8: Strategic Management of Performance Improvement

Drive the process for successful implementation of major performance improvement initiatives throughout GSA.

Other Information:

Competitive sourcing supports the government’s long-standing policy of reliance, where cost-effective, on the private sector for services that are not inherently governmental, as defined in OMB Circular A-76, Performance of Commercial Activities. Competitive sourcing initiatives are intended to ensure that government managers use the most efficient and cost-effective organization to support the agency’s Mission. GSA’s ongoing and planned competitive sourcing activities are designed to meet Federal governmentwide Strategic Goals for performance improvement and for providing effective and efficient services to the American people. GSA will continue to manage all agency-wide competitive sourcing activities in strict compliance with applicable guidelines. The Federal Activities Inventory Reform (FAIR) Act of 1998 requires Federal agencies to prepare and submit to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) inventories of commercial activities performed by Federal employees, as part of the Federal government’s competition and privatization efforts, when efficient and effective. GSA will continue to conduct the FAIR Act inventory annually and maintain an agency-wide competitive sourcing plan. In support of the plan, GSA will commit agency resources to perform competitive sourcing in-house analyses and to fairly, accurately, and transparently conduct both streamlined and standard competitions. Performance goals are also integrated into employee and executive performance plans. Employees are held accountable for delivering results in achieving agency and governmentwide goals. Organizational performance goals and individual critical elements are aligned with and support the Strategic Goals of the agency. GSA initiated the Activity Based Costing/Management (ABC/M) Program in April 2003 to help measure performance. Through the ABC/M program, GSA will continue to improve resource planning and performance to help enhance the achievement of the agency’s Strategic Goals and Organizational Excellence. The ABC/M program achieved many improvements during FY 2006, which helped us identify areas for further operating effi ciencies. - We improved the ABC/M model structure to enhance data quality, analysis, and reporting. - We improved ABC/M labor cost reports. - We used best practices from other Federal agencies to develop a GSA Activity Dictionary, resulting in consistent descriptions of like activities and business processes performed across GSA Staff Offices. As a result of these improvements, the ABC/M program is now poised to deliver higher-quality analytical data in the future. We continue to refine and improve the ABC/M modeling process by developing standard reports, improving cost allocation methods, and improving activity descriptions. GSA is planning to use ABC/M data to further analyze its financial service processes in order to identify areas for further operating efficiencies. This work supports the review of fees and other charges imposed by GSA’s Staff Offices.

Indicator(s):

Indicator:1

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