Government Performance and Results Act

How should we use our limited resources to achieve the most environmental gains? This is perhaps the key question that U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) managers face in determining how to use taxpayers' money most effectively to carry out our mission: To protect human health and safeguard the natural environment - air, water, and land - upon which life depends. "Managing for results" is an approach to our work that can help us increase our focus on "outcomes" — actual environmental results such as cleaner air — rather than on more process-oriented "outputs" such as numbers of permits written. In managing for results, we set a strategic course, plan and budget to achieve environmental results, measure our progress to see if our programs are really working to accomplish what we intended, and make adjustments to improve our performance.

Government Performance and Results Act. Recent management reform initiatives, like the 1993 Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA), hold federal agencies accountable for using resources wisely and achieving program results. GPRA requires agencies to develop plans for what they intend to accomplish, measure how well they are doing, make appropriate decisions based on the information they have gathered, and communicate information about their performance to Congress and to the public.

GPRA requires agencies to develop a five-year Strategic Plan, which includes a mission statement and sets out long-term goals and objectives; Annual Performance Plans, which provide annual performance commitments toward achieving the goals and objectives presented in the Strategic Plan; and Annual Performance Reports, which evaluate an agency's progress toward achieving performance commitments.

GPRA requirements - a long-range Strategic Plan, Annual Performance Plans, and Annual Performance Reports - forge links between several activities:

• Planning, to achieve goals and objectives;
• Budgeting, to ensure that resources are available to carry out plans;
• Measuring, to assess progress and link resources actually used to results achieved; and
• Reporting, to present progress achieved and impacts on future efforts.

To comply with certain GPRA requirements and further enable the Agency to manage for results, EPA has built a framework that aligns planning, budgeting, analysis, and accountability (PBAA) in an integrated system.

Planning

Strategic Planning. GPRA requires every agency to develop a long-range strategic plan that presents the agency's mission and establishes clear goals and objectives against which performance can be measured. EPA developed its current Strategic Plan in 2000 in consultation with our partners and stakeholders, including states, tribes, and local governments; other federal agencies; and public interest groups. GPRA requires agencies to update their strategic plans at least once every 3 years.

Our Strategic Plan presents EPA's mission and establishes ten Goals, which identify the overall environmental results that EPA is working to attain. Each of these ten Goals is supported by a series of Objectives that identify, as precisely as possible, what environmental outcomes or results the Agency seeks to achieve within a defined time frame using resources we reasonably expect to be available. EPA managers established these Objectives based on their potential to reduce risk, their responsiveness to statutory mandates, and their contribution to pollution prevention and deterrence. The structure of the Goals and Objectives established in EPA's Strategic Plan is the "architecture" that is used to support all components of the PBAA process and link them together.

Goal Planning. To achieve the Goals and Objectives established in our Strategic Plan, EPA must plan its work and resources over a period of years. "Goal Planning" refers to the process by which EPA programs determine what activities they will carry out year-by-year to achieve the desired environmental outcomes and how they will measure their performance. Goal planning is not an exercise in preparing additional documents; rather, it is a dynamic, flexible process. As we work toward our long-range strategic goals, goal planning will help Agency managers make mid-course corrections based on performance feedback, program evaluations, & other information and target resources towards high-priority activities.

Annual Plan & Budgeting

Annual Performance Plans. To translate goal planning into specific actions to be conducted and resources to be allocated for the fiscal year, the Agency prepares Annual Performance Plans as required under GPRA. For each Objective established in the Strategic Plan, the Annual Performance Plan describes (1) specific performance goals and measures and (2) activities that will be carried out during the year to achieve the performance goals. Using the Goals/Objectives structure, the Annual Performance Plan presents the Agency's budget linked to our performance commitments for the fiscal year.

Analysis

EPA analysts are evaluating the availability and quality of data that managers can use both to set Agency priorities and allocate resources and to assess our performance. Risk analyses, to determine how EPA's activities address risks to public health and the environment, and economic analyses, to compare costs and benefits of programs and activities, yield information that EPA managers can consider, along with other factors, in making program and resource decisions. In addition, EPA solicits information on possible future public health and environmental issues. This futures analysis helps the Agency plan strategically to address emerging ecological, human health, and quality of life issues.

Accountability

Did we accomplish what we planned? Did we keep within our budget? Did we achieve the environmental results we desired? What did the Agency spend to achieve those results? To plan strategically and budget for results, managers need information on program performance and costs.

Performance Results. GPRA requires agencies to report each year on their progress towards achieving their strategic goals. Annual Performance Reports, which will assess Agency accomplishments against annual performance goals and measures, are due to Congress six months after the end of each fiscal year, beginning in March 2000. We will compile our Annual Performance Report using performance data submitted by states, tribes, regions, and national programs. EPA managers will be able to consider performance results, together with cost/benefit and risk assessment/risk management information, to help them evaluate and adjust strategies, program directions, and resource allocations to achieve program results.

Cost Accounting. One of the keys to managing for results at EPA is determining the full costs of our programs. To enable us to link the resources we have actually used to the results we have achieved, EPA is changing the way we account for the resources we spend. Beginning with the FY99 Annual Performance Plan and Budget, the Agency's accounting system links resources to our strategic Goals and Objectives architecture. This system will provide managers with cost information they can use to assess how resources are spent to achieve expected results and to help them make future budgeting decisions.

The PBAA System

EPA's restructured planning, budgeting, analysis, and accountability system integrates performance measurement, resource management, and policy-making. Over the next several years, however, EPA's success in achieving environmental results for the American public will depend not on the PBAA system itself, but on all of us in headquarters, regions, laboratories, and field offices working together to improve the way we do the Agency's business.

By planning strategically to achieve results, measuring our performance, analyzing the data, and using what we have learned to make sound decisions about where and how we use our resources, we can better serve our customers - the American public - and make a real difference in protecting human health and the environment.

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