HUD managers: PLEASE don’t toss those questionnaires!
February 11th, 2011 | HUD | Posted by Sean Reilly
Many are the ways in which the government loses money to contractors, but by failing to answer a survey? That’s essentially what happened at the Housing and Urban Development Department, which cost taxpayers more than $267,000 because some of its managers didn’t bother filling out customer satisfaction questionnaires from tech giant Hewlett-Packard.
Here’s the story, according to the department’s inspector general: Under the terms of a 2005 information technology contract, HP has to ask managers in HUD’s Office of the Chief Information Officer every six months how happy they are with the company’s work. If the survey response rate falls below 50 percent, Hewlett-Packard automatically gets an $89,200 bonus.
Three times in a row–from August 2008 to early last year–HUD missed that target, meaning it had to pay Hewlett-Packard a total of $267,600. Although the CIO’s office sent managers reminder notices, “those notices did not emphasize the responsibility and the impact to HUD of them not responding,” the inspector general wrote in an October report. Because survey participants were not anonymous to Hewlett-Packard, the IG added, managers were not motivated to respond “and may not have been candid in their responses.”
Federal Times obtained a redacted copy of the report under the Freedom of Information Act.
The bonuses, it should be noted, are a pittance in comparison to the contract’s total value, which HUD spokeswoman April Brown pegged at around $404 million. Out of a dozen surveys required so far under the contract, the three highlighted by the IG are the only ones where the response rate dropped below 50 percent, Brown said via email. The department has taken steps to make sure it doesn’t happen again, she said.
A Hewlett-Packard spokeswoman had no comment.
Asked why HUD would agree to reward a contractor in that fashion, Brown said the provision is in line with commercial terms for “incentive administration.” At the Project on Government Oversight, spokesman Joe Newman couldn’t name another government contract with a similar deal.
For Hewlett-Packard, Newman said, “it’s almost as if there’s an incentive for them not to really gather feedback from the staff.”
No kidding.
Tags: Hewlett-Packard, Housing and Urban Development Department, Information Technology
New report shows challenges to White House IT reforms
November 30th, 2010 | HUD Information Technology Uncategorized | Posted by Sean Reilly
On Nov. 19, the Obama administration proclaimed a new path for government information technology procurement. But an overview of one agency’s travails suggests that a steep climb lies ahead.
The agency is the Housing and Urban Development Department; the newly released Government Accountability Office review finds that HUD officials had a hard time just coming up with a congressionally mandated plan to lay out its IT buying strategy.
That document is required by a spending bill approved last December. Under its terms, HUD can’t obligate more than 25 percent of available money for IT modernization until the House and Senate appropriations committees receive details on key milestones, expected mission benefits and other basics.
But the department’s first try this spring left the GAO underwhelmed. Out of eight projects included in the plan, HUD failed to spell out “specific and measurable benefits” for five, the report says. The plan also did not fully meet conditions that each project be shown to comply with HUD’s enterprise architecture, be subject to lifecycle management policies, and be covered by capital planning and control requirements.
In general, HUD had failed to adequately establish any of the management controls needed for effective IT modernization, according to an earlier GAO briefing attached to the report, in large part because a new IT leadership team had recently been put in place and needed time to introduce a new approach. “Nevertheless, HUD continues to invest in multiple IT modernization projects,” the briefing says, “and may expand on the number of projects in the near term.”
Tags: Department of Housing and Urban Development, Government Accountability Office
Government performance data on the Web
June 18th, 2010 | HUD Information Technology OMB | Posted by Tom Spoth
I reported yesterday on the Office of Management and Budget’s plan to review agencies’ progress toward their high-priority performance goals and post that information on the Web.
I spoke with Peter Grace at HUD this morning and he said the site will be called USAperformance.gov and he expects it to be live by July. Shelley Metzenbaum of OMB would only say yesterday that it would be up this summer or this fall, so perhaps July is the goal, but they’re hedging their bets on when it will actually go live.
Right now, the USAperformance.gov URL exists but is password protected.
Transition Watch: Donovan gets deputy at HUD
February 3rd, 2009 | HUD Transition | Posted by Steve Watkins
The new sheriff at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Shaun Donovan, now has a deputy.
The White House announced yesterday it nominated Ron Sims for the post.
Sims is the county executive of King County, Washington, which includes Seattle. As deputy, he will manage HUD’s day-to-day operations. HUD has a $39 billion operating budget and approximately 8,500 employees.
Donovan called Sims “the perfect deputy secretary candidate†saying:
His experience at the helm of a large urban government provides a critical perspective and his collaborative approach to problem-solving has prepared him to effectively lead HUD’s operations as the agency charts a new aggressive course.
Sims now faces Senate confirmation before he takes the post.
Tags: nominations, Ron Sims, Shaun Donovan
Senate approves five Obama officials
January 23rd, 2009 | Environmental Protection Agency Executive Office of the President HUD Transition Transportation | Posted by Steve Watkins
Barack Obama’s Cabinet is filling up. Last night the Senate confirmed:
- Shaun Donovan to be Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.
- Ray LaHood to be Secretary of Transportation.
In other confirmation news:
- Susan Rice, Obama’s choice for U.N. ambassador, was approved.
- Nancy Sutley was confirmed as chairwoman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality.
- And finally, Lisa Jackson was given the green light to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, after Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., lifted his objection to a vote by unanimous consent.
Tags: confirmations, Lisa Jackson, Nancy Sutley, Ray LaHood, Senate, Shaun Donovan, Susan Rice