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What is GPRA?
As John Koskinen, former deputy director for management at OMB, put it at a February 1997 congressional hearing, the Government Performance and Results Act makes agencies ask a basic question: What are we getting for the money we are spending?
The Government Performance and Results Act is also known as GPRA or simply, the Results Act. It requires agencies to develop strategic plans, annual performance plans and annual performance reports. The law took effect governmentwide in 1997.
For an overview of the act and a look at how one agency has used its provisions to improve its performance, see Results, Or Else. In Performance Anxiety, we look at how agencies' performance plans will hold up under congressional scrutiny.
To read a letter from the congressional leadership to OMB Director Frank Raines on GPRA performance plans, click here.
Past Coverage
April 3: Deadline passes for first-ever annual reports
The March 31 deadline for federal agencies' first-ever annual reports-documents that tell Congress and the public how well the government performed last year-has passed.
March 24: Congress told to focus on agencies' performance reports
Congress should scrutinize federal agencies' first-ever annual performance reports this month to determine whether the government is getting the results Americans want, experts told a House subcommittee.
March 16: Commentary: The Results Act is dead
Government Executive Associate Editor Anne Laurent reviews the status of GPRA as of March 2000.
March 16: Commentary: The Results Act is dead
Government Executive Associate Editor Anne Laurent reviews the status of GPRA as of March 2000.
February 11: First-ever performance reports begin trickling out
Federal agencies have begun sporadically releasing their first annual performance reports under the Government Performance and Results Act.
February 9: Defense Department reports most goals met in 1999
In one of the first annual performance reports to be released under the Government Performance and Results Act, the Defense Department Tuesday said it met most of its goals in fiscal 1999.
February 8: Balanced budget, balanced measures mark 2001 plan
Now that the federal budget will be balanced for four straight years, the Clinton administration is seeking to balance government efficiency with customer and employee satisfaction.
January 31: Agencies, Congress urged to talk about performance
As agencies prepare to deliver their first-ever performance reports in March, detailing whether they have met goals they set for 1999, experts say that the lines of communication between agencies and Capitol Hill about their management reform efforts must be improved.
1999
November 19: DOT keeps on top of Results Act, report says
The Transportation Department's annual performance plan is action-oriented and results-driven, according to a recent General Accounting Office review.
August 20: Agencies get better GPRA ratings for new plans
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.
August 19: Thompson puts pressure on managers to improve
Federal executives must set goals for how they are going to solve perennial management problems at their agencies, the head of the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee said in letters sent to every major federal department.
August 13: DoD told to focus on results, not timelines
The primary tool the Defense Department uses to gauge whether its sweeping reform program is working is a calendar, not results-oriented measures that assess the impact of its efforts.
July 2: Performance budgeting slow to take off
The Government Performance and Results Act calls on agencies to estimate the results they expect for the tax dollars they spend. But few agencies can make that connection, the General Accounting Office said Thursday.
February 2: Clinton champions 'budgeting for results'
The Clinton Administration's fiscal 2000 budget proposal includes more than 450 goals for improving government performance through better management.
January 8: Congress demands more Results Act measures
Congress is increasingly directing federal agencies to set goals and measure performance, a Congressional Research Service report released this week found.
January 8: Congress demands more Results Act measures
Congress is increasingly directing federal agencies to set goals and measure performance, a Congressional Research Service report released this week found.
January 6: Taxpayers to rate IRS employees' performance
Internal Revenue Service employees would be evaluated on how well taxpayers feel the employees have treated them, under the agency's proposal for a new performance management system.
1998
December: Perceptions and Performance
While politics reigned on the airwaves and in the newspapers in 1998, with President Clinton battling to keep his office, federal managers wrestled with the problems of perception and performance.
October 26: The 105th Congress offers mixed results
The 105th Congress enacted several pieces of legislation setting performance goals for federal programs. But a Senator's list of pork-barrel spending shows lawmakers have yet to embrace the value of measuring the return on government investments.
October 23: New book livens up performance management
A new book will leave you surprised at how painless and downright amusing it can be to learn the ins and outs of government's latest management trend.
September 16: IRS learns Results Act lesson
The IRS learned the hard way that managers must balance productivity goals with customer and employee satisfaction. The agency's experience provides a cautionary tale for managers across government who are implementing performance measures under the Results Act.
September 9: GAO suggests performance plan fixes
In three weeks, federal agencies will commence the fiscal 1999 Results Act race, as they pursue the goals laid out in their first-ever annual performance plans. But the paths agencies have laid are fraught with holes, the General Accounting Office warns in a series of new reports.
July 1: Feds reach Results Act turning point
Can the federal government turn the Government Performance and Results Act from a paper exercise to a decisionmaking tool?
June 10: GOP says Results Act plans are useless
Congressional and executive branch decision makers are unable to use the Government Performance and Results Act to improve federal management because agencies' Results Act plans are useless, House Republicans say.
June 4: Agencies struggle to meet Results Act goals
The Government Performance and Results Act's ultimate goal is to show Americans what they're getting for their federal tax dollars. But agencies are having trouble showing what they achieve with the money they spend, General Accounting Office reviews show.
May 19: GAO: How not to write a performance plan
As Congress enters its first budget cycle with the Government Performance and Results Act in full force, the General Accounting Office has decided that at least one agency's Results Act planning efforts won't help congressional decision makers.
April 29: Congress flunks agencies' performance plans
Congress has given failing grades to federal agencies' fiscal 1999 performance plans, which lay out agencies' goals for next year.
April 24: Gore unveils six-step Results Act plan
Vice President Al Gore outlined a six-step plan designed to ease agencies' implementation of the Government Performance and Results Act. Read a copy of his speech here.
April 23: Scientists warn of Results Act's limits
Government scientists warn that if federal science agencies run the risk of neglecting basic research if they focus only on measurable successes to fulfill requirements of the Government Performance and Results Act.
April 16: GAO: Park Service offers Results Act lessons
The Park Service's headquarters and field office managers spent week after frustrating week grinding out strategic and performance plans. Now comes the hard part: Figuring out how to actually measure performance and link spending to goals.
March 13: House Wants New GPRA Plans
The House of Representatives passed a bill requiring federal agencies to redo their strategic plans under the Government Performance and Results Act.
February 20: Armey Hunts Mismanagement
House Majority Leader Richard Armey, R-Texas, dispatched troops from the General Accounting Office and agency inspector general offices on a mismanagement scavenger hunt this winter. Did your program end up on Armey's list?
February 20: GAO: Labor's Plan Lackluster
The Labor Department's decentralized organizational structure makes adopting the improved management practices envisioned by the Results Act a big challenge, the General Accounting Office has concluded in a new report.
February 13: OMB: Leave Results Act Alone
The Clinton Administration announced its opposition to a bill that would require agencies to go back to the drawing board with their five-year strategic plans.
February 2: Budget Sets Specific Goals
The first-ever governmentwide performance plan, laid out in Clinton's 1999 budget proposal, commits departments and agencies to dozens of specific objectives.
January 15: GOP Pushes Performance Plans
Congressional Republicans used part of their free time during the recent holiday season to put pressure on the Clinton administration to tailor agencies' fiscal 1999 budget and performance plans to satisfy the GOP's vision of the Government Performance and Results Act.
January 1998: The Results Act: Playing Chicken
Like a flock of Results Act Chicken Littles, Republican legislators spent the last half of 1997 proclaiming, "The strategic plans are failing! The strategic plans are failing!"
NEXT STORY: Not Dead Yet