GAO also said agencies should describe the external factors that may influence outcomes. Congressional Republicans have also seized on the act as a way to hold federal programs more accountable. But GAO's reviews show that agencies have much work ahead of them before the strategic and performance plans under the law are useful for federal managers and congressional appropriators. The plans are not good enough for congressional decisionmaking. DeMaio noted that agencies are not very experienced in strategic planning, so they will need several years to get to the point where they can explain how their budgets relate to their performance.
Line managers are either unaware of the act or they have a very negative reaction to it.
They think it's nothing but another tool to beat up on the public manager. I don't think agencies have been good at communicating the value of the Results Act. The GAO reviews are not yet available on the Web.