The President’s fiscal year 2014 budget was released last week and emphasizes the creation of “a culture of performance improvement.”  This is also the theme of a new  IBM Center report, by University of Wisconsin professor Donald Moynihan who is a close observer of the international performance movement.

In this report, Professor Moynihan describes the evolution of the federal performance management system over the past 20 years since the passage of the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 (GPRA). He reports recent progress in achieving meaningful performance results within targeted pro­grams and describes anticipated future changes over the next few years as a result of the new requirements of the GPRA Modernization Act of 2010, which significantly amended the earlier law.

With Valentine’s Day approaching, there are all sorts of advice columns about improving relationships.  Well, A new IBM Center report by Dr. Jane Fountain, Implementing Cross-Agency Collaboration: A Guide for Federal Managers, offers advice on successful cross-agency relationships.  She says there is a recipe for success, but that it depends on a number of factors.

This report provides useful insights into how the government can proceed in creating effective cross-agency collaborations that can improve outcomes significantly.

Last week, OMB released a new and substantially improved Performance.gov website, with in-depth performance information on individual agency priority goals. This represents a significant step forward from the initial release in August 2011, which listed and described the goals, but did not provide much detail about them.  I had a chance to talk with some OMB staff about what’s new about the website, and take a quick browse through it. Here’s a summary of what I learned.

Of course, targets can be used as incentives or as punitive measures or both. David Mamet’s film, Glengarry Glen Ross, comes immediately to mind as an over-the-top example.  For those who haven’t seen the film, it’s the story of struggling real estate salesmen who are  told that the individual who had the best numbers would win a car; number two would get a set of steak knives and the rest would be fired on the spot.

Eileen McNulty, Deputy Accountability Officer (photo at right),  has a key role in guiding performance reporting for Pennsylvania's stimulus dollars.

The Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) was enacted in 1993 to bring about a greater focus on results in the federal government.  GPRA's requirements have built a strong foundation for results-oriented performance planning, measurement, and reporting.

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