White House looks to GEAR up
The Trump administration wants input on a new center that would bring together government and industry researchers and academics to help modernize processes and services.
The White House is seeking input on how to create a public/private Government Effectiveness Advanced Research (GEAR) Center that would focus on boosting the government's mission delivery and citizen services.
According to a request for information issued on July 23 by the White House, the GEAR Center would be a nongovernmental, public/private partnership that "would address operational and strategic challenges facing the federal government" now and into the future.
"Today's government is outdated and proven to adapt more slowly than the private sector and has fallen behind the curve, with reported decreases in trust and lower customer satisfaction," the RFI states. The center would address how to modernize government services that might have been instituted in the late 19th century.
The center would pull together researchers, academics, nonprofit organization leaders and private-sector specialists from areas such as data science, organizational behavior and user-centered design to conduct applied research and pilot projects.
The goals are to re-imagine how U.S. citizens interact with the federal government; rethink delivery of citizen-facing services and data; reform core government processes such as procurement, budgeting, IT investment and capital allocation; and consider how the public workforce might be redeveloped, reskilled and redeployed.
The RFI seeks input on the operational, budgeting and other aspects of setting up the GEAR Center. The deadline for submissions is Sept. 14.