Watching the Watchers

There's an interesting government site [link] called Virginia Results that lists the planning and performance metrics for the Executive Branch. Some of the results are predictable, some are just short of goofy.

Some entries of interest are:

State Board of Elections

• No initiatives entered for this agency. With all the HAVA money they're getting, you'd thinking they'd have at least a little initiative...
• The new statewide VERIS system is in far worse shape than the smattering of data suggests. A little birdie told me that they're almost a year behind, and their test-launch in November has already been scrapped. If they can't finish by their deadline, the federal HAVA money disappears.

Virginia Information Technologies Agency

• Their August 2002 initiative was completed in July 2003. Probably the best they've done so far.
• They've been rolling along for two years, and they still don't have any data to report. But boy, are they saving money!
• They're still working on determining how well they're going to get 95% of all applicable government services online. Of course, no one can figure out how to tell what services are applicable, or even what services are services.
• They can't even come up with an estimate of how long their servers were up in 2004 or 2005.

Commonwealth Competition Council

• Except for when they failed, they succeeded. Thank God for measurements.
• Their mission statement: The Commonwealth Competition Council serves as a catalyst and resource center for change to help State government to work better, cost less, and get the results Virginia citizens expect in the 21st century. Judging from the evidence, I'd say it's time to pack up your toys and go home.

All in all, pretty entertaining reading.