Reports

Government shutdowns have a profound effect on our nation’s federal employees and the public—curtailing the ability of civil servants to do their jobs and provide crucial public benefits, conduct scientific research, manage the economy, address national security challenges and more.  Shutdowns occur when Congress does not pass the necessary appropriations bills to fund agencies’ operations. During...

History can provide lessons for future administrations to prepare for unforeseen crises.

Established by the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978, the Senior Executive Service, or SES, is the executive branch’s corps of senior leaders serving in key positions just below agencies’ top political appointees. Members of the SES, most of whom are career civil servants, oversee significant federal programs and functions, and manage thousands of employees. They...

New survey data from the Partnership for Public Service shows that while trust in the government as a whole is low, parts of the federal government—such as civil servants and federal agencies—are viewed more positively. The report includes insights into the drivers of the public’s views and suggests ways government can rebuild trust based on our research.

Federal employee experience and customer experience are intertwined, and the connection between the two is particularly important now with agencies implementing historic investments in communities around the country through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, Inflation Reduction Act, and CHIPS and Science Act. This report highlights six strategies for how supervisors, midlevel managers, members of the Senior Executive Service and political appointees can improve the experience of their teams in ways that can lead to better experiences for federal customers. It also identifies four challenges to connecting the employee experience to the customer experience and offers recommendations for overcoming them.

Presidential transitions can only be effective if the public trusts that the people involved will honor the results of democratic elections and value the need for new administrations to prepare to govern even before taking office. The Center for Presidential Transition® conducted a nationally representative survey to understand the country’s views on the custom of presidential transfers of power. The survey found that 56% of Americans agreed a peaceful transition would take place if a different candidate wins in 2024. By contrast, 44% of Americans did not think a transfer would be peaceful or were unsure. The public’s doubt should serve as both a call to action and an opportunity. Government leaders and organizations such as the Center must support public understanding of the importance of peaceful transitions as a critical function of our democracy.

To tackle complex societal challenges and better serve the public, government agencies must collaborate internally, across agencies, with the public and with industry to take advantage of diverse expertise as well as the lived experience of the people they serve. We steadfastly believe a commitment to collaboration is foundational for significant and sustainable change. The agencies we profile here are proving that collaboration can transform procurement, and procurement innovation can lead to more equitable, effective digital government service delivery.

In collaboration with the Federal Innovation Council, we created a vision for how to build and foster a culture of innovation over the next two decades. This brief focuses on four main areas: Leadership, the workforce, the culture-building process and partnerships, all of which are integral to creating an innovative culture. The brief also addresses how to measure progress and involve key stakeholders, and it offers options for getting started.

To understand how agencies are mobilizing cloud computing for public service, the Partnership, in collaboration with the IBM Center for The Business of Government, hosted a series of events in 2022 featuring federal IT leaders. Over the course of three webinars, we heard from the Census Bureau; the departments of Agriculture, Defense and Veterans Affairs; the Federal Emergency Management Agency; the Government Accountability Office; the National Institutes of Health; the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; and the Office of Personnel Management.

After analyzing two years of the Partnership for Public Service's 360 Leadership data, along with interviews and a focus group from federal women leaders, we compiled a list of best practices and offer suggestions for how individuals and organizations can support more inclusive leadership. To help make this information actionable, and because a focus of our entire LeadHERship series suggests that an important area of opportunity for improving inclusion and equity exists at the leader level, we conclude each section with some questions for leaders to ask themselves as they work to support their teams, and especially women.