Managing For Results: Agencies Have Elevated Performance Management Leadership Roles, but Additional Training Is Needed Page: 2 of 72
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G A O MANAGING FOR RESULTS
Accountability * Integrity * Reliability
* * Agencies Have Elevated Performance Management
H highlights Leadership Roles, but Additional Training Is Needed
Highlights of GAO-13-356, a report to
Congressional AddresseesWhy GAO Did This Study
The performance of federal agencies is
central to delivering meaningful results
to the American public. GPRAMA,
along with related guidance, assigned
responsibilities for managing
performance to key officials. It also
provided a statutory basis for the
existing PIGC, a council made up of
agency PIOs that is tasked with
assisting OMB with topics related to
GPRAMA. GPRAMA directed GAO to
report on the act's implementation.
This report, one of a series under that
mandate, (1) examines the status of
federal agencies' implementation of the
performance management leadership
roles under GPRAMA and (2)
evaluates the role of the PIC in
facilitating the exchange of best
practices and improving agency
program management and
performance.
To address both objectives, GAO
conducted a survey of PIOs at all 24
CFO Act federal agencies, as well as
in-depth case studies of HHS and
NSF, which were selected because
they have differing characteristics such
as size. GAO also interviewed and
obtained documents from OMB staff
and OPM officials.
What GAO Recommends
GAO recommends that the Director of
OPM work with the PIC to identify
competency gaps for agency
performance management staff and
use this information to identify and
share relevant agency training. GAO
also recommends that the Director of
OMB work with the PIC to gather
regular feedback from members on its
performance and update its strategic
plan. OPM and OMB staff agreed with
these recommendations.
View GAO-13-356. For more information,
contact J. Christopher Mihm at (202) 512-6806
or mihmj@gao.gov.What GAO Found
The designation of senior-level officials to key performance management roles
with responsibilities under the Government Performance and Results Act
Modernization Act of 2010 (GPRAMA) has helped elevate accountability for
performance management within federal agencies and ensure high-level
involvement, according to officials GAO interviewed. The 24 Chief Financial
Officers (CFO) Act agencies have all assigned officials to the key management
roles-chief operating officer, performance improvement officer (PIO), and goal
leader-required under GPRAMA, according to the Office of Management and
Budget (OMB) and the results of GAO's PIO survey. PIOs GAO surveyed
reported that most key officials were greatly involved in central aspects of
performance management, such as agency quarterly performance reviews. PIOs
GAO surveyed, and priority goal leaders GAO interviewed at the Department of
Health and Human Services (HHS) and the National Science Foundation (NSF),
reported they were supported in their responsibilities by their deputies and other
staff. PIOs generally reported that their staff had competencies identified as
relevant by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), such as reasoning, to a
large extent, although PIOs reported that the competencies in the figure below
were not as widespread among their staff as the other competencies.
PIOs' Assessments of the Extent to Which Their Performance Management Staff Possessed
Selected CompetenciesPerformance measurement
Information management
Organizational
performance analysis
Planning and evaluatingl 7 2
8 2
2 Small extent
- Moderate extent
3 ] Large extentSource: GAO.
OPM has taken steps to work with agencies to incorporate performance
management staff competencies into training. For example, OPM is working with
the Performance Improvement Council (PIC) to develop a website that will
include such training. However, at this time, it does not plan to assess
competency gaps among agency performance management staff to inform its
work. Without this information, it will be difficult for OPM, working with the PIC, to
focus on the most-needed resources and facilitate their use by other agencies.
PIOs generally found that sharing of best practices and development of tips and
tools are the most helpful aspects of the PIC, and reported strong agency
attendance at meetings and participation in working groups. However, the PIC
has not regularly collected member feedback about its performance. Additionally,
although the PIC has a strategic plan in place, it has not updated it since
GPRAMA was enacted. Routine member feedback and an updated strategic plan
that reflects changes required by GPRAMA could help increase the PIC's
effectiveness. Without these assessment tools, the PIC lacks an important basis
and means for directing and evaluating its performance.United States Government Accountability Office
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United States. Government Accountability Office. Managing For Results: Agencies Have Elevated Performance Management Leadership Roles, but Additional Training Is Needed, report, April 16, 2013; Washington D.C.. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc301993/m1/2/: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.