So I'm sure POGO blog readers (and our friends on Twitter) think we're just bragging when we talk about how our transition team recommendations are getting traction. But we're genuinely surprised and excited when we see things like Peter Orszag speaking about the Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART):
It is not particularly effective. Frankly, most federal officials don’t even know about it; only a quarter of senior government officials have even heard of PART. And most who are knowledgeable don’t use it. There’s a lot of going through the motions, filling out forms.
It was developed without consultation with Congress and the agencies, and it’s too focused on process rather than outcome.
Of course, the first thing we say in our recommendations for the next administration is:
Some federal agencies are no longer accomplishing their mandated missions. Other agencies are working towards missions that are no longer relevant to 21st century challenges. Agencies are already engaged in strategic planning and self-evaluation through the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) and Performance Assessment Rating Tool (PART) processes. However, this information is used infrequently. Furthermore, such efforts generally focus more on quantifiable measures of success, and inadequately measure the quality and relevance of the work of the agency – in other words the output of an agency rather than the impact of its work. (emphasis mine)
But we can't take all the credit. OMB Watch has been doing a lot of great work on how the federal government should evaluate agency performance for years.
-- Mandy Smithberger
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