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Government Capacity
day one project
Policy Memo
Why Interagency Policy Coordination Efforts Frequently Fail (And How To Fix Them)

Coordination among federal science agencies is essential to ensure government-wide alignment on R&D investment priorities. However, the federal R&D enterprise suffers from egregious siloization.  

04.24.26 | 17 min read
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Government Capacity
Policy Memo
Report
Four Innovations Driving Climate Progress in State Government

Cities and states are best positioned to design policies to accelerate clean energy, innovation, and economic development because they can design approaches that work in different social, political, and economic contexts. 

04.22.26 | 18 min read
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Government Capacity
day one project
Policy Memo
Outcome-Based Contracting Reorients Government IT Acquisition Around Public Value and Mission Results

Outcome-Based Contracting reframes procurement around the staged achievement of measurable mission outcomes rather than the delivery of predefined technical artifacts.

04.21.26 | 16 min read
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Government Capacity
Blog
Sacred Cows: What Did We Stop Questioning in Digital Government Delivery, but Should Now?

Let’s see what rules we can rewrite and beliefs we can reset: a few digital service sacred cows are long overdue to be put out to pasture.

04.10.26 | 8 min read
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Government Capacity
Policy Memo
Report
A People-centered, Power-conscious Regulatory Democracy Balancing Distributive Justice and Delivery Efficacy

If properly implemented, a comprehensive reform program to accomplish regulatory democracy that is people-centered and power-conscious could be essential for addressing complex policy changes such as the climate challenge.

04.08.26 | 50 min read
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Government Capacity
Blog
Buzzwords like ‘Abundance’ and ‘Affordability’ are out. Learning policy lessons from the global community is in.

Rather than get caught up in the buzzword flavor of the month, the policymaking ecosystem should study what’s actually working.

04.02.26 | 9 min read
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Government Capacity
Policy Memo
Report
Solving the Clean Energy Infrastructure Finance Rubik’s Cube

The question is not whether the capital exists (it does!), nor whether energy solutions are available (they are!), but whether we can align energy finance quickly enough to channel the right types of capital where and when it’s needed most.

03.12.26 | 53 min read
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Government Capacity
Policy Memo
Report
Why Credit Access Makes or Breaks Clean Tech Adoption and What Policy Makers Can Do About It

To ensure an energy transition that brings broad based economic development, participation, and direct benefits to communities, we need federal policy that helps shape markets. Unfortunately, there is a large gap in understanding of how to leverage federal policy making to support access to capital and credit.

03.04.26 | 21 min read
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Government Capacity
Blog
A pre-mortem on OPM’s HR 2.0 initiative: Imagining failure in order to support success

OPM’s new HR 2.0 initiative is entering hostile terrain. Those who have followed federal HR modernization for years desperately want this effort to succeed.

03.02.26 | 26 min read
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Government Capacity
Blog
Everything You Need to Know (and Ask!) About OPM’s New Schedule Policy/Career Role: Oversight Resource for OPM’s Schedule Policy/Career Rule

This rule gives agencies significantly more authority over certain career policy roles. Whether that authority improves accountability or creates new risks depends almost entirely on how agencies interrupt and apply it. 

02.13.26 | 8 min read
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Government Capacity
Policy Memo
Report
Rebuilding Environmental Governance: Understanding the Foundations

Our environmental system was built for 1970s-era pollution control, but today it needs stable, integrated, multi-level governance that can make tradeoffs, share and use evidence, and deliver infrastructure while demonstrating that improved trust and participation are essential to future progress.

02.12.26 | 27 min read
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Government Capacity
Policy Memo
Report
Costs Come First in a Reset Climate Agenda

Durable and legitimate climate action requires a government capable of clearly weighting, explaining, and managing cost tradeoffs to the widest away of audiences, which in turn requires strong technocratic competency.

02.12.26 | 42 min read
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