The Departments of Energy, Labor, and State, and the Social Security Administration have been the most successful at installing the management disciplines and habits that are part of the President's Management Agenda (PMA); each of these departments has 4 "greens" and no "reds."

As of this past quarter the average Federal agency is now "yellow" on the PMA scorecard: there are more "yellows" than any other score and there are as many "greens" as "reds." When the President's Management Agenda was launched more than three years ago, 110 of the 130 "scores" (26 agencies each working on five separate initiatives) were red: almost none of the agencies were satisfactorily managing their people, programs, costs, and investments in information technology. As indicated by the current ratings, that is no longer the case.

Also of note are the facts that:

• 35% of agencies have reduced or eliminated competency gaps for mission critical occupations.
• In 2003 and 2004 agencies have found ways to reduce the cost of their commercial activities more than $2.35 billion over the next three to five years.
• This past November a record 22 Federal agencies were able to prepare their Performance and Accountability Reports by 45 days after the end of the fiscal year.
• Currently 83 percent of government systems have been certified as secure as compared to 26 percent three years ago.
• More than 600 federal programs have been assessed - 71 percent have defined and are tracking clear outcome goals to measure their results and 50 percent have efficiency measures in place to measure costs.
• With remediation plans that have been developed, agencies expect the 2004 improper payments total of $45 billion to decrease by approximately $5 billion in 2005, $8 billion 2006, and $12 billion in 2007.