Executive Guide: Effectively Implementing the Government Performance and Results Act

GAO published an executive guide on implementing the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA). GAO noted that: (1) GPRA forces federal agencies to focus on their missions and goals, how to achieve them, and how to improve their structural organizations and business processes; (2) agencies must define their missions and desired outcomes, use strategic planning, involve stakeholders, assess their environments, and align their activities, core processes, and resources to support mission-related outcomes; (3) agencies need to measure their performance to ensure that they are meeting their goals and making informed decisions; (4) performance measures need to be based on program-related characteristics and performance data must be sufficiently complete, accurate, and consistent; (5) agencies must use performance data to improve organizational processes, identify performance gaps, and set improvement goals; and (6) GPRA success depends on strong leadership practices that devolve decisionmaking authority with accountability, create incentives, build expertise, and integrate management reforms.