The complexity of governments today makes the accountability desired by citizens difficult to achieve. Written to address performance policies within state and national governments, Government Performance and Results: An Evaluation of GPRA‘s First Decade summarizes lessons learned from a 10-year research project that evaluated performance reports p

On January 4th, 2011, the GPRA Modernization Act of 2010 became law. The acronym refers to the Government Performance and Results Act. When GPRA 1993 was enacted, it was regarded as a watershed for the federal government. For the first time, Congress established requirements in statute for most agencies to set goals, measure performance, and report the information to Congress for potential use. Agencies submitted this information in three major products: multi-year strategic plans, annual plans, and annual reports. This book provides an overview and background on GPRA 1993 and its modernization changes in 2010. The law was especially intended to address the needs of Congress in its policy making, oversight, and budgeting work, and the needs of agency program managers.

In recent years, an understanding has emerged that the Federal government needs to be run in a more businesslike manner that in the past. The Federal government is accountable to the taxpayer, and taxpayers are demanding as never before that the dollars they invest in their government be managed and spent responsibly. Federal agencies often fail to appropriately manage their finances, identify clearly what they intend to accomplish, or get the job done effectively and with minimum of waste. Major statutes hold promise for creating a more accountable and effective Federal government.

As requested by Congress and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), this report assists federal agencies in crafting plans and reports that are responsive to the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA), OMB Guidance, and agency missions. Using a case study approach, the report identifies best practices used by individual agencies to evaluate the performance and results of their science and technology programs. The report takes into account individual agencies' missions and how science and technology programs and human resource needs are factored into agency GPRA plans. Specific applications of recommendations are included from COSEPUP's earlier report entitled Evaluating Federal Research Programs: Research and the Government Performance and Results Act.