31 USC 1115 - Federal Government and Agency Performance Plans

(a) Federal Government Performance Plans.—In carrying out the provisions of section 1105(a)(28), the Director of the Office of Management and Budget shall coordinate with agencies to develop the Federal Government performance plan. In addition to the submission of such plan with each budget of the United States Government, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget shall ensure that all information required by this subsection is concurrently made available on the website provided under section 1122 and updated periodically, but no less than annually. The Federal Government performance plan shall—

(1) establish Federal Government performance goals to define the level of performance to be achieved during the year in which the plan is submitted and the next fiscal year for each of the Federal Government priority goals required under section 1120(a) of this title;

(2) identify the agencies, organizations, program activities, regulations, tax expenditures, policies, and other activities contributing to each Federal Government performance goal during the current fiscal year;

(3) for each Federal Government performance goal, identify a lead Government official who shall be responsible for coordinating the efforts to achieve the goal;

(4) establish common Federal Government performance indicators with quarterly targets to be used in measuring or assessing—

(A) overall progress toward each Federal Government performance goal; and

(B) the individual contribution of each agency, organization, program activity, regulation, tax expenditure, policy, and other activity identified under paragraph (2);

(5) establish clearly defined quarterly milestones; and

(6) identify major management challenges that are Governmentwide or crosscutting in nature and describe plans to address such challenges, including relevant performance goals, performance indicators, and milestones.

(b) Agency Performance Plans.—Not later than the first Monday in February of each year, the head of each agency shall make available on a public website of the agency, and notify the President and the Congress of its availability, a performance plan covering each program activity set forth in the budget of such agency. Such plan shall—

(1) establish performance goals to define the level of performance to be achieved during the year in which the plan is submitted and the next fiscal year;

(2) express such goals in an objective, quantifiable, and measurable form unless authorized to be in an alternative form under subsection (c);

(3) describe how the performance goals contribute to—

(A) the general goals and objectives established in the agency's strategic plan required by section 306(a)(2) of title 5; and

(B) any of the Federal Government performance goals established in the Federal Government performance plan required by subsection (a)(1);

(4) identify among the performance goals those which are designated as agency priority goals as required by section 1120(b) of this title, if applicable;

(5) provide a description of how the performance goals are to be achieved, including—

(A) the operation processes, training, skills and technology, and the human, capital, information, and other resources and strategies required to meet those performance goals;

(B) clearly defined milestones;

(C) an identification of the organizations, program activities, regulations, policies, and other activities that contribute to each performance goal, both within and external to the agency;

(D) a description of how the agency is working with other agencies to achieve its performance goals as well as relevant Federal Government performance goals; and

(E) an identification of the agency officials responsible for the achievement of each performance goal, who shall be known as goal leaders;

(6) establish a balanced set of performance indicators to be used in measuring or assessing progress toward each performance goal, including, as appropriate, customer service, efficiency, output, and outcome indicators;

(7) provide a basis for comparing actual program results with the established performance goals;

(8) a description of how the agency will ensure the accuracy and reliability of the data used to measure progress towards its performance goals, including an identification of—

(A) the means to be used to verify and validate measured values;

(B) the sources for the data;

(D) any limitations to the data at the required level of accuracy; and

(E) how the agency will compensate for such limitations if needed to reach the required level of accuracy;

(9) describe major management challenges the agency faces and identify—

(A) planned actions to address such challenges;

(B) performance goals, performance indicators, and milestones to measure progress toward resolving such challenges; and

(10) identify low-priority program activities based on an analysis of their contribution to the mission and goals of the agency and include an evidence-based justification for designating a program activity as low priority.

(c) Alternative Form.—If an agency, in consultation with the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, determines that it is not feasible to express the performance goals for a particular program activity in an objective, quantifiable, and measurable form, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget may authorize an alternative form. Such alternative form shall—

(1) include separate descriptive statements of—

(A)(i) a minimally effective program; and

(ii) a successful program; or

(B) such alternative as authorized by the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, with sufficient precision and in such terms that would allow for an accurate, independent determination of whether the program activity's performance meets the criteria of the description; or

(2) state why it is infeasible or impractical to express a performance goal in any form for the program activity.

(d) Treatment of Program Activities.—For the purpose of complying with this section, an agency may aggregate, disaggregate, or consolidate program activities, except that any aggregation or consolidation may not omit or minimize the significance of any program activity constituting a major function or operation for the agency.

(e) Appendix.—An agency may submit with an annual performance plan an appendix covering any portion of the plan that—

(1) is specifically authorized under criteria established by an Executive order to be kept secret in the interest of national defense or foreign policy; and

(2) is properly classified pursuant to such Executive order.

(f) Inherently Governmental Functions.—The functions and activities of this section shall be considered to be inherently governmental functions. The drafting of performance plans under this section shall be performed only by Federal employees.

(g) Chief Human Capital Officers.—With respect to each agency with a Chief Human Capital Officer, the Chief Human Capital Officer shall prepare that portion of the annual performance plan described under subsection (b)(5)(A).

(h) Definitions.—For purposes of this section and sections 1116 through 1125, and sections 9703 ¹ and 9704, the term—

(1) "agency" has the same meaning as such term is defined under section 306(f) of title 5;

(2) "crosscutting" means across organizational (such as agency) boundaries;

(3) "customer service measure" means an assessment of service delivery to a customer, client, citizen, or other recipient, which can include an assessment of quality, timeliness, and satisfaction among other factors;

(4) "efficiency measure" means a ratio of a program activity's inputs (such as costs or hours worked by employees) to its outputs (amount of products or services delivered) or outcomes (the desired results of a program);

(5) "major management challenge" means programs or management functions, within or across agencies, that have greater vulnerability to waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement (such as issues identified by the Government Accountability Office as high risk or issues identified by an Inspector General) where a failure to perform well could seriously affect the ability of an agency or the Government to achieve its mission or goals;

(6) "milestone" means a scheduled event signifying the completion of a major deliverable or a set of related deliverables or a phase of work;

(7) "outcome measure" means an assessment of the results of a program activity compared to its intended purpose;

(8) "output measure" means the tabulation, calculation, or recording of activity or effort that can be expressed in a quantitative or qualitative manner;

(9) "performance goal" means a target level of performance expressed as a tangible, measurable objective, against which actual achievement can be compared, including a goal expressed as a quantitative standard, value, or rate;

(10) "performance indicator" means a particular value or characteristic used to measure output or outcome;

(11) "program activity" means a specific activity or project as listed in the program and financing schedules of the annual budget of the United States Government; and

(12) "program evaluation" means an assessment, through objective measurement and systematic analysis, of the manner and extent to which Federal programs achieve intended objectives.

(Added Pub. L. 111–352, §3, Jan. 4, 2011, 124 Stat. 3867.)

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Last modified: October 26, 2015