Managing Risk and Performance: A Guide for Government Decision Makers

Foreword

Today, there is a positive change occurring in the nation's capital that is exciting and holds the potential to make government function better. This positive change is the increasing number of agencies recognizing the value of Enterprise Risk Management and taking action to make ERM an important part of their operational model.

The principal authors of this book are no newcomers to risk management. Doug Webster and Tom Stanton are true believers in the positive benefits of ERM and have put before us in this publication an informative collection of insights, experiences, and recommendations that cover the wide-ranging world of risk management.

They call to our attention the various federal agencies that are effectively utilizing ERM today and others that have committed to do the same. Agencies where ERM is being used today, and are cited in this book, include the Office of Federal Student Aid and the Defense Logistics Agency. Other agencies that have recently started the ERM journey include the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Internal Revenue Service. The federal community's commitment to ERM is growing and, hopefully, will continue to do so in the years to come.

What is especially interesting about the growth in ERM across the federal government is its organic nature. ERM is growing naturally within agencies as leadership recognizes the need to identify and manage risk in a holistic way across the enterprise. There is no law, or regulation or executive order that ...