The issues not covered by the NPR recommendations also represent significant additional opportunities to make the government “work better and cost less.”

	Executive- Congressional Partnership, Strong Leadership, and Attention to Agencies’ Capacities Still Needed

In our December 1993 report, we emphasized three themes that we believed were crucial to the long-range success of the NPR effort: (1) the administration must work in partnership with Congress, (2) attention should be paid to agencies’ capacities to take on the additional responsibilities NPR envisions, and (3) sustained attention is needed from top political and career leadership. A number of NPR recommendations were intended to achieve more results-oriented management. First, agencies’ goals must be clearly stated in outcome-based terms and means developed to measure progress toward those goals. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, structures and processes need to be established and used to reinforce the focus on outcome-based management. The legal imperatives needed to bring about a great deal of government reinvention are already in place. For example, some agencies’ missions are legislatively defined in multiple and sometimes conflicting ways. The long-term success of GPRA and the movement to a new mode of government management and accountability depends on Congress having the requisite data and moving from a focus on inputs, outputs, and procedural issues to an emphasis on establishing clear agency missions and goals and focusing on outcomes and results. (2) Partially Implemented. (6) Other. We did not review the NPR’s estimated savings from implementing its recommendations.
Why GAO Did This Study

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the implementation of the National Performance Review's (NPR) management reform recommendations.

What GAO Found

GAO found that: (1) although federal agencies have acted on or partially implemented most of the NPR recommendations, only 4 percent have been fully implemented; (2) additional actions on management issues not addressed by NPR are needed to achieve budgetary savings and improve government management; (3) the successful implementation of NPR recommendations depends on a legislative-executive partnership for action, attention to agencies' capacities, and sustained political and career leadership; (4) Congress and the Administration must shift the focus of government management and accountability to emphasize outcomes and results rather than inputs, outputs, and processes; (5) the Administration must clearly state agencies' goals in outcome-based terms, develop a means to measure progress toward goals, and establish structures and processes to reinforce outcome-based management; (6) the legal imperatives needed to spur government reinvention are already in place; (7) Congress needs to resolve some agencies' conflicting missions and reduce its micromanagement of agencies to give them the flexibility they need; and (8) the transition to a results-oriented government will take years to accomplish, but the potential benefits are enormous.