Statement:
Improve HUD’s acquisitions performance through early collaborative planning and enhanced utilization of acquisition tools.
Description:
The Office of the Chief Procurement Officer (OCPO) is responsible for all HUD procurement and
procurement-related activities. The acquisition process can be lengthy, partially due to necessary compliance with statutes, policies and procedures. OCPO sees an opportunity to streamline the acquisition process and increase customer satisfaction by mapping out the process and identifying and removing non-value added steps.
In this challenging economic environment, OCPO also seeks to maximize the value of every taxpayer dollar and ensure opportunities for small businesses. To accomplish this, OCPO is committed to using internal and external acquisition vehicles specifically established to leverage HUD’s and the government’s buying power, maximize opportunities for small business, and increase the successful outcomes of acquisitions.
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Statement:
Reduce the time and complexity of the clearance process by establishing and enforcing clear protocols for drafting and reviewing documents placed in departmental clearance.
Description:
For some significant policy documents, submission of the document for departmental clearance is the first time that key HUD policy and support offices and HUD’s Office of General Counsel (OGC) review such documents. The absence of involvement of key HUD offices can result in a lengthy clearance process if major disagreements exist. There are also less significant policy documents that only need abbreviated review which go through the full clearance process unnecessarily.
To address these challenges, HUD will establish guidelines for development of significant policy
documents that include a preclearance process and protocols for clearance of these documents. HUD will also establish guidelines that will institute a significant reduction or no clearance of routine or less significant policy documents.
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Statement:
Increase accuracy, speed, transparency, and accountability in financial management and budgeting for the agency.
Description:
HUD's current core accounting systems have been a source of audit findings for many years. The systems have limited functionality and are difficult to maintain properly, which increases the risk of failure. Moreover, the current budget process has limited transparency and not all staff are trained on the appropriate budget formulation procedures. Further, HUD’s internal control processes need to be improved by addressing these significant deficiencies and material weaknesses.
The Office of the Chief Financial Officer (OCFO) plans to improve internal controls on financial
management by reducing significant deficiencies and eliminating material weaknesses across the department. HUD will also improve the reliability of the financial accounting systems. HUD will also modify the budget formulation processes and procedures in order to increase transparency.
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Statement:
Make the grants management process more efficient and effective by automating and streamlining processes, improving timeliness, and tracking performance.
Description:
HUD’s management and oversight of grants can be more effective and efficient at a number of points over the grant life-cycle. This is the result of a number of conditions: decentralized responsibilities and unclear authorities, a lack of policy and process standardization across program offices, the existence of a multitude of grant-related IT systems for identical or similar tasks, the lack of a centralized performance reporting system, and minimal, centralized oversight of program operations.
To address these challenges, HUD will: develop a centralized, one-stop performance reporting capability for agency grants; standardize and strengthen oversight of grant -related policies and processes; improve programmatic oversight of grant programs for compliance and performance; and align and optimize grant-related IT systems agency wide.
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Statement:
Employ, develop, and foster a collaborative, high-performing workforce that is capable of continuing to deliver HUD’s mission in a changing and uncertain future.
Description:
We will employ, develop, and foster a collaborative, values-driven, and capable workforce by focusing our efforts on: 1) promoting greater leadership effectiveness, 2) enhancing employee engagement, and 3) addressing performance results.
The Department will face a number of challenges and changes in the years ahead, as we continue to address the housing recovery during a period of fiscal constraints. Changes in housing markets and communities around the nation are speeding up, just as natural disasters and the need for rebuilding communities across America is also increasing. Meanwhile, it is estimated that 57% of HUD’s workforce will be eligible to retire by 2015. To accomplish our mission in the years ahead, we must capture the wisdom and knowledge of our current and departing technical experts and leaders and transmit it to their successors. In that regard, we must value and utilize more effectively the contributions of all our employees as vital members of our workforce and help them fulfill their professional development and career needs.
By improving leadership effectiveness, investing in employee engagement, and addressing performance challenges, we will build a more collaborative workforce, demonstrate our core values, and grow our capabilities. By fulfilling our roles as a trusted strategic partner, a human capital compliance expert, and a transactions facilitator for HUD’s employees, we can ensure that HUD’s workforce is ready to achieve its mission of creating sustainable, inclusive communities and quality, affordable homes for all.
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Statement:
Make high-quality data available to those who need it, when they need it, where they need it, to support decision-making in furtherance of HUD's mission.
Description:
HUD data can be unreliable, inaccessible, and redundant, with new systems or datasets created to address faulty data rather than fixing the original data source. Moreover, HUD has historically had a fragmented approach to technology adoption, which leads to multiple platforms and multiple services competing for resources. Finally and similarly, HUD has not achieved the right balance of contracting support and in-house expertise to manage the agency’s data and systems effectively and affordably.
Over the next four years, HUD aims to leverage these opportunities by enhancing the quality, availability, and delivery of HUD information to citizens, employees, business partners, and the government, while striving for excellence in IT management practices and governance to consolidate and streamline HUD’s systems. In pairing enhanced technology and improved processes with a developing and strengthening workforce, the department expects to vastly broaden its ability to achieve current and future departmental goals.
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Statement:
Reduce the cost of leased space, utilities, travel and other related costs by adapting our business processes.
Description:
Even despite recent advances in programs such as telework and alternative work schedules, HUD has historically operated with a traditional definition of the workplace. This objective intends to help HUD redefine the workplace as more than just an office, but rather the combination of people and information brought together by technology which allows work to be done at any appropriate location.
In order to measure our success in this endeavor, HUD intends to reduce the amount of space per employee and contractor. Ultimately, this will reduce the total dollars that we spend on leased space, building maintenance, utilities, travel, and other related costs. In order to achieve these efficiencies, HUD will work with the General Services Administration to identify opportunities to reduce space through better use of technology and expanded use of external resources and partnerships.
Additionally, HUD could better meet our customers’ needs by more appropriately distributing our workload and personnel by organizational unit. HUD will assess its current staff allocation, workload distribution and community needs in order to align resources to better serve our customers. In this effort, our goal is not to save money at the expense of our customers, but rather to replace outdated business practices with new business models, ultimately producing greater efficiencies, saving money, establishing sustainable business models, and most importantly better serving our customers.
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Statement:
Promote a diverse and inclusive work environment that is free of discrimination and harassment by educating the workforce on the overall Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) process and their EEO responsibilities as managers and employees of HUD.
Description:
The Office of Departmental Equal Employment Opportunity (ODEEO) is responsible for ensuring the enforcement of federal laws relating to the elimination of all forms of discrimination in the Department's employment practices and to ensure equal employment opportunity (EEO), promote inclusiveness, and foster a culture that values diversity and empowers the HUD workforce. Additionally, ODEEO is responsible for leading the Department’s efforts to proactively prevent unlawful discrimination. ODEEO also seeks to foster an agency culture in which disputes are resolved at the lowest possible level and before a formal complaint is filed.
Currently, all managers and employees have not been trained on the overall EEO process and their EEO responsibilities. ODEEO seeks to offer training to the HUD workforce on the EEO process and the responsibilities of the workforce regarding Equal Employment Opportunity, as well as serving as a resource to the program office leadership by providing direction, guidance, and monitoring of key activities to ensure the successful implementation of the principles of EEO throughout the Department.
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