Improving Use of Performance Information

The Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 (GPRA) provided a foundation for strengthening government performance and accountability. The prior administration’s President’s Management Agenda and the Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART)—OMB’s framework for assessing federal program performance—continued to build on GPRA’s foundation.

Properly done, these and related future efforts could provide a strong basis to support the needed review, reassessment, and reprioritization process. However, GAO’s work suggests that although federal agencies today are producing significantly more information about the performance of their programs than was the case 10 years ago, agencies are not making greater use of that information to make key management decisions.

^ Back to topWhat Needs to Be Done

For performance information to be useful to and used by Congress and federal decision makers at all levels, the administration should promote four key practices:

• demonstrate leadership commitment to results-oriented management;
• develop a clear “line of sight” linking individual performance with organizational results;
• build agency capacity to collect and use performance information;
• develop an effective strategy for obtaining and acting on congressional views on what to measure, how to measure it, and how to best present this information to a congressional audience.
  Highlights of GAO-08-1026T (PDF)

To facilitate the transformation of agencies’ management cultures to be more results oriented, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) should work with agencies to ensure they are making adequate investments in training on performance planning and measurement, with a particular emphasis on how to use performance information to improve program performance.
Highlights of GAO-04-38 (PDF)

To promote greater discussion with congressional stakeholders and emphasize the need to assess programs related to common outcomes, the Director of OMB should select and assess clusters of related programs based on factors such as the relative priorities, costs, and risks associated with program outcomes and in a way that reflects congressional input and priorities.
Highlights of GAO-06-28 (PDF)

^ Back to topKey Reports

Streamlining Government

21st Century Challenges

Results-Oriented Management

Results-Oriented Government

Performance Budgeting

Managing For Results

Government Performance

Government Performance

More Reports