This summary of GPRA basic concepts is drawn from "The Government Performance and Results Act of 1993" (Public Law 103-62); U.S. Senate 1993; and U.S. Office of Management and Budget 1994 and 1995. Key elements of GPRA are a multi-year strategic plan, annual performance plans, and annual program performance reports.

A multi-year strategic plan states the fundamental mission (or missions) of an organization, its long-term general goals for implementing that mission, and the resources required to meet those goals. General goals need not be in a quantitative or measurable form, but they must be expressed in a manner that allows a future assessment of whether a goal is being achieved.

Annual program performance plans link agency operations to long-term goals. They should include performance goals for the agency's program activities, a summary of the resources necessary to reach those goals, performance indicators that will be used to measure performance in the future, and identification of how the measured values will be verified.

Annual program performance reports provide feedback to managers, policy makers, and the public as to what was actually accomplished for the resources that have been expended. Since GPRA seeks compact reporting at the agency level, the overall agency performance report may not include all the information available in the agency. But the information in the overall performance report should be linked to the information used for management purposes, and both should address the goals of the previous performance plan.

The performance report should include explanatory information on goals not met; this might include plans for achieving the goals in the future or reasons why they cannot be met. In addition, the performance report should relate performance information to program evaluation findings in order to give a clear picture of the agency's performance and its efforts at improvement.

A performance goal is a target level of performance expressed as a tangible, measurable, objective, against which actual achievement can be compared, including a goal expressed as a quantitative standard, value, or rate. The framers of GPRA recognized that in rare instances it may not be feasible to measure the results of a Federal program quantitatively (basic research is cited as an example in U.S. Senate 1993, page 5). If an agency, in consultation with the Director of OMB, determines that it is not feasible to express performance goals for a particular program in an objective, quantifiable, measurable form, the Director of OMB may authorize an alternative form. Even with the alternative form, GPRA seeks clear statement of a program's goals and clear standards for identifying progress in meeting the goals.

There may be several performance goals for any general goal in a strategic plan. For most performance goals, a number of performance indicators should be developed--preferably a range of related performance indicators (such as quantity, quality, timeliness, cost, and outcome) so that managers can balance priorities among competing sub-goals.

A performance indicator is a particular value or characteristic used to measure program output or outcome in relation to program goals.

Under GPRA, an output measure is a tabulation, calculation, or recording of activity or effort and can be expressed in a quantitative or qualitative manner. Although the text of GPRA does not specify a distinction between outputs and activities, an important purpose of the Act is to focus attention beyond effort or activity in order to assess outputs and outcomes. Thus, OMB guidance differentiates between outputs (e.g., graduates) and production activities (e.g., teaching).

An outcome measure is an assessment of the results of a program compared to its intended purpose.

An impact measure is a measure of the direct or indirect effects or consequences resulting from achieving program goals. An example of an impact assessment is the comparison of actual program outcomes with estimates of the outcomes that would have occurred in the absence of the program, for example, by comparing the outcome for a randomly selected group receiving an agency service to a randomly selected group not receiving the service. The measurement of impact is generally done through special comparison-type studies, and not simply by using data regularly collected through program information systems.

An input measure is a measure of what an agency or manager has available to carry out the program or activity to achieve an output or outcome. These can include employees, funding, equipment or facilities, supplies on hand, goods or services received, and work processes or rules. Services from a resource base (e.g., staff expertise and time) are defined as inputs to a program. Increments to a resource base (e.g., newly trained personnel) are defined as outputs or outcomes. (A program output or outcome could be negative; for example, net depletion of a resource base).

In GPRA, a program activity is a specific activity or project as listed in the program and financing schedules of the annual budget of the U.S. government. GPRA gives agencies the option to aggregate or dis-aggregate program activities, except that any aggregation or disaggregation may not omit or minimize the significance of any program activity that is a major function or operation of the agency. In practice, the definition seems to be evolving to include a major function or operation of an agency or a major mission-type goal that cuts across agency components or organizations.

A program evaluation is an assessment, through objective measurement and systematic analysis, of the manner and extent to which Federal programs achieve intended objectives. A program evaluation can also track unintended effects.