[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3826 Introduced in House (IH)]






108th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 3826

  To require the review of Government programs at least once every 5 
          years for purposes of evaluating their performance.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 25, 2004

 Mr. Platts (for himself and Mr. Tom Davis of Virginia) introduced the 
   following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Government 
                                 Reform

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To require the review of Government programs at least once every 5 
          years for purposes of evaluating their performance.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Program Assessment and Results 
Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds that--
            (1) inefficiency and ineffectiveness in Federal programs 
        undermines the confidence of the American people in the 
        Government and reduces the Federal Government's ability to 
        adequately address vital public needs;
            (2) insufficient information on program performance 
        seriously disadvantages Federal managers in their efforts to 
        improve program efficiency and effectiveness;
            (3) congressional policy making, spending decisions, and 
        program oversight are handicapped by insufficient attention to 
        program performance and results;
            (4) programs performing similar or duplicative functions 
        that exist within a single agency or across multiple agencies 
        should be identified and their performance and results shared 
        among all such programs to improve their performance and 
        results;
            (5) advocates of good government continue to seek ways to 
        improve accountability, focus on results, and integrate the 
        performance of programs with decisions about budgets;
            (6) with the passage of the Government Performance and 
        Results Act of 1993, the Congress directed the executive branch 
        to seek improvements in the effectiveness, efficiency, and 
        accountability of Federal programs by having agencies focus on 
        program results; and
            (7) the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 
        provided a strong framework for the executive branch to monitor 
        the long-term goals and annual performance of its departments 
        and agencies.

SEC. 3. PURPOSE.

    The purposes of this Act are--
            (1) to improve the Government Performance and Results Act 
        of 1993 by implementing a program review and evaluation process 
        that attempts to determine the strengths and weaknesses of 
        Federal programs with a particular focus on the results 
        produced by individual programs;
            (2) to use the information gathered in the review and 
        evaluation process to build on the groundwork laid in the 
        Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 to help the 
        executive branch make informed management decisions and 
        evidence-based funding requests aimed at achieving positive 
        results; and
            (3) to provide congressional policy makers the information 
        needed to conduct more effective oversight, to make better-
        informed authorization decisions, and to make more evidence-
        based spending decisions that achieve positive results for the 
        American people.

SEC. 4. PROGRAM REVIEW AND EVALUATION.

    (a) Requirement for Program Reviews.--Chapter 11 of title 31, 
United States Code, as amended by the Government Performance and 
Results Act of 1993, is amended by adding at the end the following new 
section:
``Sec. 1120. Program review and evaluation
    ``(a) Review.--The Director of the Office of Management and Budget 
shall conduct a review of each program activity at least once every 5 
fiscal years.
    ``(b) Review Requirements.--In conducting a review of a program 
activity under subsection (a), the Director of the Office of Management 
and Budget shall--
            ``(1) consult with the relevant agency; and
            ``(2) evaluate the purpose, design, strategic plan, 
        management, and results of the program, and such other matters 
        as the Director considers appropriate.
    ``(c) Criteria for Identifying Programs to Review.--The Director of 
the Office of Management and Budget shall develop criteria for 
identifying program activities to be reviewed each fiscal year. In 
developing the criteria, the Director shall take into account the 
advantages of reviewing during the same fiscal year any program 
activities that are performing similar functions or have similar 
purposes.
    ``(d) Criteria for More Frequent Reviews.--The Director of the 
Office of Management and Budget shall make every effort to review 
program activities more frequently than required under subsection (a) 
in cases in which program activities are determined to be of higher 
priority, special circumstances exist, improvements have been made, or 
the head of the relevant agency and the Director determine that more 
frequent review is warranted.
    ``(e) Report.--The results of the reviews conducted during a fiscal 
year shall be submitted in a report to Congress at the same time that 
the President submits the next budget under section 1105 of this title 
after the end of that fiscal year.''.
    (b) Guidance.--Not later than 6 months after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Director of the Office of Management and 
Budget shall prescribe guidance to implement the requirements of 
section 1120 of title 31, United States Code, as added by subsection 
(a).
    (c) Conforming Amendment.--Section 1115(g) of title 31, United 
States Code, is amended by striking ``1119'' and inserting ``1120''.

SEC. 5. STRATEGIC PLANNING AMENDMENTS.

    (a) Change in Deadline for Strategic Plan.--Subsection (a) of 
section 306 of title 5, United States Code, is amended by striking 
``Not later than September 30, 1997,'' and inserting ``Not later than 
September 30 of each year following a year in which an election for 
President occurs, beginning with September 30, 2005, ''.
    (b) Change in Period of Coverage of Strategic Plan.--Subsection (b) 
of section 306 of title 5, United States Code, is amended to read as 
follows:
    ``(b) Each strategic plan shall cover the 4-year period beginning 
on October 1 of the year following a year in which an election for 
President occurs.''.
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