Government Performance Project: Federal Government Gets a B- in Management

A project of Government Executive magazine and the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Administration of Syracuse University, funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts.

Contact: Chawndese Hylton
(202) 739-8501
chylton@govexec.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 1, 2000

Federal Government Gets a B- in Management

Report Cards Issued as Agencies Report on Their Performance

(Washington, D.C.)-The 20 federal agencies that interact most often with Americans get mediocre grades for management, barely escaping a gentleman's C average, according to a newly released independent study. The 20 agencies averaged a B-. Six received Cs and one a C-. Two agencies--the Coast Guard and the Social Security Administration-earned As.

The grades were assigned by a team of scholars and journalists working for the foundation-supported Government Performance Project (GPP). While many agencies aren't doing as well as they should be, the project found, politicians bear as much blame as do bureaucrats for agencies' mediocre grades.

"Measuring Up: The Second Annual Report of the Government Performance Project," continues the most comprehensive analysis of federal agency management performance ever undertaken. The report was published March 1 by Government Executive magazine, which joined the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University to conduct the multi-year project. The GPP is funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts.

Publication of "Measuring Up" comes just as federal agencies have begun releasing their first-ever annual performance reports required by the 1993 Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA). Under the law, agencies are required to set performance goals each year and then report on their progress the following year. Performance reports for fiscal 1999 are due to Congress by March 31. The Government Performance Project's in-depth reports provide useful background for gauging agencies' performance claims. For up-to-date information about all the GPRA reports, see www.govexec.com/results.

According to "Measuring Up," federal agencies face significant management challenges that often are exacerbated by Congress and administration budgeters. "Politicians love the new program, the new ship, fighter aircraft, park or pork, but their eyes glaze over when asked to ensure that older programs and systems get enough resources to ensure modern standards of service," said Timothy B. Clark, editor of Government Executive. "Many agencies simply are running out of room to do more with less. Huge maintenance backlogs and underinvestment in people and equipment are sapping their ability to deliver. Those problems stem largely from Congress' unwillingness to give them relief."

To win added resources, agencies are doing more to spread the word about their accomplishments and shortfalls, the project found. "Appropriately, in our media-conscious times, they are engaging in public relations and more overt lobbying of Congress," Clark said.

The second year of this project demonstrates again that agencies must invest more in their core management systems if they are to meet modern standards of service," said Patricia W. Ingraham, director of the Government Performance Project at the Maxwell School. "At the same time, it is a credit to the people who run the agencies that their complex programs operate as smoothly as they do despite the investment shortfalls of the past decade."

Indeed, the five agencies newly graded this year demonstrate that federal managers generally are producing important results despite scarce resources and management failings.

* Despite receiving mostly Cs for management this year, the Office of Student Financial Assistance last year awarded $50 billion in aid to 8.2 million post-secondary school students.

* The Veterans Benefits Administration may be struggling to improve a 64 percent accuracy rate in processing benefits claims, but it still will dispense more than $22 billion in compensation and pension funds this year.

* The Coast Guard may have aging equipment and a staff the same size as in 1967, but in 1998, it saved 4,000 lives, responded to 38,700 distress calls, spent 110,000 hours protecting U.S. fishing grounds, seized 82,623 pounds of cocaine and 31,390 pounds of marijuana, apprehended 3,648 illegal immigrants, maintained 50,000 aids to navigation and conducted 50,000 merchant vessel inspections.

* With just 23,000 employees and a maintenance backlog estimated at $5 billion, the National Park Service maintains and protects 378 parks and other units spread over 83 million acres and serves more than 285 million visitors a year.

* The Army Corps of Engineers has a deferred maintenance backlog of $329 million and a project management computer system its managers can't use, yet it still guarantees navigation for 2.2 billion tons of commerce each year, is a lead agency building public schools in Los Angeles County, is restoring the Pentagon and cleaning up New York Harbor and the Chesapeake Bay, manages more than 11 million acres of real estate, and provides more than one-quarter of the nation's hydropower.

Agencies received grades for their management of human resources, capital assets, information technology, finance and in managing for results. The average of those marks is the agency grade. "Measuring Up" contains special reports on trends in the management areas as well as feature stories about each of the five agencies newly graded this year. The project also revisited five agencies it graded last year. Reports on their progress, or lack thereof, are included in the issue.

Who's Up, Who's Down?

In two years, the project has awarded just two As for overall performance, one last year to the Social Security Administration and one this year to the Coast Guard. The 20 agencies graded so far barely are hanging onto an overall B- average, with low Bs in information technology and financial management and slightly higher Bs in human resources management and managing for results. The grades demonstrate that federal agencies face their largest management challenges in installing and operating information technology systems to help improve efficiency and effectiveness of service delivery. Many also are saddled with archaic financial management systems and practices and are having problems updating them.

The project revisited the Immigration and Naturalization Service and Federal Aviation Administration, two of last year's lowest scorers. A second look showed both agencies are beginning to turn around their performance in key problem areas. For example, both are improving financial management--FAA has cleared up poor property accounting and should get a clean audit for 1999, INS is installing a new financial management system and won a qualified opinion after years of disclaimers from auditors. Upon revisiting the IRS, on the other hand, the project found its 1999 reform plans had not come to fruition. For example, an oversight board created by the 1998 IRS Restructuring and Reform Act still wasn't in place as of the end of 1999. And workforce reductions, new performance measures and reorganization have resulted in reduced tax enforcement and revenues.

About the Government Performance Project

The Government Performance Project is a multi-year effort to rate the effectiveness of government management systems that support public service delivery. Funded by a grant from The Pew Charitable Trusts, the project pairs the Maxwell School's Alan K. Campbell Public Affairs Institute and Government Executive, government's only business magazine and a leader in fostering better public management. In 1999, the GPP reported on 15 high-profile federal agencies, as well as all 50 states which were covered in Governing magazine. This year, in the March 2000 issue of Government Executive, the project reported on five new federal agencies and revisited five of last year's 15. "Grading the Cities: A Management Report Card," in the February 2000 issue of Governing reports on the 35 largest U.S. cities by revenue.

"Measuring Up" is available on the Web at www.govexec.com; "Grading the Cities" appears at www.governing.com.

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