President George W. Bush's Management Agenda
Related Article: President’s Management Agenda Gaining Wide Support
In August 2001, President Bush launched a reform agenda to improve management in the Federal government. The five-part agenda is an integrated set of management reforms designed to meet his commitment to create a government that is results- oriented, citizen-focused, and market-based.
The President's Management Agenda (PMA) outlines five government-wide initiatives: 1) Strategic Management of Human Capital; 2) Improved Financial Management; 3) Budget and Performance Integration; 4) Competitive sourcing; and 5) Expanded Electronic Government. The PMA with its five management reform goals has become the driving force behind the efforts for the Administration and federal managers to improve government performance. The five non-partisan management reforms are not new. They are consistent with statutes already in place such as the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) and the 1996 Clinger Cohen Act. The PMA is distinct by its focus on specific and measurable goals. The five goals are inter-related and tied together by performance.
To "keep score," the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) created a "traffic light" scorecard to report on where departments and major agencies stand on each of the five initiatives. It defined a set of "scorecard standards for success" in each of the five areas and uses these standards to grade the status of each department and agency. It also assesses each agency's "progress" in terms of whether the agencies are on-track in meeting the standards. OMB publicly updates both scorecards on a quarterly basis.
The standards for success were defined by the President's Management Council and discussed with experts throughout government and academe, including the National Academy of Public Administration. Under each of these standards, an agency's status score is "green" if it meets all of the standards for success, "yellow" if it has achieved some but not all of the criteria, and "red" if it has any one of a number of serious flaws.
Under the guidance of the BTEC, the Management Bureau is responsible for achieving four of five PMA initiatives and the Bureau for Policy and Program Coordination is responsible for achieving a fifth goal for budget and performance integration. The links below clearly define the goals for each of the five PMA initiatives as described by the "owners", the Federal policy officials leading each initiative.
Administrator Natsios' vision of a reformed USAID is fully consistent with the President's Management Agenda. The four inter-related Initiatives of USAID's Business Transformation Plan were explicitly designed to incorporate the PMA elements to produce the performance breakthroughs desired by both the President and the Administrator:
- Strategic Management of Human Capital, includes reforms to improve the agency's human resources management, and directly addresses the PMA Human Capital requirements. It also encompasses aspects of PMA Competitive Sourcing by requiring that future staffing decisions explicitly consider strategic sourcing alternatives prior to recruiting.
- Business Systems Modernization (BSM), includes reforms to the agency's financial management, acquisition and assistance, and information technology capabilities, and directly addresses the objectives of PMA E-Government and PMA Financial Performance. BSM also addresses PMA Competitive Sourcing objectives in the context of strategic sourcing options for business systems investments.
- Knowledge for Development includes the agency's plans to improve knowledge management, learning from experience, and collaboration with partners, while enhancing the agency's role as the world's thought leader in the technical competencies of foreign assistance. This initiative directly addresses the objectives for knowledge management and organizational learning under PMA Human Capital , as well as PMA E-Government objectives for technology-enabled business transformation.
- Strategic Budgeting includes the Agency's reforms in strategic planning, budgeting, and decision-making process aimed at becoming as fully performance-driven as possible within the existing political environment. This initiative directly addresses the requirements for PMA Budget and Performance Integration.
The table below summarizes the inter-relationship of the four components of USAID's Business Transformation Plan with the President's Management Agenda.
USAID's Business Transformation (BT) Plan/ PMA Cross Walk
| USAID/BT Plan Components |
PMA - Financial Performance |
PMA - Human Capital |
PMA - Budget/ Performance Integration |
PMA - E -Gov |
PMA - Competitive Sourcing |
| Strategic Management of Human Capital |
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| Business Systems Modernization |
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| Knowledge for Development |
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| Strategic Budgeting |
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Legend
= This element of the BT plan addresses all PMA requirements
= This element of the BT plan addresses some PMA requirements
Various cross-agency councils have also organized their efforts around the PMA. The President's Management Council is a key driver. The Chief Financial Officers Council and the Chief Information Officers Council, as well as the new Chief Human Capital Officers Council all are important leaders in this effort.
The White House has created a special website (www.results.gov) for the President's Leadership Team. This website features the PMA and provides updates from the policy officials leading each initiative. It also includes tracking progress and reports by officials leading implementation in the various departments and agencies.
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