Government Performance and Results

ISBN: 978-1-4398-4464-9

9 781439 844649

90000

Government and Education

The complexity of governments today makes the accountability desired by

citizens difcult to achieve. Written to address performance policies within

state and national governments,

Government Performance and Results: An

Evaluation of GPRA’s First Decade

summarizes lessons learned from a 10-

year research project that evaluated performance reports produced by federal

agencies under the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA). The

results of this project can help answer a wide variety of questions in political

economy and public administration, such as:

• What factors make performance reports relevant and informative?

• Has the quality of information disclosed to the public improved?

• Why do some agencies produce better reports than others?

• Has GPRA led to greater availability and use of performance

information by federal managers?

• Has GPRA led to greater use of performance information in

budget decisions?

• What steps would make federal management and budget decisions

more performance oriented?

The book documents the current state of the art in federal performance reporting,

measures the extent of improvement, compares federal performance reports

with those produced by state governments and other nations, and suggests how

GPRA has affected management of federal agencies and resource allocation

by policymakers. It also identies obstacles that must be overcome if GPRA

is to deliver on the promise of performance budgeting. The authors chronicle

the improvements observed in federal performance reporting through the lens

of the Mercatus Center at George Mason University’s annual Performance

Report Scorecard.

As budget shortfalls and new debt burdens increase interest in public management

and budgeting techniques that allow governments to “do more with less,” this

is an appropriate time to take stock of what GPRA has accomplished and what

remains to be done. By comparing best performance reporting practices in

the US federal government with those in states and other countries, this book

speeds the diffusion of useful knowledge at a critical time.

GOVERNMENT PERFORMANCE AND RESULTS

ELLIG

MCTIGUE

WRAY

K11980

w w w . c r c p r e s s . c o m

American Society for Public Administration

Series in Public Administration and Public Policy

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K11980 cvr mech.indd 1 8/4/11 2:08 PM

GOVERNMENT

PERFORMANCE

AND RESULTS

An Evaluation of GPRA’s First Decade

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION AND PUBLIC POLICY

A Comprehensive Publication Program

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

EVAN M. BERMAN

Distinguished University Professor

J. William Fulbright Distinguished Scholar

National Chengchi University

Taipei, Taiwan

Founding Editor

JACK RABIN

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Available Electronically

PublicADMINISTRATIONnetBASE

GOVERNMENT

PERFORMANCE

AND RESULTS

An Evaluation of GPRA’s First Decade

JERRY ELLIG

MAURICE MCTIGUE

HENRY WRAY

American Society for Public Administration

Series in Public Administration and Public Policy