Tag Archives: OMB

An official at the Office of Management and Budget recently underscored the importance of equipping federal agencies with the ability to collect and leverage data when making decisions and formulating policy, FCW reported Thursday. Speaking at a recent Urban Institute event, Diana Epstein, head of the Evidence Team at the OMB, endorsed the use of learning agendas to promote the adoption of evidence-based policymaking, a strategy that several agencies, including the Department of Health and Human Services and the Small Business Administration, are already implementing.

The Office of Management and Budget’s deputy director for management recently talked about how the Trump administration is working to upgrade the skills of the federal workforce as part of the government’s IT modernization efforts, FedScoop reported Monday. Margaret Weichert said during the 2018 Imagine Nation ELC conference that, regarding IT modernization and the acquisition of tech talent, she and her office discovered that “we need the people here in government, particularly the people who have the desire to be here.”

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Mick Mulvaney, director of the Office of Management and Budget, have issued a joint statement saying the federal budget deficit reached $779B in fiscal 2018, about $113B higher than the shortfall recorded in the previous fiscal year. The FY 2018 deficit was equivalent to 3.9 percent of the U.S. gross domestic product and $70B less than the projected shortfall in the Mid-Session Review for FY 2019, according to the statement published Monday.

The Office of Personnel Management has announced plans to introduce two direct hiring authorities as part of its civil service reform efforts, Federal Times reported Thursday. Agencies will have a DHA for engineering; economics; math, statistics and actuarial sciences; physical science; and biological sciences effective next week.
 

President Trump intends to appoint Margaret Weichert, deputy director for management at the Office of Management and Budget, as acting director of the Office of Personnel Management. Replacing former OPM director Jeff Pon, she will hold the role concurrently with her position at the OMB, the White House said Friday.

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee passed on Wednesday a bill that would authorize the White House to implement a government reorganization plan, Federal News Radio reported Thursday. Sens. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) and James Lankford (R-Okla.) sponsored the Reforming Government Act of 2018 that would allow Congress to clear reorganization proposals through a simple majority of 51 votes to accelerate passage of such plans.

House lawmakers have approved a bill that directs the Office of Management and Budget to provide a modern, standardized reporting system that can translate outdated documents into open data for grant-making agencies and the public.

The Grant Reporting Efficiency and Agreements Transparency Act will help promote transparency in taxpayer spending processes, as well as guide Congress in reviewing grants awarded by the Executive branch, the office of Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., said Thursday.

The Office of Management and Budget has issued a new draft strategy that seeks to help federal agencies facilitate the adoption of cloud platforms in support of their mission requirements. A White House release published Monday says the Cloud Smart strategy marks the first update of the previous cloud policy, Cloud First, introduced in 2010.
 

The White House seeks more comments on a proposal to establish an advanced research center that will leverage practices and innovations from the private sector to resolve problems in the federal government, NextGov reported Thursday.

Rep. Jody Hice, R-Ga., has introduced a bill that would give the Trump administration authority to formally present governmentwide reorganization plans to Congress.