	Background

GPRAMA requires agencies to publicly report on how they are ensuring  the accuracy and reliability of the performance information they use to  measure progress towards APGs and performance goals. Priority Goals and Performance Measures: GPRAMA requires  agencies to identify their highest priority performance goals as APGs and  have ambitious targets for these APGs that can be achieved within 2  years. the level of accuracy required for the intended use of the data; any limitations to the data at the required level of accuracy; and how the agency will compensate for such limitations (if needed) to  reach the required level of accuracy. Agencies also must address all five  requirements for performance goals in their performance plans and  reports. GPRAMA’s Requirements for Agencies’ Annual Performance Plans and Reports  Performance plans should identify the planned level of performance for the current fiscal year and the next fiscal year, explain how the agency will ensure the accuracy and reliability of its performance information, identify the agency’s priority goals (APGs), and be published every February, concurrent with the President’s Budget. In  response, OMB updated its A-11 guidance in June 2015 to direct  agencies to either provide information for publication on Performance.gov  of how they are ensuring the quality of performance information for their  APGs, or provide a hyperlink from Performance.gov to an appendix in  their performance report that discusses the quality of their performance  information. Selected Agencies’ Annual Performance Plans and Reports Provided Incomplete Information on the Quality of Performance Information Used to Measure Progress on Priority Goals

Five of the six agencies’ performance plans and reports we reviewed did  not describe how they ensured the quality of performance information for  their individual APGs. On the other hand, all six agencies did describe  how they ensured the quality of their performance information overall. related to the GPRAMA requirements, such as on their verification and  validation processes. Cross-Agency Working Group Could Help Agencies and OMB Improve Public Reporting on the Quality of Performance Information Used to Measure Progress on Priority Goals

In 2015, OMB and the Performance Improvement Council (PIC)  established the Data Quality Cross-Agency Working Group. While OMB for several years has  directed agencies to discuss the quality of APG performance information  in their annual performance plans and reports, the selected agencies’  plans and reports often did not. The  same is true for all six agencies on Performance.gov. Recommendations for Executive Action

To improve the public reporting about how agencies are ensuring the  quality of performance information used to measure progress towards  their priority goals, we recommend the following actions:
The Secretaries of Agriculture, Defense, Homeland Security, Interior,  and Labor, and the Administrator of NASA should more fully address  GPRAMA requirements and OMB guidance by working with OMB to  describe on Performance.gov how they are ensuring the quality of  performance information used to measure progress towards their  APGs. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) also concurred with the  recommendation directed to it.
Why GAO Did This Study

Federal agencies have not always clearly and transparently explained to Congress and the public how they ensure the quality of their performance information. GPRAMA requires agencies to publicly explain how they ensure the accuracy and reliability of their performance information used to assess progress for their APGs.
This is one of a series of GAO reports examining the implementation of GPRAMA, as required by the act. This report assesses how well selected agencies publicly reported on the quality of performance information used to measure progress on APGs. GAO selected six agencies–the Departments of Agriculture, Defense, Interior, and Labor, and NASA and DHS– based on GAO's 2013 federal managers survey on their agency's use of performance information. GAO reviewed information concerning these agencies' APGs published on Performance.gov and in their annual performance plans and reports.

What GAO Found

The six agencies GAO reviewed generally did not publicly report on how they ensured the accuracy and reliability of performance information used to measure progress on their highest priority performance goals, referred to as agency priority goals (APGs). The GPRA Modernization Act of 2010 (GPRAMA) requires agencies to identify the following when publicly reporting on their APGs: 1) how performance information was verified and validated; 2) data sources; 3) level of accuracy required for intended use; 4) any limitations at the required level of accuracy; and 5) how the agency will compensate for such limitations (if needed) to reach the required level of accuracy. GPRAMA requires agencies to provide this information to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for publication on Performance.gov. GPRAMA also directs agencies to provide this information for performance goals, which include APGs, in their annual performance plans and reports. While all six agencies described how they ensured the quality of their performance information overall, GAO found discussions about performance information quality addressing all five GPRAMA requirements in only the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) performance plans and reports.
Source: GAO analysis of selected agencies' performance plans and reports. | GAO-15-788
OMB and the Performance Improvement Council (PIC)–a cross-agency council of agency performance improvement officers–established the Data Quality Cross-Agency Working Group in February 2015. The group has identified several goals, such as improving the reliability and quality of performance information, and could serve as a vehicle for disseminating good practices in public reporting on data quality.

What GAO Recommends

GAO recommends that all six of the agencies work with OMB to describe on Performance.gov how they are ensuring the quality of their APGs's performance information, and that all agencies, except for DHS, also describe this information in their annual performance plans and reports. GAO also recommends that OMB, working with the PIC, focus on ways the PIC's data quality working group can improve public reporting for APGs. OMB did not comment on the recommendations, but the six agencies generally concurred or identified actions they planned to take to implement them.