Managing for Results: Experiences of Selected Credit Programs
GGD-98-41
Published: Feb 19, 1998. Publicly Released: Feb 19, 1998.
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Highlights
GAO reviewed major credit agencies' efforts to implement the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 (GPRA), focusing on: (1) goals and measures established by the selected credit programs that related to the programs' intended purposes; (2) whether the programs had set target levels of performance for assessing their progress in achieving their desired results; (3) the challenges agency officials cited in developing performance information, including goals and measures, for the selected programs and any approaches those programs were taking to address those challenges; and (4) the status of the Federal Credit Policy Working Group's effort to develop common performance measures for federal credit programs.
Recommendations
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Office of Management and Budget | The Director, OMB, should sustain OMB's efforts to work with major credit agencies to use annual performance planning under the Results Act as a vehicle for developing common performance measures across credit programs, where appropriate. |
Closed – Implemented
OMB's Senior Advisor for Credit and Cash Management said that the primary focus of the Federal Credit Policy Working Group (FCPWG) has been on credit agencies' consistent presentation of common financial measures, such as subsidy rates, in accordance with OMB Circular A-11. However, only the Small Business Administration's FY 1999 annual performance plan presented financial measures using the FCPWG-approved format. The Department of Education is expected to do so in its FY 2000 plan. FCPWG is not leading work on common programmatic measures, including those related to desired loan characteristics, such as the percentage of loans going to borrowers who would otherwise not have access to private credit. However, officials for housing loan programs have developed a Federal Credit Housing Consortium data warehouse to provide loan data such as family income, which could be used to track performance on, for example, increasing home ownership by income groups of $50,000 or less.
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| Office of Management and Budget | The Director, OMB, should require each agency that administers credit programs to identify in their FY 2000 annual performance plans performance measures the agency is using for its credit program(s) that are the same as those used by other credit programs and the strengths and limitations of using those measures to make performance and cost comparisons among those programs. |
Closed – Implemented
OMB Circular A-11 (1999) asks agencies to indicate programs or activities undertaken with other agencies to achieve a common purpose or objective. It also suggests that agencies review the FY 2000 performance plans of other agencies participating with it in a cross-cutting program or activity to ensure that related goals and indicators are consistent and harmonious and to identify goals-in-common that agencies may each choose to include in their annual plans. However, the guidance does not specify that agencies identify those measures that are the same as measures used by other agency programs, or ask agencies to discuss the strengths and limitations of using common measures to make performance and cost comparisons among like programs, such as credit programs. OMB's GPRA Coordinator said that OMB has encouraged but will not likely require agencies to include such information in their plans unless agencies or Congress express their interest or need for such an action.
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| Office of Management and Budget | The Director, OMB, should require each agency that administers credit programs to identify in their FY 2000 annual performance plans what actions, if any, are being taken or could be taken to refine the agency's performance measurement efforts to address the identified limitations to using existing measures to make performance and cost comparisons across credit programs. |
Closed – Not Implemented
OMB Circular A-11 suggests that agencies review the FY 2000 performance plans of other agencies participating in a cross-cutting program or activity and to modify related performance goals and indicators for such programs to bring about greater synergy and interagency support in achieving mutual goals, as appropriate. However, the guidance does not ask agencies to identify what actions are being taken or could be taken to refine the agency's performance measurement efforts to address identified limitations to using existing measures to make performance and cost comparisons across similar programs. OMB has encouraged credit agencies to identify in their plans limitations to using subsidy rate measures to make cost comparisons across credit programs. However, OMB will not likely require agencies do this for their measures unless Congress expresses an interest or need for such an action.
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