I 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 185 

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 

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, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

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

5 and Results Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds that— 

8 (1) inefficiency and ineffectiveness in Federal 

9 programs undermines the confidence of the Amer10 ican people in the Government and reduces the Fed-
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1 eral Government’s ability to adequately address vital 

2 public needs; 

3 (2) insufficient information on program per4 formance seriously disadvantages Federal managers 

5 in their efforts to improve program efficiency and ef6 fectiveness; 

7 (3) congressional policy making, spending deci8 sions, and program oversight are handicapped by in9 sufficient attention to program performance and re10 sults; 

11 (4) programs performing similar or duplicative 

12 functions that exist within a single agency or across 

13 multiple agencies should be identified and their per14 formance and results shared among all such pro15 grams to improve their performance and results; 

16 (5) advocates of good government continue to 

17 seek ways to improve accountability, focus on re18 sults, and integrate the performance of programs 

19 with decisions about budgets; 

20 (6) with the passage of the Government Per21 formance and Results Act of 1993, the Congress di22 rected the executive branch to seek improvements in 

23 the effectiveness, efficiency, and accountability of 

24 Federal programs by having agencies focus on pro25 gram results; and 
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1 (7) the Government Performance and Results 

2 Act of 1993 provided a strong framework for the ex3 ecutive branch to monitor the long-term goals and 

4 annual performance of its departments and agencies. 

5 SEC. 3. PURPOSE. 

6 The purposes of this Act are— 

7 (1) to improve the Government Performance 

8 and Results Act of 1993 by implementing a program 

9 assessment and evaluation process that attempts to 

10 determine the strengths and weaknesses of Federal 

11 programs with a particular focus on the results pro12 duced by individual programs; 

13 (2) to use the information gathered in the as14 sessment and evaluation process to build on the 

15 groundwork laid in the Government Performance 

16 and Results Act of 1993 to help the executive 

17 branch make informed management decisions and 

18 evidence-based funding requests aimed at achieving 

19 positive results; and 

20 (3) to provide congressional policy makers the 

21 information needed to conduct more effective over22 sight, to make better-informed authorization deci23 sions, and to make more evidence-based spending 

24 decisions that achieve positive results for the Amer25 ican people. 
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1 SEC. 4. PROGRAM ASSESSMENT. 

2 (a) REQUIREMENT FOR PROGRAM ASSESSMENTS.— 

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

4 by the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993, 

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

6 ‘‘§ 1120. Program assessment 

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

8 Management and Budget to the maximum extent prac9 ticable shall conduct, jointly with agencies of the Federal 

10 Government, an assessment of each program at least once 

11 every 5 fiscal years. 

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

13 an assessment of a program under subsection (a), the Di14 rector of the Office of Management and Budget and the 

15 head of the relevant agency shall— 

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

17 be assessed; and 

18 ‘‘(2) evaluate the purpose, design, strategic 

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

20 such other matters as the Director considers appro21 priate. 

22 ‘‘(c) CRITERIA FOR IDENTIFYING PROGRAMS TO AS23 SESS.—The Director of the Office of Management and 

24 Budget shall develop criteria for identifying programs to 

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

26 Director shall take into account the advantages of assess-
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1 ing during the same fiscal year any programs that are per2 forming similar functions, have similar purposes, or share 

3 common goals, such as those contained in strategic plans 

4 under section 306 of title 5. To the maximum extent pos5 sible, the Director shall assess a representative sample of 

6 Federal spending each fiscal year. 

7 ‘‘(d) CRITERIA FOR MORE FREQUENT ASSESS8 MENTS.—The Director of the Office of Management and 

9 Budget shall make every effort to assess programs more 

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

11 which programs are determined to be of higher priority, 

12 special circumstances exist, improvements have been 

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

14 determine that more frequent assessment is warranted. 

15 ‘‘(e) PUBLICATION.—At least 90 days before com16 pleting the assessments under this section to be conducted 

17 during a fiscal year, the Director of the Office of Manage18 ment and Budget shall— 

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

20 the Office of Management and Budget website or 

21 any successor website, and provide to the Committee 

22 on Government Reform of the House of Representa23 tives and the Committee on Governmental Affairs of 

24 the Senate— 
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1 ‘‘(A) a list of the programs to be assessed 

2 during that fiscal year; and 

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

4 the programs; and 

5 ‘‘(2) provide a mechanism for interested per6 sons to comment on the programs being assessed 

7 and the criteria that will be used to assess the pro8 grams. 

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

10 conducted during a fiscal year shall be submitted in a re11 port to Congress at the same time that the President sub12 mits the next budget under section 1105 of this title after 

13 the end of that fiscal year. 

14 ‘‘(2) The report shall— 

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

16 program assessment; 

17 ‘‘(B) specify the criteria used for each assess18 ment; 

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

20 including any significant limitation in the assess21 ments; 

22 ‘‘(D) describe significant modifications to the 

23 Federal Government performance plan required 

24 under section 1105(a)(28) of this title made as a re25 sult of the assessments; and 
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1 ‘‘(E) be available in electronic form through the 

2 Office of Management and Budget website or any 

3 successor website. 

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

5 to program assessments conducted during a fiscal year 

6 that contain classified information, the President shall 

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

8 subsection (f)— 

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

10 the classified information), to the appropriate com11 mittees of jurisdiction of the House of Representa12 tives and the Senate; and 

13 ‘‘(B) consistent with statutory law governing 

14 the disclosure of classified information, an appendix 

15 containing a list of each such assessment and the 

16 committees to which a copy of the assessment was 

17 submitted under subparagraph (A), to the Com18 mittee on Government Reform of the House of Rep19 resentatives and the Committee on Governmental 

20 Affairs of the Senate. 

21 ‘‘(2) Upon request from the Committee on Govern22 ment Reform of the House of Representatives or the Com23 mittee on Governmental Affairs of the Senate, the Direc24 tor of the Office of Management and Budget shall, con-
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1 sistent with statutory law governing the disclosure of clas2 sified information, provide to the Committee a copy of— 

3 ‘‘(A) any assessment described in subparagraph 

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

5 listed in any appendix submitted under subpara6 graph (B) of such paragraph); and 

7 ‘‘(B) any appendix described in subparagraph 

8 (B) of paragraph (1). 

9 ‘‘(3) In this subsection, the term ‘classified informa10 tion’ refers to matters described in section 552(b)(1)(A) 

11 of title 5. 

12 ‘‘(h) INHERENTLY GOVERNMENTAL FUNCTIONS.— 

13 The functions and activities authorized or required by this 

14 section shall be considered inherently Governmental func15 tions and shall be performed only by Federal employees.’’. 

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

17 date of the enactment of this Act, the Director of the Of18 fice of Management and Budget shall prescribe guidance 

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

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

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

22 (c) CONFORMING AND CLERICAL AMENDMENTS.— 

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

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

25 ‘‘1120’’. 
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1 (2) The table of sections at the beginning of 

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

3 amended by adding at the end the following: 

‘‘1120. Program assessment.’’. 

4 SEC. 5. STRATEGIC PLANNING AMENDMENTS. 

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

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

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

8 30, 1997,’’ and inserting ‘‘Not later than September 30 

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

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

11 (b) CHANGE IN PERIOD OF COVERAGE OF STRA12 TEGIC PLAN.—Subsection (b) of section 306 of title 5, 

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

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

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

16 which an election for President occurs.’’. 

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