IB 
Union Calendar No. 474 
108TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 3826 
[Report No. 108–768] 
To require the review of Government programs at least once every 5 years 
for purposes of evaluating their performance. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 25, 2004 
Mr. PLATTS (for himself and Mr. TOM DAVIS of Virginia) introduced the 
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Government Reform 
OCTOBER 8, 2004 
Additional sponsor: Mr. SESSIONS 
OCTOBER 8, 2004 
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 
House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 
[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 
[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on February 25, 2004] 
A BILL 
To require the review of Government programs at least once 
every 5 years for purposes of evaluating their performance. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Program Assessment and 
Results Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds that— 
(1) inefficiency and ineffectiveness in Federal 
programs undermines the confidence of the American 
people in the Government and reduces the Federal 
Government’s ability to adequately address vital pub-
lic needs; 
(2) insufficient information on program per-
formance seriously disadvantages Federal managers 
in their efforts to improve program efficiency and ef-
fectiveness; 
(3) congressional policy making, spending deci-
sions, and program oversight are handicapped by in-
sufficient attention to program performance and re-
sults; 
(4) programs performing similar or duplicative 
functions that exist within a single agency or across 
multiple agencies should be identified and their per-
formance and results shared among all such programs 
to improve their performance and results; 
(5) advocates of good government continue to 
seek ways to improve accountability, focus on results,
and integrate the performance of programs with deci-
sions about budgets; 
(6) with the passage of the Government Perform-
ance and Results Act of 1993, the Congress directed 
the executive branch to seek improvements in the effec-
tiveness, efficiency, and accountability of Federal pro-
grams by having agencies focus on program results; 
and 
(7) the Government Performance and Results Act 
of 1993 provided a strong framework for the executive 
branch to monitor the long-term goals and annual 
performance of its departments and agencies. 
SEC. 3. PURPOSE. 
The purposes of this Act are— 
(1) to improve the Government Performance and 
Results Act of 1993 by implementing a program as-
sessment and evaluation process that attempts to de-
termine the strengths and weaknesses of Federal pro-
grams with a particular focus on the results produced 
by individual programs; 
(2) to use the information gathered in the assess-
ment and evaluation process to build on the ground-
work laid in the Government Performance and Re-
sults Act of 1993 to help the executive branch make 
informed management decisions and evidence-based
funding requests aimed at achieving positive results; 
and 
(3) to provide congressional policy makers the 
information needed to conduct more effective over-
sight, to make better-informed authorization decisions, 
and to make more evidence-based spending decisions 
that achieve positive results for the American people. 
SEC. 4. PROGRAM ASSESSMENT. 
(a) REQUIREMENT FOR PROGRAM ASSESSMENTS.— 
Chapter 11 of title 31, United States Code, as amended by 
the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993, is 
amended by adding at the end the following new section: 
‘‘§ 1120. Program assessment 
‘‘(a) ASSESSMENT.—The Director of the Office of Man-
agement and Budget to the maximum extent practicable 
shall conduct, jointly with agencies of the Federal Govern-
ment, an assessment of each program at least once every 
5 fiscal years. 
‘‘(b) ASSESSMENT REQUIREMENTS.—In conducting an 
assessment of a program under subsection (a), the Director 
of the Office of Management and Budget and the head of 
the relevant agency shall— 
‘‘(1) coordinate to determine the programs to be 
assessed; and
‘‘(2) evaluate the purpose, design, strategic plan, 
management, and results of the program, and such 
other matters as the Director considers appropriate. 
‘‘(c) CRITERIA FOR IDENTIFYING PROGRAMS TO AS-
SESS.—The Director of the Office of Management and 
Budget shall develop criteria for identifying programs to 
be assessed each fiscal year. In developing the criteria, the 
Director shall take into account the advantages of assessing 
during the same fiscal year any programs that are per-
forming similar functions, have similar purposes, or share 
common goals, such as those contained in strategic plans 
under section 306 of title 5. To the maximum extent pos-
sible, the Director shall assess a representative sample of 
Federal spending each fiscal year. 
‘‘(d) CRITERIA
FOR
MORE
FREQUENT
ASSESS-
MENTS.—The Director of the Office of Management and 
Budget shall make every effort to assess programs more fre-
quently than required under subsection (a) in cases in 
which programs are determined to be of higher priority, 
special circumstances exist, improvements have been made, 
or the head of the relevant agency and the Director deter-
mine that more frequent assessment is warranted. 
‘‘(e) PUBLICATION.—At least 90 days before com-
pleting the assessments under this section to be conducted
during a fiscal year, the Director of the Office of Manage-
ment and Budget shall— 
‘‘(1) make available in electronic form through 
the Office of Management and Budget website or any 
successor website, and provide to the Committee on 
Government Reform of the House of Representatives 
and the Committee on Governmental Affairs of the 
Senate— 
‘‘(A) a list of the programs to be assessed 
during that fiscal year; and 
‘‘(B) the criteria that will be used to assess 
the programs; and 
‘‘(2) provide a mechanism for interested persons 
to comment on the programs being assessed and the 
criteria that will be used to assess the programs. 
‘‘(f) REPORT.—(1) The results of the assessments con-
ducted during a fiscal year shall be submitted in a report 
to Congress at the same time that the President submits 
the next budget under section 1105 of this title after the 
end of that fiscal year. 
‘‘(2) The report shall— 
‘‘(A) include the performance goals for each pro-
gram assessment; 
‘‘(B) specify the criteria used for each assess-
ment;
‘‘(C) describe the results of each assessment, in-
cluding any significant limitation in the assessments; 
‘‘(D) describe significant modifications to the 
Federal Government performance plan required under 
section 1105(a)(28) of this title made as a result of 
the assessments; and 
‘‘(E) be available in electronic form through the 
Office of Management and Budget website or any suc-
cessor website. 
‘‘(3) Nothing in this section requires the publication 
of classified information or the inclusion of classified infor-
mation in a report under this subsection. 
‘‘(g) TERMINATION.—This section shall not be in effect 
after September 30, 2013.’’. 
(b) GUIDANCE.—Not later than 6 months after the date 
of the enactment of this Act, the Director of the Office of 
Management and Budget shall prescribe guidance to imple-
ment the requirements of section 1120 of title 31, United 
States Code, as added by subsection (a), including guidance 
on a definition of the term ‘‘program’’. 
(c) CONFORMING AND CLERICAL AMENDMENTS.— 
(1) Section 1115(g) of title 31, United States 
Code, is amended by striking ‘‘1119’’ and inserting 
‘‘1120’’.
(2) The table of sections at the beginning of 
chapter 11 of title 31, United States Code, is amended 
by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘1120. Program assessment.’’. 
SEC. 5. STRATEGIC PLANNING AMENDMENTS. 
(a) CHANGE IN DEADLINE FOR STRATEGIC PLAN.— 
Subsection (a) of section 306 of title 5, United States Code, 
is amended by striking ‘‘No later than September 30, 1997,’’ 
and inserting ‘‘Not later than September 30 of each year 
following a year in which an election for President occurs, 
beginning with September 30, 2005,’’. 
(b) CHANGE IN PERIOD OF COVERAGE OF STRATEGIC 
PLAN.—Subsection (b) of section 306 of title 5, United 
States Code, is amended to read as follows: 
‘‘(b) Each strategic plan shall cover the 4-year period 
beginning on October 1 of the year following a year in 
which an election for President occurs.’’.
Union Calendar No. 474 
108TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 3826 
[Report No. 108–768] 
A BILL 
To require the review of Government programs at 
least once every 5 years for purposes of evalu-
ating their performance. 
OCTOBER 8, 2004 
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Com-
mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, 
and ordered to be printed