The Office of Management and Budget’s Program Assessment
Rating Tool is inherently limited in providing a single
performance answer of judgment on complex federal programs,
the General Accounting Office has said.
It said PART illustrated the potential to build on the
foundation of the Government Performance and Results Act
to more actively promote the use of performance information
in budget decisions.
Although PART can stimulate discussion on program-specific
performance measurement issues, it is not a substitute for
GPRA’s strategic, longer-term focus on thematic goals and
department and government-wide crosscutting comparisons,
GAO said.
It said the relationship between the two tools is still
evolving and that defining the unit of analysis for program
evaluation is crucial to making the tools more effective.