2004 to See Big Push for "Institutionalizing" Performance-Based
Management in Government |
| FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 4, 2004
CONTACT: David Zeliff, Director of Communications
| (703) 894-0481 | [email protected] |
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| Performance Institute
President Carl DeMaio and OMB Deputy Director Clay Johnson
listen to a question during Johnson's keynote address
to the Government Performance Summit. |
WASHINGTON - Bush Administration officials, federal agency
managers, Congressional staff, and good-government advocacy
groups convened today for the 2004 Government Performance
Summit to assess the progress in improving management and
accountability in the federal government under the President's
Management Agenda (PMA).
Now in its third year of implementation, the President's
Management Agenda has become one of the most successful management
reform initiatives undertaken by the federal government in
modern history. Nevertheless, much is left to be done to achieve
the ambitious goals of the PMA to transform the operations
of every federal agency to make them citizen-centered, results-oriented
and market-based.
With 2004 an election year, many Summit participants raised
key questions regarding federal management reform: What can
be done to institutionalize the progress made under the PMA?
Will Congress finally engage in performance budgeting and
use performance information to drive budget decisions? Regardless
of the outcome of the election, what's next in federal management
reform?
Presentations at the Summit helped provide answers to these
key reform questions. Among the highlights:
Recognition of Agency Successes
OMB Deputy Director for Management Clay Johnson and the initiative
"owners" for each of the five areas of the President's
Management Agenda each delivered updates on how agencies have
progressed in implementing the PMA and how they fared on the
latest Management Scorecard. In addition, agency officials
presented some of their best practices and most innovative
management innovations.
The Office of Personnel Management and the Department of
Energy received specific praise for their exemplary success
in implementing the PMA. In announcing that the two agencies
were being recognized by the Performance Institute with "Excellence
in Management" awards, Carl DeMaio called their results
thus far "exemplary."
"OPM and Energy have shown remarkable progress in implementing
the performance-based management reforms laid out in the President's
Management Agenda," DeMaio said. "The hard work
of the men and women at both organizations deserves to be
recognized and this summit, amongst an audience of federal
managers, was an ideal place to do it."
Commitment to Not Politicize Management
OMB Deputy Director Clay Johnson, delivering a keynote address,
cautioned attendees to the Government Performance Summit to
keep the year's electoral politics out of the management reforms
they are implementing. Johnson even floated the idea of renaming
the "President's Management Agenda" the "Agency
Management Agenda" to demonstrate the need for agencies
to internalize and personalize the management reforms in all
five areas.
Johnson expressed his delight with the government-wide progress
made thus far and reinforced the need for continued diligence
- no matter the results of the November election. "The
federal government is in the process of becoming results-oriented,"
Johnson said. "It's not going to take one or two years
and it's not going to take 10 years. This is gonna happen."
Support for Performance Budgeting Legislation
The legislation introduced last week by Rep. Todd Platts to
codify a performance review process modeled on the Program
Assessment Rating Tool drew praise from presenters and attendees.
The Performance Institute also formally announced its support
for the bill, with DeMaio saying, "the PART is the first
and one of the most important steps in the long-term implementation
of performance-based budgeting. By making program assessment
a Congressional mandate, an already productive method of budget
management will be sustained."
Additionally, the Performance Institute announced its intention
to circulate model legislative language for performance budgeting
with its "Taxpayer Bill of Rights" - legislation
that would combine a government spending limit with performance
assessments. The Institute is already working with legislators
in several states on passage of similar legislation and will
work with Congressional sponsors of a federal spending limit
to include performance in their proposed bill.
Support for a Congressional Office of Program Performance
Recognizing the need to build congressional capacity for improved
oversight and review of federal program performance, the Performance
Institute announced its intention to propose a Congressional
Office of Program Performance (using joint resources of the
Congressional Budget Office and the General Accounting Office.)
The COPP would assume the responsibility for translating the
reams of performance and budgeting data produced by federal
departments, agencies and the White House into relevant, usable
information.
In structuring its proposal for the COPP, the Institute is
using the Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government
Accountability in the State of Florida as an example. Dubbed
as the "monitoring arm" of the Florida State Legislature,
OPPAGA's evaluation-based recommendations have a direct impact
on the budget decisions made by the Legislature. Florida is
but one of more than 40 states recognized by the National
Council of State Legislators as utilizing program evaluation
offices for program and agency oversight.
Given the exorbitant amount of data that flood Capitol Hill
every year, it is no wonder that members of Congress are reluctant
to wade even knee-deep into it. Efforts must be undertaken
to assist Congress in interpreting and subsequently using
the extremely important data.
Combining the investigative thoroughness of the GAO with
the fiduciary expertise of the CBO would create a systematic,
methodical and streamlined Congressional approach to Executive
oversight - a critical aspect of Congress' Constitutional
responsibility largely neglected in the last few years. The
COPP should be charged by Congress with conducting its own
program assessments independent of the Office of Management
and Budget, whose Program Assessment Rating Tool has paved
the way for this style of evaluation.
Proposed Competitive Sourcing Language
Competitive sourcing-by far the most controversial of the
management reforms in the PMA-has attracted the attention
state legislators in Florida, California, Virginia and New
York. PI is crafting model legislation for those states that
would formalize the competitive sourcing process in a manner
that emphasizes the intense evaluation of both cost and performance,
and requires a transparent reporting process. The language
would also demand from contractors a strict accountability
for results. Once this legislation is finished, the Institute
intends to promote similar legislation at the federal level.
Engaging Congressional Committees and Stakeholders in Performance
Dialogues
Although the PMA has stimulated an unprecedented level of
discussion about performance-based management reform within
the Executive Branch, the progress being made has been inhibited
by the current lack of engagement by Congress on the management
reforms laid out in the PMA. As a result, The Performance
Institute will host a series of Executive/Legislative dialogues
throughout the year designed to bring the performance management
discussion to Congress. The first two forums will be held
next week, on March 10, and will be focused on how performance-based
budgeting and the Program Assessment Rating Tool has been
used and can be used in federal education programs, and federal
wildland fire programs. The Institute will host additional
forums throughout the year focused on other federal programs
and agencies.
Oversight Training for Congressional Staff
The very nature of checks-and-balances democracy necessitates
a commitment by Congress to exercise vigilant oversight of
the Executive Branch. The President's FY05 budget proposed
a record $3.5 trillion in discretionary spending, a proposal
that translates to a tremendous oversight responsibility.
Oversight training for Congressional staff disappeared several
years ago, but today the Performance Institute announced its
intention to host free day-long training sessions on Capitol
Hill beginning in May.
The training will cover both day-to-day oversight and oversight
during the appropriations process, with a focus on how performance
measurement and management can be used to monitor federal
programs.
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