GPRA

Agency Strategic Plans.  According to the Senate committee report accompanying the new law:

Background.  Congress recently passed – and President Obama just signed -- legislation updating the nearly 20-year-old Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA).  This update effort started several years ago through the efforts of Congressman Henry Cuellar (D-TX) then evolved more recently with support from Senators Tom Carper (D-DE) and

The reform, popularly named LOLF after an August 1, 2001 constitutional amendment, defined a new architecture for the French state budget, articulated in terms of mission, programs and actions.   Unlike GPRA, it changes the entire budgetary process rather than adding results-oriented features to an otherwise unchanged process. 

But little seems to happen.  There have been dozens of studies and reports over the past three decades.  However, there has not been a major overhaul since 1978, and many piecemeal legislative efforts, such as performance pay and streamlining the classification system, have been derailed.  So pragmatically, what can be done in the near-term, without a major legislative effort? 

The Government Accountability Office study went on to note: “Agencies reported 3,427 IT staff employed just to maintain legacy-programming languages, such as COBOL (1,085) and Fortran (613).”  In addition, the Office of Management and Budget recently observed that “43 percent of federal IT projects are reported to be over budget or behind schedule.”

Senator Tom Carper (D-DE) summarized the need for a refresh when he introduced his bill with bipartisan support:  "Producing information does not by itself improve performance and experts from both sides of the aisle agree that the solutions developed in 1993 have not worked.”

The new legislation adds to a loosely organized network of continuing federal efforts to boost Americans’ engagement in STEM education.  In fact, President George W. Bush placed a governmentwide emphasis on STEM education in his State of the Union address in 2006 as a part of his national competitiveness agenda.

(a continuation from the December 23, 2009 blog on “Managing Performance”)

Bouckaert and Halligan call their first idealized performance management model the “Performance Administration” approach.

This model is seen as modest, ad hoc and un-systematic. It is oftentimes designed for formal, hierarchical organizations and is seen as mechanistic or compliance-oriented in implementation. Nevertheless, it is the typical starting place for many organizations.

The Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) was enacted in 1993 to bring about a greater focus on results in the federal government. GPRA's requirements have built a strong foundation for results-oriented performance planning, measurement, and reporting.