GSA reforms are improving efficiency, customer service

Originally posted by Dan Tangherlini on Federal Times

More than 60 years ago, the General Services Administration was founded in the wake of World War II to deliver consistent and responsive services to federal agencies, services which would also ensure value to taxpayers. Today, everyone at GSA continues to take enormous pride in that mission and since April of this year, we have been engaged in an effort to refocus this agency on our core objective of providing effective and efficient service for the entire federal government.

At a time when every agency is coping with shrinking budgets and growing expectations, we know that the services GSA provides have never been more important. For the past five months, GSA has conducted a top-to-bottom review to examine how we operate and what reforms could be implemented to help the entire federal government give the American people the service they deserve.

Continue reading

GSA outlines progress cracking down on bonuses, pricey conferences

Originally posted by Charles S. Clark on GovExec

The test of whether a federal performance bonus is merited is "whether I can explain it at a Senate hearing," acting General Services Administration chief Dan Tangherlini told a Senate panel Wednesday. Bonuses should be given only for "special, exemplary, extremely justifiable acts," he added, and "the quality of our work should not be dependent on a bonus award but on commitment" to mission.

Tangherlini appeared with GSA Inspector General Brian Miller before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee to respond to senators' reviews of lengthy committee questionnaires the agency had completed as part of the ongoing fallout from the April 2012 scandal over lavish spending on entertainment at a GSA training conference in Las Vegas.

Continue reading