Memorandum: 0MB-95-05
Submission of FY 1996
Performance Plans
for Pilot Projects under P.L. 10362,
the
Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 (GPRA)
Contents
MEMORANDUM: 0MB-95-05 Submission of FY 1996
Performance Plans for Pilot Projects under P.L. 10362,
the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 (GPRA)
Questions and Answers Regarding SUBMISSION OF PILOT
PROJECT PERFORMANCE PLANS
Return to OMB Title page of guidance to agencies
MEMORANDUM: 0MB-95-05 Submission of FY 1996
Performance Plans for Pilot Projects under P.L. 103-62, the
Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 (GPRA11)
March 8, 1995
M-95-05
MEMORANDUM FOR THE HEADS OF DEPARTMENTS AND AGENCIES
DESIGNATED AS PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT PILOT PROJECTS UNDER
P.L. 103-62
FROM: Alice M. Rivlin /s/
Director
SUBJECT: Submission of FY 1996 Performance Plans for
Pilot Projects under P.L. 103-62, the Government Performance
and Results Act of 1993 (GPRA)
This memorandum covers the submission of performance
plans for FY 1996, the concluding year of performance
measurement pilots under the Government Performance and
Results Act.
Two significant changes are being made to the guidance
for the FY 1994 and 1995 plans. First, the annual
performance plan is to be submitted in mid-April, some
months before fiscal year 1996 begins. (Previously, the
pilot plans were due either during or at the start of the
fiscal year.) A mid-April date is being set for several
reasons. By having pilots submit plans somewhat before the
fiscal year begins, we move halfway toward the September
date when agencies will be sending annual performance plans
to OMB with their budget requests. This earlier submission
will help in assessing how well the plans can be prepared in
advance. The due date also coincides with the Spring Review
on Program Performance, and the plans will be useful in
determining the current and future availability of
performance information. The second change allows agencies
the option of submitting a plan revision later in 1995 that
reflects Congressional action.
Two attachments to this memorandum have been prepared
to assist your staff in developing these plans. With
several changes, these are otherwise similar to those
appended to the two previous OMB memoranda on pilot project
performance plans. Attachment 1 sets forth basic
information on the scope, content, and general format of the
performance plan. Attachment 2 consists of questions which
were raised regarding particular aspects of the performance
plan as well as its review by OMB, and the answers to those
questions. If you have any further questions on the pilot
project performance plans, please call Walter Groszyk at
(202) 395-6824 (or through an Internet message to
wgroszyk@omb.eop.gov).
As this is the final submission of the pilot project
performance plans, we ask that you particularly focus on how
information is displayed -- both in format and style -- in
these plans. As we define in the months ahead suitable
templates for the FY 1999 plan submissions (which are due
about 30 months from now), we continue to look for the
better ways of presenting performance information. The GPRA
pilot project plans are our best resource for developing
these formats.
Let me again express how much the staff of OMB and I
appreciate your agency's participation in these performance
measurement pilot projects. This has been a valuable
learning experience throughout the pilot agencies, and is
helping to create a sound basis for the forthcoming phase of
GPRA implementation government-wide.
Attachments
Attachment 1
SUBMISSION OF PILOT PROJECT
PERFORMANCE PLANS FOR FY 1996
Submission Date
The plan should be sent to OMB by April 14, 1995. If a
department or agency chooses to prepare a revision to this
plan, the plan revision should be sent to OMB by September 30,
1995, or within 30 days of enactment of the department
or agency's FY 1996 appropriations, whichever is later.
Plan Content
The basic content of an annual performance plan is
defined in Section 4(b) of the Government Performance and
Results Act. A plan contains the following elements:
(1) one or more performance goals for
the program activity (ies) covered by the pilot project
(2) performance indicators that will be
used in measuring outputs and outcomes
(3) a description of the means to be used
to verify and validate measured values
(4) a brief description of the operational
processes, skills, and technology, and the human, capital,
information, or other resources required to meet the
performance goals.
(This description may be omitted for any operational or
resource factor that has not changed significantly from
fiscal year 1993 or 1994 levels.)
(5) a description of the contribution (if
any) made by non-Federal parties (e.g., consultants or
contractors) in the preparation of the plan.
The performance goals and indicators should establish
target levels of achievement for the programs and activities
covered by the pilot project.
In choosing which goals and indicators to include in
the plan, agencies should be guided by the following
principles:
- Goals and indicators should primarily be those
used by program managers to determine how well a program or
activity is doing in achieving its intended objectives.
- Include measures that will be useful to agency
heads and other stakeholders in framing an assessment of
what the program or activity is
accomplishing. (For pilot projects for which audited
financial statements are also prepared, agencies should
consider including in the plan performance measures from
those statements.
Agencies should also consider including any other publicly
established standards of performance.)
Submission of A Plan Revision and Additional Content Therein
Congress allows agencies to revise an annual
performance plan to reflect the significant effects of
Congressional action on the achievement of performance
goals. As the FY 1994 and FY 1995 pilot project performance
plans were submitted either during or at the start of the
fiscal year, this revision option was not feasible. Thus,
the FY 1996 performance plan is the first plan submitted
sufficiently in advance of the fiscal year to allow this
option to be exercised.
An agency may elect to prepare and submit a plan
revision. If a plan revision is prepared, it need only
include changes from the plan submitted in April, and not
replicate the complete content of the plan submitted in
April.) A plan revision should include the following:
- Adjustments made in the target levels of
achievement (as expressed in the performance goals and/or
indicators). The levels in both the April plan and the
subsequent plan revision should be presented to show the
adjustment.
- Identification of any performance goals dropped
from the April plan.
- A brief summary of the nature and scope of
Congressional action(s) which significantly affected the
April plan.
Plans should not be revised to reflect the consequences
of factors or actions -- other than Congressional action --
that may have occurred since the April plan was prepared.
(However, see also questions 2 and 7 in attachment 2 on
revisions resulting from OMB review of the April plan, and
describing the performance-related effects of managerial
accountability and flexibility waivers, respectively.)
Waivers of Administrative Requirements and Controls
GPRA specifies that annual performance plans, beginning
with FY 1999, are to include any requests for waivers of
administrative procedural requirements and controls. These
future-year plans are also to include endorsements of
proposed waivers by those agencies (other than OMB)
establishing the requirements. However, during the pilot
project phase, requests for new waivers will be handled
separately from the submission and review of performance
plans. Agencies designated as pilot projects for managerial
accountability and flexibility should not submit proposed
waivers of administrative procedural requirements and
controls for FY 1996 as part of their performance plan.
(See also question 7 in attachment 2 on including the
effects on performance resulting from approved waivers.)
Time-period Covered
The performance plan for fiscal year 1996 covers a 12
month period beginning on October 1, 1995 and ending on
September 30, 1996. The measurement of actual performance
compared to the target levels established in the performance
goals and indicators should generally coincide with this 12
month period. (See also question 3 in attachment 2 on lags
in obtaining actual performance data.)
Grouping of Goals, Indicators, and Related Information
To relate performance with spending, GPRA aligns the
performance plans with the "Program by activities" listing
appearing in the Program and Financing Schedules in the
Budget Appendix. (Each listing usually contains from two to
10 or more specific projects or activities.) To make this
alignment, the performance goals, performance indicators,
and related descriptions or information should be grouped
according to the relevant Program and Financing Schedule(s)
for that pilot project. The relevant schedule(s) are those
containing (either all or in part) the funding obligations
for the individual programs and activities constituting the
pilot project.
Many large-scale pilot projects will likely span
several schedules, and the goals and indicators should be
grouped and matched to the appropriate schedule. (See also
question 4 in attachment 2.) If a small-scale pilot project
cannot be identified in a "Program by activities" listing
because it is embedded within a more sizeable program,
please identify the specific project or activity in the
listing that covers the pilot project.
For each grouping of goals and indicators, please
provide the Appendix page number of the appropriate Program
and Financing Schedule, as well as the Identification Code
which appears just above the "Program by activities" heading
in the schedule. Please use the Budget Appendix for FY
1996. (Agencies believing that the "Program by activities"
listing should be revised can request changes to these
listings. See Section 11.6 (c) of OMB Circular A-11.) For
those pilot projects that are included in annual financial
statements under the Chief Financial Officers Act, please
provide the name of the reporting entity for which the
statement is prepared.
Non-quantifiable Performance Goals
Quantifiable measures are preferred because of their
objective nature. However, if a performance goal cannot be
expressed in quantitative terms, GPRA allows OMB to
authorize the agency to use an alternative, descriptive form
of goal. GPRA defines one alternative form as containing
separate descriptive statements of (1) a minimally effective
program, and (2) a successful program with sufficient
precision and in such terms that allow for an accurate,
independent determination of whether the program's
performance met the criteria of the description. Pilot
project agencies may use this alternative form and include
it in the FY 1996 performance plans, without advance OMB
authorization.
GPRA also permits an agency to propose its own
alternative form, provided that this form also is a
description stated with sufficient precision and in such
terms that would allow an accurate, independent
determination to be made of whether the program's
performance met the criteria of the description. There is
no advance OMB authorization for an individualized
alternative form. Pilot project agencies proposing to use
an individualized alternative form should include this in
the submitted plan. OMB authorization for the use of an
individualized alternative form will be provided after its
review of the submitted plan.
Strategic Plans
GPRA requires a strategic plan be used when preparing
one or more of the performance plans during the pilot
period. So that a notation can be made of which of the
three annual pilot project plans satisfies this requirement,
please indicate if a strategic plan was used for the FY 1996
plan. (Agencies should note that the strategic plan used
for this purpose need not meet all specifications for the
strategic plans required under GPRA to be submitted to OMB
by September 30, 1997. Also, the strategic plan need only
cover the pilot program or activity.)
Attachment 2
Questions and Answers Regarding
SUBMISSION OF PILOT PROJECT PERFORMANCE PLANS
Q.1 Who should submit the agency's performance plan to OMB?
A.1 The plan should be submitted by the head of the agency.
However, at the agency's discretion, a plan may be submitted
by a senior official (one who is appointed by the President
and Senate-confirmed) having direct responsibility for the
programs and activities covered in the plan.
Q.2 After OMB reviews the FY 1996 performance plans, should
agencies expect to revise these FY 1996 plans based on this
review?
A.2 Requested revisions of the FY 1996 performance plans
will generally be confined to those plans where measurement
of performance appears to be infeasible because of the lack
of sufficient goals or indicators for accomplishing such.
In these cases, OMB may request the agency to revise and
re-submit its FY 1996 plan. (See also question 8 on
withdrawing pilot project designations.) As this is the
final submission of the pilot project performance plans,
OMB's review and critique of the FY 1996 plans is being
directed toward establishing a foundation for the
performance plans being submitted in September 1997 as part
of the agencies' FY 1999 budget request. (Previously, the
critiques emphasized changes and improvements to be
incorporated in the next year's pilot project plan.)
Q.3 May an agency include a performance goal for which it
will be unable to measure actual performance against that
goal during the fiscal year 1996 time-period?
A.3 Yes. There is often a substantial lag in obtaining
actual performance data for a particular period. The
Congressional committees, in their reports on this
legislation, recognized this, and made allowances for such
in the content of the annual program performance report.
When a lag occurs, agencies should use the most current
relevant data (even if it is several years old), and
indicate, in the program performance report for FY 1996,
approximately when the actual performance data for the
October 1995/September 1996 time-period will be available.
Q.4 If a pilot project is funded under several "Program and
Financing Schedules", and the performance goals and
indicators are mainly relevant for only one of these
schedules, should the goals and indicators be arrayed
against all the schedules?
A.4 No, this is not necessary. Agencies should group
performance goals and indicators against the schedule that
is the main source of funding for the pilot project, and
note only by Appendix page number and identification code
the other schedules that provide partial funding for the
pilot project. Also, several agencies have indicated it may
be difficult to align every goal and indicator to a specific
schedule. In such instances, these goals and indicators
should be separately grouped together in the plan and note
made of the reason for doing so.
Q.5 How should a generic or agency-wide performance
goal be included in the performance plan?
A.5 If an agency's performance plan contains a generic
performance goal (i.e., a goal applying to all programs and
activities of an agency, and not just the pilot project),
the goal should be categorized as such, and presented
separately from the groupings of performance goals and
indicators that are specific to the pilot project.
Q.6 Should the FY 1996 performance plan indicate
anticipated changes in performance goals or measurement in
future years?
A.6 This is at the discretion of the agency. Because the
capacity to measure performance and set performance goals
differs between and within agencies, the pilot project phase
of GPRA was established to give agencies time for developing
and improving this capacity. The quality and scope of the
initial performance plans will be uneven. An agency's
self- appraisal of limitations in its FY 1996 plan and an
indication of how the FY 1999 plan will likely be changed
will assist OMB significantly in its review and critique of
the FY 1996 plans, and in the discussions on various
performance initiatives (including GPRA implementation) to
be held with the agencies during the Spring 1995 Program
Performance Review.
Q.7 How should the performance plans address changes in
performance expected to occur as a result of waivers of
administrative requirements given as part of a managerial
accountability and flexibility pilot project?
A.7 There is insufficient time between the April submission
date for the FY 1996 performance plans and the approval of
waiver requests for the managerial flexibility pilots to
require that the effect(s) of these waivers be reflected in
the FY 1996 plans. A performance measurement pilot project
that is also designated as a managerial flexibility pilot
has several options for addressing the anticipated changes
in performance:
(1) Rely on the information provided in support
of the waiver request as part of the managerial flexibility
pilot project nomination. OMB would subsequently append
this information to the performance plan. (Waiver-related
performance information will be appended to the submitted FY
1995 performance plans, so that this can be covered -- to
the extent feasible -- in the program performance reports
for FY 1995.)
(2) If a revised FY 1996 performance
plan is prepared, include in the revised plan the anticipated
effects on performance from the approved waivers.
Q.8 Can the designation of a pilot project end before
FY 1997?
A.8 Yes. While GPRA has no specific procedure to annul a
designation, the number of designated agencies substantially
exceed the ten required by the statute. Thus, OMB will
consider withdrawing the designation of a pilot project
that: (a) is unable to meet the GPRA requirement that a
strategic plan be used in preparing the performance plan for
at least one of the years of the pilot project; or, (b) is
experiencing major difficulties in establishing and
expressing performance goals in its plan, and is unlikely to
overcome these difficulties in its FY 1996 plans. (Several
pilot project designations were withdrawn in FY 1995.)
An agency seeking to withdraw the designation of a
pilot project need not submit a performance plan for FY 1996
for the pilot project. A withdrawal request should be sent
to OMB by April 14, 1995. Agencies considering withdrawal
should discuss this in advance with the cognizant OMB
program division staff. OMB may also initiate discussions
with an agency on a possible withdrawal based on its review
of the FY 1994 and FY 1995 plans.
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