Chemical and Biological Defense: Program Planning and Evaluation Should Follow Results Act Framework
NSIAD-99-159
Published: Aug 16, 1999. Publicly Released: Aug 23, 1999.
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Highlights
Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO examined the extent to which the Department of Defense (DOD) has applied the Government Performance and Results Act's outcome-oriented principles to the Chemical and Biological (CB) Defense Program, focusing on whether: (1) CB Defense Program goals are explicit and measurable; (2) the CB Defense Program has performance measures that assess outcomes and impacts rather than outputs and activities; and (3) organizations executing the CB Defense research, development, testing, and evaluation (RDT&E) activities have incorporated Results Act principles in their program planning and evaluation.
Recommendations
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Department of Defense | The Secretary of Defense should take actions to develop a performance plan for the CB Defense Program based on the outcome-oriented management principles embodied in the Results Act. The plan should be agreed to and supported by the relevant RDT&E organizations and incorporated in DOD's nuclear, biological, and chemical Defense Annual Report to Congress. Specifically, the plan should: (1) establish explicit and outcome-oriented goals linked to warfighters' ability to survive, fight, and win in a CB environment; (2) identify quantitative or qualitative performance measures that can be used to assess progress toward goal achievement; (3) describe how performance data would be validated; (4) describe how RDT&E activities of participating DOD and non-DOD organizations are coordinated to achieve program goals; and (5) identify human capital, financial, and resource challenges or external factors that limit the ability of the program to achieve its goals. |
Closed – Implemented
DOD agreed to fully comply with the requirement by March 2001, in the next version of the DOD Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Defense Annual Report to Congress scheduled for March 2000. DOD provided its first Chemical and Biological Defense Program Performance Plan for fiscal year 2001-2003 to Congress in early 2002. The plan addressed all the elements GAO recommended, specifically, (1) explicit and outcome oriented goals; (2) quantitative or qualitative performance measures; (3) description of how performance data would be validated; (4) description of how RDT&E activities are coordinated to achieve program goals; and (5) identification of human capital, financial and resource challenges or external factors.
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Topics
Biological agentsBiological warfareChemical agentsChemical warfareDefense capabilitiesHomeland securityMilitary research and developmentPerformance measuresProgram evaluationStrategic planning