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Managing the Business of Government

Overview

Priority Area Leaders

Don Graves

TitleDeputy Secretary

AgencyU.S. Department of Commerce

Andrea Palm

TitleDeputy Secretary

AgencyU.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Kristie Canegallo

TitleActing Deputy Secretary

AgencyU.S. Department of Homeland Security

Summary of Progress

  • December 2023

    Under Strategy 1, the team on Priority Area 3 is focused on the Federal Government’s national strategy to build public health supply chain resiliency. Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) Made in America Office (MIAO) and Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) are collaborating with experts in requirements, acquisition, and supply chain at the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) in the development of a plan to strengthen the long-term health of the domestic Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) industry in furtherance of the Make PPE in America Act. 

    For Strategy 2, the Council on Federal Financial Assistance (COFFA), established by OMB Memorandum M-23-19, convened for its first meeting in October 2023. Together with the Chair OMB and Co-Chair HHS, council members are developing priorities for the COFFA to accomplish within the first year. One of the projects that already commenced is the identification of the core competencies necessary for the financial assistance workforce. This effort will help to identify the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary for this workforce that are the same at each Federal financial assistance agency. New milestones are presented in this update to communicate progress toward the completion of this project.

  • August 2023

    Through this period, strategy leads continued to advance federal priorities through federal acquisition and federal financial assistance. This release includes updates on accomplishments related to existing milestones and several new planned milestones.

  • May 2023

    Strategy leads continued to implement action plans to advance Federal priorities for sustainability and equity through Federal acquisition and Federal financial assistance. In Federal acquisition, this release includes important updates related to priority supply chains and investing in the acquisition workforce. Federal financial assistance leads announce the release of a new training for the financial assistance workforce.

  • March 2023

    Cross-agency teams continued to develop and refine their action plans to advance sustainability and equity priorities for the Nation through the Federal acquisition and financial assistance systems. Each strategy has defined initial success metrics and milestones.

  • November 2022

    Cross-agency teams have been working to develop and refine action plans to achieve the President’s vision to leverage Federal acquisition and financial assistance systems to advance priorities for the Nation. Each strategy is defining strategy-wide success metrics to measure progress toward achieving their ambitious goals.

Challenge

The Federal Government awards over $1.5 trillion in Federal contracts and financial assistance each year—and sometimes much more in times of crisis. This creates an enterprise-level opportunity to lean on Federal systems for managing the business of Government—the goods and services we buy and the financial assistance and resources we provide and oversee—to create and sustain good quality union jobs, address persistent racial and gender wealth and wage gaps, and address other challenges our Nation faces. The Administration has already taken bold action to leverage Federal acquisition and financial assistance to take on our most pressing challenges as a country. Accomplishing these ambitious goals and activities collectively will also require continuous improvements in our procurement, financial assistance, and financial management ecosystems. This shift will require new measures and processes, new training for the Federal workforce, and new tradeoffs that agencies together will need to address going forward.

Opportunity

We can harness this collective power and make connections across the Federal acquisition and financial assistance systems to strengthen the U.S. manufacturing base and support American workers, catalyze new solutions that address the climate crisis and enhance sustainability, and advance equity. The public will benefit from a Government that buys together and manages financial assistance together, devoting attention to how these systems deliver results—prosperity, security, and opportunity—for all people in this country. Federal agencies will look across existing Administration initiatives to ensure that system-wide, continuous improvement in Federal acquisition, financial management, and financial assistance systems occurs. This system-wide focus can include, for example: opportunity and issue spotting, including resolution of conflicts across discrete lines of effort; training and guidance for practitioners within agencies; data-management and evidence-building strategies; and other capacity-building strategies.

Strategies

Strategy 1

Foster lasting improvements in the federal acquisition system to strengthen the U.S. domestic manufacturing base, support American workers, lead by example toward sustainable climate solutions, and create opportunities for underserved communities.  

1 Strategy Lead
Success Metrics
CAP Goal

Strategy 2

Build capacity in federal financial management, including through federal financial assistance, to catalyze American industrial strategy, address climate-related risks, and deliver equitable results.  

1 Strategy Lead
Success Metrics
CAP Goal

Highlights

A curated view of progress happening across this priority area

Highlight

OMB, What is the Council on Federal Financial Assistance (COFFA), and What Does It Do?

Highlight

DOD and OMB, Achieving Parity: A New Era of Talent Mobility for Contracting Professionals

Webinar

December PMA webinar featured Business of Government

Highlight

OMB Memorandum M-23-19, Establishment of the Council on Federal Financial Assistance

Highlight

NASA and OMB, NASA’s Commitment to Made in America

Highlight

OMB, Virtual webinar featuring Business of Government

Highlight

PMA July Updates from HHS's Andrea Palm

Highlight

PMA July Updates from DHS’s John Tien

Highlight

See blogs related to #Businessofgovernment
PMA / Business of Government / Join the Action

Join the Action

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Learn more about how the federal government is working to improve stewardship of Federal dollars on our data page, released on February 1st

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Read the Biden-Harris President’s Management Agenda Vision, our roadmap for achieving an equitable, effective, accountable government that delivers results for all of the American people

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Review critical government-wide research questions in the PMA Learning Agenda – answers to these questions will help the Federal Government deliver more effective and equitable results

PMA / Business of Government / Success Metrics
PMA / Business of Government / Leaders

Leaders

Lesley Field

TitleActing Administrator, Federal Procurement Policy

AgencyOffice of Management and Budget

StrategyFoster lasting improvements in the federal acquisition system...

Deidre Harrison

TitleDeputy Controller performing the delegated duties of the Controller, Office of Management and Budget

AgencyOffice of Management and Budget

StrategyBuild capacity in federal financial management, including through...

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