Building the Enterprise - Booz Allen Hamilton

STRATEGY 1DEVELOP AN ENTERPRISEPERFORMANCE PLAN WITHSENIOR-LEVEL COMMITMENTTO DRIVE CROSS-AGENCYGOALS AND MISSIONSNow that the administration has pilotedthe initial set of cross-agencypriority goals required by GPRAMA,it is time for the president to institutionalizethe enterprise model andtake it to scale.We recommend that he start bydeveloping—and, more importantly,publicly committing to—a strategicenterprise performance plan. Thiscomprehensive, government-wideblueprint will identify the broadarray of missions and functions (includingthe top presidential priorities)that can best be achieved by thewhole-of-government enterprise. Itwill set outcome- and time-basedgoals for enterprise missions andfunctions. As discussed in strategies2 and 3, it will put the necessaryinfrastructure and accountabilitymechanisms in place to increase thelikelihood those targets are achieved.As noted earlier, this won’t bethe first time a strategic enterpriseperformance plan has been attempted.The first attempt in 1998under GPRA got good marks fromGAO, but nonetheless failed in partbecause there was no presidentialcommitment and no one was incharge of making sure the plan wasimplemented.The plan should be organizedaround enterprise goals to includethe program and policy priorities ofthe president, such as reducing theunemployment rate of veterans. Italso should include enduring missionsand functions, such as assuringthe safety of the nation’s food supply,that are no less important butthat have come to be expected bythe American people and should notrequire presidential attention to ensuresuccess or necessarily changealong with administrations.Each enterprise goal shouldhave a balanced scorecard of quantitativeand qualitative performanceobjectives that commit the agenciesinvolved to tangible individual andenterprise outputs and outcomes.And each goal and set of performanceobjectives should be specific,measurable, assignable, realistic andtime limited. Here again, the administrationhas laid a solid foundationfor what we propose: It already poststhe current GPRAMA cross-agencypolicy and management goals on thePerformance.gov website.Many experts we consulted arguedthat the president’s budgetalready serves as the primary blueprintfor administration priorities,eliminating the need for a strategicenterprise performance plan. However,the budget is and always willbe organized by department andagency—in other words, accordingto the government’s stovepipes—anddoesn’t effectively communicatepresidential priorities to stakeholders.Agency-specific performanceplans won’t do the trick, either,though they have matured duringthe two decades since GPRA becamelaw. Neither addresses cross-agencymissions and functions and thereforecannot substitute for an enterpriseperformance plan focusing onmatters requiring collective agencyactivity, and clarifying each actor’srole in the achievement of the goals.This approach will begin to addressthe fragmentation, overlap and duplicationof federal programs and activitiesand, more importantly, serveas a blueprint for more effectivecross-agency collaboration on thosechallenges that are truly enterprisein nature.The strategic enterprise performanceplan must be owned bythe president and the Cabinet, withthe specifics of its development andimplementation a natural job for thePresident’s Management Council(PMC). And as a public expressionof commitment, the enterprise planshould be included in the president’sannual budget submission. Inthe budget, the enterprise performanceplan will orient the executivebranch, Congress and the public toan approach that better connectsagency and government-wide coststo enterprise results.The PMC, chaired by OMB’sdeputy director for management,comprises the chief operating officersof the executive departmentsand agencies (typically deputy secretariesand deputy administrators),plus the heads of central managementagencies, such as the Office ofPersonnel Management (OPM) andthe General Services Administration(GSA). First established in theClinton administration, the PMCtraditionally has served as a coordinatingbody, undertaking relativelyfew government-wide initiatives.It works with other councils,such as the Chief Financial OfficersCouncil and the Performance ImprovementCouncil, and overseesthe President’s Management AdvisoryBoard, a group of private-sectorchief executive officers appointed bythe president to recommend strategiesfor implementing best businesspractices in government.The time has come for the PMCto take more visible charge of the enterprise.It is ideally suited to developthe enterprise performance plan, supportedby staff, and to propose its goals,outcomes and timetables to the Cabinetand, ultimately, to the president,for ratification and endorsement.10 PARTNERSHIP FOR PUBLIC SERVICE | BOOZ ALLEN HAMILTON