Management Improvements
USAID's considerable progress in its business transformation is benefiting Agency employees, implementing partners, and beneficiaries. Through the efficiencies gained, USAID is able to better meet its mandate and ensure responsible use of American taxpayer funds. Management reform initiatives are directed at streamlining administrative processes and systems, eliminating redundancies, and improving customer service to enhance USAID's program delivery.
USAID's Business Transformation Plan
One of the most important keys to successful transformation is an effective governance structure. USAID created the Business Transformation Executive Committee (BTEC) to unite the most senior career executives across the Agency in a partnership to reform USAID's management systems and improve organizational performance. The BTEC is based on the recognized "best practice" that successful, large-scale transformation requires active collaboration, shared ownership, and accountability across an organization's entire top leadership team. Chaired by the Deputy Administrator, the BTEC meets monthly to review progress, set priorities, and make decisions. It serves as the Agency's capital investment review board to ensure that investments address USAID's highest priorities and meet employee needs. The BTEC has developed the major components of USAID's Business Transformation Plan to address the President's Management Agenda (PMA) and the management strategic objectives of the Joint State-USAID Strategic Plan.
USAID's comprehensive plan to modernize the Agency's management systems, improve customer service, and implement performance-based results consists of the following four major business transformation initiatives:
Strategic Management of Human Capital: USAID is directly addressing the PMA's human capital goals through its comprehensive Human Capital Strategy (2004-2009). In FY 2007, USAID will:
- Complete implementation of competency component of Learning Management System and have multi-year plans in place to close all critical competency gaps.
- Review and update Human Capital (HC) Strategic Plan.
- Conduct a review of Succession Planning Strategic Plan and amend as needed.
- Meet State/USAID overseas Rightsizing/Regionalization targets.
- Demonstrate continued progress in closing identified core competency gaps through recruitment, retention, training, succession planning and other strategies.
- Continue training and mentoring of the Agency leaders and employees, pursuing alternative learning modalities such as virtual classrooms and web- based training.
- Further coordination with State in goal-setting in the MAESC and other LOB forums.
- Deploy State's worldwide personnel tracking system (WebPASS Post Personnel) and phase out USAID's e-World.
Business Systems Modernization: USAID has undertaken a major multi-year effort to improve critical Agency business systems, including financial management and procurement, in accordance with the PMA objectives for e-Government, financial performance, and competitive sourcing. To ensure success of these efforts, the Agency has developed best practice plans and procedures to prioritize Information Technology (IT) investments, produce detailed project management plans, and monitor and evaluate approved projects. The FY 2007 request will allow USAID to:
- Continue to systematically incorporate data from existing Agency systems into an Executive Information Management System.
- Continue deployment of the joint grants management system with DoS.
- Continue deployment of USAID web-based worldwide contracts management system.
- Expand implementation of IT project management reforms across all USAID IT spending, including IT investments overseas, regardless of funding account.
- Expand use of grants.gov and best practices in grants management worldwide.
- Continue implementation of A-123 program, including updating initial risk assessment and developing employee training plan and curriculum.
- Update important documents including control documentation, testing plan, and Agency guidance.
- Continue to test controls over high risk activities.
- Take actions to mitigate vulnerabilities identified in 2006.
- Issue an annual assurance statement on internal control over financial reporting as of June 30, 2007.
- Continue implementation of the USAID Asset Management (AMP) implementation plan and complete targets as identified in the USAID AMP three year timeline.
- Continue implementation of A-123 program, including updating initial risk assessment and developing employee training plan and curriculum.
- Update important documents including control documentation, testing plan, and Agency guidance.
- Continue to test controls over high risk activities.
- Take actions to mitigate vulnerabilities identified in 2006.
- Issue an annual assurance statement on internal control over financial reporting as of June 30, 2007.
- Continue deployment of the USAID Asset Management (AMP) implementation plan and complete targets as identified in the USAID AMP three year timeline.
Knowledge for Development: Through this effort, USAID is improving the strategic management of the Agency's intellectual capital, enhancing learning, capturing institutional knowledge, and strengthening partner collaboration through technology-enabled systems and processes as envisioned under the PMA objectives for e-Government and Human Capital. In FY 2007, USAID will:
- Enhance partnership with State Department and improve knowledge sharing between Agencies, including collaboration tool pilots for collaborative document development, co-sponsorship of Summer Seminar events and regular meetings to explore pilot activities.
- Broadly institutionalize KfD within the Agency. Improve access, sharing and retention of knowledge and experience as a result of KfD training and tools.
- Use of Communities of Practice as a well accepted group collaboration mechanism. Number of KfD recognized communities is increased.
- Complete first phase of enterprise-wide installation of community support software.
- Deploy Experience Locator t to better harness USAID staff resources and connect people for more rapid response and problem solving.
- Increase understanding and use of After Action Reviews (AARs) within USAID. Develop database to capture and distribute AAR reporting throughout the Agency.
USAID Mission and Headquarters Management Assessments:
Beginning in January 2005, USAID launched an Agency-wide Initiative to assess both overseas missions and headquarters bureaus and independent offices. This effort examines the effectiveness of USAID field and Washington operations, both in terms of program and internal management. In the past year, the Agency conducted close to a dozen Mission Management Assessments (MMAs) worldwide and is currently preparing for its first headquarters assessment in Washington. These assessments serve as a management tool for the Agency, the regional bureaus and the respective missions to evaluate strategic focus, portfolio implementation mechanisms, staffing capacity, and overall operations. Criteria for determining missions for review were based on planned co-location with Embassies, regional restructuring and/or support issues, examination of OE/Program/Staffing ratios, changed political and/or economic situations, and significant changes in resources due to special programs or initiatives such as the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). Through these MMAs, the Agency has been able to build upon its management and organizational goals of streamlining management support operations, focusing program portfolios, reducing management units, identifying efficiencies in procurement, and broadening the functions of its regional platforms. The MMAs also provide the Agency with the ability to determine best practices to share with other missions, determine issues requiring Agency-level attention, and help inform the process for restructuring our overseas presence, which will include the development of a corporate rightsizing and regionalization strategy. In FY2007, USAID will:
- Begin implementation of Agency rightsizing and regionalization strategy in order to restructure overseas presence.
- Begin Washington-based rightsizing effort to align staff against Agency core functions and priorities.
- Partner with DoS to align both overseas and Washington based restructuring efforts.
- Continue with both Mission and Headquarters Assessments with emphasis on assessment of core functions and Agency
- Continue with data monitoring to make sure all performance indicators are updated and appropriately modified as needed.
- Improve impact of program performance data with more detailed analysis and integration of SO-level performance.
- Maintain OMB "Green" ratings for Progress and Status on the PMAs Budget and Performance Integration standard.
President's Management Agenda
USAID has made significant progress on the PMA and embraces the PMA objectives to enhance performance through better control over resources used and accountability for program results. The Agency has improved its status ranking to "yellow" for e-government and budget and performance integration, and is implementing a number of management reforms and major investments to achieve "green" status in all areas. Accomplishments to date on all five government-wide PMA initiatives are detailed in the "Management Landscape" section of the FY 2006 Joint State-USAID Performance Plan. In FY 2007, USAID will focus on:
Strategic Management of Human Capital: USAID is committed to fully implementing its Human Capital Strategy and maintaining a "green" status rating in FY 2007. USAID will continue to analyze and optimize organizational structures, work to close mission critical skill gaps, and implement an effective performance appraisal system for all employees. The recent establishment of a comprehensive human capital workforce model will allow the agency to more effectively analyze its global staffing requirements, across all staffing categories. In addition, USAID will continue to improve its staff training. USAID is implementing its human capital accountability system using metrics to evaluate performance. It will incorporate affirmative employment goals into recruitment and retention strategies to address under representation.
Improved Financial Performance: USAID will complete the State-USAID Joint Financial Management System, including a worldwide transition to an integrated accounting system, and continue implementation of the Procurement System Improvement Plan. These investments will keep the Agency on track for achieving a "green" status rating in FY 2007.
Expanded Electronic Government: USAID will continue full participation in enterprise architecture improvements and strengthen management of its information technology portfolio, including e-Training, e-Grants, e-Travel, HR Line of Business and other government-wide e-Government initiatives. These efforts address the criteria for the "green" status rating the Agency expects to achieve in FY 2006.
>Budget and Performance Integration: The Agency has achieved a "green" rating for status and for progress in FY 2006 and is continuing efforts to improve in this area. USAID applied a comprehensive strategic budgeting model to the FY 2006 budget requests and incorporated the results of the Program Assessment Rating Tool assessments into its budget formulation processes to better enable the Agency to link budget decisions to program performance. The Agency will continue to develop efficiency measures for programs scheduled for PART review and develop common performance indicators from previously PARTed programs for use in PART reviews in accordance with the Performance Goals defined in the State-USAID Joint Strategic Plan and the Joint Performance Plan.
Competitive Sourcing: USAID will conduct feasibility studies during the remainder of FY 2006, to begin evaluating whether to proceed with competitions for commercial activities identified as suitable for competition on its Federal Activities Inventory Reform (FAIR) Act inventory. Based on the results of these studies, USAID may initiate competitions. USAID intends to conduct the bulk of its feasibility reviews during FY 2007-08. A streamlined A-76 competition affecting five FTEs and associated contractor support was announced in FY 2005, for completion in FY 2006.
Real Property Asset Management Plan: USAID will continue to collaborate with DoS/Overseas Building Operations and OMB to accomplish initiatives and targets outlined in the DoS and USAID Asset Management Plan (AMP) and three year timeline, and to meet OMB specific criteria to achieve results in the areas of: eliminating surplus assets, operating at right cost, maintaining assets in the right condition and complying with the requirements of the Federal Real Property Initiative. The Agency expects to show continued progress to achieving a "green" status rating in FY 2008.
State-USAID Joint Management Council
The State-USAID Joint Management Council (JMC) is overseeing efforts to pursue collaborative management activities to advance the strategic goals of both organizations, support employees, and reduce costs. The Under Secretary for Management and USAID Deputy Administrator co-chair the Executive Committee, which also includes the Assistant Secretary for Resource Management and Assistant Administrator for Management. Eight senior-level working groups are implementing projects, identified in a joint business plan, in the following areas: resource management, management services and planning, management systems and processes, information and communication technology, e-government, facilities, security, and human capital.
To improve operational efficiencies and eliminate redundancies in administrative and management systems and processes, in FY 2007 USAID and State will:
- Engineer the convergence of the USAID and DoS overseas IT networks and infrastructures.
- Begin deployment of joint assistance management system to DoS and USAID overseas posts.
- Expand joint USAID/DoS Crossover Assignment Program (CAP) as well as joint USAID-State training opportunities.
- Based on joint Strategic Sourcing plan, purchase shared commodities/equipment to realize cost savings and management efficiencies.
- Increase acquisition and assistance services to Embassies by USAID Contracting Officers.
- Begin implementation of approved administrative support services consolidation plans.
- Continue consolidation of USAID phone switches with DoS and upgrade technology at collocated sites overseas.
- Apply Enterprise Architecture methodologies to assist the JMC Working Groups to identify potential areas of collaboration and consolidation.
Back to Top ^
|
