Government Performance and Results Act GPRA

Signed on August 3, 1993, the Government Performance and Results Act requires every federal agency to publish a multiyear strategic plan, set annual performance goals, and report each year on whether it met them. Its sponsors, from both parties, wanted to shift attention from how much agencies spend to what they achieve, borrowing ideas from business planning and from reforms in states and other countries.

The GPRA Modernization Act, signed January 4, 2011, required quarterly progress reviews, cross-agency priority goals set by the White House, chief operating officers in each agency, usually the deputy secretary, and performance improvement officers. Agencies now post plans and results on Performance.gov, and the Government Accountability Office reviews how well they use the data. Each administration also issues a President's Management Agenda with its own priorities.

Supporters say the law made agencies more focused on results, but studies by the GAO and others have found that many managers do not use performance data to make decisions and that goals are often hard to measure when the mission is safety, justice, or diplomacy. Unlike a company, an agency cannot simply drop an unprofitable program, since Congress sets its mission and money. The law is often cited in debates over whether government can be run like a business.