentives for Federal agencies to 

regularly review and streamline their own 

administrative requirements that impose 

burdens on their bureaus and programs; and 

•	 Reduce burden through tools like integrated 

IT and automation software. 

THE STRATEGIES 

•	 Central-management offices will evaluate 

existing management guidance to rescind or 

modify unnecessary, outdated, or duplicative requirements; 

•	 Office of Management and Budget will 

develop a methodology to evaluate the 

burden of new guidance and requirements 

before central-management offices impose 

them on Federal agencies; and 

•	 Agencies will set targets to evaluate and 

reduce the burden of their own administrative requirements, regulations, and internal 

reporting obligations. 

WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE 

A Federal Government that shifts time, 

effort, and funding from burdensome 

requirements to high value work will: 

•	 Improve the return on investment of central-management guidance to Federal 

agencies; 

•	 Reduce compliance requirements for Federal agencies; 

•	 Work with Congress to eliminate outdated 

legislative reporting requirements for Federal 

agencies; and 

•	 Reduce unnecessary costs and compliance 

requirements within individual agencies. 

THE TEAM 

The Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Office of Management and Budget 

will lead this goal. The Office of Personnel Management and the General Services Administration will also participate as central-management 

agencies. Other Federal partners include the 

Councils of Chief Financial Officers, Chief Information Officers, and Chief Acquisition Officers. 
President’s Management Agenda

 

33
 

Together, the Office of Management and Budget and 

Federal agencies recently proposed that Congress 

free up tens of thousands of hours that Federal personnel spend annually on meaningless 

compliance—time better spent pursuing mission outcomes—by eliminating or modifying 407 

time-consuming plans and reports that are outdated or duplicative. The list of proposals appears 

in the FY 2019 President’s Budget and is available at 

www.performance.gov 

In June of 2017, the Office of Management and 

Budget lifted 59 redundant, obsolete or unnecessary requirements that it had previously issued 

for all Federal agencies. With the release of the President’s Management Agenda this year, the Office of 

Management and Budget will rescind an additional 

tranche of unnecessary requirements. These changes 

to guidance in areas like IT Security, Procurement 

Processes, and Financial Management, will remove 

unnecessary confusion and ensure that Federal 

agencies continue to efficiently implement the most 

current guidance. The Office of Management and 

Budget continues to identify existing guidance 

that should be rescinded or modified, to free agency 

resources for the pursuit of mission outcomes. 
President’s Management Agenda

 

 

 

34 

CAP GOAL 7 

CATEGORY MANAGEMENT - LEVERAGING COMMON CONTRACTS 

AND BEST PRACTICES TO DRIVE SAVINGS AND EFFICIENCIES 

The Federal Government will leverage common contracts and best practices to drive savings and efficiencies. 

THE CHALLENGE 

The Federal Government spends over $300 billion6

 on common goods and services every year. 

However, because agencies buy in a fragmented 

manner, taxpayers often do not get the benefit of the Government’s position as the largest 

buyer in the world. Hundreds—and in some 

cases thousands—of duplicative contracts are 

awarded to the same vendors for similar requirements. This fragmentation leads agencies to 

pay significantly different prices—sometimes 

varying by over 300%7

—for the same items. 

THE GOAL 

Federal agencies will leverage common contracts, 

meaning that they share in contracts that get the 

best value for taxpayers, in order to buy common goods and services as an enterprise. This 

approach will eliminate redundancies, increase 

efficiency, and deliver more value and savings 

from Federal acquisition programs. 

By the end of FY 2020, the Government will 

achieve $18 billion in savings for taxpayers by 

applying category management principals—or 

smart decision-making where agencies buy the 

same kinds of goods and services through best 

value contract solutions—to 60% of common 

spend.8

 In addition, the Government will reduce 

duplicative contracts by 50,000, potentially 

reducing administrative costs by hundreds of 

millions of dollars. 

THE STRATEGIES 

Agencies will implement four key actions: 

•	 Establish annual goals to leverage common 

contract solutions while meeting small business 

and other statutory socio-economic goals; 

•	 Develop effective vendor management 

strategies to improve communication with 

vendors, especially those that support mission-critical functions; 

•	 Implement best practices to eliminate inefficient purchasing and consumption behaviors; and 

•	 Share transactional data across the Federal 

Government, including prices paid, terms 

and conditions, and other important factors 

that can differentiate quality and value of 

products and services. 

WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE 

Success means the Government will not only 

save taxpayer dollars but will improve mission 

outcomes. For example, this work will allow: 

•	 Our law enforcement personnel to ensure 

their safety through easy access to equipment 

such as ammunition and body armor; 

•	 Medical professionals to save time and focus 

more on patients by ordering pharmaceuticals through electronic catalogues; and 

•	 Agencies to more easily prioritize modernizing the Government’s IT infrastructure, to
 

include efforts such as buying standardized
 

computers.
 

The goal will be evaluated using industry best 

practice metrics, including savings, spend 

through common contract solutions, reduction 

of duplicative contracts, small business utilization and training the workforce. 

6	 Based on the Federal Procurement Data System. 

7	 Ibid. 

8	 Savings and cost avoidance for category management is measured from increased use of Best In Class solutions (BIC), which on average 

produce 10-15% savings. Details on each solution’s savings method can be found on the Acquisition Gateway at https://hallways.cap. 

gsa.gov/<app/<#/gateway/acquisition-gateway/6606/government-wide-category-management-key-performance-indicators. 
Agency Indicator Change

DOE ▼ -$1,654M

DOD ▲ $1,124M

VA ▲ $1,311M

DLA ▼ -$2,748M

ARMY ▲ $282M

NAVY ▼ -$721M

DHS ▲ $184M

USAF ▼ -$677M

HHS ▼ -$6M

NASA ▼ -$119M

DOJ ▼ -$12M

AID ▼ -$41M

TREASURY ▼ -$701M

GSA ▼ -$146M

ED ▼ -$72M

STATE ▲ $29M

DOC ▼ -$89M

DOT ▼ -$239M

USDA ▼ -$50M

SSA ▲ $39M

DOI ▼ -$11M

DOL ▲ $24M

EPA ▲ $41M

OPM ▲ $39M

HUD ▲ $66M

NSF ▲ $5M

SBA ▼ -$1M

NRC ▲ $6M

$3,172M

$2,748M

$2,697M

$2,213M

$2,022M

$1,912M

$1,555M

$1,273M

$1,140M

$1,108M

$835M

$708M

$510M

$428M

$400M

$257M

$21,053M

$17,147M

$16,754M

$11,150M

$7,783M

$7,146M

$6,191M

$6,013M

$5,030M

President’s Management Agenda

35 

THE TEAM 

The Department of Defense and the Office of 

Management and Budget will lead this goal. 

The governance body includes the Departments 

of Defense, Veterans Affairs, Energy, Health and 

Human Services, and Homeland Security as well 

as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and General Services Administration. 

State of Spending for Common Requirements 

FY 2017 (Total ­ $303 Billion) 

$168B 

$32B 

$95B 

Currently, the Federal Government applies category management principles to 

roughly 42% of its spending on common goods and services through common 

contracts at the agency or government­wide enterprise level, according to the 

Federal Procurement Data System.  By the end of FY 2020, the Federal 

Government will increase this proportion to 70%.

Spend on Agency­wide Contracts 

Spend on Enterprise Contracts Unaligned Spend 

10%

58% 32%

Agency Indicator Change

GSA ▲ 40.27% 

OPM ▲ 12.02% 

EPA ▲ 13.62% 

NSF ▲ 6.95% 

USAF ▲ 10.59% 

STATE ▲ 0.71% 

DOI ▲ 10.17% 

SSA ▲ 3.77% 

ARMY ▲ 3.41% 

USDA ▼ -2.64% 

DOJ ▲ 9.59% 

SBA ▲ 0.54% 

HUD ▲ 2.16% 

NRC ▲ 5.92% 

DOC ▲ 5.10% 

DOL ▲ 7.31% 

TREASURY ▲ 4.67% 

DHS ▲ 0.42% 

HHS ▲ 1.25% 

NAVY ▲ 5.26% 

DOD ■ 0.00% 

VA ▲ 0.80% 

DOT ▲ 0.89% 

AID ▲ 0.66% 

NASA ▲ 0.67% 

DLA ▼ -0.59% 

ED ▼ -0.07% 

DOE ▲ 0.17% 

65.72%

61.33%

51.08%

47.27%

44.32%

43.95%

42.86%

37.27%

37.08%

35.60%

32.93%

29.88%

29.51%

27.95%

27.45%

26.29%

25.14%

22.03%

17.63%

15.01%

11.19%

8.80%

6.16%

4.63%

3.70%

3.36%

2.29%

1.29%

Agency Indicator Change

DOE ▼ -$1,654M

DOD ▲ $1,124M

VA ▲ $1,311M

DLA ▼ -$2,748M

ARMY ▲ $282M

NAVY ▼ -$721M

DHS ▲ $184M

USAF ▼ -$677M

HHS ▼ -$6M

NASA ▼ -$119M

DOJ ▼ -$12M

AID ▼ -$41M

TREASURY ▼ -$701M

GSA ▼ -$146M

ED ▼ -$72M

STATE ▲ $29M

DOC ▼ -$89M

DOT ▼ -$239M

USDA ▼ -$50M

SSA ▲ $39M

DOI ▼ -$11M

DOL ▲ $24M

EPA ▲ $41M

OPM ▲ $39M

HUD ▲ $66M

NSF ▲ $5M

SBA ▼ -$1M

NRC ▲ $6M

Agency Indicator Change

GSA ▲ 40.27%

OPM ▲ 1202%

$3,172M

$2,748M

$2,697M

$2,213M

$2,022M

$1,912M

$1,555M

$1,273M

$1,140M

$1,108M

$835M

$708M

$510M

$428M

$400M

$257M

$21,053M

$17,147M

$16,754M

$11,150M

$7,783M

$7,146M

$6,191M

$6,013M

$5,030M

65.72%

6133%

Category Management (FY 2016 ­ FY 2017)

Increase No Change Reduction FY2017 FY2016 

Spend Under Management (SUM) Definition: Spend (in millions of dollars) on contracts that meet defined criteria for management 

maturity and data sharing. SUM is defined by a tiered maturity model, which includes three tiers 

that address five attributes: leadership, strategy, data, tools, and metrics. 

Best In Class (BIC) Definition: Best in Class is a designation by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for a 

preferred government­wide solution that: Allows acquisition experts to take advantage of pre­vetted, 

government­wide contract solutions; Supports a government­wide migration to solutions that are 

mature and market­proven; Assists in the optimization of spend, within the government­wide 

category management framework; and increases the transactional data available for agency level 

and government­wide analysis of buying behavior. BIC is calculated as a percentage of total spend 

addressable to BIC solutions (BIC spend divided by total addressable BIC spend). 
President’s Management Agenda

 

 

 

 

 

36 

CAP GOAL 8 

RESULTS-ORIENTED ACCOUNTABILITY FOR GRANTS 

Federal agencies will maximize the value of grant funding by applying a risk-based, data-driven framework 

that balances compliance requirements with demonstrating successful results for the American taxpayer. 

Federal grant funds—from states, localities, and 

tribes to schools to non-profits—report that 

this current management framework is overly 

burdensome and takes away from the missions 

they are working to deliver. For instance principal investigators of research grants estimate that 

they spend, on average, 42% of their time meeting requirements11—including those associated 

with pre-and post-award administration and 

preparation of proposals and reports—rather 

than conducting active research. 

WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE 

Agencies will be able to articulate clearly the 

THE CHALLENGE 

Approximately $700 billion is invested annually 

through more than 1,800 diverse Federal grant 

programs listed on CFDA.gov.

9

 These funds support activities that touch every American, such 

as medical research, education, transportation 

infrastructure, workforce initiatives, economic 

development, and services for veterans. 

However, grant managers—including those that 

administer funds from inside the Federal Government and those from external organizations that 

receive Federal funds—report spending 40% of 

their time using antiquated processes to monitor compliance instead of data and analytics to 

monitor results.10 The organizations that receive 

goals of grant programs and the results of 

Federal investments. Recipients and agencies 

spend less time on administrative compliance 

and more effort is put into achieving and reporting program results. 

THE GOAL 

This goal will: 

•	 Rebalance compliance efforts with a focus on 

results for the American taxpayer; 

•	 Standardize grant reporting data and 

improve data collection in ways that will 

increase efficiency, promote evaluation, 

reduce reporting burden, and benefit the 

American taxpayer; 

•	 Measure progress and share lessons learned 

and best practices to inform future efforts; and 

•	 Support innovation to achieve results. 

THE STRATEGIES 

Agencies will focus on three strategies: 

•	 Standardize data; 

•	 Develop digital tools to manage risk, such as 

a grantee’s past performance and financial 

management; and 

•	 Implement a maturity model to encourage 

agencies to structure grant programs that 

best balance program results and financial 

management as important aspects of stewarding tax dollars. 

THE TEAM 

The Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Education, and the 

Office of Management and Budget will lead 

this goal. Other participating agencies will 

include major grant making agencies with 

additional support provided by the General 

Services Administration. 

9	 Analytical Perspectives, Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2019, ch. 14. Available at https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/ 

pkg/BUDGET-2019-PER/pdf/BUDGET-2019-PER.pdf. 

10	 The George Washington University, the National Grants Management Association and REI Systems. 2017 Annual Grants Management 

Survey. https://www.reisystems.com/rei-in-govexec-how-agencies-can-improve-grant-management/ 

11	 GAO report, GAO-16-573, Federal Research Grants, Opportunities Remain for Agencies to Streamline Administrative Requirements: 

https://www.gao.gov/assets/680/677949.pdf 
President’s Management Agenda

 

37
 

Why Does Results-Oriented Accountability 

for Grants Matter? 

Federal grant funding supports activities that touch 

every American, such as medical research, education, 

transportation infrastructure, homeland security, 

workforce initiatives, and services for veterans. The 

organizations that receive and implement these funds— 

including state and local governments, non-profits, 

and educational institutions—report that they are 

much better positioned to achieve program results 

for the American taxpayer when (1) we use technology to reduce reporting redundancies; (2) they can 

collect and report meaningful information based on 

clear objectives and goals; and (3) the system rewards 

organizations that are best at achieving meaningful 

results over compliance. 

Moreover, the Federal Government collaborated 

with over 500 participants from the grantee community to pilot new ways of standardizing, collecting, 

and sharing data from grantees (known as the DATA 

Act Section 5 Pilot). Results from that pilot demonstrate that these efforts successfully reduce burden 

on grantees, allowing them to focus on using grant 

funds to get results. 
President’s Management Agenda

 

 

38 

CAP GOAL 9 

GETTING PAYMENTS RIGHT 

Federal agencies will save taxpayer money by making payments correctly and collecting money back from 

incorrect payments. 

THE CHALLENGE 

While all improper payments can compromise 

citizens’ trust in Government, only a portion 

stem from fraud or lead to actual loss of taxpayer dollars. In addition to the incorrect 

payments themselves, improper payments also 

impose costs associated with fixing mistakes 

and recovering funds. Historically, the Federal 

Government has focused on improper payments 

broadly, including process errors that do not 

affect money paid, rather than strategically targeting monetary loss to taxpayers. 

THE GOAL 

This goal will: 

•	 Reduce the amount of cash lost to the taxpayer through incorrect payments; 

•	 Clarify and streamline reporting and compliance requirements to focus on actions that 

make a difference; and 

•	 Partner with states to address improper payments in programs that they administer using 

Federal funds. 

THE STRATEGIES 

The Federal Government will streamline requirements and clarify guidance for 

improper payment reporting and compliance 

to allow agencies to focus on making payments correctly, helping agencies to: 

•	 Focus their work more strategically on 

improper payments by identifying cash lost 

and changes needed to make payments correctly the first time; and 

•	 Establish stronger partnerships with the 

states that will prevent and reduce incorrect 

payments in programs that states administer 

using Federal funds. 

WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE 

The Federal Government will: 

•	 Reduce the annual amount of cash lost to 

the taxpayer; 

•	 Reduce burden on agencies to help focus 

their efforts strategically; and 

•	 Increase collaboration with states to further 

reduce cash lost. 

THE TEAM 

The Department of the Treasury, the Department of Health and Human Services, and 

the Office of Management and Budget will 

lead this goal. Other participating agencies include the Departments of Agriculture, 

Defense, Education, Transportation, Housing 

and Urban Development, Veterans Affairs, as 

well as the Social Security Administration, the 

Federal Communications Commission, and 

the Office of Personnel Management. 

According to an audit by the US Department of 

Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General, more 

than one in three of the 90 disability claims they 

reviewed in 2014 were incorrectly processed. 

Veterans who receive underpayments may never 

know they were owed more. Veterans who receive 

over payments often get an unexpected bill when 

the US Department of Veterans Affairs fixes the 

mistake. One veteran with multiple disabilities lost 

$19,154 over a period of nearly four years because 

of an administrative error. In four cases involving 

over payments, the US Department of Veterans 

Affairs overpaid veterans totaling $139,052. 
President’s Management Agenda

39 
President’s Management Agenda

40 

CAP GOAL 10 

IMPROVING OUTCOMES THROUGH FEDERAL IT SPENDING TRANSPARENCY 

The Federal Government will adopt Technology Business Management (TBM) government-wide by FY 

2022. This approach will improve IT spending data accountability and transparency, empowering agency 

executive suite leadership from across the enterprise to drive mission value and improve customer 

experience through technology. 

THE CHALLENGE 

The Federal Government spends at least $90 billion annually on IT, and Federal executives have 

long known they could better manage that spending with increased visibility and more accurate 

data. Congress and taxpayers have pressed for 

better information about how Federal IT dollars 

are spent and the return on that investment. The 

FY 2018 President’s Budget reported 84% of the 

total Federal IT budget categorized as “other,” as 

opposed to being clearly tied to a specific IT category of spend. This lack of granularity makes it 

difficult to baseline Federal investments and show 

the public whether Government is spending taxpayer dollars effectively in order to drive the large 

scale change needed to improve business transformation and citizen services. In the spring of 

2017, Office of Management and Budget guidance 

called on agencies to begin adopting elements of 

the Technology Business Management framework 

- an open source standard for IT costs. This will 

provide more granularity in IT spend based upon 

a taxonomy broadly accepted across both private 

and public sector organizations. 

THE GOAL 

This goal will: 

•	 Improve business, financial, and acquisition outcomes;
 

•	 Enable Federal executives to make data-


driven decisions and analyze trade-offs
 

between cost, quality, and value of IT
 

investments;
 

•	 Reduce agency burden for reporting IT
 

budget, spend, and performance data by
 

automating the use of authoritative data
 

sources; and
 

•	 Enable IT benchmarking across Federal Government agencies and with other public and 

private sector organizations. 

THE STRATEGIES 

Agencies will focus on three strategies: 

•	 Increasing granularity in current IT budget 

and spend reporting through the Federal 

IT Dashboard; 

•	 Develop government-wide implementation 

guidelines and enabling mechanisms; and 

•	 Adopt and implement Technology Business 

Management across the Federal enterprise. 

WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE 

The TBM Framework will enable the Federal 

Government to: 

•	 Run IT like a business; 

•	 Drive innovation and business 

transformation; 

•	 Improve services to citizens; 

•	 Add cost transparency; and 

•	 Increase accountability to taxpayers. 

THE TEAM 

The Office of Management and Budget will lead 

this goal with the General Services Administration’s Office of Government-Wide Policy team 

and with Executive Councils. Agency specific 

implementation will require resources from 

across the executive suite for all agencies. 
President’s Management Agenda

41 

Early use of TBM quadrupled the percentage of IT spending that could be 

clearly tracked to a specific cost category. 

FY16 Projected IT Spend

Data Center 

Desktop Laptop System 

Data Center 

Output 

IT Security and Compliance 

Source: FY 2017 CPIC Submission, Agency Infrastructure Table 

Source: FY 2019 CPIC Submission*, Agency IT Portfolio 

* Department of Defense IT Spending not included 

Reported FY17 IT Spend

Help Desk 

End User Services 

Mobile Devices 

Other 

Telecom 

Compute 

End User 

IT Management 

Storage 

Application 

Other 

Network 

Delivery 

84.0% 

34.7% 
 

President’s Management Agenda

 

 

 

42 

CAP GOAL 11 

IMPROVE MANAGEMENT OF MAJOR ACQUISITIONS 

Federal agencies will ensure that contracts supporting transformative and priority projects meet or 

beat delivery schedules, provide exceptional customer service, and achieve savings or cost avoidance 

for the taxpayer. 

THE CHALLENGE 

Major acquisitions—which vary in size by 

agency but often exceed $50 million—account 

for approximately one-third of annual Federal 

spend on contacts. These large contracts frequently support projects meant to transform 

areas of critical need. Yet major acquisitions 

often fail to achieve their goals because many 

Federal managers lack the program management and acquisition skills required to successfully manage and integrate large and complex 

acquisitions into their projects. These shortcomings are compounded by complex acquisition rules that reward compliance over creativity and results. 

THE STRATEGIES 

Agencies will pursue three strategies: 

• Strengthen program management capabilities in the acquisition workforce; 

• Use modern and innovative acquisition 

flexibilities; and 

• Track investments using portfolio, program, and project management principles. 

Agencies will also develop use cases demonstrating how achieving their transformational 

goals impact the public as a result of well managed major acquisitions. 

THE GOAL 

Every CFO Act12 agency will successfully achieve 

at least two transformational program goals 

over the coming year through well-managed 

major acquisitions supporting a transformative 

critical or high-risk mission priority. 

WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE 

Agencies and their contractors will successfully 

meet taxpayer expectations and performance 

goals on key transformational projects across 

the Government—from upgrading hospitals 

to better meet veterans' needs to integrating 

technology into conducting a modern and 

efficient census to achieving IT modernization 

needs for a 21st Century Government. 

THE TEAM 

The Office of Management and Budget and 

the Department of Commerce will lead this 

goal with 23 other participating agencies. 

The Office of Management and Budget will 

work with several of these agencies to pilot 

a program management dashboard prior to 

broader implementation across Government. 

12 To the extent practicable, independent agencies are encouraged to participate. 
President’s Management Agenda

43
 

A key priority of the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is to 

modernize E-Verify, which is part of the Verification Information System (VIS) used by 

more than 600,000 companies nationwide to validate employment eligibility to work 

in the U.S. Specific modernization goals include enhanced data analytics, decreased 

enrollment time, and improved timeliness of data collection and quality. 

To achieve these goals, USCIS used an innovative two-step acquisition strategy, supported 

by a certified professional trained in IT acquisition through an experiential program sponsored 

by the Office of Management and Budget’s 

US Digital Service and the Office of Federal 

Procurement Policy. First, USCIS entered a 

joint venture partnership with Commerce’s 

National Technology Information Service to 

find a suitable contractor to help develop 

and prototype a new customer service portal 

supported in the cloud. Following successful 

testing, USCIS then leveraged common-sense 

acquisition strategies to simplify and accelerate the competition for follow-on scaling of the 

portal, such as limiting proposal length from 

bidders, identifying the estimated contract 

price range in the solicitation, and conducting 

a one-day technical demo for bidders to prove 

their capabilities. 

These efforts produced timely and quality 

results, capped by the award of a multimillion dollar contract in just four months after 

successful testing—half the time projected 

by the program office—and the subsequent 

launch of myUSCIS, my.uscis.gov. According 

to the Office of Management and Budget’s IT 

Dashboard, which helps agency program managers track performance against project goals, 

the contract has helped VIS meet key quality 

and efficiency performance targets, including 

reduced data inaccuracies. This site is also 

helping users decrease case status processing 

time by 30% and employer enrollment time by 

more than 45%. In 2017, myUSCIS was nominated by satisfied USCIS customers and won 

the American Council for Technology-Industry 

Advisory Council (ACT-IAC) Igniting Innovation 

Overall Award, which recognizes transformative 

Government and industry solutions to critical 

taxpayer problems. 
President’s Management Agenda

 

44 

CAP GOAL 12 

MODERNIZE INFRASTRUCTURE PERMITTING 

The Federal Government will reduce the time to process environmental reviews and authorization 

decisions for new major infrastructure projects to an average of two years, providing consistent, 

coordinated, and predictable Federal environmental reviews and authorization processes. 

THE CHALLENGE 

The American people rely on infrastructure 

improvements to benefit our economy, society, and environment. However, inefficient 

decision processes, including environmental 

reviews and permit decisions or authorizations 

have delayed infrastructure investments and 

increased project costs. 

THE GOAL 

Improving the Federal environmental review and 

authorization process will enable infrastructure 

project sponsors to start construction sooner, 

create jobs earlier, and fix our Nation’s infrastructure faster while also ensuring that a project’s 

potential impacts on environmental and community resources are considered and managed 

throughout the planning process. 

Infrastructure investment strengthens our 

economic platform, makes America more 

competitive, creates millions of jobs, increases 

wages for American workers, and reduces the 

costs of goods and services for American families and consumers. 

THE STRATEGIES 

Agencies will advance this goal by: 

• Standardizing interagency coordination; 

•	 Improving predictability and transparency; 

•	 Increasing agency accountability; and 

•	 Identifying and implementing best practices. 

WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE 

This goal will: 

•	 Reduce time and cost to complete environmental reviews and authorizations for new 

major infrastructure projects; 

•	 Increase predictability and transparency for 

project investors and stakeholders; and 

•	 Result in agencies implementing clear timetables, consistent processes to make decisions, and best practices. 

A public dashboard tracks individual projects at 

www.permits.performance.gov. 

THE TEAM 

Goal leadership will come from the Federal 

Permitting Improvement Steering Council in 

conjunction with the Office of Management 

and Budget and the Council on Environmental Quality. Participating agencies include the 

Advisory Council on Historic Preservation; the 

Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, 

Energy, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban 

Development, Interior, and Transportation; the 

Morris K. Udall and Stewart L. Udall Foundation; 

the Environmental Protection Agency; the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission; the Nuclear 

Regulatory Commission; and the General Services Administration. 
President’s Management Agenda

45 

Permitting Dashboard 

CANADA 

UNITED STATES 

OF AMERICA 

MEXICO 

BERMUDA 

CUBA DOM 

REP 

GUAT 

NIC. 

JAM. 

VENEZUELA 

COLOMBIA 

Fast­41 Covered Projects 

DOT Projects 

Other Tracked Projects 

Legacy Projects 

ALASKA 

The Permitting Dashboard offers a tool for project developers, interested members of the public, and Federal agencies to 

track the Federal Government’s environmental review and authorization processes for large or complex infrastructure 

projects, part of a government­wide effort to improve coordination, transparency, and accountability. 

Hudson 

Bay 

Gulf of 

Mexico 

Saragasso 

Sea 

Bering 

Sea 

Chukchi 

Sea 

GUY 

CAPE 

VERDE 

North 

P a c i f i c 

O c e a n 

North 

A t l a n t i c 

O c e a n 
President’s Management Agenda

 

 

 

 

46 

CAP GOAL 13 

SECURITY CLEARANCE, SUITABILITY, AND CREDENTIALING REFORM 

Promote and protect the Nation’s interests by ensuring aligned, effective, efficient, secure, and 

reciprocal processes to support a trusted Federal workforce. 

THE CHALLENGE 

The Government’s existing framework for 

establishing trust in the Federal civilian, military, and contracted workforce has struggled 

to onboard needed personnel efficiently and 

effectively, and to determine whether those 

workers can be consistently trusted to perform 

their duties and not to cause harm to people, 

property, systems, and information. 

THE GOAL 

The Federal Government will advance this goal 

through four work streams: 

•	 Trusted workforce. Instill a sense of shared 

responsibility by enabling a trusted workforce 

through consistent reporting requirements, 

awareness, and strengthened partnerships 

with other mission areas and industry; 

•	 Modern clearance process. Transform the
 

Government’s approach at a fundamental
 

level, revamping the policy framework and
 

process to a more effective and efficient
 

model that leverages the latest innovative
 

technologies;
 

•	 Secure, modern, and mission-capable 

information technology. Rebuild the endto-end information technology to accelerate the implementation of new policies and 

processes and to improve the cyber security 

posture of the enterprise; and 

•	 Continuous performance improvement. 

Use outcome-based metrics, research and 

innovation, and an institutionalized Executive branch-wide model to continuously evaluate and improve policies and processes. 

WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE 

A Federal workforce that reliably protects 

Federal Government people, property, systems, and information through an enhanced 

risk management framework, which features: 

•	 Improved early detection, enabled by an
 

informed, aware, and responsible Federal
 

workforce;
 

•	 Quality decisions, enabled by improved
 

investigative and adjudicative capabilities;
 

•	 Optimized government-wide capabilities
 

through enterprise approaches; and
 

•	 Strong partnership with Federal Insider
 

Threat programs to identify, deter, and
 

mitigate problems before they negatively
 

impact the workforce or national security.
 

THE TEAM 

Leadership will come from the Security Clearance, Suitability, and Credentialing Performance Accountability Council (PAC) Principal 

agencies, which include the Office of Management and Budget, the Office of the Director of 

National Intelligence, the Office of Personnel 

Management, and the Department of Defense. 

The PAC13 is responsible for driving government-wide implementation of security, suitability, and credentialing reform. 

13	 PAC members are the Office of Management and Budget, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the Office of Personnel Management , 

the Department of Defense; the Departments of State, Treasury, Justice, Energy, and Homeland Security; the Federal Bureau of Investigation, 

the General Services Administration, the National Archives and Records Administration, the National Security Council, and the National Background Investigations Bureau. 
President’s Management Agenda

 

 

47 

CAP GOAL 14 

IMPROVE TRANSFER OF FEDERALLY-FUNDED 

TECHNOLOGIES FROM LAB-TO-MARKET 

Improve the transfer of technology from federally funded research and development to the private sector 

to promote U.S. economic growth and national security. 

THE CHALLENGE 

The Federal Government invests approximately 

$150 billion annually14 in research and development (R&D) conducted at Federal laboratories, 

universities, and other research organizations. 

For America to maintain its position as the leader 

in global innovation, bring products to market 

more quickly, grow the economy, and maintain 

a strong national security innovation base, it is 

essential to optimize technology transfer and support programs to increase the return on investment (ROI) from federally funded R&D. 

THE GOAL 

This goal will: 

•	 Improve the transition of federally funded
 

innovations from the laboratory to the marketplace by reducing the administrative and
 

regulatory burdens for technology transfer
 

and increasing private sector investment in
 

later-stage R&D;
 

•	 Develop and implement more effective
 

partnering models and technology transfer
 

mechanisms for Federal agencies; and
 

•	 Enhance the effectiveness of technology
 

transfer by improving the methods for evaluating the ROI and economic and national
 

security impacts of federally funded R&D,
 

and using that information to focus efforts
 

on approaches proven to work.
 

THE STRATEGIES 

Agencies will focus on five strategies: (1) identify regulatory impediments and administrative 

improvements in Federal technology transfer policies and practices; (2) increase engagement with 

private sector technology development experts 

and investors; (3) build a more entrepreneurial 

R&D workforce; (4) support innovative tools and 

services for technology transfer; and (5) improve 

understanding of global science and technology 

trends and benchmarks. 

WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE 

Agencies will develop and implement stakeholder-informed action plans which may include 

improved Federal practices and policies, regulatory reform, and legislative proposals; increase 

interactions with private sector experts; identify, 

share, and adopt best practices for technology 

transfer; and increase the transfer of federally 

funded innovations from lab to market. 

THE TEAM 

The Department of Commerce and the Office 

of Science and Technology Policy will lead this 

goal. Other participating agencies include the 

Office of Management and Budget, National 

Security Council, Environmental Protection 

Agency, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, National Science Foundation, Small 

Business Administration, and Departments of 

Agriculture, Defense, Energy, Health and Human 

Services, Homeland Security, Interior, Transportation, and Veterans Affairs. 

14 Analytical Perspectives, Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2019, Ch. 18. Available at https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/ 

pkg/BUDGET-2019-PER/pdf/BUDGET-2019-PER.pdf. 
President’s Management Agenda

48 

CAP GOAL 14 

IMPROVE TRANFSER OF FEDERALLY-FUNDED 

TECHNOLOGIES FROM LAB-TO-MARKET 

Trends in Federal Technology Transfer Activities (FY 2011 - FY 2015) 

Index Value (FY 2011 = 100) 160 

150 

140 

130 

120 

110 

100 

90 

80 

Invention Disclosures 

Invention Licenses 

Federal Intramural Research Budget 

Traditional CRADAs 

Patents Issued 

FY 2011 FY 2012 FY 2013 FY 2014 FY 2015 
President’s Management Agenda

49 

The President's Management Agenda was developed by the President's Management Council and the Executive Office 

of the President. 

The Administration appreciates important contributions from citizens, business leaders, Federal employees, Congress, 

academia, and the good government community. 
PRESIDENT’S

MANAGEMENT

AGENDA

LEARN MORE AT 

WWW.OMB.GOV/PMA 

WWW.PERFORMANCE.GOV/PMA