The Office of Management and Budget has issued a report three
years after the president’s management agenda was launched in
August 2001, calling it a success and claiming that it has
made the federal government more results oriented because of
new management habits and disciplines.
The report claims that continued use of the PMA could help
eliminate $35 billion in improper payments each year, and
that competitive sourcing could help save $5 billion per
year, although such savings are largely projected have not
yet been realized, according to another OMB report on
competitive sourcing issued earlier this year.
The latest report claims the PMA is responsible for the
improved performance of a number of agency initiatives for
establishing clear goals and standards for success around
which agencies have come to develop and implement detailed
and aggressive action plans.
The report — titled “The Federal Government is Results
Oriented” – said that over the past three years the number
of agency initiatives that were rated red on OMB’s traffic
light style score card dropped from 110 to 49 of the 130
total overall, with 27 being green and 54 yellow, a
demonstration of improved management.
More agencies have evaluation systems that define
expectations and performance: 92 percent have strategies
to develop future leaders; 92 percent have identified
skills gaps in critical occupations and 77 percent are
working to reduce or them, and 65 percent have performance
evaluation systems that more clearly define what is expected
of each employee and how they are performing relative to
those expectations, said the report.
It said that in the area of competitive sourcing, agencies
spent $88 million out of pocket in fiscal 2003, representing
660 competitions that could lead to over $1 billion in
savings over three to five years — though such savings have
yet to be realized and OMB has acknowledged that it currently
lacks the ability to adequately measure them.
Departments are preparing audited financial statements more
quickly due to new financial management disciplines, said
the report.
It said 70 percent of federal IT systems are secure now whereas
just 26 were rated secure three years ago, and that the
federal government is systematically looking for opportunities
to improve program effectiveness.
