The President's FY04 Budget

NEWS RELEASE
Several Loose Ends Tied with Release of OMB's FY05 PART Guidance

ARLINGTON, Va. (May 6) - The Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART) guidance and worksheets released this week by the Office of Management and Budget for use with the FY05 Budget represent an improved model of the same successful vehicle used during the FY 04 Budget.

"The revised PART guidance from OMB is a refinement, but represents no major change from the fundamental design of the tool. It still holds programs accountable for results through a methodological, systematic, and evidence-based assessment," Performance Institute President Carl DeMaio said today. "The changes permit agencies to focus on outputs where appropriate, rather than going directly to outcomes, and reduces the number of special questions."

Among the highlights of the FY05 PART guidance is:

• A Confirmation that Programs Evaluated for the FY04 Budget will be Re-Evaluated
  Although officials at OMB have said for months, both on and off the record, that the original 234 programs would be re-evaluated for the FY05 Budget, today's guidance demonstrates that OMB's commitment to continued use of the PART is firm. PI has always believed re-evaluation on an annual basis was a necessary strategy for the PART's successful implementation. "The guidance reinforces OMB's commitment to the PART by assessing an additional 20 percent, as well as the existing 20 percent," DeMaio said. "It demonstrates that there will be ongoing review -- and ongoing consequences -- for performance… and lack of performance.
• An Emphasis on Output Performance Measures and Performance Targets
  In Section 2 of the FY05 PART, the two questions pertaining to annual and long-term performance goals were each split to put increased focus on performance measures and targets. By calling for limited, precise performance measures for program goals, the FY05 PART tries to refocus measurement energies on producing a limited number of precise measures, instead of a bulk of less-targeted measures.
  
• The Placement of Budget Requests in the "Planning" Section
  Question 2.7 of the FY05 PART is a re-phrased version of a question in the Management section of the FY04 PART. The new language adds a specificity to the requirement of budget-performance integration missing from the FY04 PART. The question's new placement within the "Planning" section is a signal of OMB's determination to make agencies accountable for the costing of their outputs within their budget requests.
• A Clarification of the Research & Development PART
  With R&D investment criteria denoted as a PMA initiative, a specific emphasis was placed on R&D programs in the FY04 PART. However, questions emerged over whether a PART assessment was feasible for basic research programs (for which it is difficult to set mission-aligned goals and to predict measurable outcomes). OMB has modified R&D's FY04 PART to make clear that there is not an inherent conflict with the measurement of relevance, planning and management of R&D programs. "OMB is starting to connect the dots, especially with the R&D PART, which is now more reflective of OSTP standards," DeMaio said.

The Performance Institute is an Arlington-based think tank that studies best practices in government reform and management. PI has emerged as a leader in the area of performance-based budgeting, working with several programs on their PART evaluations and launching TransparentGovernment.org to coincide with the release of the FY04 PART. The site was designed to present the original PART data in a form that explained to taxpayers how the return on their investment was now being measured.