Government Performance

Government Performance: News Analysis Background Gov Docs

Subtopics

OMB Watch Testifies on Government Performance Issues Before a Senate Subcommittee
Adam Hughes testified before the Senate Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information, and International Security on June 13. The hearing was on the government's use of performance data. OMB Watch has prepared a summary of the hearing.

OMB Watch Critical of President's Proposal to Institute Results, Sunset Commissions
The White House submitted a legislative proposal to Congress on July 1 that would imperil the balance between the executive and legislative branches by concentrating power in the White House free of democratic accountability and would expose long-standing public protections to powerful special interests and industry insiders.

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News

Contract Reform Takes Center Stage in House 04/29/2008
A group of reform bills that would bring accountability and transparency to the federal contracting process has been approved by the House in the last few months, potentially setting the stage for federal contracting reform to be a major area of legislative action in the remaining months of the 110th Congress. Read More

Despite New Majority in Congress, Fiscal Policy Still Mostly Stuck in Neutral 12/18/2007
A new congressional majority in 2007 promised a clean break from past practices of a Congress noted for its corruption, dysfunction and profligacy. It moved on a modest agenda and successfully enacted a few important policies, but overall, it failed to chart a new direction in fiscal policy. This failure was due in large part to the majority underestimating the ability and willingness of a coalition of conservative policymakers and the president to fiercely obstruct even the modest reform policies on the new Congress's agenda. Read More

White House Attempts to Entrench PART at Federal Agencies 11/20/2007
The White House issued an executive order (E.O. 13450) on Nov. 13 that would attempt to entrench the administration's controversial Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART) within federal agencies long after President Bush leaves the White House. The order would create a point person within agencies responsible for program performance, allow the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) more leverage over specific aspects of program implementation and solidify the PART program review process as the evaluator of government programs. Read More

Research Questions Cost-Efficiency of Privatization 10/10/2007
Public debate over government contracting has centered largely on issues of accountability. But recent scholarship on the efficiency of using contractors to deliver government services shows that a broader discussion is warranted. The assumptions about the relative efficiency of government contracts are on shaky ground, and cost measurements show no clear advantage to private contractors. Read More

Wartime Commission Would Investigate Contracting Abuses in Iraq and Afghanistan 09/25/2007
Sens. Jim Webb (D-VA) and Claire McCaskill (D-MO) have sponsored a bill (S. 1825) that would set up a commission to investigate and reform wartime contracting. It is likely the bill will be introduced as an amendment to the Defense Reauthorization Act that is currently being debated in the Senate. Read More

The Year in Fiscal Policy...So Far 08/21/2007
After the elections in November 2006, with a new majority and low public confidence in Congress following multiple lobbying and ethics scandals, members vowed to restore integrity and responsibility to the legislative process, particularly in fiscal policy. Congress pledged it would prioritize funding for domestic needs and abide by pay-as-you-go rules for new mandatory spending and taxes. It would shed light on the earmarking process and spend more time minding the people's business in Washington. In short, the new Congress said it would clean up Washington and rebuild public confidence in government. Read More

Another Attempt at Ending IRS Privatization Program Moves Forward 07/24/2007
Both the House and Senate have taken important steps toward ending the wasteful and risky Internal Revenue Service (IRS) private tax collection program. The House Ways and Means Committee approved a bill (H.R. 3056) that would repeal the program, and the Senate Appropriations Committee cleared a bill (H.R. 2829) that would tightly limit the funding available at the IRS to administer the program. Read More

Congress Demands Answers to USDA Security Breach 05/30/2007
On April 13, a user of FedSpending.org, an online database on government spending run by OMB Watch, discovered that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) was publishing personally identifiable information about a loan she received from the agency. Read More

Contracting Reform Bills Move in Congress 03/20/2007
Congress is moving forward on bills to reform the federal contracting system, as the House approved a bill that improves contracting procedures, and the Senate introduced a comprehensive contract reform bill. The bills are an encouraging sign that Congress is working to fix some of the broken parts of the contracting system, but it will need to do much more to address the full scope of the problem. Read More

Congress Seeks to End IRS Privatization Program 02/21/2007
Legislation has been introduced in the House and Senate that would halt an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) program that outsources certain tax collection responsibilities to private companies. The costly and dangerous program has been soundly criticized by Congress, the IRS National Taxpayer Advocate, and outside consumer groups since it began last fall. Read More

Congress Continues Insufficient Oversight of Federal Contracts 11/07/2006
Even as reports of contracting fraud and contractor malfeasance continue to stack up, Congress has taken steps to reduce the federal government's capacity to investigate and oversee how government contracts are awarded and administered. Read More

FedSpending Spotlight: Skyrocketing Contracts, Less Competition 10/24/2006
Lurita Doan, the new head of the General Services Administration (GSA), recently complained about the growth of Government-wide Acquisition Contracts (GWACs) and the loss of contracting efficiency. Data from FedSpending.org reinforces these efficiency concerns by revealing the fast growth in federal contracts and, specifically, the remarkable growth of contracts for which there was little to no competition. Read More

Spending Transparency Bill Passes Senate, House Approval Imminent 09/12/2006
After a month of secret holds, back-room maneuvering, stall tactics and butting of heads, the Senate quietly passed the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act (S. 2590) on Thursday, Sept. 7 by unanimous consent. The bill will dramatically increase government accountability and public access to federal spending data, by creating a free, public, searchable website of all federal spending, including government contracts and grants. The House is expected to amend the bill slightly before passing it this week. Read More

House Saves Program for Measuring Results of Government Assistance 06/27/2006
The House voted Jun. 13 to partially fund the Census Bureau's Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP), saving what is considered an essential tool for assessing how well government assistance programs are working. Read More

OMB Watch Tells Congress PART Should Remain Insignificant 06/13/2006
OMB Watch told Congress today that the Bush administration's Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART) draws biased conclusions about federal program efficacy and should thus continue to be largely ignored by Congress. Read More

New PART Scores Showcase More Contradictions of Program 03/07/2006
The president's recent budget, released in early February, contained another round of federal program assessments produced by the Office of Management and Budget using the administration's Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART). As in past years, this new round of PART scores and associated budget requests call into question the value and purpose of PART ratings, which appear to have little logical and no discernable link to budget requests. Read More

What Others Are Saying About PART 02/22/2006
OMB Watch is not alone in criticizing the White House's Program Assessment Rating Tool. See what others have had to say recently about this flawed measure. Read More

Initial Analysis of the President's 2007 Budget 02/06/2006
The president's Fiscal Year 2007 (FY 07) budget would set the nation on a dangerous fiscal path and does nothing to honestly address the federal government's looming budgetary challenges. The budget--totaling $2.77 trillion--would make permanent the president's first-term tax cuts, which primarily benefit the wealthy, and pay for those cuts in part by cutting some entitlement programs and drastically reducing domestic discretionary spending (outside of homeland security and defense). Despite the spending cuts, deficits will continue to rise each year after President Bush leaves office if this budget is enacted. Read More

How Do You Measure Program Results? 02/22/2005
For more than five years, the Bush administration has focused a good portion of its rhetoric on performance, accountability and results. To that end, in 2001, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) began to develop a mechanism called the Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART) to help budget examiners and federal managers measure the effectiveness of government programs. Read More

Office of Management and Budget May Be the Only Government Programs' Evaluator 04/05/2004
First, GPRA, then PART, and now PAR - government performance measures continue to multiply. More alarming is their morphing from bipartisan efforts that had a role for both the executive and legislative branches; to performance measures dictated by the executive branch in order to control spending to support political objectives. Read More

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