It’s not like the folks who run tmz.com and other celebrity web sites have much to worry about, but federal Chief Performance Officer Jeffrey Zients probably made a select group of people quite happy today with the news that performance.gov is likely going public within a few weeks.
The site, intended as the electronic linchpin of the Obama administration’s performance tracking efforts, has been up since last summer, but only to federal employees with passwords. Its public debut has been eagerly anticipated in management circles, but repeatedly postponed. Exactly why has been a bit murky, but Shelley Metzenbaum, associate director for performance and personnel management at the Office of Management and Budget, has acknowledged difficulties in keeping the site updated.
In a September memo, Zients described it as a “one-stop shop” for in-depth information on agency goals and performance measures. He made today’s disclosure at a Senate hearing on the recently enacted Government Performance and Results Modernization Act. And despite recent cuts to the e-government program that pays for performance.gov, data.gov and other signature administration web sites, Zients said that “most” will keep going, but without new enhancements.
