DeSeve's Tech Savvy a Plus

As Government Executive Staff Correspondent Robert Brodsky points out in an article on the appointment of Edward DeSeve to implement the recently enacted economic stimulus package, DeSeve's technology experience will come in handy.

For sure, while at the Office of Management and Budget, he managed the effort to dodge a global crisis brought on by the Year 2000 computer bug. But DeSeve also understands the need to use technology strategically. Brodsky quotes from a Governing magazine article DeSeve wrote:

DeSeve also advocated exploring the use of "networked government."

"The stimulus bill is designed in part to drive inventive new relationships between federal agencies, states, local governments, the private sector and not-for-profits," he said. "Agencies that create these relationship networks will be able to deliver much-needed technical assistance while also leveraging nongovernmental resources."

Brodsky also quotes Donald F. Kettl, DeSeve's colleague at the University of Pennsylvania's Fels Institute for Government, who is a big fan of the appointment and thinks technology will play a big role in tracking spending. He implies DeSeve knows that.

"That's the core of the problem: making it possible to track where the money goes and how best to hold accountable those getting the money," [kettle] said. "If there was any doubt that this is job one, last week's AIG furor makes that inescapable. But simply dumping the information out there won't be enough. It will have to be intelligible in capturing what's happening, and it will need to paint a picture of overall results to keep a handful of anecdotes from distorting the debate."