OMB has announced that it is transitioning away from a planning and reporting performance management approach that it says it too focused on the mere supply of performance information and wants to place a greater emphasis on using that information, communicating it and strengthening problem solving networks.
In a memo providing guidance to agencies on their use of performance management activities for the next year, including those related to the Government Performance and Results Act, OMB said it is working with the Performance Improvement Council to improve outcomes and transparency by strengthening each aspect of the performance improvement dynamic – from leadership, management, and action to measurement, analysis, and transparency.
According to M 10-24, key objectives for the upcoming year include attention to achieve near-term performance goals that agency leaders identified as “high priority performance goals” in the President’s fiscal 2011 budget, and establishing constructive performance review processes in agencies that are sustained over time.
Another key objective is to make GPRA documents more useful.
As such OMB wants to see agency strategic plans with limited numbers of measurable long-term outcome-focused goals and descriptions of the strategies agencies plan to follow to reach performance targets;
Fiscal 2012 performance budget/annual performance plans establishing performance expectations and that shift funding to the most effective and efficient approaches base on evidence; and,
Fiscal 2010 performance reports to provide a baseline and context going forward.
