****OMB Bulletin No. 00-04****
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June 6, 2000

BULLETIN NO. 00-04

TO THE HEADS OF EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS AND AGENCIES

SUBJECT:  Integrating the Performance Plan and Budget

**Purpose.**  As part of preparation for the FY 2002 Budget, agencies will be asked to submit an *integrated* Annual PerformancePlan with goals based on current services levels, associating budget authority and outlay estimates insofar as possible with eachgoal.  This document will provide a succinct description of the agency's mission and goals, based on the strategic plan that you willhave sent to OMB and the Congress by September.  It will explain the agency's programs and activities, and the way thesecontribute to its outputs and outcomes.  The agency's recent performance results will be presented, and factors other than theagency's programs that affect its outcome goals will be discussed.  Budget authority and outlay estimates will be associated with thegoals, and the budget accounts that finance them will be identified.  In this initial draft, targets for the objectives would be based onenacted appropriations and a continuation of current funding in the budget year.

In preparation for production of these integrated documents, agencies will need to focus over the next six months on betterunderstanding the relationships between budgetary resources and performance results.  To begin the process, this Bulletin requeststhe agencies listed at Attachment A to prepare written reports to OMB assessing agency progress to date on certain aspects of theintegration of performance planning with the budget, and outlining their current plans for further improvement.

**Background and coverage.**  One of the Administration's top priority management objectives in the FY 2001 Budget is to "Useperformance information to improve program management and make better budget decisions."  The objective is to continueimproving the implementation of the Government Performance and Results Act and specifically to integrate planning and budgeting. This Bulletin focuses on assessing and deepening that integration, following up the questions on "Linking Planning, PerformanceMeasurement, and Budgeting" attached to the transmittal memo of OMB Circular A-11 for FY 2001.

Progress in the use of performance information relies heavily on the ability of agency policy makers and program managers to relategoals and objectives to resource requirements.  Judging by the increased use of performance information in the FY 2001 budgetprocess, agencies are making steady progress; the momentum toward improvement must continue.  Strategic goals andperformance measures should have meaning in the context of real program management and resource allocation.

Over the coming year, OMB and the agencies should be taking steps to build on the progress achieved in implementing GPRA todate by:

- integrating performance planning and budgeting;
budgeting for resources where they are used;

developing greater organizational accountability for program results;

improving the content and usefulness of agency strategic and annual performance plans;

ensuring that the annual program performance reports meet GPRA requirements and are of satisfactory quality;

deepening understanding of how results are achieved; and,

using performance measures to improve program management.

The reports required by this Bulletin will serve as a Government-wide snapshot of the progress that has been made towardintegration, and as a summary of agencies' analyses of and plans for improving integration in preparation for the integrated currentservices document and the FY 2002 Budget.  Over the coming months, there will be discussions between OMB staff and agencyrepresentatives designed to encourage further development of integrated annual performance plans, both before and after thesubmission of written reports responding to this Bulletin.

**Required Action.**  The agencies listed at Attachment A should submit a report that assesses agency progress in the directionsindicated by the questions at Attachment B by Friday, June 30th.  ***The responses to these questions should be as specific aspossible, and should incorporate actual experience from agency programs in integrating performance measurement with resources***.

**Contact.**  Questions regarding this Bulletin should be directed to the relevant agency's OMB representative.
**Jacob J. Lew**