A Smarter, More Innovative Government for the American
People
http://www.whitehouse.gov//blog/2013/07/08/smarter-more-innovative-government-american-people
One of the President’s first priorities after taking office
in 2009 was to bring a government built for the 20th century into the 21st
century. Over the last four years, we’ve made great progress to advance this
goal, thanks in large part to the integration of new technologies and
innovations across the Administration.
This morning, the President held a meeting with his Cabinet
and senior officials to lay out his vision for building a better, smarter,
faster government over the course of his second term. During the meeting, the
President directed Cabinet members and key officials in his Administration to
build on the progress made over the first term, and he challenged us to improve
government even further.
To help members of the Cabinet and Administration officials
find more innovative ways to deliver better results, the Administration
recently welcomed a second class of Presidential Innovation Fellows – 43 highly
talented and motivated individuals chosen out of more than 2,000 applicants.
The first class of 18 Presidential Innovation Fellows worked hand-in-hand with
top government innovators to develop solutions that are delivering
smart-government solutions to taxpayers at a lower cost.
Today, President Obama highlighted innovations taking place
in our government that are already making a difference:
Digitizing disaster recovery: FEMA use of data analytics and
internet/mobile apps to deliver better results:
In response to Hurricane Sandy and the Oklahoma tornadoes, the Federal
Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) partnered with the U.S.Geological Survey,
Civil Air Patrol, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to
utilize imagery and data that identified inaccessible and destroyed homes,
which enabled FEMA to expedite assistance funds to eligible applicants. FEMA
has also succeeded in getting 304,000 survivors (57% of applicants) registered
for assistance following Hurricane Sandy through internet and smartphone apps.
The FEMA disaster recovery app also tell users how to assemble basic emergency
kits and help them locate disaster recovery centers and apply for financial
assistance following a disaster. This has enabled better, faster service
delivered at lower costs.
Ushering out old technologies, bringing in new: The
Administration has eliminated duplicative systems and accelerated the adoption
of new technology used by agencies through “PortfolioStat”—a comprehensive look
at agencies’ IT portfolios to identify savings. To date, the initiative has
identified more than $2.5 billion in cost reductions. Read more about this effort in this blog
post.
Opening government data to fuel innovation and
problem-solving: For the first time in history, the Administration opened up
huge amounts of government data to the American people, and put it on the
internet for free. At Data.gov, you can search through and download more than
75,000 data sets – data on everything from what different hospitals charge for
different procedures, to credit card complaints, to weather and climate
measurements. And entrepreneurs and business owners are using that data to
create jobs and solve problems that government can’t solve by itself. Learn more about the Open Data Initiative in
this blog post.
This morning, the President stated, “We need the brightest
minds to help solve our biggest challenges. In this democracy, we, the people,
realize this government is ours. It’s up to each and every one of us to make it
work better. And we all have a stake in our success.” Read the President’s full
remarks here, and see all the graphics from his speech below.
The Management Agenda for Government Innovation by The White
House
http://www.scribd.com/doc/152498343/The-Management-Agenda-for-Government-Innovation
The Management Agenda for Government Innovation
President Obama is devoted to making government smarter --
improving disaster response, reducing waste, and opening up government data.
We've made some big progress, but there's more to do to make government
user-friendly for Americans.