OMB to put user-friendly versions of performance assessments on Internet
Move aims to make federal program reviews more understandable for the public, official says.
The White House is trying to boost the public profile of its performance-rating tool for federal programs, preparing to launch this spring a new Web site with details about the results that the government is achieving with taxpayer money.
Tentatively called Results Matter, the site will seek to translate the managerial and budget details of the "Performance Assessment Rating Tool" into language that citizens can understand and easily peruse. It does not have a Web address yet.
PART is a controversial rating tool that the White House is using to determine how well federal programs are performing.
Although some critics have accused the Bush administration of judging programs based on the president's political agenda instead of the goals spelled out in legislation, the White House has generally received high marks for making the assessments public.
Robert Shea, counselor to the deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget, said that the information on the site will resemble information in PART documents that are already publicly available through the OMB Web site, "but translated into content that would resonate more. A lot of what we write now is so technical that it is not really compelling to the average American citizen."