Partnership for Intergovernmental Management
and Accountability
AGA has established the Partnership for
Intergovernmental Management and Accountability (Partnership)
to open the lines of communication among governments with the
goal of improving performance and accountability. Comprised of high-ranking officials from the
federal, state and local levels of government and higher
education, the Partnership is dedicated to identifying and solving some of the
most vexing management and accountability issues facing
governments today.
AGA provides staff support to the Partnership and serves as a
neutral third party in fostering cooperation and communication
among different levels of government.
Goals of the Partnership
Goals of the partnership
include, but are not limited to:
- Enhancing governments'
ability to effectively and efficiently serve citizens.
- Improving communication
among higher education, the federal government, states and
local governments.
- Establishing
relationships that will facilitate the adoption of a
solution-oriented agenda that is developed through a
consensus of leaders representing all levels of government.
- Developing generally
accepted approaches and best practices for improving the
performance and accountability of intergovernmental
programs. The following objectives are likely to be
instrumental in achieving this goal:
- strengthening internal controls.
- streamlining grants management.
- reducing administrative costs; and
- developing common terminology.
- Helping promote the
development and disseminate of valid, reliable and useful
financial information that decision-makers need to make
smart, informed decisions;
- Clarifying roles and
responsibilities for programmatic and financial improvement
activities.
- Developing training
programs for officials at the federal, state and local
levels of government.
- Agreeing on a common
approach to determining and measuring program outcomes.
Partnership Structure
The Partnership is governed by a Steering Committee that is
co-chaired by a federal official and a state official. The
Steering Committee is comprised of the following members:
- Martin Benison, CGFM,
Comptroller Commonwealth of Massachusetts - Co-Chair
-
Thomas N. Cooley, CFO and Director, Office of
Budget, Finance and Award Management, National Science
Foundation - Co-Chair
- Cheryl Atkinson,
Administrator, Office of Workforce Security, Employment
and Training Administration, U.S. Department of Labor
- David R. Bennett, CGFM, CPA,
Assistant County Mayor and Finance Director, Blount
County, TN
- Sheila O. Conley, CGFM, CPA,
Deputy CFO, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
- Stephen Gordon, CPPO, FNIGP,
Ph.D., Director of Procurement, City of Alexandria,
VA
- Mike Marsh, CPA, MPA, CFE,
JD, Inspector General, Denali Commission
- Clark Partridge, CGFM, CPA,
Comptroller, State of Arizona
- Anthony H. Rainey, CFO,
District of Columbia Courts
- Richard T. Rasa, CGFM,
Director, State and Local Advisory Assistance, Office of
the Inspector General, U.S. Department of Education
- Diana Jones Ritter, CGFM,
Commissioner, Office of Mental Retardation and
Developmental Disabilities, State of New York
- Jessica Shahin, Deputy
Associate Administrator, Food Stamp Program, Food
and Nutrition Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture
- Christopher Stubbs, Deputy
Assistant Inspector General for Audit, U.S. Department of
the Interior
- Gwendolyn Sykes, CGFM,
MPA, CFO, Yale University
- Kim Wallin, Comptroller, State of Nevada
- Danny Werfel, Acting
Controller, Office of Federal Financial Management, U.S.
Office of Management and Budget
The Steering Committee determines which projects the
Partnership will undertake and appoints special work groups to
complete these projects. The work groups report to the Steering
Committee on a periodic basis.
Partnership
Projects
Include:
During its first meeting on Oct. 12, 2007, the Partnership
approved three initial projects:
- Working to ensure that federal cost allocation policies
are consistent across regions.
- High-Impact Intergovernmental Issues: Issue a periodic
'intergovernmental alert' identifying federal legislation,
regulations or policies that will have an impact on state
and local governments. The first 'alert'
was issued on Jan. 15, 2008. Additional 'alerts' will be
issued as high-impact issues are identified.
- Federal Cost
Allocation/Improving Implementation of OMB Circular A-87:
Identify how the process for preparing, submitting and
negotiating State Cost Allocation Plans in accordance with
OMB Circular A-87 can be made more efficient and effective.
-
Leveraging the Single Audit/Strategies for Reducing
Erroneous Payments: Determine how all levels of
government can work smarter to leverage audit resources,
including the Single Audit Act Amendments of 1996 and the
Improper Payments Act of 2002, while improving the
usefulness of both acts to improve program integrity and
reduce improper payments.
Criteria for Selecting New Projects
Criteria for selecting Partnership projects shall include, but
not be limited to, the following:
-
The project should be
related to government, as opposed to private-sector,
issues. However, some issues undertaken may have
implications for both the public and private sectors, such
as the tax treatment of employee benefits.
-
The project must be of
mutual interest to all affected levels of governments.
-
The project should be
crosscutting in that it will be applicable to more than one
program.
-
There must be a clearly
definable role for the Partnership, whether it is education,
training, the publication of best practices, or the
development of common approaches to addressing an issue.
-
There must be a consensus
among Steering Committee members to proceed with a project.
-
The Partnership should
avoid undertaking projects that focus on issues that are
likely to require congressional action for resolution or
that are the direct result of congressional action.
-
The Partnership shall
validate – either formally or informally – that a potential
project addresses a significant problem.
-
The Partnership should not
undertake projects that duplicate other initiatives, but it
may undertake projects that complement other initiatives.
-
The Steering Committee
shall establish the duration, milestones, outcomes and
expected achievement of each project.