GPRAMA requires agencies to identify and report on how they will resolve major management challenges-programs or management functions with greater vulnerability to waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement where a failure to perform well could seriously affect the ability of an agency or the government to achieve its mission or goals. Agencies are to describe challenges and provide performance information for resolving those challenges in agency performance plans. GPRAMA includes a provision for GAO to periodically review its implementation. The objectives of this report were to (1) assess to what extent agency performance plans and reports address major management challenges that include, for example, GAO High-Risk issues and challenges identified by the agency Inspector General; and (2) identify illustrative examples that selected agencies reported taking to address their major management challenges. GAO examined agency performance plans and reports using GPRAMA and interviewed OMB and agency staff.

The Gov't. Performance and Results Act of 1993 seeks to improve the effectiveness, efficiency, and accountability of Fed. programs by establishing a system for agencies to set goals for program performance and to measure results. In 1998 a report summarized observations on agencies' plans and identified opportunities to improve the usefulness of future performance plans (PP). This report builds on those improve. opportunities by: identifying and describing practices that were applied in some PP that might improve the usefulness of all agencies' annual PP; and providing examples from agencies' FY 1999 PP that illustrate each practice.