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Federal agencies are getting better at setting goals and measures for
their operations, according to General Accounting Office ratings of
major agencies' performance plans for their programs next year. But
agencies are still struggling at explaining how they will reach their
goals and verify their results, GAO found.
In a report released this week by three key Capitol Hill Republicans,
GAO gave good marks to the Transportation Department, Labor Department,
General Services Administration and Social Security Administration for
developing performance plans that explain what the agency hopes to
accomplish in fiscal 2000. The other 20 major agencies earned mediocre
ratings from GAO.
"Agencies' fiscal year 2000 performance plans show moderate
improvements over the fiscal year 1999 plans and contain better
information and perspective," GAO said in "Managing for
Results: Opportunities for Continued Improvements in Agencies'
Performance Plans" (GGD/AIMD-99-215). "However, key weaknesses
remain, and important opportunities exist to improve future plans."
Federal agencies are required under the 1993 Government Performance
and Results Act to develop annual performance plans explaining what they
will accomplish. The first plans were developed for fiscal 1999, which
is winding up next month. The second plans, which the new GAO study
rated, are for fiscal 2000. In March 2000, agencies will release their
first performance reports, which will say whether they met their goals
for fiscal 1999.
GAO rated the plans on three elements:
- whether plans presented clear pictures of intended performance
- whether the plans discussed specific strategies and resource
requirements
- whether the plans provided confidence that performance information
will be credible
Overall, GAO found that agencies developed quantifiable measures and
established baseline data to which results will be compared. But the
plans generally failed to discuss how they will solve long-standing
management problems at agencies, how agencies will coordinate efforts,
how resources will be applied to reach goals, or how performance data
will be validated and verified.
GAO also cautioned that simply having good performance plans won't
make agencies operate better.
"Performance improvements occur when agencies transform their
organizational cultures so that achieving results becomes the driving
concern of daily operations and when agency managers and external
decisionmakers use results-oriented plans and the planning and
management processes that underpin them to inform decisions," GAO
said.
The report was released by Senate Governmental Affairs Committee
Chairman Fred Thompson, R-Tenn., House Majority Leader Dick Armey,
R-Texas, and House Government Reform Committee Chairman Dan Burton, R-Ind.,
all of whom have taken an abiding interest in the Results Act. While
Thompson applauded the improvements in the plan and Armey said he was
pleased with the progress, Burton had choice words for federal managers
about their failure to use the Results Act to reduce mismanagement.
"The taxpayers of this country should be very angry that
bureaucrats are wasting huge amounts of their money by ignoring
activities most susceptible to waste, fraud and abuse," Burton
said. He said he is considering offering a bill to amend the Results Act
to require agencies to address high-risk management problems in their
performance plans.
Below are tables of agencies' performance in the three areas GAO
graded:
GAO Evaluations of Agencies' Fiscal
2000 Performance Plans
| |
Picture of intended performance |
| Agency |
Clear |
General |
Limited |
Unclear |
| Agency for International Development |
|
X |
|
|
| Agriculture |
|
X |
|
|
| Commerce |
|
X |
|
|
| Defense |
|
|
X |
|
| Education |
|
X |
|
|
| Energy |
|
|
X |
|
| Environmental Protection Agency |
|
X |
|
|
| Federal Emergency Management Agency |
|
X |
|
|
| General Services Administration |
X |
|
|
|
| Health and Human Services |
|
|
X |
|
| Housing and Urban Development |
|
X |
|
|
| Interior |
|
X |
|
|
| Justice |
|
X |
|
|
| Labor |
X |
|
|
|
| NASA |
|
|
X |
|
| National Science Foundation |
|
X |
|
|
| Nuclear Regulatory Commission |
|
X |
|
|
| Office of Personnel Management |
|
X |
|
|
| Social Security Administration |
X |
|
|
|
| Small Business Administration |
|
X |
|
|
| State |
|
|
X |
|
| Transportation |
X |
|
|
|
| Treasury |
|
|
X |
|
| Veterans Affairs |
|
X |
|
|
| |
Specificity of strategies and resources |
| Agency |
Clear |
General |
Limited |
Unclear |
| Agency for International Development |
|
X |
|
|
| Agriculture |
|
X |
|
|
| Commerce |
|
X |
|
|
| Defense |
|
X |
|
|
| Education |
|
X |
|
|
| Energy |
|
X |
|
|
| Environmental Protection Agency |
|
X |
|
|
| Federal Emergency Management Agency |
|
X |
|
|
| General Services Administration |
|
X |
|
|
| Health and Human Services |
|
|
X |
|
| Housing and Urban Development |
|
X |
|
|
| Interior |
|
X |
|
|
| Justice |
|
X |
|
|
| Labor |
|
X |
|
|
| NASA |
|
X |
|
|
| National Science Foundation |
|
X |
|
|
| Nuclear Regulatory Commission |
|
X |
|
|
| Office of Personnel Management |
|
X |
|
|
| Social Security Administration |
|
X |
|
|
| Small Business Administration |
|
|
X |
|
| State |
|
|
X |
|
| Transportation |
X |
|
|
|
| Treasury |
|
|
X |
|
| Veterans Affairs |
|
X |
|
|
| |
Degree of confidence that performance
information will be credible |
| Agency |
Clear |
General |
Limited |
Unclear |
| Agency for International Development |
|
|
X |
|
| Agriculture |
|
|
X |
|
| Commerce |
|
|
X |
|
| Defense |
|
|
X |
|
| Education |
|
X |
|
|
| Energy |
|
|
X |
|
| Environmental Protection Agency |
|
|
X |
|
| Federal Emergency Management Agency |
|
|
X |
|
| General Services Administration |
|
|
X |
|
| Health and Human Services |
|
|
X |
|
| Housing and Urban Development |
|
|
X |
|
| Interior |
|
|
X |
|
| Justice |
|
X |
|
|
| Labor |
|
|
X |
|
| NASA |
|
|
X |
|
| National Science Foundation |
|
|
X |
|
| Nuclear Regulatory Commission |
|
|
X |
|
| Office of Personnel Management |
|
|
X |
|
| Social Security Administration |
|
X |
|
|
| Small Business Administration |
|
|
X |
|
| State |
|
|
X |
|
| Transportation |
|
X |
|
|
| Treasury |
|
|
X |
|
| Veterans Affairs |
|
|
X |
|
Source: General Accounting Office