Partnership for Public Service

The Partnership for Public Service is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization based in Washington, D.C. whose mission is to inspire a new generation of civil servants and to transform the way government works.

Partnership for Public Service
AbbreviationThe Partnership
Formation2001 (2001)
FounderSamuel J. Heyman
TypeGood Government Nonprofit
PurposeThe Partnership for Public Service works to revitalize the US federal government by inspiring a new generation to serve and transforming the way government works.
Headquarters1100 New York Avenue NW
Location
CEO and President
Max Stier
Websiteourpublicservice.org

The Partnership's most visible programs include the Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medals, an annual event that honors federal employees for their exceptional civil service,[1] the Center for Presidential Transition, a nonpartisan resource for presidential candidates and their transition teams,[2] the Best Places to Work in the Federal Government Rankings, an annual survey that ranks federal agencies based on employee satisfaction,[3] and Go Government, an informational site to help prospective civil servants find federal employment.[4] Samuel J. Heyman and his wife Ronnie F. Heyman founded the Partnership in 2001. Max Stier is the CEO and President of the organization.[5]

History

The Partnership was founded by New York businessman Samuel J. Heyman in 2001 on the premise that, "Building, energizing and maintaining a high-quality workforce is the key to success for any organization—and the federal government is no different".[6] Heyman founded the group in 2001 with a gift of $25 million. In 2006, he committed an additional $20 million over the next five years.[7]

Heyman began his career at the Justice Department under Robert F. Kennedy after graduating from Harvard Law in 1963.[8] Many years after his move into the private sector, Heyman created the Partnership in an effort to reestablish public service as a desirable career and to attract talent into the federal workforce. Since 2001, the Partnership has continued to work to improve the government by recognizing, encouraging, and empowering public servants.

Publications

The Partnership's research publications explore topics related to government effectiveness and forward-thinking solutions to transforming the way government works. The hundreds of research reports on government reform issues delve into the most important challenges confronting government operations.[9]

Research reports include:

  • Government for the People: Serving the Public in a New World
  • A Time for Talent: Improving Federal Recruiting and Hiring
  • Into the Storm: Using Artificial Intelligence to Improve California’s Disaster Resilience
  • Mastering Risk: Ways to Advance Enterprise Risk Management Across Government
  • Cracking the Code: Harnessing the Exponential Power of Technology[10]

We the Partnership is the organization's blog. Blog posts report on recommendations for federal agencies, common issues in government effectiveness, Partnership events and initiatives, and general announcements.[11]

The Partnership also publishes annual progress reports, informative resources, leadership models, guidebooks, such as the 2020 Presidential Transition Guide,[12] congressional testimonies, such as CEO Max Stier's written testimony for the National Commission on Military, National and Public Service,[13] and commentaries such as the Partnership's statement on GSA ascertainment.[14]

Policy influence

The Partnership advocates for critically needed system reforms, supports federal leaders and institutions as they respond to the challenges of the moment, and encourages congressional oversight and legislative action to improve federal workforce management.[15] Thus, Partnership representatives frequently testify on Capitol Hill and support legislation to improve the civil service. The Chief Human Capital Officers Act that established senior human capital leaders in major federal agencies, the scholarship-for-service Roosevelt Scholars Act,[16] the Federal Hiring Process Improvement Act, and the expansion of the Presidential Transition Act were all influenced by Partnership initiatives.

Programs

Congressional Oversight

The congressional oversight initiative works to create resources, tools, and communities in Congress and the executive branch that promote regular oversight, ensuring the federal government can effectively serve the public. The Partnership developed Oversight Snapshots that provide information about the operations, staffing, and organizational health of 24 major federal departments and agencies. In addition, case studies that showcase outstanding examples of oversight serve as a template for Capitol Hill staff and agencies.[17]

Customer Experience

The Partnership's Customer Experience program helps the government earn the trust of its customers by meeting their needs and expectations. It provides information about best practices on improving the customer experience by conducting research, hosting events, advocating for removing policy and legislative barriers, and holding agencies accountable by publishing insights on their interactions.[18]

Government for the People

In collaboration with Accenture Federal Services, the Partnership for Public Service publishes an annual Government for the People report, a comprehensive collection of data and insights on how customers experience some of the government’s key services.[19]

Employee Engagement

Employee Engagement work at the Partnership helps federal agencies improve employee engagement by annually ranking the Best Places to Work in the Federal Government. These rankings help agency leaders assess employee engagement, alerting them to signs of trouble, and providing a roadmap to improve the workplace environment. The Partnership also provides guidance to federal agencies and offers training on employee engagement strategies.[20]

Federal Hiring

The Partnership helps federal agencies address talent gaps by advocating for better policy, developing new hiring and recruitment strategies, and educating students, faculty, and job seekers about federal opportunities. These efforts remove the barriers that obstruct candidates at all experience levels from entering public service.[21]

Call to Serve: Colleges and Universities

The Call to Serve network is the only national system that collaborates with both federal agencies and more than a thousand institutions of higher education. This program helps colleges and universities connect students and alumni with federal jobs and internships through onsite and virtual trainings, a certificate program that enhances and formalizes participants’ roles as federal advisors, and access to exclusive Call to Serve resources.[22]

Cybersecurity Talent Initiative

The Cybersecurity Talent Initiative is a public-private coalition connecting the best and brightest new technologists with high impact opportunities in the federal government. The goal is to jumpstarts careers by providing both public and private sector work experience and opportunities for student loan assistance.[23]

Harold W. Rosenthal Fellowship in International Relations

The Rosenthal Fellowship is a program for the most outstanding and civic-minded graduate students in international affairs. These students receive the opportunity to spend a summer working to solve some of the biggest challenges in the United States and abroad.[24]

Leonard D. Schaeffer Fellows in Government Service

The Partnership for Public Service supports the Schaeffer Fellows program, which exposes undergraduate students to government work and its impact through 10-week, full-time internships with elected officials and agencies at the federal, state, and local levels.[25]

Government Leaders

The long-term health of the Senior Executive Service (SES) is critical to ensuring the federal workforce have strong leadership that can develop and implement nearly the government’s critical policies and programs. The Partnership's Government Leaders program conducts research about the benefits of a strong Senior Executive Service, articulates the current challenges facing executive leaders, and identifies strategies to help SES members meet future needs.[26]

Government Reform

The Partnership for Public Service has created a Roadmap for Renewing Our Federal Government. The nation’s future and democracy depends the ability of the federal government to drive change. Th Roadmap was created in response to the years of neglect, diminished capacity, and leadership shortcomings that have taken a heavy toll on the government’s ability to serve the public effectively. The following program seek to rebuild and revitalize the United States of America's most important democratic institution and makes a number of proposals to the incoming Biden-Harris administration to make certain issues administration priorities.[27]

Federal Innovation

Through research and engagement with critical stakeholders and the innovation community, the Partnership works to increase the adoption and use of proven innovation practices that enhance government’s ability to achieve its many important missions. The Federal Innovation Council, an advisory organization of federal experts committed to fostering innovation in government, and the Federal Innovators Network, a community of innovators and entrepreneurs inside and outside of government that challenges bureaucracy, seeks to transform and improve government and citizen services.[28]

Leadership Development

The Partnership’s leadership programs prepare graduates to deliver results by building strong teams, creating a culture of innovation, and working across boundaries. In partnership with individual agencies, the Leadership Development team provides more targeted support for their leadership needs. The Department of Labor and the Department of Education are two examples agencies that improved leadership at all levels to drive performance and efficiency through Partnership programming. Agencies’ incoming Senior Executive Service members can also participate in Leadership Development training to help better understand their leadership roles and prepare them to succeed.[29]

Excellence in Government Fellows

The Excellence in Government Fellows program is a leadership development course for federal employees at the GS-14 to GS-15 levels. For more than 30 years, EIG has trained federal employees on the skills and strategies they need to lead. Graduates go on to develop and implement innovative solutions to address the federal government’s biggest challenges and improve their agencies’ effectiveness.[30]

Performance and Accountability

The efforts to enhance performance and accountability in federal agencies include convening their chief operating officers and public information officers who oversee these initiatives, as well as surveying the federal employees who help implement them. The Partnership tracks best practices and disseminate those findings across government, helping agency leaders learn from the successful efforts of their peers.[31]

Presidential Transition

The Center provides information on how to organize and execute a transition, helps agency career executives prepare for new political leadership, offers guidance to political appointees, and engages with Congress to promote transition reforms. The Center also helps incumbent presidents prepare for a second term or facilitate a smooth transfer of power for a new administration.[32]

Technology

Technology research reports and programs highlight federal agency success stories and challenges, examine how leaders use emerging technologies to improve government performance, and outline strategies to more effectively recruit and hire qualified technology experts.[33]

The Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medals

The Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medals program, otherwise known as "The Sammies", honors outstanding federal employees who have made significant contributions to address the country's most daunting challenges. Named for the Partnership for Public Service’s late founder Samuel J. Heyman, who was inspired by President Kennedy’s call to serve in 1963, these awards align with his vision of a dynamic and innovative federal workforce that meets the needs of the American people.[34]

The highly rigorous selection process convenes national leaders representing government, business, entertainment, media, and the non-profit/foundation community. This selection committee evaluates nominees based on their commitment to federal service, how their accomplishments meet the needs of the American people, and their excellence in customer service to citizens or other beneficiaries.

An award winner is selected for each of the following categories:

  • Federal Employee of the Year
  • Career Achievement
  • Emerging Leaders
  • Management Excellence
  • Safety, Security and International Affairs
  • Science and Environment[35]

Notable medal recipients include 2020 Federal Employee of the Year winner Dr. Anthony Fauci, 2020 Spirit of Service winner Satya Nadella, 2019 Management Excellence winner Robert Cabana, and 2017 Science and Environment winner Rory A. Cooper.[36]

The Center for Presidential Transition

The Partnership's Center for Presidential Transition is a nonpartisan source of information and resources designed to help presidential candidates and their transition teams prepare for their first term or second term in office. The Center assists with organizing and executing a transition, helps career officials in federal agencies prepare for new political leadership, helps aspiring political appointees prepare for government leadership, engages with Congress to expand legislative transition reforms, and offers insights to help incumbent presidents prepare for a second term or for smooth transfer of power in the event that a new president is elected.[37]

They Center Advisory Board includes Josh Bolten, former Chief of Staff to President George W. Bush, Mack McLarty, former Chief of Staff to President Bill Clinton, Michael Leavitt, former Governor of Utah, and Penny Pritzker, former Secretary of Commerce. They volunteer to support the Center for Presidential Transition by offering their expertise on early and effective transition planning for second-term and new administrations. David Marchick is the current director of the Center.[38]

Ready to Serve

Ready to Serve is a centralized resource that guides candidates political appointment process. The Center launched Ready Serve to prepare aspiring political appointees for job hunting in a new or second-term administration and preparing for background checks and security clearances, financial disclosure, and Senate confirmation hearings.[39]

Transition Lab

David Marchick, director of the Center for Presidential Transition, hosts the Center's podcast Transition Lab. He invites former presidential chiefs of staff, transition team leads and other presidential transition experts to share their experiences each week. The podcast was created to inform the public about the importance of a robust transition effort educate listeners on what needs to happen before a president takes office or starts a second term.[40]

Washington Post Appointee Tracker

The Partnership collaborates with The Washington Post to produce a political appointee tracker searchable database. Executive branch nominations through the Senate-confirmation process include positions like Cabinet secretaries, deputy and assistant secretaries, chief financial officers, general counsel, heads of agencies, ambassadors and other critical leadership positions.[41]

Go Government

The Go Government website guide aspiring public servants as they consider, apply for, and secure federal employment. Information, research, and reports on federal agencies and government careers are provided, as well as practical tips for completing government applications.[42]

The federal government has positions in virtually every field. The United States government is the nation’s largest employer with nearly two million civilian employees. The Partnership allows job seekers to explore how people in the following fields serve in the federal workforce:

  • Administration and Program Management
  • Biological and Environmental Sciences
  • Business and Finance
  • Creative Arts
  • Education
  • Engineering
  • Information Technology and Computer Science
  • Law
  • Mathematics
  • Medical and Public Health
  • Physical Sciences
  • Security and Protection
  • Social Sciences
  • Transportation
  • International Work Abroad[43]

Best Places to Work in the Federal Government

The annual Best Places to Work in the Federal Government rankings are produced by the Partnership for Public Service and Boston Consulting Group. These rankings measure employee engagement government-wide as well as at individual departments and agencies. The rankings seek to hold government leadership accountable for the health of their organizations, shining the spotlight on agencies that are successfully engaging employees as well as on those that are falling short.[44]

Other programs

The Partnership for Public Service announced the launch of Partnership West in 2020, which will extend the Partnership’s operations to the West Coast, starting in California. California grapples with concerns such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the wildfires ravaging the state. It needs a rich pool of mission-oriented federal employees skilled in supporting both state and local governments and building new cross-sector networks. Partnership West will use the Partnership’s expertise to help foster collaborative federal offices in California. The new initiative aim to support California agency field offices through research, cross-agency initiatives and customized programming in three main areas: federal talent pipelines, agency networks, collaboration and innovation, and leadership development.[45]

In 2021, the Partnership's Alliance for Congress will address legislative concerns facing the United States government.

Finance & external stakeholders

ProPublica reports the organization took in $14,394,406 Total Revenue in 2015, and revenue over the previous 5 years fluctuated between approximately $8.5 million and $17.0 million. 2015 Revenues were 49% from "Program Services," 44% from "Contributions," and the rest spread across multiple other sources.[46]

Corporate sponsors (44 listed in March 2018) dominate its lists of affiliates and supporters. The organization reports that "The Partnership receives support from and collaborates with corporations that share our commitment to effective government. Their generous support makes our work possible." These sponsors included some of the nation's leading accounting-and-consulting firms, investment banks, defense contractors, and others with heavy involvement with—and/or regulatory sensitivity to—federal and state governments. By comparison, few academic, civic or labor organizations are listed.[47]

Many of the Partnership's programs are made possible through foundation support. Notable examples include the Annenberg Foundation, which has funded the Annenberg Leadership Seminars, Annenberg Speakers Bureau[48] and other projects. In 2016, the Annenberg Foundation awarded a $4 million grant, over 4 years, to the Partnership for various programs named for Mr. & Mrs. Annenberg.[49]

The Partnership works with other philanthropic foundations that focus on public service issues such as the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, the Peterson Foundation, and Atlantic Philanthropies,[50] among others.

In addition, the Partnership receives support from many private-sector companies who sponsor programs, projects and events. National sponsors for the 2009 Sammies included GEICO, DuPont and the Graduate School.[51] The Partnership also works with corporate partners on its many research projects. In 2009, the Partnership and Booz Allen Hamilton collaborated to produce reports analyzing the challenges facing the federal cybersecurity workforce[52] and examining the state of the Senior Executive Service.[53] Monster Government Solutions and Aon Consulting provided support for the Partnership's Where the Jobs Are 2009 report.[54] In a second collaboration with Booz Allen Hamilton in 2014, the Partnership published a report entitled "Building the Enterprise: A New Civil Service Framework," which calls for major reforms to the federal government's decades-old civil service system and lays out a plan to modernize areas that include the outdated pay and hiring policies.[55]

See also

References
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