Volunteers for Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., listen to a speaker before going out to register voters in Washington, May 10, 2008.
AP Photo

"Use Campaign Energy for Government's Real Work"

Op-Ed, Fort Worth Star-Telegram

November 6, 2008

Authors: Debra K. Decker, Associate, International Security Program/Project on Managing the Atom, Regina Ryan

Belfer Center Programs or Projects: International Security; Science, Technology, and Public Policy

The public has been roused. In record numbers, citizens both young and old were inspired to work on the presidential campaigns.

They were driven by the desire to effect a change in America. While some may now go home exhausted but relieved by the outcome of the election and others will go home and grumble about the results, many will be excited and ready to do more. And we don’t mean shopping.

Both candidates put forth ideas to encourage volunteerism: expanding the Peace Corps and AmeriCorps and establishing new citizen corps supporting homeland security, clean energy, veterans, underprivileged students and public health. These are all exciting and worthy initiatives, but bolder thinking is needed still and needed now.

More options than neighborhood volunteering should be offered to the scores of highly skilled professionals who were motivated to campaign for change — the federal government needs them! Their expertise and outsider views could truly refresh Washington.

Bringing innovation to government is not easy.

President Bush tried to introduce some competitive spirit and innovation into government by requiring government offices to compete to do the jobs that the private sector could do. It was a good idea — but it hasn’t worked well. The bureaucracy is still broken. Meanwhile, the top 200 federal contractors are earning $436 billion, according to Government Executive magazine.

Instead of outsourcing government work to private companies, the Barack Obama administration should devise a program to bring private individuals in, not as costly contractors, not as stifled civil servants, but as low-paid but happy "volunteers." There are only limited opportunities available now.

These would be people who may not want to have a 20-year career in government but who like the idea of service and have the skills so needed in government today: contract negotiation/oversight, policy options analysis, risk assessment and management of large and complex programs — to name a few.

These would not be political appointees — although they might be policy advisers. These would not be members of the senior executive service — although they would be managers/advisers.

These would be professionals who want to give back to society through government service for a short period of time. Consider them reservists.

The way these volunteers — let’s call them Experienced Professionals in Civil Service, or EPICS — would get started is through direct appeals for them to serve.

It’s the same way that campaigns get volunteers — someone asks someone who asks someone else who asks several others whom s/he knows to be good. And this would not be returning to the "spoils" system of pre-civil-service days; these people would be vetted through a system that ensured keen oversight and public transparency.

Several types of volunteer contract options could be developed from which agencies and volunteers would choose based on their needs.

Some agencies require staffing surge capacity during certain times of year; EPICS could help. Some EPICS might want/need flexible work schedules and commitments. That would be good; government needs to truly institutionalize more flexible workplace rules to attract a wider pool of skilled workers.

Most EPICS would need some form of remuneration, if only to establish the contractual nature of the relationship. However, some might be happy simply with an honorarium and that all-important health insurance.

This idea needs further development, but as the campaigns close and the real work of government begins, the president-elect should not let this moment go by.

Before the inevitable postpartum campaign blues set in, the president-elect needs to leverage America’s greatest resource — its people — if he wants true change to happen in Washington.

Debra Decker of Dallas is an associate of the Belfer Center at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. Regina Ryan is with World Computer Exchange, a 700 volunteer-based organization in Hull, Mass.

For more information about this publication please contact the Belfer Center Communications Office at 617-495-9858.

Full text of this publication is available at:
http://www.star-telegram.com/242/story/1020874.html

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