Ongoing Flagship Initiatives

Flagship Initatives represent the most ambitious, impactful Open Government initiatives an agency seeks to champion. Flagship Initiatives already integrated into GSA’s offerings and widely used by Federal agencies to facilitate public participation in government include:

FMI.gov

The Facilities Management Institute (FMI), a public-facing “cloud institute” was created to implement the requirements of the Federal Buildings Personnel Training Act. It embodies the three open government principles: transparency, participation and collaboration. FMI.gov is an open site where the public, Federal agencies, professional societies, industry associations, apprenticeship training providers and academic institutions can collaborate on every aspect of reducing the cost of the Federal Government building operations while increasing its productivity and sustainability. The site provides users with updates on the program milestones and the road ahead for future development. The public can access the knowledge portal aspects of the site and connect with state-of-the-art applied research at the Federal Government’s national labs, major research universities and nonprofits. The site is a resource for anyone with expertise in or a desire for knowledge of:

• facilities management and building operations
• resource management
• waste management and sustainability
• energy management
• applied research technologies
• process improvement
• performance metrics.

The FBPTA sets up a strategic partnership between GSA and the Department of Energy to implement the Act’s requirements. FMI.gov takes that partnership and collaboration with other agencies to the next level by highlighting the training offered by each agency. A Web tool developed in collaboration with Office of Personnel Management allows Federal facilities workforce members to see the career path corresponding to their position and level within their organization. It will suggest a matrix of courses, certifications, licenses, degrees and registrations that represent the core competencies required, which are provided through a combination of government and industry training, and Academic/University training.

Electronics waste disposal (eWaste)

The eWaste initiative encourages Federal agencies to take a leadership role in efforts to stop and reverse the trend of inappropriate disposal of electronics across the country under the National Strategy for Electronics Stewardship (NSES). It was created by an Interagency Task Force on Electronic Stewardship that saw the leadership role the Federal Government can play in improving public health and our environment.

As the world’s largest purchaser and consumer of electronic assets, GSA has a great opportunity to influence how these devices are managed. The new strategy creates a roadmap for the Federal Government to use its authority and leverage resources to protect human health and the environment from harmful effects of unsafe handling and disposal of computers, cellphones, music devices and other electronics products. The strategy provides an innovative, flexible, pragmatic approach to managing electronics more sustainably, while promoting the technologies of the future.

GSA has published government-wide guidance (FMR Bulletin B-34) on how to manage and dispose of our Federal electronic assets. In addition, Federal reporting through the GSA-managed tool has been enhanced to gather more detailed information for us to understand exactly how these electronic assets are being disposed of. Further policy efforts are being undertaken, and we are coordinating efforts with other stakeholders, primarily EPA and DOE, to update and refresh this NSES effort.

Performance.gov

The mission of Performance.gov is to assist the public in learning more about how the Federal Government is working to get the most from taxpayer dollars and to deliver the best service possible to the American people. The website consolidates all core agency strategic plan information and annual performance reports in a searchable and machine readable format, and invites the public to provide suggestions for improving Federal performance management.

Performance.gov offers a window to the Administration’s efforts of delivering a more effective, smarter, and leaner government by providing the public, members of Congress, and the media with a view of progress underway within and across agencies in cutting waste, streamlining government, and improving performance. The site advances the President’s commitment, as documented in the Federal Government GSA Open Government Plan 2014-2016, to communicate candidly and concisely the progress on initiatives agencies are working to accomplish, how they seek to accomplish their objectives, and why these efforts are important.

In 2013, GSA updated the site to meet the requirements of the Government Performance and Results Modernization Act of 2010, which requires regular progress updates on the top agency specific performance goals. This law set in motion a variety of reforms to modernize the Federal Government’s nearly two-decade-old performance management framework. Congress included transparency provisions in the Act, which require the following:

• Develop and deploy a single Federal website that complies with the act and provides performance information for Federal and agency priority goals;
• Develop a consolidated list of Federal Government programs for inclusion on the site; and
• Consolidate all core agency strategic plan information and annual performance reports on this website in a “searchable and machine readable format.”

All Cabinet departments and nine other major agencies have agency pages on Performance.gov. Each describes the agency’s mission and lists the agency’s strategic goals, objectives, and priority goals. Each agency’s home page also provides links to the agency’s strategic plan, annual performance plan, and annual performance report; reports agency progress on government-wide management initiatives; and shows agency contributions to cross-agency performance (CAP) goals. To date, Performance.gov highlights:

• 15 Cross-Agency Performance Goals
• 98 Agency Priority Goals
• 123 Strategic Goals
• 382 Strategic Objectives
• 339 Performance Indicators