[Senate Hearing 106-835]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
S. Hrg. 106-835
ASSESSING THE PROGRESS OF PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT IN THE DISTRICT OF
COLUMBIA
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HEARING
before the
OVERSIGHT OF GOVERNMENT MANAGEMENT,
RESTRUCTURING AND THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA SUBCOMMITTEE
of the
COMMITTEE ON
GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED SIXTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
__________
OCTOBER 3, 2000
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on Governmental Affairs
U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
68-241 cc WASHINGTON : 2000
_______________________________________________________________________
For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, Congressional Sales Office
U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC 20402
COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
FRED THOMPSON, Tennessee, Chairman
WILLIAM V. ROTH, Jr., Delaware JOSEPH I. LIEBERMAN, Connecticut
TED STEVENS, Alaska CARL LEVIN, Michigan
SUSAN M. COLLINS, Maine DANIEL K. AKAKA, Hawaii
GEORGE V. VOINOVICH, Ohio RICHARD J. DURBIN, Illinois
PETE V. DOMENICI, New Mexico ROBERT G. TORRICELLI, New Jersey
THAD COCHRAN, Mississippi MAX CLELAND, Georgia
ARLEN SPECTER, Pennsylvania JOHN EDWARDS, North Carolina
JUDD GREGG, New Hampshire
Hannah S. Sistare, Staff Director and Counsel
Joyce A. Rechtschaffen, Minority Staff Director and Counsel
Darla D. Cassell, Chief Clerk
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SUBCOMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT OF GOVERNMENT MANAGEMENT, RESTRUCTURING, AND
THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
GEORGE V. VOINOVICH, Ohio, Chairman
WILLIAM V. ROTH, Jr., Delaware RICHARD J. DURBIN, Illinois
JUDD GREGG, New Hampshire ROBERT G. TORRICELLI, New Jersey
Kristine I. Simmons, Staff Director
Marianne Clifford Upton, Minority Staff Director and Chief Counsel
Julie L. Vincent, Chief Clerk
C O N T E N T S
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Opening statements:
Page
Senator Voinovich............................................ 1
WITNESSES
Tuesday, October 3, 2000
J. Christopher Mihm, Director, Strategic Issues, U.S. General
Accounting Office.............................................. 3
Hon. Anthony A. Williams, Mayor, District of Columbia,
accompanied by John Koskinen, Deputy Mayor and City
Administrator.................................................. 6
Alphabetical List of Witnesses
Mihm, J. Christopher:
Testimony.................................................... 3
Prepared statement........................................... 15
Williams, Hon. Anthony A.:
Testimony.................................................... 6
Prepared statement........................................... 36
ASSESSING THE PROGRESS OF PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT IN THE DISTRICT OF
COLUMBIA
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TUESDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2000
U.S. Senate,
Oversight of Government Management, Restructuring,
and the District of Columbia Subcommittee,
of the Committee on Governmental Affairs,
Washington, DC.
The Subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 9:35 a.m., in
room SD-342, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. George V.
Voinovich presiding.
Present: Senator Voinovich.
OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR VOINOVICH
Senator Voinovich. Good morning. I am going to try to roll
along here because we have been told we have a vote at 10:30.
So, I will try to move it along as fast as we can. I would like
to thank the Mayor and Mr. Mihm for being here today. Today we
are discussing the progress of performance management in the
District of Columbia. Again, Mayor, welcome. Christopher, nice
that you are here.
I think you all know that the Subcommittee held a hearing 5
months ago to discuss the results of the fiscal year 1999
performance accountability report and to discuss the
performance goals laid out for this year. Today we have invited
the Mayor back to report on the progress made by the District
in achieving its performance goals for this year. It is
interesting that the District's fiscal year just ended on
September 31, so it is the second-year over with for you,
Mayor.
The General Accounting Office was tasked with auditing a
sample of the city's performance goals to evaluate the city's
progress, and Chris Mihm of GAO is here today to report the
results and to submit any recommendations GAO may have to
improve how the city measures its performance and, more
importantly, how the city uses performance information to
improve services for the District residents.
Since our previous visit with the Mayor, there has been a
number of improvements made in the Nation's capital. The D.C.
Financial Control Board recently announced that the city is
able to meet short-term and long-term borrowing needs. In June,
the District voted to change the structure of the D.C. Board of
Education in order to make the city's education system more
accountable to the Mayor.
The Metropolitan Police Department has shifted its manpower
in order to get more officers on the street. The D.C. Tuition
Assistance program received thousands of applications from
students now eligible to take advantage of the educational
opportunities throughout the country. And that program, Mayor,
has had a dramatic impact on the number of youngsters wanting
to go on to college in the District and it really makes me feel
very good and I am sure that it makes you feel very good, also.
The U.S. Attorney's Office is diligently working to promote
cooperation between the various law-enforcement agencies in the
District and we are making some real progress on that. I am
anxious to get a report back on how that is finally going to be
worked out. Most recently, the Mayor has hired John Koskinen,
who we welcome today, to concentrate on the day-to-day
operations of the city. And I think the Mayor understands that
you are only as good as your team and the better your team, the
better job that you do. We welcome the addition of Mr. Koskinen
to your management team.
Despite these signs of progress, the troublesome headlines
persist. Among them: Court Takeover of D.C. School Busing
Possible; District Audit Finds Illegal, Wasteful Contracting;
12 D.C. Schools Lack Certified Food Workers; DPW Takes Years to
Start Road Projects; City Fails to Get Paychecks to 150 Teens;
A Year After Promises, Parks in Disarray; Prisoners Languish as
Backlogs Get Worse; and GAO Study Faults D.C. Child Care.
You have those kinds of headlines--there are still some
things that need to be done. I think it is clear to all of us
that we have an interest in the revitalization of the District
of Columbia that Mayor Williams has made. And I think it is
very important for everyone to realize that Mayor Williams has
made significant improvement in the health of the city and its
image. But there remains a long road ahead and I would like to
again say that this Subcommittee is committed to helping the
Mayor make Washington the ``shining city on the hill'' that all
Americans want it to be.
Just last week in our Governmental Affairs Committee,
Mayor, we reported out a number of bills that will assist you
in improving the health of our Nation's capital. The Southeast
Federal Center Public-Private Development Act will allow the
city to begin the long-awaited effort to revitalize the
Anacostia waterfront, located less than a mile from the U.S.
Capitol. The D.C. Receivership Accountability Act will
establish lines of communication between the Mayor and the
receivers and subject the receivers to an independent annual
audit.
The D.C. Performance Accountability Plan Amendments Act
that Senator Durbin and I introduced at the request of the
Mayor will improve upon the District's process for measuring
and reporting on its performance. Mayor, we think those things
are going to get done by unanimous consent. So, they will go
into operation. The full Committee also approved the
nominations of two D.C. Superior Court associate judges to fill
vacancies on a bench that is in desperate need of assistance.
The District's fiscal year 2001 appropriation has been approved
by both the Senate and House and is currently in conference
committee.
In addition to providing any assistance the Mayor may need
to improve the services of the District, the role of the
Subcommittee is to oversee the Mayor's progress in implementing
the various programs developed to improve the city's
performance. In that regard, I am interested to hear today how
the Mayor plans to integrate the numerous performance documents
he introduced at the hearing last May so that, first of all,
the citizens are satisfied; second, the agency managers know
exactly what is expected of them; third, reform is
accomplished; and finally, congressional standards are met.
At the May hearing, Mayor, you made it clear that your
citywide strategic plan would be the focal point of the
District's performance management system, the source of all
other performance documents. However, after reviewing the
city's current system, GAO found the citywide strategic plan is
better suited as a broad, long-range plan for directing the
city, especially given the fact that the citywide strategic
plan is evaluated only on a biannual basis. GAO found that the
annual performance accountability plan is a superior guide
regarding day-to-day, month-to-month, and year-to-year
performance since it is subject to continual oversight and is
updated on an annual basis.
The General Accounting Office will make more observations
and recommendations and raise a number of concerns this morning
and I would like to take this opportunity to ask the Mayor to
respond to the GAO testimony point-by-point as a follow-up to
this hearing. You do not necessarily have to do it today, but I
would like to have you look at those recommendations that they
make and get back to us on how legitimate and fair you think
they are and how you intend to respond to them. I think they
made some insightful observations and I want to make sure that
your office has acknowledged their findings and recommendations
and will consider integrating them into your own performance
management system.
I close my opening statement by noting that I think the
Mayor has done a great job of getting this beautiful city back
on its feet and I commend him on his progress so far. However,
it is time for Congress to start seeing more positive results
and it is time that we begin to see a local government that is
capable of managing itself without the constant meddling of
this Congress. The District's past message of ``change has been
slow so far, but big things are expected in the near future''
must yield some clear, verifiable results.
On that note, I look forward to your testimony to hear what
the District has accomplished since our last meeting.
I now would like to call on Christopher Mihm from the
General Accounting Office for his opening statement.
STATEMENT OF J. CHRISTOPHER MIHM,\1\ DIRECTOR, STRATEGIC
ISSUES, U.S. GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE
Mr. Mihm. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It is, of course, a
great pleasure and an honor to be here today to discuss
performance management in the District of Columbia. We share
certainly the sentiments that you stated in your opening
statement; that after nearly 2 years in office, Mayor Williams'
administration has made considerable progress in making the
management of the District Government more results-oriented.
The Mayor has clearly demonstrated his personal commitment to
transforming the culture of the District Government.
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\1\ The prepared statement of Mr. Mihm appears in the Appendix on
page 15.
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However, cultural transformations do not come quickly or
easily. Thus, as is to be entirely expected, improvements in
the management and performance of the District Government are
still very much a work in progress. In the interest of brevity,
I will hit the highlights of my written statement by covering
three general points this morning. First, in comparing the
management practices used by the District to those of high
performing organizations, it is clear that the Mayor's
performance management system contains many, but not all, of
the elements used by those organizations.
On a positive note, the city has a strategic planning
effort that has generated largely results-oriented goals and
measures that show what the District wants to achieve. However,
the District needs to create processes for ensuring that the
performance information it generates is credible for
decisionmaking and accountability. Without these processes,
neither the Mayor nor other key decisionmakers can know for
certain whether existing goals were met and, if not, how
performance can be improved.
Second, the District has opportunities to better align its
efforts to ensure that it is sending District employees,
managers, citizens, Congress, and others, consistent messages
about the results the District wants to achieve, how it will be
done and how progress will be measured. High-performing
organizations know how the services they produce contribute to
achieving results. In fact, this explicit alignment between
day-to-day activities and broader results to be achieved is one
of the defining features of a high-performing organization.
This alignment is important to ensuring that the services
that government provides contribute to results that citizens
need and care about. It is also important to show front-line
employees the vital role they have in achieving the broader
organizational results that the District is trying to achieve.
In that regard, we found that a more complete integration
of the goals in the Mayor's strategic plan, scorecards and
performance contracts with the annual performance plans and
reports provided to Congress is important to ensuring both the
Congress and the District have a common understanding of the
results that the District wants to achieve, how it plans to
achieve those results and the status of its efforts. In the
absence of this common understanding, Congress is hard-pressed
to conduct oversight and determine how it can best help the
District.
Third, the District could improve the usefulness of the
information it provides to Congress by better ensuring that
it's most significant performance goals are included in both
the annual plans and reports that the Mayor is to send to
Congress each year. As you know, the Mayor is only required to
report on the goals that were in the performance plan that was
originally sent to Congress. However, after the 2000 plan was
sent to Congress, the Mayor updated it to include new and
modified goals. This is typical of the way performance
measurement efforts work.
As a result, though, the next performance report is not
required to show progress toward the new or updated goals. We
therefore suggest that the District consider the approach that
many Federal agencies used in reporting on their performance.
Like the District, Federal agencies found that they needed to
change their performance goals as they gained experience and
understanding and new problems arose during the early years of
their performance measurement efforts.
In reviewing the performance reports that Federal agencies
issued under GPRA this last March, we saw examples where
agencies noted that a goal had been changed from one in the
original plan and reported progress in meeting the new goal.
The advantage to this approach is that it helped to ensure that
the performance reports, by reporting on the agency's actual as
opposed to discarded goals, were actually providing useful and
relevant information for congressional and other
decisionmakers. So, again that is something we think the
District ought to consider in modeling the Federal approach.
In summary, Mr. Chairman, the District continues to make
progress in implementing a more results-oriented approach to
management accountability throughout the District. Making the
necessary changes and instilling the new culture requires
sustained commitment and effort, as the Mayor and other
District leaders clearly understand. Thus, despite the
important progress that has been and is being made, ample
opportunities exist for the District as it moves forward.
Perhaps foremost among these are: First, continuing to model
the management practices of high-performing organizations;
second, ensuring that its daily activities are aligned with its
goal-setting and performance measurement efforts; third,
generating performance data that are credible for
decisionmaking; and fourth, using its performance plans and
reports to provide Congress with the information and
perspective Congress needs for effective oversight and
decisionmaking.
We look forward to continuing what is already a very
constructive working relationship that we have with the
District and we look forward to supporting the District, this
Subcommittee and others in Congress as we jointly seek to
ensure that the residents of the District have the world-class
products and services they so richly deserve.
I would be happy to answer any questions you may have, sir.
Senator Voinovich. Thank you, Mr. Mihm. As I mentioned to
you earlier, I really appreciate GAO helping us in this regard
and the quick response that you gave to our request to look
over and give us some information on how you think the District
is doing on those goals.
Mr. Mihm. Thank you, sir.
Senator Voinovich. Mayor Williams.
STATEMENT OF HON. ANTHONY A. WILLIAMS,\1\ MAYOR, DISTRICT OF
COLUMBIA, ACCOMPANIED BY JOHN KOSKINEN, DEPUTY MAYOR AND CITY
ADMINISTRATOR
Mayor Williams. Mr. Chairman, thank you for the opportunity
to testify before you today on performance management in the
District of Columbia. I am glad to have this opportunity to
detail the progress we are making in the District--progress in
improving service delivery, accountability and, very
importantly, the confidence of our citizens.
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\1\ The prepared statement of Mayor Williams appears in the
Appendix on page 36.
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When we met in May, I described the components of the
performance management system that the District implemented
during the first year and 4 months of my administration, and
these components included: (1) a citywide strategic plan
crafted by our citizens to reflect their priorities; (2)
scorecards that present clear goals and deadlines to the
public; and (3) agency-specific strategic plans that outline
fundamental changes in the way each of our agencies would
conduct business. And individual performance contracts that
translate our larger citywide plans into tangible personal
commitments, measures by which I can judge the success of each
of my cabinet members.
By utilizing this system of performance management, I
believe we can make three important changes in the way our
government operates, changes that will make our government more
efficient, effective and responsive. Our goals are to instill:
(1) the values of performance and accountability in the minds
and day-to-day habits of our employees; (2) improve the quality
and credibility of our reports and performance data to clearly
communicate our progress to District Government managers or
Council, this Congress and, most importantly, the public; and
(3) incorporate these components into our budget so we allocate
resources wisely based on our known prior results and clear
future goals.
Now, shortly before we met last spring, the U.S. General
Accounting Office issued its report that assessed our initial
performance accountability report. The GAO report raised
several concerns about our system of performance management and
data tracking. Specifically, those concerns were that the
District did not: (1) identify managers most directly
responsible for achieving performance or their immediate
supervisors; (2) specify two levels of performance for each
goal; and finally, (3) describe the status of District
Government activity subject to a court order or the
requirements placed on the District by the courts.
Now, during the course of my testimony, I would like to
address each of these concerns and describe what we are doing
to improve for the future. The GAO's primary concern was the
extent to which we complied with congressional reporting
requirements and we addressed their concern, I believe, through
four measures: One, identify managers and supervisors
responsible for achieving each goal in fiscal year 2001; two,
collaborating with your staff to draft legislation to reconcile
all congressional and District deadlines; third, eliminating
the provisions for two levels of performance for each goal; and
finally, agreeing upon a set of major equity cases that the
District will include in future performance accountability
reports until or unless those cases are resolved. And as you
know, I think, we are in the process of working with plaintiff
groups, stakeholders and the judges, through our Special
Counsel to the Mayor for Receivers, to move out of these
receiverships. So, we are in the process of doing that.
Now that this system of checks and balances is in place,
our future performance plans and reports will comply with
congressional guidelines and will be submitted by the
deadlines. Now, during the summer we had many conversations
with officials from the GAO, conversations that proved
informative and instructive for both parties. Together we have
addressed the substance of the District's performance
management system. We have discussed the components we have in
place, the need for continuous review, the alignment of our
citywide strategic plan with our individual agency plans, and
the critical need to improve the quality and credibility of our
performance data.
I am pleased to report that we have made important progress
in each of these areas and, as you suggested, we will be
providing you further written documentation of what is
happening. But I would like to briefly say first, in terms of
components in place, we have created written agency strategic
plans and performance contracts for agency directors on my
cabinet. Second, our agency directors have adopted the citywide
strategic plan as their unifying vision and we are working
together on cost-cutting initiatives. And third, our agency
directors will review their strategic plans this fall to
identify priorities that have changed over the last year to
extend those plans into fiscal year 2002.
Our challenge now is to explicitly align these agency plans
with the citywide strategic plans so each city employee
understands his or her role in achieving his or her agency's
objectives in supporting the plan. We have to ensure that all
District employees, regardless of position, understand that
they are the people who can improve our government. We also
must demonstrate to our citizens how day-to-day operations of
our agencies support the overall plan.
The GAO's findings during the sampling of our fiscal year
2000 measures indicate that variations still remain in our data
and I concur. I am concerned that few agencies provided
summaries of their own internal data collection and management
practices regarding the 31 measures the GAO sampled. I also
know that while many of our agencies have their own internal
standards, they are not sufficient to pass independent review.
Now, we are already working to correct this problem. When
we unveiled our scorecards last spring, I asked publicly for
the Inspector General to begin to audit selected scorecard and
performance contract measures for fiscal year 2000. I wanted to
determine the most common problems, proposed means to address
them, and ensure that agencies have sufficient internal quality
controls for success in fiscal year 2001. To ensure we are
making progress, the Inspector General will audit selected
performance data prior to the submission of the District's
fiscal year 2000 performance accountability report to Congress
in March 2001.
Plans, goals, and measures alone cannot succeed. For our
city government to become more self-reliant and self-
sufficient, we have to really change behaviors and beliefs at
all levels of our government. I have a commitment to create
accountability among my cabinet and our most senior deputies.
We need to grow that commitment now among middle managers,
program managers, and front-line service employees throughout
the District Government. That is a goal of our newly-launched
Management Supervisory Service, to provide performance
incentives to senior and middle managers. Through the D.C.
Office of Personnel Performance Management Program, we are
establishing individual performance plans with goals and
objectives for our agency middle managers and Excepted Service
personnel throughout our government.
Among our most critical alignments of all these alignments
is the alignment of performance goals and agency budget
submissions. For our performance management system to work,
there must be a clear link between performance goals and budget
allocations, between expenditures and end results.
Each consecutive District budget has improved the
relationship between resources and results, but we have
substantial work remaining in this area, as well. Our new
deputy mayor and city administrator, John Koskinen, and our new
chief financial officer, Dr. Natwar Gandhi, are working closely
to ensure that the program and financial staffs are integrating
performance goals into our agency budget submissions. First,
our fiscal year 2002 budget instructions will clearly define
how agencies should relate their goals and measures to
resources. Second, Mr. Koskinen's experience in general and in
particular as deputy director for management at OMB will
enhance, I think, our ability to achieve this goal. While we
are making progress, I anticipate that it will take another two
full budget cycles before we have established a lasting and
durable relationship between financial and performance
measures.
Finally, in the area of streamlining agency goals, the
GAO's review of our 1999 year-end report noted 542 goals in the
District of Columbia Financial Responsibility and Management
Assistance Authority's fiscal year 1999 performance
accountability plan. GAO and the District both felt that was an
excessive number of goals to effectively manage and track. Yet,
GAO notes that our fiscal year 2000 plan has 417 and our fiscal
year 2001 plan may have more.
I think it is important to note that agencies need to
identify and focus on core strategic goals. Each agency will
maintain an internal set of operating measures that support
strategic goals and many of these will be reflected in the
directors' performance contracts. However, for the fiscal year
2002 performance accountability plans, our agencies will be
more selective in establishing critical goals and measures.
Now, if I can briefly turn to some of our accomplishments
on the District's scorecard goals, I would like to highlight a
few. We set a goal to resurface 150 blocks of streets and
alleys by August. Not only did we meet that goal, due to some
contracts we recently put in place with the help of this
Congress, we expect to add to this accomplishment by
resurfacing an additional 400 blocks of streets by the end of
this year.
We are meeting our commitment to e-government by launching
five new information and service delivery features on the
District's web site, which we have also streamlined with a new,
easier to remember address, WashingtonDC.gov.
I think you will appreciate this goal, Mr. Chairman, a
proud citizen of Ohio--we set a goal to replace the lions on
the Taft Bridge. The lions, which were removed in 1993, held
great historical significance for the citizens of our city and
we committed to returning the lions by this July and they were
indeed returned this summer. Their return, I think, is symbolic
of a government that is making commitments and keeping
commitments to our citizens.
We set a goal of putting 200 more officers on the streets
by September. We achieved this goal through a number of
different redeployment and recruitment strategies. Mr.
Chairman, you already mentioned our redeployment of officers.
Nearly 1,000 officers assigned to administrative and
investigative duties are newly assigned to patrol streets in
uniform one week a month. From the residents' perspective, this
means more than 150 officers in the neighborhoods across the
city every day. In addition, we have graduated 84 lateral hires
from other jurisdictions and 107 new hires, all of whom have
been assigned to street duty. We also instituted a ``power
shift'' to put officers on the street during evening and
nighttime hours and our Mobile Force responds to areas
experiencing increases in crime.
In addition to the timely completion of these goals, we are
also pleased to report that the Department of Motor Vehicles
has reached one of its performance targets ahead of schedule.
We made a goal at the beginning of the year that we would
reduce the time that customers wait in line to 30 minutes or
less for 80 percent of the driver's license and registration
transactions by October.
To show you how these performance goals work, a couple of
months into the year there were a lot of stories and there was
a lot of controversy about how the lines were long. We knew the
lines were long, which is why we made the goal to reduce the
lines. Well, the fact of the matter is we actually exceeded
that performance level in May, as 82 percent of wait times were
less than 30 minutes. But we fell below the 80 percent target,
and I think part of this performance management system working
well is fessing up when you have not met a target. We fell
below that target in the months of June and July as we
introduced new digital photography technology which, in the
long run, will pay dividends for our city, as it has for many
States, by providing more and more online service.
Now that our DMV personnel are comfortable with the new
equipment, they met the 80-percent target again in August and I
anticipate that our DMV will sustain and improve their
scorecard performance through October and beyond.
Well, finally, in future revisions to the citywide plan, in
my staff's discussion with GAO, the evaluators noted that we
had not directly engaged all the relevant stakeholders in
reviewing and refining the Citywide Strategic Plan. In
developing our first citywide plan, we focused our outreach
efforts on residents of the District. We brought together more
than 3,000 citizens in November 1999 to share my cabinet's
draft plan with them. Based on their input, we significantly
redrafted the plan, allowing citizens of our city to reorient
our plans and priorities.
During 2000, however, we will expand our outreach. First,
we will engage more than 4,000 residents in neighborhood
planning forums to identify priorities unique to their
neighborhoods and communities. Second, as we prepare to update
our citywide plan in the fall of 2001, we will engage a wider
range of stakeholders in the review process for the strategic
plan. In addition to our residents, we recognize the role of
local businesses, our Council, and this Congress in helping the
District identify and realize its goals.
Finally, I want to thank the Subcommittee and you, Mr.
Chairman, in particular, for your support with the Southeast
Federal Center, with the receivership bill, with performance
accountability legislation and with the judicial appointments.
They are all important components of our relationship and, more
importantly, important components of our bringing the city
where we all want it to be.
That concludes my testimony and I would be happy to answer
any questions you may have.
Senator Voinovich. Thanks very much. I have just been
informed that we have got about 10 minutes. And I would rather
not leave here and then have you waiting for me. You are all
very busy people. I think there is some good news and bad news.
Mayor, I think we are impressed with the progress you have
made. I think that one focal point of this hearing, as far as I
am concerned, is that in your May 9 testimony, you state that
among your goals for the year was sustaining progress, ensuring
valid and reliable data, unifying different plans and bench-
marking progress against other jurisdictions. That is a quote
from your May 9 testimony.
Along those lines, the integration of the multiple
performance documents was one of my primary concerns at that
hearing. Simply put, there were too many performance documents
that we were having to contend with. GAO went out again and did
another study and you heard the testimony. And the District
still has multiple performance documents that show alarmingly
little overlap or continuity. There is no system in place to
measure or verify performance measurement data and the District
does not yet possess a comprehensive strategic plan that meets
GAO's standards. They made some recommendations. The Mayor
should produce one comprehensive, fully-integrated performance
plan. The city was unable to verify the data used to report on
the fiscal year performance measures and the District's
performance plan must provide a sufficient amount of data for
Congress to conduct adequate oversight.
I guess what I would like to suggest today is that the
District sit down with GAO and try to sift through some of this
information, to see if between now and the end of this year,
Mayor, some of these concerns that I have and the Subcommittee
has can be taken care of, so that when you come back again in
May or thereabouts, that will be something that we will not be
talking about. Frankly, I do not think I need another hearing,
but I would like to meet with you and the GAO and your
management team, to get a report back from you before the end
of the year, to talk about the stuff that has been brought up
and how we are going to try to get these things smoothed over
so that everything is understandable.
And I think that is really important for your well-being
and also for our well-being, because if we have another hearing
next year and we still have four or five different plans and
the same report back from GAO, it is not going to be good for
you and, quite frankly, I think this Subcommittee will be
little bit frustrated. I understand that you have not been on
the job that long and I know that it takes 3 to 4 years for you
to make some positive results. On the other hand, I think that
if you have a clearly defined set of performance goals, where
it can be--just maybe be one set of them, where you understand
them, we understand them, your directors understand them, your
middle managers understand them, and the folks on the street
understand them, that it will be good for the District and good
for Congress.
So, I would respectfully request that you do that. The
other thing that I would like to suggest to you today--I have
been through this and first of all I know how you must feel.
You come in here and you have all kinds of problems and people
to report to and you have to come back to Congress and go
through this. I recall when I was mayor of Cleveland we had the
Financial Supervisory Commission. I used to dread to a certain
degree those 6-month meetings with my Financial Supervisory
Commission because they had me on the firing line. That was the
bad news.
The good news is that it was kind of a wake-up call for me
and it was also something I was able to use with my directors
and the middle managers and say, ``Hey, we have got to
perform.'' And it was also good for our city council because it
reminded them of things they had to do in order for us to get
our job done. So, I hope that you look at this as a positive
experience. Last, but not least, getting people involved in
your management team. Have you started any initiatives in the
area of quality management?
Mr. Koskinen. Well, I think probably the most significant
one is the development of the Management Supervisory Service.
We have slightly more than 900 middle managers in the
government who ultimately are directly involved with front-line
employees removing themselves from various employment
protections. They really are now fully accountable and
understand that. We are now providing a wide range of training
and support for them so that they, in fact, will become better
managers.
We also are moving aggressively to try to create labor-
management partnerships in the agencies. We want to engage
managers and front-line employees in jointly trying to figure
out exactly how to improve the quality of the work place and
also the quality of the work. I think you cannot successfully
restructure and re-engineer an operation from the top down. You
have to find out what is going on in the front lines and engage
middle managers in the discussion so you have a unified
approach to improving operations. I think that those
initiatives, combined together, should give us a higher quality
of managers. Many think what we should do is get rid of
everybody and hire new people. There just are not enough new
people out there and they need training and support as well.
So, I think we have a good cadre and core of those
managers, but we have got to provide them training. We have to
look at the quality of their management, help them look at the
quality of their employees and help them improve across the
board.
Senator Voinovich. Well, I would like to share with you
some information. I have been trying this last couple of years
to work with the GAO and some of the Federal agencies in terms
of training, empowerment and incentives, but, particularly the
issue of quality management and empowering the employees to
participate. We had a very successful--and still have in Ohio,
what we call ``Quality Services Through Partnership.'' And the
material is really great. I mean, Xerox came in and did it for
us pro bono, and then we built on that. And we have changed the
documentation so that it is very relevant to governmental
employees.
The fact that we have developed in the State 3,000 teams of
individuals and departments that are constantly looking at ways
they can work together as a team to improve their performance.
So, often the real success of an organization, governmental
organization, is how ignited are the people that are working in
these various agencies? My observation has been that too often
in government they just come to work every day and nobody pays
attention to what they have to say and they kind of get down on
themselves. And when they realize that they are important and
they are being listened to and they are being challenged to
come up with ways, for example, to do some of the things that
you would like them to do, rather than have somebody come in
and say to them, ``This is what you have to do,'' and they look
at them and say, ``Well, we have been here 15 years and we
think it might be worthwhile to maybe get our opinion on these
things''--but I think that is an ingredient that you ought to
look at in terms of getting this other stuff done, because
those people on the front-line are the ones that are going to
make the difference for you in terms of achieving those goals
that you would like to achieve.
I will be glad to send that stuff over and would be
interested in what you think about it.
Mr. Koskinen. I would be delighted to have it. My
experience in the private sector, as well as the public sector,
is that the key, critical ingredient in turning organizations
around is dealing effectively with front-line employees. As you
note, this means involving them in the discussions and
listening to what they have to say. The people who know best
about why an organization doesn't function, like the managers,
are the people actually doing the work. So, you are exactly
right. We would love to have those materials.
Senator Voinovich. Great. What I would like to do is
suggest today that before the end of the year I would like to
get together with you, not at a hearing, but just get together
and see what progress we have made on some of the things. I
would like to get your response back in writing to some of the
suggestions that GAO has made and then come back publicly
again, maybe in May, and not have this as a subject of the
discussion. How would that be?
Mayor Williams. That would be good. I appreciate that.
Senator Voinovich. Well, I thank you very much for coming
here this morning and I look forward to continuing to work with
you, Mayor. As I have said to you, if there is anything you
need, pick up the phone and call me. And I know you are moving
forward on that public-private partnership and I am interested
in pitching in and helping you with that. If they can determine
some identifiable goals they are committed to, I promise you,
Mayor, I will go out and try and encourage people from all over
the United States to come in and be supportive of what you are
doing, because my goal is your goal.
I would like to leave this Congress, whenever I leave, and
be able to say that we are truly the city on the hill and
something that we can all be proud of. I think that it is not
only the responsibility of the people in the District, but
frankly, Mayor, I think it is the responsibility of the
citizens around this country to make sure that happens and come
to your help. So, I am here. Thank you very much.
[Whereupon, at 10:12 a.m., the Committee was adjourned.]
A P P E N D I X
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