Improving Federal Program Management Using Performance Information

The 'managing for results' movement that began in the early 1990s has now reached adolescence and is creating new challenges for government managers. After spending years creating planning and performance-measuring systems, managers and policy makers now need to focus on how to use performance information to make data-driven decisions. Managing Results for 2005 describes--through a series of case studies--the progress being made in federal, state, and local governments in managing for results. Part I increases our understanding about the potential use of performance information in government. It starts with a chapter on how government leaders can overcome obstacles to using performance information. Another chapter presents a comprehensive framework for tying performance to the budget process. The book provides specific examples of how performance information has been used to dramatically improve program outcomes. Part II presents case studies on the use of performance information to improve results in a range of federal agencies, in Texas state government, and in the City of Baltimore. As pioneering efforts, these examples do not all present success stories; nevertheless, the lessons learned will be instructive to public managers as the 'managing for results' movement advances toward maturity.

Over the past 15 years, legislative and executive branch reform efforts have attempted to shift the focus of fed. gov¿t. mgmt. from a preoccupation with activities to the results or outcomes of those activities. There has been a transformation in the capacity of the fed. gov¿t. to manage for results, including an infrastructure of outcome-oriented strategic plans, performance measures, and accountability reporting that provides a solid foundation for improving the performance of fed. programs. This testimony looks at: (1) trends in fed. managers¿ use of performance info. (PI) to manage, both governmentwide and at the agency level; (2) how agencies can encourage greater use of PI to improve results; and (3) lessons learned from prior mgmt. reforms for the next admin.

The Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) of 1993 has laid a foundation of results-oriented agency planning, measurement, and reporting in the federal government. Performance planning and measurement have slowly, yet increasingly, become a part of agencies' cultures. For planning and performance measurement to be effective, federal managers need to use performance information to identify performance problems and look for solutions, develop approaches that improve results, and make other important management decisions. According to GAO's periodic surveys, federal managers reported having more performance measures in 2003 than in 1997. However, the data also showed that managers' reported use of performance information for program management activities has remained essentially unchanged from 1997 levels. GAO was asked to identify (1) how federal agencies can use performance information to make management decisions and (2) practices that can enhance or facilitate the use of performance information to make management decisions. Technical comments from the case agencies were incorporated where appropriate.

Based on five years of extensive research by the Government Performance Project, this volume offers a comprehensive analysis of how government managers and elected officials use management and management systems to improve performance. Drawing on data from across the nation, it examines the performance of state, county, and city governments between 1997 and 2002 within the framework of basic management systems: financial information, human resources, capital and infrastructure, and results evaluation. Key issues addressed: • How governments strategically select elements of management to emphasize the role of leadership • How those governments that aim to improve performance differ from those that do not • What “effective management” looks like Through this careful, in-depth investigation, the contributors conclude that the most effective governments are not those with the most resources, but those that use the resources available to them most carefully and strategically. In Pursuit of Performance is an invaluable tool for government leaders and the scholars who study them.