GPRA Performance Goals

The Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 (GPRA) is meant to improve performance and accountability of federal agencies by requiring them to focus on results, service quality, and customer satisfaction. The law could have a profound effect on federal agencies. Congress intends to use GRPA performance results to improve its program decision making by the turn of the century.  The Corps Environmental Encyclopedia is designed to help manage Corps environmental investments to make sure they produce the maximum environmental benefit.

GPRA mandates three activities for each Federal agency:

1. Creation of a strategic plan. The first plan must be sent to Congress by September 30, 1997.

2. Creation of annual performance plans wherein agencies set performance targets for achieving their long range goals. OMB is required to develop the first annual performance plan for the entire Fiscal Year 1999 Federal budget. 

3. Submission of yearly performance reports each March 31st to Congress presenting actual performance in the previous fiscal year compared with the performance goals expressed in the plan for that fiscal year. The first reports are due in 2000.

Strategic plans cover a five year period, and must be updated every three years. The plans must include:

(a) a comprehensive mission statement covering the major functions and operations of the agency; 

(b) general goals and objectives, including outcome-related goals and objectives, for the major functions and operations of the agency; 

(c) a description of how the goals and objectives are to be achieved, including a description of the operational processes, skills and technology, and the human, capital, information, and other resources required to meet those goals and objectives; 

(d) a description of how the performance goals included in the plan required by section 1115(a) of title 31 shall be related to the general goals and objectives in the strategic plan; 

(e) an identification of those key factors external to the agency and beyond its control that could significantly affect the achievement of the general goals and objectives; and

(f) a description of the program evaluations used in establishing or revising general goals and objectives, with a schedule for future program evaluations.

The annual performance plans must be consistent with the five year strategic plans. They must:

(a) establish performance goals that define the level of performance to be achieved by a program activity;

(b) express such goals in an objective, quantifiable, and measurable form unless otherwise authorized;

(c) briefly describe the operational processes, skills and technology, and the human, capital, information, or other resources required to meet the performance goals;

(d) establish performance indicators to be used in measuring or assessing the relevant outputs, service levels, and outcomes of each program activity;

(e) provide a basis for comparing actual program results with the established performance goals; and

(f) describe the means to be used to verify and validate measured values. 

Agencies must provide annual performance reports starting in March 2000. This report must explain why goals were not met; the plans and schedules for achieving the established performance goal; and, if the performance goal is impractical or infeasible, why that is the case and what action is recommended.

An agency, in consultation with the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), that determines that it is not feasible to express the performance goals for a particular program activity in an objective, quantifiable, and measurable form, has two options. It can attempt to make that case to the Congress, or it can seek OMB approval for an alternative form. The alternative form must have sufficient precision, and be in terms that allow for an accurate, independent determination of whether the program activity's performance meets the criteria of the description. GPRA provides one alternative approach: separate descriptive statements of what would constitute a minimally effective and a successful program, but OMB approval is required even for this "standard" exception. 

GPRA is a new idea for Congress as well as for Federal agencies. Every year in making its appropriations, Congress evaluates the relative worth of measures addressing crime, health, national defense, race relations, education, foreign policy, energy, and the environment. It remains to be seen how Congressmen will integrate GPRA report cards with their traditional allocation of funds process. For the agencies, then, the potential disadvantage of GPRA is that agencies that develop highly specific plans will be more likely to be criticized than agencies whose plans are vague. The way Congress uses GPRA will have a great effect on the willingness to develop rigorous ways to measure environmental performance.

EPA's 1999 GPRA Performance Plan (.pdf file)

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's 2000 GPRA Performance Plan Summary