The last year of the Obama administration has begun. And with compromise between the president and Congress on large-scale government reform unlikely, incremental change is one of the few remaining levers the president and his cabinet will have to realize some of their unfinished goals.

But pulling those levers to the right effect is often easier said than done. The federal government faces enormous management challenges when implementing and executing its complex array of programs and services. From cybersecurity to human capital, from grant management to improper payments, there is no shortage of management areas ripe for reform or, at the very least, some serious optimization and advancement.

One reason we know this is because of the work of agency inspectors general. There is no better place to go when trying to find out what puts agency missions at greatest risk. Twice annually, each agency's IG identifies the top management challenges. Based on their latest reports, which are made up of hundreds of recommendations, the top challenges facing the government – ones reported most often across the inspectors general – include cybersecurity, financial management, IT management, and acquisition, among others.

Adoption of IG recommendations have reformed countless government programs for the better – improving program outcomes and delivering better results for citizens. And yet it seems these challenges are never fully overcome. Our review of the most recent IG reports of top management challenges reveals many of the same areas that have vexed the government for years if not decades.


Simply identifying and dissecting what's going wrong with the implementation and operation of government programs and initiatives is only the first step. Let's examine a recent example within government-wide cybersecurity efforts of how the federal government took the next step and was able to significantly improve results.

Cybersecurity is currently a top management challenge, unanimously identified by every agency's inspector general. While it's a broad and ever-evolving matter that will never be fully addressed, one of the longest running challenges to improved agency cybersecurity has been implementation of government-wide mandates created under Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12 (HSPD-12).


Released back in 2004, HSPD-12 is an initiative designed to enhance security and increase efficiency, among other things, by implementing a government-wide standard for federal IDs (called 'strong authentication' in IT parlance). While a seemingly simple idea, agencies have struggled for years to implement the vision developed by HSPD-12. The diversity of projects attempting to address cybersecurity was spreading resources thin and overlapping authorities were diverting attention from the most important focus areas. The result was that the government wasn't making progress increasing adoption rates for strong authentication at agencies. 

The administration acknowledged the lack of progress back in 2011 and decided to narrow agency focus in cybersecurity by adding the use of strong authentication (along with two other cyber priorities) as a cross-agency priority (CAP) goal. Having this initiative listed as a CAP goal brought resources and high-level agency leadership attention across the federal government to bear on delivering real results. This led to substantial improvement in strong authentication adoption, raising it from the single digits to over 40 percent in approximately four years.

Then last fall, the federal chief information officer at the Office of Management and Budget decided to sharpen the focus even further. Over the course of 30 days, OMB, the Homeland Security Department, and agency heads agreed collectively to hone in on an even more limited number of cybersecurity priorities – particularly agency use of strong authentication. By having an almost singular focus from top leadership at agencies over a short "sprint" duration, the government's adoption rate of strong authentication shot up dramatically, going from around 40 percent to over 70 percent in just one month.

Clearly, cybersecurity is a major area of risk agencies still face. But recognition of the risk, sharpened focus across government, and measurement of and accountability for progress brought dramatic results. In the remaining months of President Obama's time in office, the administration and agencies can take these important steps to address many of their more vexing major management challenges. If they prioritize their efforts and focus their time and resources on just a few – a very few – key management issues, substantial and meaningful progress is likely.

Mr. Otal is Managing Partner of Grant Thornton LLP's Global Public Sector Services and Solutions practice.

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