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Union Calendar No. 12 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 185 

[Report No. 109–26] 

To require the review of Government programs at least once every 5 years 

for purposes of evaluating their performance. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 4, 2005 

Mr. PLATTS (for himself and Mr. TOM DAVIS of Virginia) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Government Reform 

MARCH 17, 2005 

Additional sponsor: Mr. MARIO DIAZ-BALART of Florida 

MARCH 17, 2005 

Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union 

and ordered to be printed 

A BILL 

To require the review of Government programs at least once 

every 5 years for purposes of evaluating their performance. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Program Assessment 

3 and Results Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

5 Congress finds that— 

6 (1) inefficiency and ineffectiveness in Federal 

7 programs undermines the confidence of the Amer8 ican people in the Government and reduces the Fed9 eral Government’s ability to adequately address vital 

10 public needs; 

11 (2) insufficient information on program per12 formance seriously disadvantages Federal managers 

13 in their efforts to improve program efficiency and ef14 fectiveness; 

15 (3) congressional policy making, spending deci16 sions, and program oversight are handicapped by in17 sufficient attention to program performance and re18 sults; 

19 (4) programs performing similar or duplicative 

20 functions that exist within a single agency or across 

21 multiple agencies should be identified and their per22 formance and results shared among all such pro23 grams to improve their performance and results; 

24 (5) advocates of good government continue to 

25 seek ways to improve accountability, focus on re-
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1 sults, and integrate the performance of programs 

2 with decisions about budgets; 

3 (6) with the passage of the Government Per4 formance and Results Act of 1993, the Congress di5 rected the executive branch to seek improvements in 

6 the effectiveness, efficiency, and accountability of 

7 Federal programs by having agencies focus on pro8 gram results; and 

9 (7) the Government Performance and Results 

10 Act of 1993 provided a strong framework for the ex11 ecutive branch to monitor the long-term goals and 

12 annual performance of its departments and agencies. 

13 SEC. 3. PURPOSE. 

14 The purposes of this Act are— 

15 (1) to improve the Government Performance 

16 and Results Act of 1993 by implementing a program 

17 assessment and evaluation process that attempts to 

18 determine the strengths and weaknesses of Federal 

19 programs with a particular focus on the results pro20 duced by individual programs; 

21 (2) to use the information gathered in the as22 sessment and evaluation process to build on the 

23 groundwork laid in the Government Performance 

24 and Results Act of 1993 to help the executive 

25 branch make informed management decisions and 
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1 evidence-based funding requests aimed at achieving 

2 positive results; and 

3 (3) to provide congressional policy makers the 

4 information needed to conduct more effective over5 sight, to make better-informed authorization deci6 sions, and to make more evidence-based spending 

7 decisions that achieve positive results for the Amer8 ican people. 

9 SEC. 4. PROGRAM ASSESSMENT. 

10 (a) REQUIREMENT FOR PROGRAM ASSESSMENTS.— 

11 Chapter 11 of title 31, United States Code, as amended 

12 by the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993, 

13 is amended by adding at the end the following new section: 

14 ‘‘§ 1120. Program assessment 

15 ‘‘(a) ASSESSMENT.—The Director of the Office of 

16 Management and Budget to the maximum extent prac17 ticable shall conduct, jointly with agencies of the Federal 

18 Government, an assessment of each program at least once 

19 every 5 fiscal years. 

20 ‘‘(b) ASSESSMENT REQUIREMENTS.—In conducting 

21 an assessment of a program under subsection (a), the Di22 rector of the Office of Management and Budget and the 

23 head of the relevant agency shall— 

24 ‘‘(1) coordinate to determine the programs to 

25 be assessed; and 
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1 ‘‘(2) evaluate the purpose, design, strategic 

2 plan, management, and results of the program, and 

3 such other matters as the Director considers appro4 priate. 

5 ‘‘(c) CRITERIA FOR IDENTIFYING PROGRAMS TO AS6 SESS.—The Director of the Office of Management and 

7 Budget shall develop criteria for identifying programs to 

8 be assessed each fiscal year. In developing the criteria, the 

9 Director shall take into account the advantages of assess10 ing during the same fiscal year any programs that are per11 forming similar functions, have similar purposes, or share 

12 common goals, such as those contained in strategic plans 

13 under section 306 of title 5. To the maximum extent pos14 sible, the Director shall assess a representative sample of 

15 Federal spending each fiscal year. 

16 ‘‘(d) CRITERIA FOR MORE FREQUENT ASSESS17 MENTS.—The Director of the Office of Management and 

18 Budget shall make every effort to assess programs more 

19 frequently than required under subsection (a) in cases in 

20 which programs are determined to be of higher priority, 

21 special circumstances exist, improvements have been 

22 made, or the head of the relevant agency and the Director 

23 determine that more frequent assessment is warranted. 

24 ‘‘(e) PUBLICATION.—At least 90 days before com25 pleting the assessments under this section to be conducted 
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1 during a fiscal year, the Director of the Office of Manage2 ment and Budget shall— 

3 ‘‘(1) make available in electronic form through 

4 the Office of Management and Budget website or 

5 any successor website, and provide to the Committee 

6 on Government Reform of the House of Representa7 tives and the Committee on Governmental Affairs of 

8 the Senate— 

9 ‘‘(A) a list of the programs to be assessed 

10 during that fiscal year; and 

11 ‘‘(B) the criteria that will be used to assess 

12 the programs; and 

13 ‘‘(2) provide a mechanism for interested per14 sons to comment on the programs being assessed 

15 and the criteria that will be used to assess the pro16 grams. 

17 ‘‘(f) REPORT.—(1) The results of the assessments 

18 conducted during a fiscal year shall be submitted in a re19 port to Congress at the same time that the President sub20 mits the next budget under section 1105 of this title after 

21 the end of that fiscal year. 

22 ‘‘(2) The report shall— 

23 ‘‘(A) include the performance goals for each 

24 program assessment; 
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1 ‘‘(B) specify the criteria used for each assess2 ment; 

3 ‘‘(C) describe the results of each assessment, 

4 including any significant limitation in the assess5 ments; 

6 ‘‘(D) describe significant modifications to the 

7 Federal Government performance plan required 

8 under section 1105(a)(28) of this title made as a re9 sult of the assessments; and 

10 ‘‘(E) be available in electronic form through the 

11 Office of Management and Budget website or any 

12 successor website. 

13 ‘‘(g) CLASSIFIED INFORMATION.—(1) With respect 

14 to program assessments conducted during a fiscal year 

15 that contain classified information, the President shall 

16 submit on the same date as the report is submitted under 

17 subsection (f)— 

18 ‘‘(A) a copy of each such assessment (including 

19 the classified information), to the appropriate com20 mittees of jurisdiction of the House of Representa21 tives and the Senate; and 

22 ‘‘(B) consistent with statutory law governing 

23 the disclosure of classified information, an appendix 

24 containing a list of each such assessment and the 

25 committees to which a copy of the assessment was 
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1 submitted under subparagraph (A), to the Com2 mittee on Government Reform of the House of Rep3 resentatives and the Committee on Governmental 

4 Affairs of the Senate. 

5 ‘‘(2) Upon request from the Committee on Govern6 ment Reform of the House of Representatives or the Com7 mittee on Governmental Affairs of the Senate, the Direc8 tor of the Office of Management and Budget shall, con9 sistent with statutory law governing the disclosure of clas10 sified information, provide to the Committee a copy of— 

11 ‘‘(A) any assessment described in subparagraph 

12 (A) of paragraph (1) (including any assessment not 

13 listed in any appendix submitted under subpara14 graph (B) of such paragraph); and 

15 ‘‘(B) any appendix described in subparagraph 

16 (B) of paragraph (1). 

17 ‘‘(3) In this subsection, the term ‘classified informa18 tion’ refers to matters described in section 552(b)(1)(A) 

19 of title 5. 

20 ‘‘(h) INHERENTLY GOVERNMENTAL FUNCTIONS.— 

21 The functions and activities authorized or required by this 

22 section shall be considered inherently Governmental func23 tions and shall be performed only by Federal employees.’’. 

24 (b) GUIDANCE.—Not later than 6 months after the 

25 date of the enactment of this Act, the Director of the Of-
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1 fice of Management and Budget shall prescribe guidance 

2 to implement the requirements of section 1120 of title 31, 

3 United States Code, as added by subsection (a), including 

4 guidance on a definition of the term ‘‘program’’. 

5 (c) CONFORMING AND CLERICAL AMENDMENTS.— 

6 (1) Section 1115(g) of title 31, United States 

7 Code, is amended by striking ‘‘1119’’ and inserting 

8 ‘‘1120’’. 

9 (2) The table of sections at the beginning of 

10 chapter 11 of title 31, United States Code, is 

11 amended by adding at the end the following: 

‘‘1120. Program assessment.’’. 

12 SEC. 5. STRATEGIC PLANNING AMENDMENTS. 

13 (a) CHANGE IN DEADLINE FOR STRATEGIC PLAN.— 

14 Subsection (a) of section 306 of title 5, United States 

15 Code, is amended by striking ‘‘No later than September 

16 30, 1997,’’ and inserting ‘‘Not later than September 30 

17 of each year following a year in which an election for 

18 President occurs, beginning with September 30, 2005,’’. 

19 (b) CHANGE IN PERIOD OF COVERAGE OF STRA20 TEGIC PLAN.—Subsection (b) of section 306 of title 5, 

21 United States Code, is amended to read as follows: 

22 ‘‘(b) Each strategic plan shall cover the 4-year period 

23 beginning on October 1 of the year following a year in 

24 which an election for President occurs.’’. 
Union Calendar No. 12 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 185 

[Report No. 109–26] 

A BILL 

To require the review of Government programs at 

ating their performance. least once every 5 years for purposes of evaluMARCH 17, 2005 

Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the 

State of the Union and ordered to be printed