Senate Kickstarts Government Performance Task Force

By Elizabeth Newell

The Senate Budget Committee yesterday announced the creation of a new Task Force on Government Performance. The task force, to be led by Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., will examine the federal government's management framework and identify opportunities to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of federal programs and services, the committee said.

""This bipartisan group of Budget Committee members will focus on making our government run more efficiently and effectively,

and ensuring that we get the most out of the investment of taxpayer dollars," Sen. Kent Conrad, D-ND and chairman of the committee said. " As a former governor and business leader, Senator Warner has tremendous insight and knowledge in this area and is the ideal person to lead this effort. I thank him and the other members for agreeing to serve on the Task Force."

The task force will examine current measurement systems and how performance and program evaluation information is used during the budget process. It will examine best practices from public, private and nonprofit organization, as well as previous federal performance reform efforts. Sen. Warner said he is very grateful for the opportunity to lead the task force.

"I strongly believe in the mantra 'what gets measured gets done,'" he said. We have put together a terrific bipartisan group of senators to take on the difficult challenge of making our government agencies and programs perform better through better measurements, enhanced transparency and greater accountability."