[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2898 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







108th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2898

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


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            October 5, 2004

Mr. Fitzgerald introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
           referred to the Committee on Governmental Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 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 assessment 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 assessment 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 ASSESSMENT.

    (a) Requirement for Program Assessments.--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 assessment
    ``(a) Assessment.--The Director of the Office of Management and 
Budget to the maximum extent practicable shall conduct, jointly with 
agencies of the Federal Government, an assessment of each program at 
least once every 5 fiscal years.
    ``(b) Assessment Requirements.--In conducting an assessment of a 
program under subsection (a), the Director of the Office of Management 
and Budget and the head of the relevant agency shall--
            ``(1) coordinate to determine the programs to be assessed; 
        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 Assess.--The Director of 
the Office of Management and Budget shall develop criteria for 
identifying programs to be assessed each fiscal year. In developing the 
criteria, the Director shall take into account the advantages of 
assessing during the same fiscal year any programs that are performing 
similar functions, have similar purposes, or share common goals, such 
as those contained in strategic plans under section 306 of title 5. To 
the maximum extent possible, the Director shall assess a representative 
sample of Federal spending each fiscal year.
    ``(d) Criteria for More Frequent Assessments.--The Director of the 
Office of Management and Budget shall make every effort to assess 
programs more frequently than required under subsection (a) in cases in 
which programs 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 
assessment is warranted.
    ``(e) Publication.--At least 90 days before completing the 
assessments under this section to be conducted during a fiscal year, 
the Director of the Office of Management and Budget shall--
            ``(1) make available in electronic form through the Office 
        of Management and Budget website or any successor website, and 
        provide to the Committee on Government Reform of the House of 
        Representatives and the Committee on Governmental Affairs of 
        the Senate--
                    ``(A) a list of the programs to be assessed during 
                that fiscal year; and
                    ``(B) the criteria that will be used to assess the 
                programs; and
            ``(2) provide a mechanism for interested persons to comment 
        on the programs being assessed and the criteria that will be 
        used to assess the programs.
    ``(f) Report.--(1) The results of the assessments 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.
    ``(2) The report shall--
            ``(A) include the performance goals for each program 
        assessment;
            ``(B) specify the criteria used for each assessment;
            ``(C) describe the results of each assessment, including 
        any significant limitation in the assessments;
            ``(D) describe significant modifications to the Federal 
        Government performance plan required under section 1105(a)(28) 
        of this title made as a result of the assessments; and
            ``(E) be available in electronic form through the Office of 
        Management and Budget website or any successor website.
    ``(g) Classified Information.--(1) With respect to program 
assessments conducted during a fiscal year that contain classified 
information, the President shall submit on the same date as the report 
is submitted under subsection (f)--
            ``(A) a copy of each such assessment (including the 
        classified information), to the appropriate committees of 
        jurisdiction of the House of Representatives and the Senate; 
        and
            ``(B) consistent with statutory law governing the 
        disclosure of classified information, an appendix containing a 
        list of each such assessment and the committees to which a copy 
        of the assessment was submitted under subparagraph (A), to the 
        Committee on Government Reform of the House of Representatives 
        and the Committee on Governmental Affairs of the Senate.
    ``(2) Upon request from the Committee on Government Reform of the 
House of Representatives or the Committee on Governmental Affairs of 
the Senate, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget shall, 
consistent with statutory law governing the disclosure of classified 
information, provide to the Committee a copy of--
            ``(A) any assessment described in subparagraph (A) of 
        paragraph (1) (including any assessment not listed in any 
        appendix submitted under subparagraph (B) of such paragraph); 
        and
            ``(B) any appendix described in subparagraph (B) of 
        paragraph (1).
    ``(3) In this subsection, the term `classified information' refers 
to matters described in section 552(b)(1)(A) of title 5.
    ``(h) Inherently Governmental Functions.--The functions and 
activities authorized or required by this section shall be considered 
inherently Governmental functions and shall be performed only by 
Federal employees.
    ``(i) Termination.--This section shall not be in effect after 
September 30, 2013.''.
    (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), including guidance on a definition of the term ``program''.
    (c) Conforming and Clerical Amendments.--
            (1) Section 1115(g) of title 31, United States Code, is 
        amended by striking ``1119'' and inserting ``1120''.
            (2) The table of sections at the beginning of chapter 11 of 
        title 31, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end 
        the following:

``1120. Program assessment.''.

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 ``No 
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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