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At its 2004 Winter Retreat, the Academy’s Board of Directors identified 10 key issues—“Big Ideas”—that it felt were important to public governance in the years ahead and deserved Academy attention.
Approximately 100 Fellows were involved in the initial development of the 10 Big Ideas. Some projects were developed, implemented and completed. Others matured to the point of becoming part of the Academy’s ongoing work. More detailed archived material on the projects and those who participated in them can be accessed by clicking Big Ideas.
Below is a synopsis of some of the projects and their accomplishments.
Emerging Issues: Given the centrality of emerging issues to the Academy and its mission, the Board determined to make the identification of Emerging Issues an ongoing part of the Academy’s work.
Fiscal Future: The Fiscal Future Committee, chaired by Fellow Ed DeSeve, addressed the pressing fiscal issues that federal, state and local governments confront. It sponsored a June 2005 forum on “The Role of Budget Processes and Concepts” at which Congressman John Spratt, former CBO Directors Rudolph Penner and Robert Reischauer and former Congressman William Frenzel presented. In December 2005, the committee issued a final report and recommendations on the nation’s fiscal situation, Ensuring the Future Prosperity of America: Addressing the Fiscal Future. The report was released at a public event featuring Fellows Alice Rivlin and Paul A. Volcker. (Link to report)
Health Care: Building on the work of the Fellows on the Health Care Committee, the Academy entered into a partnership with the National Academy of Social Insurance and successfully applied for a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The grant was awarded for an examination of the management aspects of health care, aimed at improving the system by reducing costs and increasing efficiency and access. A project panel from the two Academies was formed, with Fellow Bill Morrill as Chair. This work is ongoing.
Intergovernmental: The result of this committee’s work was the establishment of an Intergovernmental Center at the Academy. The Center has developed a research and data program and an education program panel. It plays a key convening role and is holding an ongoing series of forums. The Federal Systems Standing Panel has worked closely with the Center on its development and programs. The Center also has a strong working relationship with the “Big 7” organizations representing intergovernmental interests in Washington, DC; those organizations have provided support for the Center’s programs. Additional information about the Center and its work is at The Intergovernmental Center.
International: The International Committee has partnered with Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School and Bobst Center on a “Fragile States” project. The partnership is focusing on engaging and providing assistance to those working to build or rebuild the capacity for governance in fragile or post-conflict states. The Academy side of this partnership is being led by Fellows Ralph Widner and Enid Beaumont, Chair of the International Standing Panel. The Public Service Panel was recently asked to contribute to a draft paper on lessons learned from efforts to reform civil services around the world.
Prisons: The Prison Committee examined several pressing issues related to prisons. The committee then developed a project related to the connectivity of health care delivery between prisoners in prison, and provided once they have returned to the community following incarceration. Fellow Mike Quinlan, formerly Federal Bureau of Prisons Director, is chairing the committee. The committee has developed a funding proposal and is looking for support for several case studies to examine the public administration aspects of this problem.
Public Service: This committee focused on two projects. The first was the development and creation of a governmentwide framework for public service reform. This framework was subsequently discussed at a U.S. Government Accountability Office forum on this topic. GAO’s report on the forum and the framework developed by the Fellows committee were sent to all members of Congress with a cover letter from Comptroller General David Walker and former Academy President C. Morgan Kinghorn.
The second project was to tackle the management issues surrounding the multisector workforce. A task force of Fellows from the original Public Service Committee has helped guide this project, as has the Standing Panel on the Public Service under the Chairmanship of Roz Kleeman and Bob Tobias. The task force produced a concept paper identifying and outlining six key public administration issues associated with the multisector workforce. The Academy has hosted two forums to help develop its research and is currently overseeing case studies at three federal agencies, designed to examine the key issues and develop answers to the management challenges they present. Case studies are being planned at other federal agencies through the Academy’s Human Resources Management Consortium. The Academy regularly presents its work on this issue at conferences and other public forums. For more information on the Multisector Workforce project.
Social Equity: The Social Equity Committee developed papers on three topics of current interest and concern to public administrators: “What does the Educational Experience of Young Men of Color Tell us About Social Equity?,” by Dr. Philbert Aaron; “Measuring Social Equity Performance in the Criminal Justice System,” by Dr. Jim Brunet and “Social Equity: Health and Health Care Indicators,” by Richard W. Hug. Findings from these papers were presented at the Academy Standing Panel on Social Equity in Governance Conferences in 2006 and 2007. It is anticipated that these papers and others will be published as part of a book now being developed by the Social Equity Standing Panel under the leadership of Fellows Costis Toregas and Norman Johnson.
The 10 Big Ideas are listed below in the order in which the Board ranked them.
To view the current status of each Big Idea, please click on the hyperlinked title.
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Develop approaches for federal, state, and local governments
to deal with their financial issues and the potentially increasing
structural deficit, by improving public understanding of the
scope and consequences of the problem, as well as its impacts
if any on our ability to meet national goals and on the influence
of the United States in the world.
Click for Final Report of the Committee
: Analyze the current health care system in order to recommend how to create a fiscally responsible health care system.
Click for committee information
: Assist in ongoing implementation of the new department and assess and advise on its effectiveness and assess opportunities to improve existing organizational structures.
Click for committee information
:
Provide leadership in developing improved trust, collaboration,
and interdependency among the various levels of government
(federal, state, and local) for delivering effective public
services by clarifying roles and responsibilities; and consider
establishing an Academy Center for Inter-governmental Relations,
focused initially on changes required to reconcile the strengths
of our decentralized system with the need for a more consistent
and uniform response to issues of national urgency, such as
homeland security, K thru 12 education, Medicaid, and the
threat of bioterrorism.
Click for committee information
: Recommend approaches for a new Academy role in international relations to assist foreign governments in improving their management capacity and governance.
Click for committee information
:
Develop practical approaches and procedures to address a bioterrorism
attack, with particular emphasis on the need for effective
inter-governmental and multi-disciplinary cooperation and
coordination, including simulated responses using case studies,
scenarios, and "serious games" that can facilitate
analyzing and learning about a variety of potential outcomes.
Click for committee information
: Analyze the current status of prison management and the federal-state corrections system with the intent of recommending specific methods for improving management and accountability, as well as identifying the cost drivers and structures for prison systems.
Click for committee information
:Given
the realities of 21st Century public service:
- How can we ensure that agencies have
the capacity and resources to effectively source and manage
talent across sectors needed to meet current and future
mission requirements?
- What management capabilities, systems
and flexibilities does the blended government workforce
need to carry out its mission?
- How should values of public service,
based on merit principles, be applied across this blended
workforce?
Click for committee information
:
Evaluate the effect of government programs on social equity,
economic inclusion, and racial reconciliation and recommend
ways to improve governmental decision-making.
Click for committee information
:
Establish an "emerging issues forum" to provide early identification of
critical issues for future Academy focus, thus providing a highly valued, on-demand capability
to offer the Academy's trusted advice to Congress, the White House, Governors, city
or county officials, and senior executives at all three levels of government.
Click for committee information
For questions or comments, contact
Scott Belcher at (202) 347-3190 or e-mail at sbelcher@napawash.org.
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