Survey: Managers want management reform

Some federal managers recommend reforming program management as a critical change for the next administration, according to a survey from Primavera Systems Inc., a maker of portfolio management software.

According to its online survey, some federal managers who responded said government inefficiency wasted nearly a third of tax dollars, the company said in its findings released today.

Three hundred eighty-two federal managers and 3,868 members of the general public responded to the survey during July and August, the company said.

Eighty-seven percent of federal managers said some or all of wasted tax dollars could be recovered through improved program management practices. Three-quarters of the taxpayers responding said they want more visibility into federal spending and agency management performance. Nonstandard agency management systems are an obstacle to that transparency, according to 43 percent of the federal managers who responded.

Only 17 percent of federal managers and 10 percent of taxpayers gave agencies high grades for effectiveness.

About 63 percent of the federal managers said they believe government performance accountability and reform will suffer during the transition to the next administration, They said the incoming administration should listen to seasoned government managers.

Taxpayers also want more communication from the government; 75 percent said they would like the federal government to notify them when a program goes over budget, why is has done so and what the agency is doing to fix the problem, the survey said.

The federal managers in the survey recommended:

•  A standardized system for reporting and tracking project updates and changes.

• A standardized system for reporting project problems in real time.

• Providing project managers with access to the same project information at the same time.