	Introduction

Interagency coordinative arrangements and activities—called for in public laws, executive orders, and administrative directives—appear to be growing in number, prominence, and proposals throughout virtually all individual policy areas and across-the-board. This report examines formal interagency collaborative arrangements and activities, which are intended to enhance joint efforts and cooperation among independent federal agencies with shared responsibilities and overlapping jurisdictions. That compilation identifies analyses of different subject and policy areas as well as different types of arrangements used among agencies. Various Types and Understandings of Collaboration

Interagency collaboration—as a way to enhance cooperation among agencies with shared responsibilities and overlapping jurisdictions—has been used in at least two different ways: to mean a distinct type of activity and arrangement, or broadly to cover one or more other related types (coordination, networking, integration, mergers, and partnerships). Even though lacking agreed-upon, hard-and-fast, detailed definitions of these, generalized operational understandings or working definitions can be developed for the principal interagency activities and arrangements, separate from collaboration as a broadly encompassing concept. Federal medical care programs have also relied on interagency mechanisms. At least in some cases, it is difficult to assess and compare the success or failure of such enterprises. Included are:
transformations in governmental responsibilities and broad-scale, wide-ranging public policies; significant changes in the political and governmental environment surrounding a (potential) collaborative effort, including the substance and direction of the policy area, electoral developments, officials in government, and organizational characteristics of the agencies involved; the urgency, scope, scale, and complexity of the problem being addressed; expectations of what is to be accomplished and determining how extensive and demanding these expectations are, for the project and for the participants; extent of a merger, realignment, or reorganization; selection of which agencies or parts thereof are to be incorporated, in what capacity, and to what extent and degree; location of a new structure that merges or integrates different agencies; selection of a lead agency or officer in coordinative arrangements; powers and resources available to a lead officer in a cross-agency arrangement, including those which already exist across-the-board, which apply to a specific project or program, or which are anticipated; autonomy of the individual components; organizational cultures within the agencies; bureaucratic and administrative cultures within the agencies; competition of a collaborative enterprise with other missions, mandates, responsibilities, strategic plans, and policy priorities among and within the participating agencies; jurisdictional rivalries or "turf battles" among the agencies; support for interagency collaboration versus support for agency autonomy, from power-brokers both inside and outside of government; regularity, frequency, intensity, and direction of oversight by Congress and the executive; incentives for and benefits of participation (mutual and reciprocal among agencies, agency-centered, or individual); disincentives and costs of participation; level and type of involvement, with policy and process formulation at one end of the spectrum and field operations at the other end; capacity, capabilities, heritage, experience, and expertise of the agencies involved in a joint venture; leadership skills and practices of the participants; and confidence in the professionalism, competency, and integrity of the participants. In 2011, President Barack Obama, expanding on his State of the Union address, emphasized that
We live and do business in the information age, but the organization of the Federal Government has not kept pace. The House of Representatives added a section to its Rules for the 112 th Congress, to require committees, during the development of their oversight plans, to "include proposals to cut or eliminate programs, including spending programs, that are inefficient, duplicative, outdated, or more appropriately administered by State or local governments." Previously, in 2010, Congress directed the Government Accountability Office to look into a similar phenomenon annually: to identify "areas of potential duplication, overlap, and fragmentation, which, if effectively addressed, could provide financial and other benefits." As these legislative and executive reviews reflect, the concerns raised decades ago have been heightened in the contemporary era, because of the further growth in government responsibilities, cross-cutting programs, and complexities in public policies. Added to this are certain crises which demonstrated the inadequacies of existing structures and arrangements, along with increased pressures to reduce federal programs and budgets. Current rationales extend to a number and variety of objectives. These include reducing policy fragmentation, improving effectiveness, increasing economy and efficiency, mitigating conflict and competition among agencies, enhancing agency productivity, developing an awareness of different perspectives and orientations, changing organizational and administrative cultures, and streamlining and improving executive and congressional oversight. Consequently, the terms have sometimes been employed interchangeably, inconsistently, or ambiguously. Despite the large and increasing adoption and promotion of interagency arrangements, questions arise over their rationales and underlying assumptions. S. Rept. 2010. M.E. S. Prt. Final Report .
Interagency collaboration among federal agencies with overlapping jurisdictions and shared responsibilities is not a new phenomenon. Attempts to foster cooperation among agencies, reduce their number in particular policy areas, or clarify the division of labor among them date to the early days of the republic. Such arrangements are increasing in the contemporary era in number, prominence, and proposals across virtually all policy areas. The reasons for the current upsurge are the growth in government responsibilities, cross-cutting programs, and their complexity; certain crises which showed severe limitations of existing structures; and heightened pressure to reduce the size of federal programs and expenditures.
Recent congressional action reflects these considerations. In 2010, Congress directed the Government Accountability Office (GAO) (P.L. 111-139, 124 Stat. 29) to
conduct routine investigations to identify programs, agencies, offices, and initiatives with duplicative goals and activities within Departments and governmentwide and report annually to Congress on the findings, including the cost of such duplication.
GAO identified 34 such programs. The GPRA Modernization Act of 2010 (P.L. 111-352) provides that the Office of Management and Budget's government-wide priority goals include "outcome-oriented goals covering a limited number of crosscutting policy areas." Legislative initiatives in the 112th Congress have also advanced across-the-board reviews (e.g., H.R. 155) or recognize shared jurisdictions and responsibilities among agencies. And House Rules for the 112th Congress call on its standing committees to include proposals in their oversight plans to eliminate "programs that are inefficient, duplicative, outdated, or more appropriately administered by State or local governments." President Barack Obama has taken similar stands regarding overlapping programs—in his 2011 State of the Union Address, subsequent memoranda, and recent budget requests—and the executive has continued ongoing arrangements or added new ones.
The broad concept of interagency collaboration contains at least six types of various activities and arrangements: collaboration (an exchange among relatively equal entities or peers, separate from collaboration's broad use), coordination, mergers, integration, networks, and partnerships. These categories often overlap with, supplement, or reinforce one another; and several different types may occur in the same organizational structure and endeavor. Complicating matters, the different types are not defined in public laws or executive directives, even though required in some. Because of this and other reasons, the terms have sometimes lacked consistency and precision, have been used interchangeably, or have been applied to more than one category.
Nonetheless, working definitions can be developed for the different types. All of these are surrounded by a number of rationales, intended to enhance collaboration, improve coordination, or clarify responsibilities and jurisdictions among agencies. The underlying objectives and expectations range from reducing policy fragmentation and mitigating competition among agencies, to enhancing efficiency and effectiveness, changing organizational and administrative cultures, and streamlining and improving congressional and executive oversight. Despite these appeals, concerns and questions have arisen over some of the rationales and their underlying assumptions as well as determining the success or failure of interagency efforts. This report—which will be updated as conditions dictate—examines the burgeoning field of interagency collaboration and presents a bibliography at the end, highlighting the broad subject as well as specific areas.