FY 2019 CEAR Awardees

The recipients listed below were presented with the CEAR awards for their FY 2019 reports at AGA's Virtual CEAR Award Ceremony held Aug. 6, 2020. Recipients are listed along with the number of times they have earned the award with the link to their report:

CEAR Special/Best-in-Class Awards

The 14 recipients listed below were presented with special awards at AGA's Virtual CEAR Award Ceremony following presentation of CEAR awards. Recipients were not told prior to the event whether they would receive a special award.

Please click on the agency's name above to reference the report.

• Internet Links to a Data Dashboard
  U.S. Agency for International Development*

  • Interactive dashboard presents amounts of foreign aid to each country broken down by purpose, funding agency, region, trends, etc.
  • Dashboard provides cursor hovering and drill-down capabilities
  • Maps, symbols, and colors facilitate understanding of information

• Ease of Accessability to Multi-Media Information
  Architect of the Capitol*

  • Innovatively integrates digital technology, such as video and hyperlinked websites and media platform
  • Creatively supports hand-held mobile device applications for convenient report/agency information access
  • Provides an interactive web report version with easy supplemental information access
  • Provides links to various social media platforms for improved agency transparency

• Innovative Use of Technology to Enhance Mission Delivery
  U.S. General Services Administration

  • Spearheaded use of Robotic Process Automation (RPA) throughout GSA resulting in 29 RPS automations that increased workload ca-pacity over 100,000 annualized hours.
  • Leading the Federal RPA Community of Practice composed of 600 persons from 40 plus agencies to:
    • Mitigate management, technology, and operational hurdles that might impede RPA adoption in the Federal government
    • Share RPA best practices, lessons learned, and strategies for launching and/or evolving an RPA program
    • Conduct events to share innovate RPA uses among the agencies
    • Develop an RPA Playbook
    • Examine technology standards
    • Develop training for Federal employees

• Visual Timeline of Agency's History
  National Credit Union Administration*

  • Teaches uninformed readers about the organization’s longevity, how it has evolved, and the valuable service it provides to the American public.

• Description of What The Agency Does and How it Operates
  U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission

  • Uses an appendix to clearly explain how the regulated markets operate in an engaging and easy-to-read manner
  • Clearly describes the roles of the numerous market participants
  • Specifies numbers of each market participant and how the agency regulates them

• Motivating and Inspiring Stories
  National Aeronautics and Space Administration*

  • Integrates brief, interesting, and inspiring stories (and photographs) that highlight key agency, contributions, leaders, facilities, challenges, innovations. and insights
    • Includes “Did You Know?” vignettes
    • Stories help retain the reader’s interest and help educate, inspire, and “connect” with the reader on key priorities (Inspiration is a crit-ical agency mission goal)
  • Highlights specific technology advances that directly demonstrate progress toward the agency vision to discover and advance knowledge for the benefit

• Agency Head Message
  U.S. Government Accountability Office

  • Identifies the agency’s mission and strategic goals
  • Provides insightful aspects of how GAO’s mission benefits both the Federal government and the public
  • Extensive recitation of the agency’s accomplishments and important contributions that are easily translated into public benefits during the year
  • Uses quantifiable measures to support presentation of accomplishments
  • Identifies importance of GAO’s people in meeting its mission
  • Attests to completeness and reliability of financial and performance data
  • Clearly written with maximum impact
  • Demonstrates GAO’s committed to serving clients at all levels

• Presentation of The Agency's Strategic Framework
  U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

  • Lists the agency’s strategic goals and presented within side bars, the strategic objectives for each
  • Brief narratives explaining the objectives and importance of each strategic goal
  • Leaves readers with a complete understanding of why HHS does what it does and its importance to the public

• Presentation of Performance Results
  Social Security Administration

  • Clearly, concisely, and candidly interrelates financial and performance reporting
  • Concisely links operating expenses and strategic goals
  • Candidly and concisely highlights, in a performance status snapshot, key related agency performance measures
  • Concisely explains the performance status, including the underlying reasons in areas that did not meet targets
  • Concisely highlights how the agency intends or currently improves its related operations

• Process for Ensuring Data Quality
  U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission

  • Managers:
    • Monitor progress toward PM targets during year
    • Submit annual Statements of Assurance regarding internal controls
    • Annually certify prescribed procedures to ensure data quality were followed and the reported PM results are complete, accurate, and reliable
  • EXFM team does in-depth IV&V reviews of each key PM every 2 years (12 out of 25 were performed in 2019)
  • The NEISS, described in 2019, is an important element in hospital reporting of consumer product injuries. It also humanized the report

• Analysis of Financial Statements
  U.S. Department of Agriculture

  • Clear, succinct analysis of all aspects of the financial statements
  • Presented substantive reasons for all significant changes
  • Easy-to-read supporting graphics

• Candor and Transparency in Financial Management Issues: U.S. Department of Defense*
  DOD CEAR Best-in-Class Certificate (PDF)

  • Explains a well-structured process, entailing Notices of Findings and Recommendations and Corrective Action Plan, DOD is using to achieve an unmodified opinion
  • Identifies the priorities in the process
  • Describes the progress being made
  • Uses effective graphics to further portray progress

• Presentation of Forward-Looking Information: U.S. Department of Energy
  DOE CEAR Best-in-Class Certificate (PDF)

  • Description of the strategies and processes to achieve the strategic goals
  • The AFR presents a table (page 30) of DOE’s Management Priorities and Goals, the Inspector General-identified Challenges, GAO’s high-risk areas under DOE’s management. This shows that DOE management, the IG, and GAO have identified and are attacking the most important issues together
  • The issues include Contractor Oversight (DOE uses 100,000 contractor employees), Nuclear Security, Environmental Cleanup, Nu-clear Waste Disposal, and Cybersecurity
  • Then, the MD&A provides detailed summaries, analyses, and departmental initiatives in each of the challenges/goals

• Proactive Financial Management Support for Mission Continuity and Accountability: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office*
  USPTO CEAR Best-in-Class Certificate (PDF)

  • Spearheaded key initiatives that enabled/improved mission delivery and accountability
  • Proactively provided strategic professional financial management leadership
  • Enabled uninterrupted mission customer service continuity despite a lengthy government-wide funding lapse
  • Historic 35-day government-wide appropriation funding lapse
  • Proactively guided effective financial strategies and resources stewardship to support service continuity
  • Strategically and proactively managed/conserved operating reserves & spending
  • Deferred spending and incrementally funded key requirements
  • Directed best value and right-sizing strategies for optimal Information Technology investments for optimal mission delivery and accounta-bility
  • Delivered consistent timely, high quality agency financial and performance reporting excellence for improved accountability (CEAR Awards 2002-2019)
  • Regular Performance and Accountability Reports (PAR’s) for optimal financial and performance accountability and citizen/taxpayer insight

*First time the CEAR program has recognized any agency in this category