Bold Government Capacity Policy for 2025 and Beyond

The U.S. federal government is critical to solving today’s wicked problems. As powerful as this institution can be, ever-growing complexity challenges the government’s ability to quickly innovate and deliver on its mission. Insufficient feedback loops, misaligned incentives, and bureaucratic bottlenecks slow progress and hinder implementation. As Jen Pahlka recently states in response to the Department of Government Efficiency, “There is a need to make the government more effective by clearing out the clutter and procedural inflation that has frustrated mission-driven public servants.”

Over the last four years, ambitious new legislation has tested the U.S. Government’s capacity to deliver for the American people (e.g., American Rescue Plan, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, etc.). Through these efforts, we have learned that there is great opportunity for improvement.

Building federal capacity within–and through–talent and hiring, financial and contracting mechanisms, technology and service modernization, and decision making processes will equip the U.S. government to solve today’s most pressing challenges. We believe immense capacity can be unlocked through:

Talent and Hiring

Government, like all institutions, depends on people to run. We need more people with the right skills and expertise for the many critical jobs we require today. Yet hiring and developing talent is a challenge. Long administrative processes and persistent bottlenecks make it difficult to quickly fill personnel gaps. Rapid changes in science, technology, and society only exacerbate these challenges, requiring the ability to responsively acquire people with new skills. Drawing on industry-led approaches, the federal government needs to improve its ability to attract talent, quickly hire qualified candidates, and develop their staff to support and enable high performance. 

Below are a series of eleven (11) policy memos that highlight opportunities to improve the federal government’s talent and hiring.

A Military Talent Initiative for Noncitizen Technologists by Jordan Sun, Matthew Fitzgerald, Alex McLeod, and James Long

Competent and innovative technologists are crucial to the future of U.S. national security. The National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence (NSCAI) warns that a digital talent deficit at the Department of Defense (DOD) represents the greatest impediment to the U.S. military’s effective embrace of emerging technologies (such as artificial intelligence). A new Digital Military Talent Initiative could help address the military’s digital-talent gap by providing an expedited path to U.S. citizenship through military service for noncitizen technologists aligned to NSCAI archetypes. Modernization of an already-existing DOD program and military enlistment policy updates could infuse digital talent by providing vetted noncitizens a pathway to accelerated naturalization through military service.

Better Hires Faster: Leveraging Competencies For Classifications And Assessments by Peter Bonner 

A federal agency takes over 100 days on average to hire a new employee — with significantly longer time frames for some positions — compared to 36 days in the private sector. Factors contributing to extended timelines for federal hiring include (1) difficulties in quickly aligning position descriptions with workforce needs, and (2) opaque and poor processes for screening applicants. Fortunately, federal hiring managers and HR staffing specialists already have many tools at their disposal to accelerate the hiring process and improve quality outcomes. However, these efforts to leverage these tools are largely piecemeal and dependent on individual initiative, not a coordinated approach that can overcome the pervasive federal hiring challenges.The Office of Personnel Management (OPM), Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Chief Human Capital Officers (CHCO) Council should integrate these tools into a technology platform that makes it easy to access and implement effective hiring practices.

Coming soon: Building a Mission Capable HR Workforce for America by Jason Briefel 

Building Regional Cyber Coalitions: Reimagining CISA’s Joint Cyber Defense Collaborative to Empower Mission-Focused Cyber Professionals Across the Nation by Zach Nandapurkar

State, local, tribal, and territorial governments along with Critical Infrastructure Owners (SLTT/CIs) face escalating cyber threats but struggle with limited cybersecurity staff and complex technology management. Relying heavily on private-sector support, they are hindered by the private sector’s lack of deep understanding of SLTT/CI operational environments. This gap leaves SLTT/CIs vulnerable and underprepared for emerging threats all while these practitioners on the private sector side end up underleveraged. To address this, CISA should expand the Joint Cyber Defense Collaborative (JCDC) to allow broader participation by practitioners in the private sector who serve public sector clients, regardless of the size or current affiliation of their company, provided they can pass a background check, verify their employment, and demonstrate their role in supporting SLTT governments or critical infrastructure sectors.

Democratizing Hiring: A Public Jobs Board For A Fairer, More Transparent Political Appointee Hiring Process by Mai Sistla, and Betsy Cooper

Current hiring processes for political appointees are opaque and problematic; job openings are essentially closed off except to those in the right networks. To democratize hiring, the next administration should develop a public jobs board for non-Senate-confirmed political appointments, which includes a list of open roles and job descriptions. By serving as a one-stop shop for those interested in serving in an administration, an open jobs board would bring more skilled candidates into the administration, diversify the appointee workforce, expedite the hiring process, and improve government transparency.

Elevate and Strengthen the Presidential Management Fellows Program by The Volcker Alliance (Maya Corrin, Peter Morrissey, and Will Fabian)

Founded in 1977, the Presidential Management Fellows (PMF) program is intended to be “the Federal Government’s premier leadership development program for advanced degree holders across all academic disciplines” with a mission “to recruit and develop a cadre of future government leaders from all segments of society.” The challenges facing our country require a robust pipeline of talented and representative rising leaders across federal agencies. The PMF program has historically been a leading source of such talent. The next Administration should leverage this storied program to reinvigorate recruitment for a small, highly-skilled management corps of upwardly-mobile public servants and ensure that the PMF program retains its role as the government’s premier pipeline for early-career talent. It should do so by committing to placing all PMF Finalists in federal jobs (rather than only half, as has been common in recent years), creating new incentives for agencies to engage, and enhancing user experience for all PMF stakeholders.

From Strategy to Impact: Establishing an AI Corps to Accelerate HHS Transformation by Enlli Lewis

To unlock the full potential of artificial intelligence (AI) within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), an AI Corps should be established, embedding specialized AI experts within each of the department’s ten agencies. HHS is uniquely positioned—and urgently requires—this investment in AI expertise, as it plays a pivotal role in delivering efficient healthcare to millions of Americans. Its responsibilities intersect with areas where AI has already shown great promise, including managing vast healthcare datasets, accelerating drug development, and combating healthcare fraud. Modeled after the success of DHS’s existing AI Corps, this program would recruit top-tier professionals with advanced expertise in AI, machine learning, data science, and data engineering to drive innovation within HHS. While current HHS initiatives like the AI Council and AI Community of Practice provide valuable strategic guidance, they fall short in delivering the on-the-ground expertise necessary for meaningful AI adoption across HHS agencies. The AI Corps would fill this gap, providing the hands-on, agency-level support necessary to move beyond strategy and into the impactful implementation intended by recent federal actions related to AI.

Investing In Apprenticeships To Fill Labor-Market Talent And Opportunity Gaps by Jan Jaro

The last three administrations have made significant strides towards expanding the number of pathways to high-earning jobs through apprenticeship programs, yet they remain under-utilized and have significant potential for growth. To maximize the potential of apprenticeship programs, the federal government should develop a cohesive approach to supporting “apprenticeships of the future,” such as those in cyber, healthcare, and advanced manufacturing. These apprenticeships provide high pay and upward mobility, support economic growth, and serve vital national interests.

Onboarding Critical Talent In Days: Establishing A Federal STEM Talent Pool by Eddie Hartwig 

It often takes the federal government months to hire for critical science and technology (STEM) roles, far too slow to respond effectively to the demands of emerging technologies (e.g., artificial intelligence), disasters (COVID), and implementing complex legislation (CHIPS). One solution is for the Federal Government to create a pool of pre-vetted STEM talent to address these needs. The federal government can leverage existing authorities and hiring mechanisms to achieve this goal, making it easier to respond to staffing needs for emerging policies, technologies, and crises in near-real time. To lead the effort, the White House should appoint a STEM talent lead (or empower the current Tech Talent Task Force Coordinator or Senior Advisor for Talent Strategy). The STEM talent lead should make a national call to action for scientists and technologists to join the government. They should establish a team in the Executive Office of the President (EOP) to proactively recruit and vet candidates, and establish a pool of talent that is available to every agency on-demand.

Unlocking The Future Of Work: The Urgent Need to Update Federal Job Classifications by Monica Sanders 

The Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) system contains critical statistical information about occupations, employment levels, trends, pay and benefits, demographic characteristics, and more. The system allows users – including leaders at Federal agencies – to collect, analyze, and disseminate data on employment trends, wages, and workforce demographics, and it enables a consistent analysis of the labor market. However, the rapid evolution of the job market, particularly in the tech sector, is outpacing updates to the SOC system. This misalignment poses challenges for economic measurement and development. The Office of Performance and Personnel Management (OPM) and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) at the White House should lead a comprehensive effort to update SOC codes through research, collaboration with industry experts, pilot programs, and regulatory adjustments. By acting now, the Administration can create clear career pathways for workers and better equip federal agencies with critical workforce insights to optimize national investments.

Coming soon: Unpacking Hiring: Toward a Regional Federal Talent Strategy by The Volcker Alliance (Peter Morrissey, Maya Corrin, and Will Fabian)

Procurement and Contracting Mechanisms

A set of innovative financial and contracting mechanisms exist in government with the power to radically accelerate research, development, demonstration, production, and deployment of novel technologies to address societal challenges. However, agencies too rarely use these tools and authorities due to risk aversion, authority misinterpretation, unclear ownership, and lack of knowledge for implementation. There is an opportunity to increase the uptake of innovative financial and contracting mechanisms across government and apply the mechanisms to advance science and technological advancements, particularly across global development, energy, and environment.

Below are a series of five (5) policy memos that highlight opportunities to apply innovative procurement and contracting mechanisms.

Enabling U.S. Leadership on Global Climate Innovations through Pull Financing by Sebastian Chaskel, Ben Stephens, and Ranil Dissanayake 

Unlike traditional push financing through grants, pull financing fosters competition and rewards the most impactful solutions from the private sector, making it ideal for addressing complex challenges that lack market incentives. Learning from the success of pull finance in Operation Warp Speed and other global public health initiatives, the incoming administration should establish a $500 million climate pull-financing facility to incentivize the development of climate innovations for the global economy in partnership with low- and middle-income countries. This initiative aims to effectively address climate financing challenges while aligning with U.S. geopolitical and economic goals of unlocking high-return investments in untapped markets.

Fixing Impact: How Fixed Prices Can Scale Results-Based Procurement at USAID by Sebastian Chaskel, and Richard Crespin 

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) currently uses Cost-Plus-Fixed-Fee (CPFF) as its de facto default funding and contracting model. Unfortunately, this model prioritizes administrative compliance over performance, hindering USAID’s development goals and U.S. efforts to counter renewed Great Power competition with Russia, the People’s Republic of China (PRC), and other competitors. The U.S. foreign aid system is losing strategic influence as developing nations turn to faster and more flexible (albeit riskier) options offered by geopolitical competitors like the PRC. To respond and maintain U.S. global leadership, USAID should transition to heavily favor a Fixed-Price model – tying payments to specific, measurable objectives rather than incurred costs – to enhance the United States’ ability to compete globally and deliver impact at scale. Moreover, USAID should require written justifications for not choosing a Fixed-Price model, shifting the burden of proof. With strong support from USAID leadership, this shift will reduce administrative burdens within USAID and improve competitiveness by expanding USAID’s partner base and making it easier for smaller organizations to collaborate.

Mobilizing Innovative Financial Mechanisms at USAID and Department of State to Drive Tangible Impacts in Climate Adaptation Outcomes for Developing Nations by Autumn Burton, and Irene Ngun

The dire implications of rising global temperatures extend across a spectrum of risks, from health crises exacerbated by heat stress, malnutrition, and disease, to economic disparities that disproportionately affect vulnerable communities in the U.S. and in low- and middle-income countries. To address these challenges, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) should mobilize finance through environmental impact bonds focused on scaling extreme heat adaptation solutions, and the Bureau for Resilience, Environment, and Food Security (REFS) within the USAID should take the lead in tracking and reporting on climate adaptation funding data. By addressing the urgent need for comprehensive adaptation strategies, we can increase resilience and protect communities from the increasing threats posed by extreme heat.

Using Home Energy Rebates To Support Market Transformation by Alan H. Staple, Ryan Fu, Steve Isaacs, and Hallie Huffaker

Without market-shaping interventions, federal and state subsidies for energy-efficient products like heat pumps often lead to higher prices, leaving the overall market worse off when rebates end. The Department of Energy (DOE) should prioritize the development of evidence-based market-transformation strategies that states can implement with their Home Electrification and Appliance Rebates (HEAR) program funding by using its existing allocation of administrative funds to create a central capability to (1) develop market-shaping toolkits and an evidence base on how state programs can improve value for money and achieve market transformation and (2) provide market-shaping program implementation assistance to states.

Modernizing the Federal Government

The federal government is challenged to develop new and advanced technological systems to drive process efficiencies, support data-driven decision making, and improve customer experience. Agencies are often stuck maintaining archaic and outdated technology, or in some cases, do not have any technology to support their processes. Both antiquated systems and the lack of technology slow down processes and place a burden on both civil servants and the public. It becomes increasingly difficult to collect data needed to make informed decisions and assess the impact of policy interventions. There is an immense opportunity for the government to eliminate inefficiencies, save money, and improve their services, and we need to enable the government to drive these improvements.

Below are a series of six (6) policy memos that highlight opportunities to improve the federal government’s talent and hiring.

Building a Comprehensive NEPA Database to Facilitate Innovation by Nikki Chiappa

The Inflation Reduction Act and the Infrastructure Innovation and Jobs Act are set to drive $300 billion in energy infrastructure investment by 2030. Without permitting reform, lengthy review processes threaten to make these federal investments one-third less effective at reducing greenhouse gas emissions. That’s why Congress has been grappling with reforming the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) for almost two years. Yet, despite the urgency to reform the law, there is a striking lack of available data on how NEPA actually works. Under these conditions, evidence-based policy making is simply impossible. With access to the right data and with thoughtful teaming, the next administration has a golden opportunity to create a roadmap for permitting software that maximizes the impact of federal investments.

Driving Product Model Development with the Technology Modernization Fund by Ben Bain, Jennifer Pahlka, Beth Simone Noveck, and Lynn Overmann

The Technology Modernization Fund (TMF) currently funds multi-year technology projects to help agencies improve their service delivery. However, many agencies abdicate responsibility for project outcomes to vendors, lacking the internal leadership and project development teams necessary to apply a product model approach focused on user needs, starting small, learning what works, and making adjustments as needed. To promote better outcomes, TMF could make three key changes to help agencies shift from simply purchasing static software to acquiring ongoing capabilities that can meet their long-term mission needs: (1) provide education and training to help agencies adopt the product model; (2) evaluate investments based on their use of effective product management and development practices; and (3) fund the staff necessary to deliver true modernization capacity. 

Coming soon: Modernizing the Security Evaluation and Authorization of Technology in Government by Noah Firth 

Reform Government Operations for Significant Savings and Improved Services by Steve Goodrich, and John Marshall

The federal government is dramatically inefficient, duplicative, wasteful, and costly in executing the common services required to operate. However, the new Administration has an opportunity to transform government operations to save money, improve customer experience, be more efficient and effective, consolidate, reduce the number of technology platforms across government, and have significantly improved decision-making power. This should be accomplished by adopting and transforming to a government-wide shared service business model involving the collective efforts of Congress, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), General Services Administration (GSA), and oversight agencies, and be supported by the President Management Agenda (PMA). In fact, this is a real opportunity for the newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to realize a true systemic transformation to a better and more streamlined government.

Scaling Proven IT Modernization Strategies Across The Federal Government by Greg Godbout

Ten years after the creation of the U.S. Digital Service (USDS) and 18F, the federal government still struggles to buy, build, and operate technology in a speedy, modern, scalable way. While there have been success stories, most government technology and delivery practices remain antiquated and the replacement process remains too slow. Many obstacles to modernization have been removed in theory, yet in practice Chief Information Officers (CIOs) still struggle to exercise their authority to achieve meaningful results. Additionally, procurement and hiring processes, as well as insufficient modernization budgets, remain barriers. This memo proposes a new effort to rapidly scale proven IT modernization strategies across the federal government. The result will be a federal government with the structure and culture in place to buy, build, and deliver technology that meets the needs of Americans today and into the future.

Transforming the Carceral Experience: Leveraging Technology for Rehabilitation by April Feng

Despite a $182 billion annual cost, the U.S. correctional system perpetuates itself: At least 95% of all state prisoners will be released from prison at some point, yet more than 50% of them reoffend within three years. A key driver of high recidivism is the systemic negligence of the carceral experience. While much attention is given to interventions post-release, rehabilitation inside correctional facilities is largely invisible to the public. This dynamic results in approximately 2 million incarcerated persons being locked in a “time capsule”—the world passes them by as they serve their sentences. This is a missed opportunity, as simple interventions like accessing educational resources and maintaining family contact during incarceration can cut recidivism by up to 56%. Reduced recidivism translates into more robust workforce, safer communities, and higher political participation. The new administration should harness the momentous bipartisan interest in criminal justice reform, audit the condition and availability of rehabilitative resources in prisons and jails, invest in digital and technology infrastructure, and sustainably end mass incarceration through building meaningful digital citizenship behind bars.

Improving Access to Expert Advice for Decision Makers

Policy makers need access to expertise, up-to-date information, and public feedback to make well-informed decisions. While there are some methods of doing this today, there is great opportunity to improve, especially with the recent overturn of the Chevron doctrine, making it more important than ever for external-to-government sources to provide expert advice to federal agencies and to Congress.

Below are a series of six (6) policy memos that highlight opportunities to improve mechanisms for providing expert advice to decision makers.

Collaborative Intelligence: Harnessing Crowd Forecasting for National Security by Deger Turan, Leonard Barrett, and Molly Hickman

Predicting the future—a notoriously hard problem—is a core function of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI). Crowd forecasting methods offer a systematic approach to quantifying the U.S. intelligence community’s uncertainty about the future and predicting the impact of interventions, allowing decision-makers to strategize effectively and allocate resources by outlining risks and tradeoffs in a legible format. We propose that ODNI leverage its earlier investments in crowd-forecasting research to enhance intelligence analysis and interagency coordination. Specifically, ODNI should develop a next-generation crowd-forecasting program that balances academic rigor with policy relevance. To do this, we propose partnering a Federally Funded Research and Development Center (FFRDC) with crowd forecasting experience with executive branch agencies to generate high-value forecasting questions and integrate targeted forecasts into existing briefing and decision-making processes. Crucially, end users (e.g. from the NSC, DoD, etc.) should be embedded in the question-generation process in order to ensure that the forecasts are policy-relevant. This approach has the potential to significantly enhance the quality and impact of intelligence analysis, leading to more robust and informed national security decisions.

Creating a Science and Technology Hub for Congress by Maya Kornberg 

Congress should create a new Science and Technology (S&T) Hub within the Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) Science, Technology Assessment, and Analytics (STAA) team to support an understaffed and overwhelmed Congress in addressing pressing science and technology policy questions. A new hub would connect Congress with technical experts and maintain a repository of research and information as well as translate this material to members and staff. There is already momentum building in Congress with several recent reforms to strengthen capacity, and the reversal of the Chevron doctrine infuses the issue with a new sense of urgency. The time is now for Congress to invest in itself.

How to Prompt New Cross-Agency and Cross-Sector Collaboration to Advance Learning Agendas by Adam Levine

This memo proposes the use of “unmet desire surveys” within federal agencies to strengthen collaborations in support of the implementation of Learning Agendas. These surveys would be fielded by Evaluation Officers to assess where there might be opportunities for agency staff to collaborate with each other, as well as with external stakeholders, in service of asking and answering questions posed via Learning Agendas. After collecting data via the surveys, Evaluation Officers would engage in intentional matchmaking between their employees and in some cases additional stakeholders to support their collaboration.

Coming soon: Participatory Technology Assessment for the Legislative Branch by Mahmud Farooque

Policy Experiment Stations to Accelerate State and Local Government Innovation by Anna Harvey et al

The federal government transfers approximately $1.1 trillion dollars every year to state and local governments. Yet most states and localities are not evaluating whether the programs deploying these funds are increasing community well-being nor are they implementing the evidence-based policy reforms necessary to achieve these goals. State and local government innovation is a problem of capacity, and there is a shortage of plausible strategies to build that capacity. Yet an emerging body of research is revealing that an effective strategy to build government innovation capacity is to partner government agencies with local universities. Leveraging these findings, along with recent evidence of the striking efficacy of the national network of university-based “Agriculture Experiment Stations” established by the Hatch Act of 1887, we propose a national network of university-based “Policy Experiment Stations” or policy innovation labs in each state, supported by continuing federal and state appropriations and tasked with accelerating state and local government innovation.

Coming soon: Supporting Federal Decision Making through Participatory Technology Assessment by Mahmud Farooque, and Michelle Govani