Publications

As 2009 began with the historic swearing in of a new president, a record number of people expressing interest in public service and growing demands on our government, we knew it would be a year of great opportunity for the Partnership. Indeed, this was arguably our most ambitious and productive year since our inception nearly a decade ago. In this annual report, we provide details on the Partnership’s accomplishments. We also share with you just a few stories of federal employees making a difference in government, individuals inspired to service through Partnership programs and those assisted by our leadership development training to better serve the nation.

The ability of government agencies to fulfill their missions is in peril, requiring immediate and thoughtful attention to the recruitment, hiring and retention of talented IT professionals. By investing in IT talent, government will ensure mission success and maintain a safe and prosperous nation.

Americans need effective government. Every day, we rely on our federal government to deliver vital services from protecting our homeland to revitalizing the economy. Today, our nation faces unprecedented challenges from expanding health care coverage to creating and supporting sources of energy. We need our government to be the best it can be. The Partnership’s brochure, “Good Government Starts with Good People,” provides an overview of the organization’s work to revitalize our federal government by inspiring a new generation to serve and by transforming the way our government works.

To provide a framework for the future, the Partnership for Public Service examined the 2008-2009 presidential transition, including the pre-election period, the phase between the election and the inauguration, and President Barack Obama’s first year in office. We interviewed a number of key players from the George W. Bush White House and the transition teams of Obama and Republican presidential candidate John McCain. We studied the public record, talked to outside experts and interviewed officials at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the General Services Administration (GSA), which handles office space and logistics for the president-elect.

This report recounts many of the 2008-2009 presidential transition activities, includes observations from the participants, and identifies notable successes and shortcomings. Based on our study, we propose a series of legislative changes to the Presidential Transition Act, and we highlight some best practices that could be employed in future transitions by the White House and presidential campaigns.

Our federal government is hiring tens of thousands of new employees at a steady pace, with job openings available for every interest area and at virtually every agency. Where the Jobs Are, the only comprehensive projection of the federal government’s hiring needs, presents a clear roadmap of these exciting public service possibilities.

The federal government’s Senior Executive Service (SES), as envisioned 30 years ago by government reformers, has fallen short of its promise and is inadequate to meet today’s challenges, according to a report by the Partnership for Public Service and Booz Allen Hamilton. The report examines the state of the 7,000-member elite corps of federal leaders and how government develops, recruits, hires, retains, pays and trains its top managers.

The Partnership for Public Service and Booz Allen Hamilton examined the state of the federal cybersecurity workforce by interviewing experts inside and outside of government, and examining public testimony, reports and documents.

Partnership President and CEO, Max Stier, testified before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on the Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce and the District of Columbia on recruitment and hiring in the federal government.

Partnership President and CEO, Max Stier, testified before the House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on the Federal Workforce, Postal Service and District of Columbia. Stier addressed the major challenges currently facing the federal workforce, including barriers to recruitment, a broken hiring process, a lack of meaningful measures and a lack of support and oversight.

The economic crisis, like no other story, validates the importance of the Partnership’s mission to improve government performance and reminds us that, in times of national crisis, we turn to our federal government for solutions. And, while the economy is highlighting the need for effective government, the 2008 election and subsequent transition are shining a spotlight on another core tenet of our mission: the need to attract a new generation into public service. This annual report illustrates why our mission has never been more relevant and how our organization has never been better positioned to drive real change in government. We are doing everything we can to take advantage of them and capture the energy surrounding government today.