ORGANIZATIONAL EXCELLENCE GOAL

“Advance the Department's ability to manage for results and  achieve the goals of the President's Management Agenda”

Outcomes

  1. Achieved strategic management of human capital goals
  2. Achieved competitive sourcing goals
  3. Achieved financial performance goals
  4. Achieved budget and performance integration goals
  5. Achieved E-government goals
  6. Achieved Real property goals

Strategies

We cannot achieve our strategic goals without vision, leadership and a culture of teamwork, collaboration and continuous improvement.  We shall be leaders in pursuing best practices and achieving results that benefit taxpayers and the Nation.  Our central management strategy for achieving organizational improvement will be delivering the results described in this Strategic Plan and full implementation of the President's Management Agenda (PMA).

Program oversight and stewardship are critical and ongoing objectives for DOT.  We will continue to focus resources on activities that ensure that every Federal dollar is well spent and that program operations and processes are efficient and streamlined.  For example, monitoring the cost, schedule, and performance of Federal-aid transportation infrastructure projects, especially major projects costing over $500 million, are critical to identify problems and initiate action to mitigate risks.  The monetary threshold was lowered by SAFETEA-LU, which had the immediate effect of increasing the number of Major Projects requiring Project Management and Financial Plans from 21 to 37.  In addition, more than 80 potential major projects are currently in the environmental review stage. 

To make DOT the most desirable place to work in the Federal Government and the internationally recognized focal point for transportation core competencies, we must face and address a number of challenges in the years ahead.  Most critically, we must attract the best, the brightest and the most diverse workforce and inspire a new generation of innovators in transportation.  Each of us has the responsibility to help DOT become the employer of choice not only within the transportation sector but also within the Federal Government. 

Resources

The human resources, programs, capital assets, information technology and other resources described in DOT's Annual Performance Budgets are needed to achieve our outcomes for Organizational Excellence and to execute the strategies presented below.  The schedule for executing our organizational strategies extends from fiscal year 2006 through fiscal year 2011. 

Leadership Strategies

  1. Exert leadership throughout the Department by setting clear strategic goals, being accountable for achieving results, and maintaining a strong customer focus. (Supports all outcomes)
  2. Identify critical customer and partner satisfaction issues and develop specific actions to address these issues. (Supports all outcomes)
  3. Continuously assess and improve the leadership competencies of DOT executives and managers at all levels to maximize program effectiveness. (Supports all outcomes)
  4. Coordinate, prioritize and manage the Department's research portfolio and expedite implementation of cross-cutting innovative technologies through the Department's RD&T Planning Council.  (Supports all outcomes)
  5. Consistently apply the President’s R&D Investment Criteria—relevance, quality, and performance – to all DOT-sponsored and in-house research. (Supports all outcomes)
  6. Avoid undue delay in rulemaking proceedings by establishing Department-wide priorities and schedules, coordinating rulemaking actions, providing rulemaking process training, and adopting best practices. (Supports all outcomes)
  7. Develop and execute plans to improve the protection of DOT people, facilities, information, and equipment from intentional harm and to perform the essential functions of the Department even when key facilities are temporarily unavailable or unusable due to natural disasters or intentional harm. (Supports all outcomes)

Human Capital and Workforce Diversity Strategies

  1. Sustain a work environment free from discrimination by identifying and enforcing equal employment and diversity performance standards at the management level and enforcing disciplinary measure towards any employee that violates equal employment opportunity laws. (Supports all outcomes)
  2. Conduct workforce planning to identify both mission and workforce trends, assess mission-critical core competencies, and implement plans to close gaps through vigorous learning and knowledge management approaches, targeted recruitment, and succession planning. (Supports outcome 1)
  3. Improve the quality, timeliness and availability of workforce information and implement the workforce development plan established under the Department's Management Directive 715 Program that will result in a workforce of highly qualified individuals from diverse race/national origin/gender groups and individuals with disabilities. (Supports all outcomes)
  4. Identify and utilize opportunities for career development, conduct and analyze employee satisfaction surveys, and target specific strategies to address these issues. (Supports outcome 1)
  5. Sustain a learning environment that drives continuous improvement in performance through knowledge management, training, performance evaluation, coaching and mentoring.  (Supports outcome 1)
  6. Increase awareness and use of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) to resolve conflicts by providing training on the benefits of such programs, creating incentives for the use of ADR by impacted parties, and requiring its use, where possible and appropriate. (Supports outcome 1)  

Competitive Sourcing Strategies

  1. Achieve organizational and economic efficiencies by competing commercial functions between public and private entities.  (Supports outcome 2)
  2. Find the best business solutions to accomplish the Department's mission through world-class acquisition and grants business processes.  (Supports outcomes 2, 4, and 5)

Financial, Budget and Performance Integration Strategies

  1. Foster a results-oriented workforce through performance management and awards systems that link individual/team/unit performance to organizational goals and results through meaningful measures, and that make appropriate distinctions on the basis of contribution. (Supports outcomes 1 and 4)
  2. Provide relevant and reliable financial information that links resources and results to program managers for their use in improving performance and accountability.  (Supports outcomes 3 and 4)
  3. Work closely with partner organizations to measure and improve program delivery capability at State and National levels, with a focus on improving program risk assessment, fiscal constraint, financial stewardship and oversight responsibilities.(Supports outcomes 3 and 4)

Information Technology Strategies

  1. Mature, institutionalize and operationalize Enterprise Architecture Processes throughout the Department to improve operational efficiency, information sharing and utilization of information resources.  (Supports all outcomes)
  2. Implement E-government initiatives and lines of business such as Business Gateway, Grants.gov, Geospatial One-Stop, E-Rulemaking, and the financial management line of business to enable faster, simpler and more efficient ways for citizens, States, local governments, industry and other stakeholders to transact business with DOT. (Supports outcome 5)
  3. Undertake a rigorous analysis of the contribution of IT to each strategic goal to identify opportunities to support mission performance and demonstrate how IT contributes to program productivity.  (Supports all outcomes) 

Privacy of Personally Identifiable Information (PII) Strategies

  1. Review technical, administrative and physical security safeguards for systems that contain PII, and develop remediation plans to mitigate risks determined during annual safeguards review.  (Supports all outcomes)
  2. Work closely with other agencies to share ideas and resources for managing and protecting PII, increase user awareness of responsibilities for protecting the Department’s PII data assets, and incorporate government best practices. (Supports all outcomes)  
  3. Institutionalize strong data protection practices throughout the Department by providing business owners and those responsible for privacy and security with the tools and knowledge necessary to protect PII. (Supports all outcomes) 

Real Property Asset Management Strategies

  1. Develop and execute plans to ensure real property assets are accurately accounted, maintained, and managed. (Supports outcome 6)
  2. Ensure property inventories are maintained at the right size, cost, and condition to support agency missions and objectives. (Supports outcome 6)

Performance Measures

Table 6 depicts the relationship between our Organizational Excellence outcomes and the performance measures that will measure our progress toward that goal.

Table 6.  Organizational Excellence Outcomes and Performance Measures

Outcomes

Performance Measures

  1. Achieved strategic management of human capital goals
  2. Achieved competitive sourcing goals
  3. Achieved financial performance goals
  4. Achieved budget and performance integration goals
  5. Achieved E-government goals
  6. Achieved Real property goals

Performance for outcomes 1-6 will be based upon PMA Scorecard Standards for Success.

Percent of major Federally funded transportation infrastructure projects with less than 2 percent annual growth in the project completion milestone as reported in the finance plan.  2011 Target is 90 percent.  

Percent of finance plan cost estimates for major Federally funded transportation infrastructure projects with less than 2 percent annual growth. 2011 Target is 90 percent.

For major DOT systems, the percentage of cost goals established in the acquisition project baselines that are met.  2011 Target is 90 percent.

For major DOT systems, the percentage of scheduled milestones established in the acquisition project baselines that are met.  2011 Target is 90 percent.

External Factors

DOT workforce departures are the primary external factors that could affect our ability to achieve our organizational goal.  Anticipated retirements and the move to a new headquarters building may have a significant impact within DOT’s management levels during the next few years.  Many employees are now eligible to retire, especially in the Federal Highway Administration, which has the largest concentration of retirement-age managers.  The pending retirements will affect institutional knowledge and memory.  Moreover, the aging workforce may require retraining to close the skills gap to function successfully in a future environment with advanced management tools, new hardware and software platforms, and networking capabilities.  Aggressive marketing, outreach and recruitment initiatives will be necessary to attract highly skilled and diverse candidates to fill the next generation of DOT employees and managers.  

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