The GovNavigators Show

This week on the GovNavigators Show, Robert and Adam welcome Dana Fowler, member of the GovNavigators Network, to walk us through her career path and offer insights on government performance reform. Dana details her interesting start in the federal government as “basically a deckhand on a fishing boat,” before moving onto the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the CDC, the Performance Improvement Council within GSA, and the Department of the Interior, in a performance management field she never expected to be a part of. The show raises the importance of leveraging data for decision-making, measuring the right things for the right reasons, and the value of an outside perspective. Plus, Dana gives us a peek into her new projects that work on government reform from the outside, using the knowledge she’s collected as a “practitioner” within. 
Show Notes: 
House Budget Committee: Press Release on Reconciliation 3.0 
The Hill: Key House committee advances framework for reconciliation 3.0 
Congress.gov: Budget Impoundment and Control Act of 1974 
The Washington Post: Wildfire smoke in DC 
FedRAMP: FedRAMP 20x 
DOW: Department of War Suspends CMMC Phase II Requirements 
Federal News Network: Pentagon suspends CMMC phase two requirements 
NOTUS: The Social Security Chief Keeps Sending Staff His Daughter’s Pretzels 
Performance.gov: GPRA 
IBM: IBM Center for the Business of Government 
We the Doers: We the Doers website 
House Oversight: Emerging Fraud Threats and the Evolving Fraud Landscape hearing 
IMDB: Movie reference 
What’s on the GovNavigators’ radar? 
July 21-23rd: 
AGA Professional Development Training (PDT) 2026, Washington, DC 
July 21st: 
ACT-IAC Supply Chain Innovation Forum, Reston, VA 
July 23rd: 
GovForward’s 8th Annual Carahsoft Summit on FedRAMP, Washington, DC

This week on The GovNavigators Show, Robert and Adam welcome Alex Snider, a former GSA and State Department official and author of the new book Sometimes You Should Be Late, to talk about what mindfulness has to do with government management. Alex walks through his career path in the Executive branch, and explains how recovering from a bike accident and the concussion that followed sent him toward meditation, therapy, and a new relationship with time. The conversation digs into the way breath is important to helping us live in the present, how bringing mindfulness into stakeholder meetings and performance reviews changes how public servants relate to one another, and why "sometimes you should be late" isn't an excuse for flakiness but a case for slowing down enough to notice the things that matter. Plus, Alex lets us in on the realities of a first-time author’s book launch, and how it further reinforced his idea that we should let go of the things we can’t control.  
Show Notes: 
WSJ: Housing Bill Becomes Law Despite Trump Refusing to Sign It 
Federal News Network: Federal CIO Barbaccia leaving in August 
Federal News Network: DoT CIO Pidugu leaving 
Federal News Network: Interior Department CIO is out after holding job for over a year 
Government Executive: HUD's tech chief appears headed for Interior 
The Hill: DOGE officially shuts down 
Politico: Washington’s quantum reality check (White House quantum summit) 
IBM Newsroom: Oak Ridge National Lab, Cleveland Clinic, and IBM Achieve First-Known Computations of Fusion Materials on a Quantum Computer 
Alex Snider: Sometimes You Should Be Late (Book) 
Alex Snider: Slow Mindfulness (Substack) 
Alex Snider: slowmindfulness.com 
What's on the GovNavigators' Radar? 
July 14th: 
Federal Student Loan Management Roundtable, Center for USA Lending, Washington, DC 
Grants Management SIN Webinar, GSA 
July 15th: 
Emerging Fraud Threats and the Evolving Fraud Landscape Hearing, Subcommittee on Government Operations, U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform 
Exposing Fraud in America Hearing, Senate Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Committee 
July 16th: 
GovExec Government Efficiency Summit, JW Marriott, Washington, DC

This week on The GovNavigators Show, Robert and Adam welcome Tyler Davey, CEO of ClearGov, to talk about how technology can finally make city budgets accessible to the people paying for them. The show digs into the problem with the traditional 300-to-500-page budget book, why context is the key to real citizen engagement, and how ClearGov's AI-powered chatbot and Engagement Studio turn complicated financial reports into community conversations. Tyler explains why government at the local level is what ends up impacting us the most, sharing a story of a case study where a new engagement platform encouraged input and surfaced citizen priorities. The episode also covers compliance and privacy considerations across state and local jurisdictions and why reaching the "silent majority" matters as much as responding to the loudest voices in the room. Plus, Robert and Adam share the latest updates on quantum, the Supreme Court, and FASAB. 
Show Notes: 
White House: Ushering in the Next Frontier of Quantum Innovation (Executive Order) 
White House: Securing the Nation Against Advanced Cryptographic Attacks (Executive Order) 
OMB: Memorandum M-26-15, Execution of the Migration to Post-Quantum Cryptography 
SCOTUS: Trump v. Slaughter 
SCOTUSblog: Supreme Court Allows Trump to Fire FTC Commissioner, Overturns Humphrey's Executor 
The Hill: Trump Cancels Housing Bill Signing Over Senate Inaction on SAVE Act 
The Hill: House Republicans Vote to Block NDAA Rule Over SAVE America Act 
Federal Register: Notice of Issuance of Staff Implementation Guidance 64.1 (FASAB MD&A Guidance) 
ClearGov: Website 
Businesswire: ClearGov Financial Engagement Platform Launch Announcement 
ClearGov: Rochester Hills, Michigan Case Study 
 
What's on the GovNavigators' Radar? 
July 8th: 
GSA FY26 Small Business Contracting Opportunities and Category Management Forum, National Industries for the Blind, Alexandria, VA 
July 16th: 
GovExec Government Efficiency Summit, JW Marriott, Washington, DC 
July 21-23rd: 
AGA Professional Development Training (PDT) 2026, Washington, DC

On this Independence Day pop-up episode of the GovNavigators Show, Robert and Adam mark America's 250th birthday by surfacing some lesser-known milestones in the history of government management. From pre-Declaration government auditing, to a revolutionary-era grievance against King George that sounds surprisingly familiar to anyone who's worked in federal bureaucracy, to the creation of the Treasury Department in 1789, the roots of government management run deep. Plus, some recommendations from America’s Song Book and a shoutout to special 250th “best of” lists. Happy Independence Day!

This week on the GovNavigators Show, Robert and Adam are joined by Maureen Klovers and April Harding, co-founders of We the Doers, who tackle the big question: How do we make government more efficient and effective? They discuss their project to measure success in government based on what matters to citizens and use that framework to see what changes make a difference. Maureen and April also describe their initiative to map out the convoluted employment termination process across agencies and usher in “Fast But Fair Firing.” The episode digs into the importance of data standardization, problem definition and implementation of reforms, and why biannual budgeting might be the key to fixing Congress. Together, they figure out how to, as Robert puts it, “Stop the crazy, restore sanity.” 
Show Notes: 
NCHSA: Bipartisan Bicameral Housing Reform 
DOL: Unemployment Insurance Fraud Prevention 
Jen Pahlka: Recoding America Book 
Senate Committee on Finance: The Unemployment Insurance Modernization and Recession Readiness Act 
NOTUS: The Trump Administration Keeps Ghosting Its Congressional Watchdog 
Gary Bass (Of the Gary Bass Rule of Three): Biography 
We the Doers: wethedoers.org 
POPVOX Foundation: Departure Dialogues Project 
We the Doers: Workshop Report 
DOL: Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) 
 
What's on the GovNavigators' Radar? 
June 22nd: 
National Academy of Public Administration Celebrating the American Public Servant Gala (GovNavigators sponsor) 
 
June 23-24th: 
2026 Senior Executive Leadership Summit 
 
June 24th: 
Celonis Process Intelligence Day (GovNavigators sponsor) 
GovExec SAP NOW 250