GovernmentExecutive.com

The administration will release its top performance goals for agencies in February as part of the president's fiscal 2011 budget, Chief Performance Officer Jeff Zients told lawmakers on Tuesday.

According to a June 11 memo from Office of Management and Budget Director Peter R. Orszag, these goals must meet certain criteria, including sufficient existing funding, a high direct value to the public and measurable performance outcomes. Agencies had to submit them to OMB by July 31. Since then, several lawmakers, including those at a Tuesday House Budget Committee hearing, have urged OMB to make public the priorities.

In August, OMB told Government Executive that agencies had submitted the goals, which would be announced after a review.

"I was impressed by the first round [of goals] that was submitted," Zients said on Tuesday. "There is some variation, some still need work, but we're starting each budget discussion with those goals. We're ensuring they're the right ones and then that the budget discussion follows them."

The administration earlier this year began identifying performance goals and working on various initiatives, including hiring reform, employee satisfaction and wellness, transparency, and contracting reform.

The primary objective for agencies, according to the June memo, was to identify significant challenges that require major agency resources, and to improve effectiveness and efficiency by tackling coordination, operational or other implementation obstacles.

Zients said implementing a management program to systematically improve federal performance will not occur overnight, but putting in place short-term goals is a crucial component of that program. The performance goals identified are to include outcomes that can be measured within a one- to two-year period.

"It's a complex system that we're going to put in place to drive performance for many years to come, but it's still important to have some quick results," he said. "If targets are too far out in the future, they don't drive performance."