Budget likely will target agencies’ top performance goals

The president's fiscal 2011 budget, to be released on Monday, will provide the first public glimpse of the high-priority performance goals that the Obama administration asked agencies to identify during the summer.

In a June 11 memorandum, the Office of Management and Budget directed agencies to target a limited number of achievable performance goals that would have high, direct value to the public and measurable results. Specifically, OMB told agencies to pinpoint major challenges requiring significant agency resources and to improve effectiveness and efficiency by tackling coordination, operational or other implementation roadblocks.

Earlier this week, the administration announced that the fiscal 2011 budget plan will include a three-year limited top-line spending freeze on discretionary, nonsecurity-related programs. Agencies will see program funding increases or cuts determined through a line-by-line review by OMB. This "nuanced" freeze means that in cases where agencies have identified an urgent need for additional resources, they in fact could see an increase in the president's budget.

Robert Shea, OMB's associate director for administration and government performance during the Bush administration, suggested the budget will reflect a greater focus on these high-priority performance goals. OMB Deputy Director for Management and Chief Performance Officer Jeff Zients said in November 2009 that these goals would play an important role in budgetary decisions.

"We're starting each budget discussion with those goals," Zients said. "We're ensuring they're the right ones and then that the budget discussion follows them."

But, Shea, who managed the Program Assessment Rating Tool [PART] program, said the high-priority performance goal initiative appears to lack cohesion and is "weak so far" in terms of a larger governmentwide Performance Management Agenda.

"It's a missed opportunity," said Shea, who is now at the consulting firm Grant Thornton LLP.

Zients has said implementing a larger management program to systematically improve federal performance will not happen overnight, but putting in place short-term goals is a crucial first step. The performance goals identified are to include outcomes that can be measured within a one- to two-year period.

"It's a complex system that we're going to put in place to drive performance for many years to come, but it's still important to have some quick results," Zients said. "If targets are too far out in the future, they don't drive performance." While most of the specifics about the budget are a mystery until Monday, the administration has committed to including a number of diverse proposals. For example, Obama pledged to include a proposal aimed at contractors with seriously delinquent taxes that would allow the government to pay down contractors' outstanding taxes before compensating them directly for their products or services. A similar provision was included in last year's budget request, but Congress did not approve it.

The winning proposal from the Securing Americans Value and Efficiency Award contest also is included in the upcoming budget plan. Nancy Fichtner, an employee of the Veterans Affairs Department, proposed allowing veterans to take home unused medications upon being discharged from the hospital.