OMB needs to strengthen its reviews of cross-agency priority goals to help drive those goals as well as provide better visibility into agency efforts meeting them, GAO has said.
OMB coordinated with agencies to establish so-called CAP goals with annual and quarterly performance targets and milestones, and is required to update Performance.gov quarterly on progress meeting targets for each goal.
In 2012, OMB identified 14 interim CAP goals and then published five quarterly updates on the status of the goals on Performance.gov, but while updates for eight of the goals included data that indicated performance towards an overall planned level of performance, only three also contained annual or quarterly targets that allowed for an assessment of interim progress, according to GAO-14-526.
It said updates for the other six goals did not report on progress towards a planned level of performance because the goals lacked either a quantitative target or the data needed to track progress. GAO also said other relevant information such as time frames for the completion of specific actions and the status of ongoing efforts was missing.
Further, the Government Performance and Results Modernization Act, which established the CAP goals and tracking requirements, requires OMB to identify strategies for improving the performance of goals at risk of not being met, but this was notdone consistently, GAO said.
OMB generally agreed with recommendations aimed at improving the reporting of performance information for CAP goals and ensuring that CAP goal progress reviews meet requirements and reflect leading practices.
