Panel of Experts Brings Discussion of Environmental Program Performance to Capitol Hill

November 30, 2004

WASHINGTON - Seven of the foremost experts on program assessment and budgeting assembled Tuesday morning on Capitol Hill to examine how the performance of federal environmental and natural resource programs is being measured.

Roughly 65 people attended the event, which was sponsored by The Performance Institute, the Council for Excellence in Government, and Reason Foundation. It was hosted by the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. The audience was comprised of Congressional staff members, federal employees from the EPA, Interior, and Commerce departments, as well as from environmental interest groups.

Presenters included:

• Lynn Scarlett, Assistant Secretary, Department of the Interior
• Robert J. Shea, Counselor to the Deputy Director for Management, Office of Management and Budget
• Joshua Baylson, Senior Policy Advisor, Office of the Chief Financial Officer, Environmental Protection Agency
• Will Hart, Communications Director, Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works
• Mike Hettinger, Staff Director, House Subcommittee on Government Efficiency and Financial Management
• Carl DeMaio, President, The Performance Institute
• Kwai-Cheung Chan, Assistant Inspector General for Program Evaluation, Environmental Protection Agency

Measuring program performance has become the centerpiece of a movement to ensure a close alignment between resources and results. With a climbing budget deficit, the results of the Office of Management and Budget’s Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART) are transforming the way programs are evaluated, managed, and budgeted.

Tuesday's forum looked at how environemntal and natural resource programs fared under the PART in the FY04 and FY05 budgets, and examined how performance management was transforming the way those programs were being managed.