The GAO does incredible work in the United States and always high on my recommended reading list for those interested issues of public management. Below is the overview of the report:
What GAO Found
Federal agencies have used a variety of mechanisms to implement
interagency collaborative efforts, such as the President appointing a
coordinator, agencies co-locating within one facility, or establishing
interagency task forces. These mechanisms can be used to address a range of
purposes including policy development; program implementation; oversight and
monitoring; information sharing and communication; and building organizational
capacity, such as staffing and training. Frequently, agencies use more than one
mechanism to address an issue. For example, climate change is a complex,
crosscutting issue, which involves many collaborative mechanisms in the
Executive Office of the President and interagency groups throughout government.
Although collaborative mechanisms differ in complexity and scope, they
all benefit from certain key features, which raise issues to consider when
implementing these mechanisms. For example:
•
Outcomes and Accountability: Have
short-term and long-term outcomes been clearly defined? Is there a way to track
and monitor their progress?
•
Bridging Organizational Cultures: What
are the missions and organizational cultures of the participating agencies?
Have agencies agreed on common terminology and definitions?
•
Leadership: How will leadership be
sustained over the long-term? If leadership is shared, have roles and
responsibilities been clearly identified and agreed upon?
•
Clarity of Roles and Responsibilities:
Have participating agencies clarified roles and responsibilities?
•
Participants: Have all relevant
participants been included? Do they have the ability to commit resources for
their agency?
•
Resources: How will the collaborative
mechanism be funded and staffed? Have online collaboration tools been
developed?
•
Written Guidance and Agreements: If
appropriate, have participating agencies documented their agreement regarding
how they will be collaborating? Have they developed ways to continually update
and monitor these agreements?
Why GAO Did This Study
Many of the meaningful results that the federal government seeks to
achieve—such as those related to protecting food and agriculture, providing
homeland security, and ensuring a well-trained and educated workforce—require
the coordinated efforts of more than one federal agency and often more than one
sector and level of government. Both Congress and the executive branch have
recognized the need for improved collaboration across the federal government.
The Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 (GPRA) Modernization Act of
2010 establishes a new framework aimed at taking a more crosscutting and
integrated approach to focusing on results and improving government
performance. Effective implementation of the act could play an important role
in facilitating future actions to reduce duplication, overlap, and
fragmentation.
GAO was asked to identify the mechanisms that the federal government
uses to lead and implement interagency collaboration, as well as issues to
consider when implementing these mechanisms. To examine these topics, GAO
conducted a literature review on interagency collaborative mechanisms,
interviewed 13 academic and practitioner experts in the field of collaboration,
and reviewed their work. GAO also conducted a detailed analysis of 45 GAO
reports, published between 2005 and 2012. GAO selected reports that contained
in-depth discussions of collaborative mechanisms and covered a broad range of
issues.
