More Money, Better Performance

When it comes to managing resources and people, the Government Accountability Office is trying to set the pace for the agencies whose work it evaluates. But ask about the agency's ability to keep up the momentum on reform, and you'll get the same answer that agencies often give GAO itself: We need more money. Here's an excerpt from GAO's annual Performance and Accountability Report:

We sincerely strive to lead by example,

and are hopeful that our modest budget

requests supported by our sound

business case and proven performance

results will encourage the Congress to

provide additional resources to us and

other high-performing entities. If the

Congress employs such an approach,

we should be in a good position to

continue to provide a high rate of

return on the resources invested in the

agency. However, employing an

across-the-board cut or other nontargeted

approaches would greatly

impede our ability to do our work and may create perverse incentives for

those agencies that are trying to model

our priorities and practices.