Transforming government as the open government memo proposes will not occur if it is an unfunded mandate to departments and agencies. There will need to be investments in new technologies,in training,in management resources, and in the applications of collaborative engagement on the ground and virtually.
Departments and agencies should be required to demonstrate to OMB in their annual budget requests, strategic plans, and performance reports what policy and management actions they have and expect to make with additional open government expenditures. Going a step further, the Administration could require that agencies divert resources from other areas to fund some of the initial investments in open government transformation. This will be a very difficult thing to do, but it would certainly demonstrate the President's commitment to this policy.
Given the challenging budget climate, trying to leverage funds from the private corporate or foundation sectors or other levels of government will be tough in the immediate future, but could be a longer term strategy.
One idea that has been floated in discussions within the dispute resolution community in the past has been to somehow draw on the Department of Justice judgment funds based on the rationale that mediation and collaborative practice would reduce civil litigation and save the government money. Needless to say this is not a popular idea at DOJ.
Another interesting idea, would be to reward agencies who reduce litigation or settlement costs (that are actually borne by DOJ) with a "return" of open government funds. Unfortunately that would be an after-the-fact incentive and would penalize those agencies spawning high litigation who should be investing more in collaborative tools and conflict management.
More thought needs to be given to sources of potential savings that could be tapped into upfront to propel this work forward.
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