The Department of Justice’s Office of Science and Technology,
in DoD’s National Institute of Justice, manages technology
used by public safety agencies, such as law enforcement, and
funds programs in forensic science and standards testing.
One thing it does not do, however, is adequately assess its
program outcomes, the General Accounting Office has said.
It said the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993
requires agencies to assess the results of every program
activity, but OST, which received over a $1 billion to
administer agency’s projects from 1995 to 2003, falls short.
GAO said that while it’s difficult to develop outcome
measurements for the kind of things OST does, it should
heed GAO’s previous recommendations to other entities
pursuing similar programs.
OST currently tracks outputs, the goods and services
produced and in some cases uses intermediate measures,
says GAO, and while intermediate measures are a step in
the right direction, OST needs to develop better performance
metrics. Get Report
