June 20, 2019 - Today, teams tasked with implementing the Federal government’s high-priority initiatives released their June 2019 progress updates for both Cross-Agency Priority (CAP) Goals and Agency Priority Goals (APGs).
These updates reflect progress made since our last update in December 2018, showcasing recently completed and upcoming milestones and performance accomplishments achieved as teams continue to advance mission, service, and stewardship outcomes on behalf of the American people.
Highlights: CAP Goal Updates
Government-wide shared services continue to demonstrate value across agencies. To formalize the importance of shared services, OMB, in collaboration with the CAP Goal team, released M-19-16, Centralized Mission Support Capabilities for the Federal Government. The memo establishes the new model for identifying, planning, and operating government-wide shared services.
Leveraging Data as a Strategic Asset
This month, the Federal Data Strategy team released the Draft 2019-2020 Federal Data Strategy Action Plan. The plan outlines necessary actions for Year 1 to keep the strategy implementation on track and on time. The plan sets a foundation for tools, processes, and the capacity needed to effectively leverage data in support of mission, service, and stewardship. The draft is available for public comment until July 5, 2019 and feedback will be incorporated into a revised version to be released in late 2019.
Modernizing the Infrastructure Permitting Process
Agencies have been making progress toward improving the complex permitting and environmental review processes for major infrastructure projects. This month, the CAP Goal team released scorecards to track agency progress across three key performance indicators: whether projects have published complete permitting timetables, whether agencies are jointly and cooperatively processing environmental reviews using the One Federal Decision framework, and whether they establish and use a process to elevate schedule delay issues to senior agency officials. As more data are collected, these scorecards will expand to track additional performance metrics, including the time and money spent to complete reviews and whether major milestone achievements are on schedule. To learn more, visit the Permitting Dashboard.
Workforce for the 21st Century
In March 2019, the CAP Goal team collaborated with several agencies to launch a pilot program to enhance the quality of the applicant pool. The program leverages a partnership between agency hiring managers, human resources specialists, and subject matter experts during the assessment phase of the hiring process.
Results-Oriented Accountability for Grants
In February 2019, the CAP Goal team received over 1,100 public comments on the Federal Grants Management Draft Standard Data Elements. The comments informed updates to the draft elements. Once finalized, these standards will form the foundation for modern information technology solutions that will facilitate better use of data for decision-making and program implementation. This will contribute to reducing administrative burden and improving results for Federal grants.
Highlights from the APG Updates
Department of Veterans Administration (VA) - Veteran Suicide Prevention: The VA is using predictive analytics to identify people at risk for suicide, overdose, and other adverse outcomes. A dashboard displays key information about patients identified and suggestions for interventions to enhance care. Interdisciplinary teams conduct clinical reviews of patient cases and/or clinicians reach out to those with high estimated risk to collaboratively discuss their care and how to enhance it. As of March, the VA expanded the impact of the predictive modeling program by successfully reviewing or reaching out to 86.9% of Veterans identified - up from a baseline of 57% in October of 2017.
Small Business Administration (SBA) - Increase 8(a) Awards: The SBA increased the number of federal contracts awarded to disadvantaged small businesses (8(a)-certified firms) by 10% since 2017.
Department of Commerce (DOC) - Remove Foreign Trade Barriers: In the first half of FY19, DOC successfully resolved 66 trade barrier cases, facilitating fair competition in international trade for U.S. businesses. Preliminary estimates show this work has ensured continued access to overseas markets for more than $5 billion in U.S. exports.
How to Find the Action Plans & Progress Reports
To view APG updates:
- Click on “Agencies” on the menu at the top of the page
- Click on the name of the Agency that you’d like to view
- Select the title of the APG from the menu on the left side of the page
- Find the June 2019 Action Plan under “Goal Action Plans & Progress Updates”
To view CAP Goal updates:
- Click on “Management Priorities” on the menu at the top of the page
- Select the goal you’d like to view
- Under “Download the latest action plan and progress update” click “download”