News Release

OMB/NSF workshop highlights improved performance measures for federal agencies

Peer-Reviewed Publication

U.S. National Science Foundation

National experts on program evaluation joined federal government representatives Tuesday to review the latest techniques for measuring government effectiveness at a workshop organized for the Office of Management (OMB) and Budget by the National Science Foundation (NSF).

The session, "Strengthening Program Effectiveness Measurement of Federal Programs," is part of a continuing effort by OMB to improve measurements of government program effectiveness and relate them to budget and management issues. OMB officials intend to use improved performance measurement criteria for fiscal 2004 budget submissions. NSF will use workshop results to identify opportunities for further research on this topic.

"We're pleased that OMB asked NSF to host this workshop. A workshop like this is at the heart of what NSF does—bringing together top experts in science and engineering to discuss research at the frontier, share knowledge, identify opportunities, ask questions and raise more questions," said NSF Deputy Director Joseph Bordogna.

Government agencies currently rely on a system established in the 1993 Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) to measure the success of their programs. OMB anticipates that this effort will bolster and propel GPRA implementation so that it is more meaningful in making management and budget decisions. Tuesday's workshop was also designed to find more effective tools to enhance those performance measures on a consistent basis.

Scholars presenting at the session were James Heckman, a Nobel Prize winning economist from the University of Chicago; Irwin Feller, Pennsylvania State University, who convened the panel; William Gormley, Georgetown University; Jeffrey Smith, University of Maryland; Kerry Smith, North Carolina State University; and Paula Stephan, Georgia State University. John Wallace of the Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation also spoke.

Additional government representatives speaking at the workshop were NSF's Norman Bradburn and OMB's Mark Everson and Marcus Peacock.

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