US Program Assessment Rating Tool

Abstract

For over 50 years the US federal government has attempted to better align resource decisions and expected performance. Although several government-wide reforms contributed to the evolving concept of performance budgeting in the United States, all fell short of linking performance to budget decision-making. Building on the strategic planning, reporting, and measurement processes of the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA), the current administration believes its Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART) succeeds where other reforms failed. At the time of writing, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) was in its final year of a five-year effort to use PART to rate the program design, strategic planning, management, and results of all US federal programs as a part of its executive branch budget formulation process. This chapter draws on General Accounting Office (GAO) reviews2 that described PART’s development and use, and assessed its strengths and weaknesses as a budget and evaluation tool.