Performing Budgeting: Past Initiatives Offer Insights for GPRA Implementation.
Abstract
Since 1950, the federal government wide has attempted several government initiatives designed to better align spending decisions with expected performance--what is often commonly referred to as 'performance budgeting.' Consensus exists that all of these efforts, whether launched by the legislative or executive branch, failed to shift the focus of the federal budget process from its longstanding concentration on the items of government spending to the results of its programs. In 1993, the Congress enacted the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) to improve the effectiveness, efficiency, and accountability of federal programs by having agencies focus their management practices on program results. Through better information on the effectiveness of federal programs and spending, GPRA seeks to help federal managers improve program performance; it also seeks to make performance information available for congressional policy making, spending decisions, and program oversight. With regard to spending decisions, GPRA aims for a closer and clearer linkage between resources and results. In this sense GPRA can be seen as the most recent event in a now almost 50-year cycle of federal government efforts to improve public sector performance and to link resource allocations to performance expectations.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 27, 1997
- Accession Number
- ADA323606
Entities
Organizations
- United States Government Accountability Office