E-Government in the USA

Have come across a couple of reports on E-government in the USA.  The first is from Pew Research and is a survey that describes the relationship of citizens to public administration - according to this study, 40% of adult internet users have gone online to obtain raw data about government spending and about government activities.  And 31% of online adults have used social media to stay informed about government activities and want to be more engaged & contribute to policy development.  This last part on the desire of citizens wanting to contribute to policy development does not surprise me as I have written about the advantage of what I called "open source policy development" in past blogs.  You can access the Pew study here.

The second report is a report from the Office of Management and Budget entitled "FY 2009 Report to Congress on the Implementation of The E-Government Act of 2002".  This report describes how the US government uses e-government tools to improve its performance and delivery of services and information to the public.  The report also delves into transparency and participation initiatives.

In its first year in office, the Obama Administration leveraged the power of information technology to transform the Federal Government. Starting on his first full day in office, the President led this effort by issuing a directive to make the Government more open and transparent. The Administration engaged the American people in new ways such as virtual town hall meetings and improved the quality of the services delivered to the public. Key initiatives demonstrate the commitment to changing the way Government works:

• In May 2009, Data.gov was launched to enhance access to Federal data. Since then, the site has grown to contain over 167,000 datasets and tools for using the data. After the Environmental Protection Agency toxic release data was featured on Data.gov, the frequency of downloads of that data increased over tenfold.
• In June 2009, the IT Dashboard was implemented to provide unprecedented transparency into $78 billion in annual Federal spending on IT investments. Agency CIOs now review the IT Dashboard monthly to provide updated status information on major IT investments more frequently than ever before.
• In September 2009, Apps.gov was launched to provide Federal agencies easy access to new cloud computing and social media technologies. This enabled agencies to transform their computing services quickly and avoid months of delay and redundant effort.
• In October 2009, a new platform, CyberScope, was launched to streamline the annual security reporting workload and improved the ability to analyze and report on IT security across the Federal Government.
• In December 2009, OMB issued the Open Government Directive instructing all agencies to implement the principles of transparency, participation and collaboration set forth by the President.

 The report also includes many examples of initiatives undertaken in e-government that have application to Canada. You can access the full report here.

Social Networking

Interesting article in the Economist on the rise and use of Social Networking. It is a good read. For those who do not know, IPAC has launched a new IPAC e-connect site that is a networking site to link public servants across the country. If you haven't joined, do so today and connect across the country & around the world with other dedicated public servants.

We officially launched the e-connect site on January 27th and throughout the day a number of different live chats took place on subjects that were discussed at the October New Professionals conference. Check out the site & join in the discussions.

Topical Briefs

As part of IPAC's knowledge sharing strategy, IPAC developed "Topical Briefs" on a number of different issues, that is:

E-Government;
Citizen-Centered Service;
Single-Windows and Integrated Service Delivery;
Codes of Ethics;
Performance Measurement;
Whistle-Blowing;
Alternative Service Delivery;
Conflict of Interest; and
Public Private Partnerships

These briefs were written by Ken Kernaghan and funded by the World Bank Institute and is part of our International work. These are wonderful short pieces outlining the key issues under all these topics. Take a look at these....there is much more on the IPAC website as well.

IPAC takes a step into Web 2.0

IPAC is moving into using Web 2.0 technology. Having created a Facebook page and a LinkedIn page, we are now moving into Ning. The site is up and running thanks to the impetus of IPAC New Professionals and Jennifer from the National office.

January 27, 2010 is the official launch date. Some of the presenters at the Winds of Change conference will post on the site throughout the day and there will be opportunities to use the site’s chat feature for live discussions.

The site includes opportunities to get involved in discussions, exchange ideas and connect with other public servants across Canada and around the world.

I urge you all to join by going to the IPAC Connect site.

Transformational Leadership Panel

I was asked by Rob Dowler of MGS (Government of Ontario) to moderate a panel at this year's Showcase Ontario. The panel was on "Transformational Leadership for Today's Public Service" and took place on September 23, 2009. They assembled a stellar panel for me to moderate. The panelists were:

* Shirley Hoy, former City Manager, City of Toronto and now CEO of Toronto Lands Corp;
* Tony Dean, former Ontario Secretary of the Cabinet and now a fellow in residence at the School of Public Policy & Governance, University of Toronto; and
* Alex Himelfarb, former Clerk of the Privy Council (Government of Canada) and the newly appointed Director of the School of Public & International Affairs, Glendon College.

To say this was a stellar panel would be a gross understatement. What was interesting to me was that all three worked together to achieve some substantial breakthroughs in intergovernmental cooperation. As you can imagine, entrenched interests make this kind of three level cooperation difficult most of the time. Anyway, the 10 minute presentations from each of the panelists was quite interesting.

Tony was the first to speak and he talked about 1) the importance of "people issues" in the public service including proper and enlightened leadership; 2) Complex policy issues and 3) Execution. He spoke of the need for the establishment of benchmarks and measurement which requires robust information systems to provide evidence in terms of both delivery and policy. He underscored the importance of public sector leadership in protecting the core values of the public service and building a culture of flexibility and innovation within the public service.

Alex spoke about 1) the deterioration of the policy role within government and 2) the challenge to be innovate with the current "cult of accountability". He contrasted today's Deputy Minister to DM's when he first joined government. DM's 20 years ago focused on policy and provided "fearless advice and loyal implementation", while today's DM is an executioner and provides "loyal advice and fearful implementation". He sees the reductions of the past having a significant negative impact on the policy capability of public service. As a result, there is decreased demand for policy advice from politicians. The advent of technology has resulted in the "democratization" of the policy process, where expertise has become devalued. On the cult of accountability Alex spoke to the need to be innovative (as part of a learning organization) and to take risks which has been affected by a focus on blame.

Shirley spoke of the "implementation gap" in government...how to properly implement broad policy decisions and that public servants had become too risk averse. She spoke of the need to focus on results and outcomes and using technology as an enabler for transformation. She sees that we are in a post bureaucratic model of government and that no single level of government can tackle the complex problems and policy challenges that face society today.

Following the presentations, the floor was opened up for a Q & A session. There were questions on technology as an enabler; the trend of centralization of decision making; and how to ensure innovation within public service.

A video of the session is presently being edited. Once it is complete, I will provide you with the link so that you can all watch what was a fascinating session.

Conference Updates

I was recently at two international conferences. The first was the meeting of CAFRAD - The African Training & Research Centre in Administration for Development which is based in Tangiers, Morocco. The conference included delegates from approximately 36 African countries as well as observers such as IPAC. The conference was quite interesting & involved a full day for the Board Meeting (went till past 22h00) as well as two days of presentations and discussions on different topics. I will be writing more about this conference in the next while. IPAC and CAFRAD are in the process of finalizing an MOU that will involve the exchange of information, research and knowledge in public administration.

The second conference I attended was the Annual Meeting of IIAS - the International Institute of Administrative Sciences. The conference took place in Helsinki and was attended by approximately 250 delegates from around the world. The theme of this conference was:"History and future of nation-building, The role of public administrations, civil servants and public finances in nation-building." It was a very interesting conference with a number of great keynote presentations, for example by Jocelyne Bourgon, former Federal Clerk on the new framework for public administration. I will be writing about this in the next week or so as it is very interesting and thought provoking. It is in line with my thoughts about the evolution of public administration from the "New Public Management" model that was espoused in the 1980's and 1990's. There were a number of very interesting workshop presentations, including one by Geraldine Fraser-Molekti and Demetrios Argyriades on the state of Democratic Governance. Also noteworthy was the presentation by the Egyptian Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Administrative Development, Mr. Ashraf Abdelwahab. Egypt has made tremendous strides in e-government. I will be writing about all these presentations in future posts

I should note that IPAC is the Canadian "national section" of IIAS and we are reinvigorating our relationship with IIAS.

To those who have Monday off (it is Simcoe Day in Ontario), have a great long weekend.