Administration outlines performance management strategy

The fiscal 2011 budget released on Monday lays out the Obama administration's performance management strategy and lists the performance goals agencies have put at the top of their to-do lists.

As part of the analytical perspectives portion of the spending plan, the administration committed to using performance information to "lead, learn and improve outcomes," and to communicating performance information coherently and concisely to encourage better results, increase transparency, and strengthen existing problem-solving networks.

To make good on this promise, the administration said it will identify performance measurements and documents that are not useful. The White House will retain self-assessment exercises agencies found helpful -- including those developed under the 1993 Government Performance and Results Act and the George W. Bush administration's Program Assessment Rating Tool -- and make "candid" results public, according to the budget.

"Combined performance plans and reports will explain why goals were chosen, the size and characteristics of problems government is tackling, factors affecting outcomes that government hopes to influence, lessons learned from experience, and future actions planned," the budget stated.

Additionally, the document detailed a range of agency responses to a June 2009 Office of Management and Budget mandate to outline high-priority performance goals. The Defense Department, for example, named sweeping initiatives such as reforming its acquisition process and streamlining hiring, as well as narrower goals like creating an electronic records system to track care of and services for soldiers and veterans.

The Small Business Administration pointed to increasing small business participation in federal contracting as one of its high-priority goals, as well as reducing participation of ineligible firms in small business contracting programs.

The administration noted that since the goals are to be addressed within a 12- to 24-month time frame, they are merely a subset of agencies' overall performance plans, which also include long-term strategic objectives and reforms that depend on new legislation. Agencies with national security responsibilities were given discretion over which goals would be publicly listed. While the budget does not indicate if or when agencies received additional funding to meet their high-priority performance goals, OMB Director Peter R. Orszag said officials considered the goals during the decision-making process.

"The high-performance goals, which are new this year, were fed into the budget process and will continue to play a key role," Orszag said. "We're integrating those goals with funding streams to make sure -- and holding agencies accountable for progress on the goals. So yes, the goals … are and will be reflected over time in funding for each agency."

The president's budget also includes a new initiative to evaluate the performance of certain federal programs. It allocates about $100 million to 17 agencies that submitted proposals for program reviews that address actionable questions or for enhancing existing assessments.

"By instilling a culture of learning into federal programs, the administration can build knowledge so that spending decisions are based not only on good intentions, but also on strong evidence, so that carefully targeted investments will produce results," the budget stated.

The 17 proposals vary in scope. The Justice Department will examine the effects of inmate re-entry programs while the Health and Human Services Department will evaluate early childhood initiatives. The Office of Personnel Management, meanwhile, will look at the effects of federal employee health and wellness programs.

Historically, evaluations have been an afterthought during program design, according to the document, and once initiatives have been in place for several years, building a constituency for a rigorous evaluation can be difficult.

To transform that culture, agencies that submitted proposals must demonstrate that their fiscal 2011 funding priorities are based on credible empirical evidence -- or a plan to collect that evidence. Those agencies also must identify any impediments to rigorous program evaluations. Assessments, including those already under way, eventually will be available online, OMB said.

Proposals that generate results backed up by strong measurable evidence will receive the most funding in future budgets, according to the administration. Additional resources will be allocated for programs with less supportive evidence on the condition that they are rigorously evaluated.

"Organizations will know that to be considered for significant funding, they must provide credible evaluation results that show promise, and, before that evidence is available, to be ready to subject their models to analysis," the document noted.

The White House also announced the establishment of an interagency working group to promote stronger program reviews governmentwide and to share best practices. The group will be made up of representatives from OMB, the Domestic Policy Council, National Economic Council and White House Council of Economic Advisers.

Orszag said the budget reflects the work and priorities of Chief Performance Officer Jeff Zients and his team.

"The federal government is going to spend $80 billion on IT...there is acquisition and reform of the acquisition workforce, which is another thing the performance team has been working on a lot," Orszag said. "There's also personnel and hiring… in area after area after area you see the work that's already been done feeding into the federal budget."