Improving Government Performance: The Government Performance Results Act and The President’s Management Agenda

The performance of the Federal government has been measured using many methods, and there have been many attempts to improve the accountability of the Federal government in the last 50 years.  To name the most recent ones, Congress passed the Government Performance Results Act of 1993 (or GPRA) to “improve the confidence of Americans in federal government, focus on the actual results of government activity and services, support congressional oversight and decision-making, and improve the managerial and internal workings of agencies within the federal government”.

 

GPRA’s performance measurement requirements became the law of the land and the Clinton Administration supported GPRA goals, such as Federal agency results being integrated into the budget decision-making process.  According to OMB Watch, GPRA became law in a “climate of increased political emphasis on downsizing and reinventing Federal government.”

 

 

In order to meet the statutory goals of GPRA, the Bush Administration proposed the President’s Management Agenda (PMA) in 2001.  It focused on the areas where deficiencies were most apparent and where the government could begin to deliver concrete, measurable results.

 

PMA has focused on five government-wide initiatives and ten program-specific initiatives that apply to a subset of Federal agencies, mostly Executive branch and Independent Agencies.  For each initiative, PMA established clear, government-wide goals or standards for success.  Agencies then developed and implemented detailed, aggressive action plans to achieve those goals.

 

The Administration holds the participating agencies publicly accountable for adopting the key initiatives and programs.  Five key government-wide initiatives are:

 

-- Strategic Management of Human Capital
-- Commercial Services Management
-- Improved Financial Performance
-- Expanded Electronic Government
-- Budget and Performance Integration

 

PMA also includes a Program Initiatives Scorecard in which Executive branch agencies are scored on Administrative programs including the following:

 

-- Faith-Based and Community Initiative
-- Real Property Asset Management
-- Eliminating Improper Payments
-- Improved Credit Management

 

 

As part of PMA, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) under the Bush Administration instituted a Stoplight Scoring System for the selected agencies, portraying performance progress with a red, yellow and green colored score card that is easy to understand:

 

Green for success, where implementation is proceeding according to plans agreed upon with the agencies.

 

Yellow for mixed results, where some slippage occurred or there were other issues requiring adjustment by the agency in order to achieve the initiative objectives on a timely basis.

 

Red for unsatisfactory, where the initiative is in serious jeopardy.  This means it is unlikely to realize objectives absent significant management intervention.

 

Each quarter, monitored agencies are rated on their status in achieving the overall goals for each initiative, and on their progress in implementing specific action plans.  The government-wide scorecard reporting on individual agency progress is published quarterly.

It will be very interesting to see how the new Administration addresses the monitoring and evaluation of government performance under GPRA.  To become a part of that endeavor, go to the “Search for Opportunities” tab on this portal.

 

To read the Government Performance Results Act of 1993, go to http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=103_cong_bills&docid=f:s20enr.txt.pdf.