Testimony of City Administrator Donahue - Performance Oversight Hearing on OCA - March 2026

Good morning, Chairperson Bonds, and members and staff of the Committee on Executive
Administration and Labor. I am Kevin Donahue, and I have the honor of serving as the City
Administrator. I am here today to discuss the performance of the Office of the City Administrator
during Fiscal Years 2025 and 2026. I am joined by Jenny Reed, the Deputy City Administrator and
Director of the Office of Budget and Performance Management.

Functions of the Office of the City Administrator
The Office of the City Administrator serves as the central hub of District Government operations.
We prepare and manage the District's budget, which means we monitor agency budgets throughout
the year, try to predict costs the District will see in the coming years, and evaluate whether
programs are effectively using budgeted funds. We work closely with agencies to set operational
goals and implement the legislative actions and policy decisions of Mayor Bowser and the Council.

My office monitors federal changes affecting the District to address the anticipated impacts and
represent the interests of District residents. The OCA is also the hub of coordination for several
critical priorities, including reviewing programs to identify cost savings and increase effectiveness.
As the Mayor and I have discussed at length with the Council, the upcoming Fiscal Year 2027
Budget will be significantly challenging and will require a re-evaluation of our priorities across
the entire District Government.

Now I'll discuss each of the component offices within the OCA.

Budget, Performance Management, and The Lab @ DC
The Office of Budget and Performance Management, led by Jenny Reed, leverages data and
strategic planning to guide the District's investments. The Budget Team formulates the budget and
tracks agency performance through regular performance meetings where each agency's key
performance indicators and strategic initiatives are reviewed and discussed. Every year, the Budget
Team develops and transmits to the Council a balanced Budget and Financial Plan, as well as a
balanced Capital Improvements Plan.

The Performance Team works with agencies and Deputy Mayors to develop specific initiatives
that achieve progress towards meeting the Mayor's goals and agency objectives. The team also
leads meetings to address important issues facing the District, using a data driven, collaborative
approach. In FY25, the OCA Performance Team held 21 CapSTAT meetings, resulting in
actionable recommendations to improve programs and services.

The Lab @ DC, now 10 years old, works to ensure that the District's policy decisions are informed
by the best evidence from research and resident input. In FY25, we expanded this work
by launching The Lab @ DDOT-a team of four DDOT employees who have brought in-house research capacity to improve safety and accessibility. The Lab works closely with agency-based fellows to form a mutual support network for sharing resources and unsticking technical
problems.

In its first year, The Lab @ DDOT has substantially advanced six research and design projects,
including an evaluation of traffic fine reductions to test whether the reductions lowered the number
of tickets going to collections and whether recipients get future citations. Results are expected this
summer. We are not only proud of The Lab @ DDOT's work on these impactful projects, but also
of how its role is informing our thinking about seeding future in-house research and design
capacity across District agencies.

Office of Racial Equity
The Office of Racial Equity's objectives are to make government policies and processes more
inclusive and to eliminate racial disparities in opportunities and access to resources within the
District. ORE, now five years old, provides leadership and technical assistance and promotes
strategic alignment and coordination. In FY25, ORE trained more than 1,150 agency managers
and supervisors.

I want to highlight ORE's Racial Equity Cohort program, an evidence-based, year-long curriculum
designed to help agencies develop and deepen their racial equity practices. It includes activities to
increase agency capacity to review policies and practices through a racial equity lens and to support
the development of a roadmap for integrating equity principles throughout their work. As of
February, ORE has led four racial equity cohorts, serving a total of 29 District agencies.

We are also building on the successful launch of the District's Racial Equity Dashboard in FY25
by expanding and updating the indicators reported. This comprehensive online platform currently
provides data on 32 indicators across seven dimensions of life in the District, such as health and
housing. ORE and OCTO are currently working to enhance the existing indicators and incorporate
10 additional metrics.

Government Operations
The Government Operations Team, headed by Assistant City Administrator Chris Rodriguez,
which we refer to as GovOps, empowers its cluster agencies to focus on the efficient delivery of
programs and services.
The GovOps Cluster includes the following agencies:
• Department of General Services (DGS);
• Department of Human Resources (DCHR);
• Office of Contracting and Procurement (OCP);
• Office of the Chief Technology Officer (OCTO);
• Office of Risk Management (ORM);
• Office of Labor Relations and Collective Bargaining (OLRCB);
• Office of Disability Rights (ODR);
• Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV); and
• Department of For-Hire Vehicles (DFHV).

The GovOps team is working on streamlining the District's procurement and hiring processes and
identifying savings across District Government facilities. It is also leading our efforts at using
Artificial Intelligence in the workplace.

Infrastructure Cluster
The Infrastructure Cluster team focuses on clean air and water, and safety and accessibility. It
advances these objectives by coordinating interagency activities and improving service delivery
through continuous process evaluation.

This team includes the following agencies:
• Department of Public Works (DPW);
• District Department of Transportation (DDOT); and
• Department of Energy and Environment (DOEE).

All three agencies have been pivotal in orchestrating our Clean Corridors projects, as well as
strategically working with the Federal Government, especially the National Park Service (NPS)
on beautification projects. I also want to highlight that the Infrastructure Cluster is working with
GovOps on energy solutions and savings.

Looking Ahead
Over the past 11 years of Mayor Bowser's administration, we have had opportunities to gain hard-earned knowledge about coordinating government, including lessons learned while addressing immediate emergencies and strategies for making progress toward longer-term goals in an
environment where there are always urgent tasks before us. We are relying on this experience as
we make very difficult budget decisions and implement additional good government solutions.
Mayor Bowser has charged us to leave the District Government better than we found it and pass
the baton so that we can continue making progress for our residents.

Thank you for the opportunity to share highlights of my team's work. I am prepared to take your
questions.