Detailed Information on the
Bureau of Economic Analysis Assessment

BEA will update its detailed 5-year strategic plan, and publish the plan and results scorecard, each year in order to more clearly demonstrate goals and performance. To bolster the strategic plan, each of BEA's program areas has developed operating plans which show significant additional detail and feed into individual employee performance plans.

BEA will review and refine its draft marginal cost measure with assistance from the Department of Commerce and OMB.

The 2005 Budget recommends funding increases to further improve the quality and timeliness of BEA's economic statistics.

BEA will continue to refine its proposed efficiency measure for its statistical products.

Successful completion of strategic plan milestones funded by the FY 2006 budget initiatives for improving the accuracy and timeliness of BEA's economic statistics.

BEA will develop a marginal cost measure by June 30, 2008. BEA will explore the possibility of a marginal cost indicator that shows the impact of budget decreases on either sub-state level detail from regional economic accounts or statistics on the operations of multinational companies and / or foreign direct investment. Since the output of these areas is sets of statistics, such a measure might not be possible. If not, BEA will develop a marginal cost indicator related to its survey data collection in the international economics program.

Measure: Reliability of Delivery of Economic Data (Number of Scheduled Releases Issued on Time)

Explanation:Measures reports on the ability of BEA to release its economic measures as previously scheduled, on the specific data and at a specific time

Measure: Customer Satisfaction with Quality of Products and Services (Mean Rating on a 5-point Scale)

Explanation:Based on a customer service, this measures reports on how well BEA provides it products to its users.

Measure: Percent of GDP Estimate Correct This measure tracks BEA's performance in estimating GDP levels and growth rates. It is a rolling average of six measures of accuracy over three years.

Explanation:This measure tracks BEA's performance in estimating GDP levels and growth rates. It is a rolling average of six measures of accuracy over three years.

Measure: Improving GDP and the Economic Accouts as defined by yearly milestones in BEA's strategic plan

Explanation:This measures tracks BEA's performance at providing measures that are accurate and relevant.

Measure: Accelerating Economic Estimates as defined in yearly milestones in BEA's Strategic Plan

Explanation:Measure tracks BEA's performance in achieving the accelerations of eight economic measures defined in FY 2003 and FY 2004 budget initiatives.

Measure: Meeting U.S. International Obligations as defined by yearly milestones in BEA's strategic plan

Explanation:Measures BEA's performance in meeting the statistical targets agreed upon by the U.S. and foreign nationals or international organizations.

Measure: Cost of collecting and processing international survey data (New measure, February 2007)

Explanation:BEA collects data for its international estimates through congressionally-mandated surveys. To monitor BEA's success at keeping data collection costs down while continuing to collect an increasingly large and complex volume of information on international flows, BEA proposes this measure. It tracks the costs of the quarterly BE-605 that collects information on foreign direct investment in the U.S. Numerator Description:Salary and benefit costs of BEA staff involved in developing and maintaining sample frames and in designing, mailing, collecting, reviewing, editing, and processing BEA survey forms. Denominator Description: Number of BE-605 survey questions times the number of surveys mailed (annualized). Annual targets are interim targets that seek to offset inflation with improvements in productivity over time. BEA continues to conduct research on the average cost fo survey data collection in the public and private sectors that will be used to better refine and benchmark these targets.

Measure: Measurement of the Knowledge Economy (New measure, added February 2008)

Explanation:This performance measure monitors and signifies BEA's commitment to better measuring the 21st century knowledge economy to accurately report a comprehensive picture of the U.S. economy. In FY 2008, BEA will meet all of the major milestones related to measuring the knowledge economy, including the release of new estimates of the impact of R&D on GDP growth and preliminary industry-specific estimates, and expects to meet this target for FY 2009.

Is the program purpose clear?

Explanation: BEA produces economic accounts statistics including the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for use by public and private decision-makers to understand the performance of the U.S. economy.

Evidence: BEA's mission statement

Does the program address a specific and existing problem, interest, or need?

Explanation: BEA addresses the need to provide comprehensive economic statistics not available from the private sector due to market failure in providing this type of public good. GDP and the other accounts are critical input into U.S. fiscal and monetary policy as well as the allocation of government funds.

Evidence: There is little or no competition to offer BEA-type data.

Is the program designed so that it is not redundant or duplicative of any Federal, state, local or private effort?

Explanation: BEA is the only organization that produces economic statistics such as GDP, personal income, and balance of payments. Further, the necessity of protecting the confidentiality of respondent's data and ensuring the impartiality of economic estimates is addressed by having the Federal government produce these economic statistics.

Evidence: BEA uses data from the Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Internal Revenue Service and other public and private sources to produce comprehensive measures of the U.S. economy. BEA collects only data such as balance of payment where there are no alternative source data. Titles 13, 15, and 22 of the U.S. Code and the Confidential Information Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act places confidentiality requirements on the data collected and used by BEA.

Is the program design free of major flaws that would limit the program's effectiveness or efficiency?

Explanation: BEA efficiently assembles data (largely from other public and private sources) into consistent and comprehensive sets economic accounts statistics. The U.S.'s de-centralized statistical system calls for regular and on-going consultation with other statistical agencies to ensure data standards and needs are met.

Evidence: BEA regularly meets its performance measure to release its products on schedule and on-time. BEA is active in the Interagency Council on Statistical Policy, the Federal Economic Statistics Advisory Committee, and other joint organizations.

Is the program effectively targeted, so program resources reach intended beneficiaries and/or otherwise address the program's purpose directly?

Explanation: BEA focuses its resources on core programs to produce a set of comprehensive estimates required to follow and understand the U.S. economy.

Evidence: BEA's Advisory Committee reviews BEA programs and policy twice a year to ensure they address the agencies goals and purpose. BEA's annual customer satisfaction survey tracks BEA's ability to deliver its products to users in a manner they expect.

Does the program have a limited number of specific long-term performance measures that focus on outcomes and meaningfully reflect the purpose of the program?

Explanation: BEA's mission statement and four strategic objectives flow from the Department of Commerce strategic goals and provide a guide to ensure BEA's programs and products are relevant and meaningful. Of the seven BEA performance measures, three directly measure the long-term purpose of the agency. These three are the reliability of deliver of economic data, customer satisfaction, and percent of GDP estimates correct.

Evidence: BEA Strategic Plan for FY 2003 - FY 2007 and Department of Commerce FY 2004 Annual Performance Plan provide BEA's mission, goals and performance measures for the public to review.

Does the program have ambitious targets and timeframes for its long-term measures?

Explanation: In addition to the targets defined in the DOC Annual Performance Plan for the three long-term measures defined above, the BEA Strategic Plan defines over 200 milestones per year through FY 2007 which provide details, by year, of how BEA plans to meet each of the three measures.

Evidence: BEA Strategic Plan for FY 2003 - FY 2007 and the Department of Commerce FY 2004 Annual Performance Plan provide BEA's performance measures and the detailed milestone matrix for the public to review.

Does the program have a limited number of specific annual performance measures that demonstrate progress toward achieving the program's long-term measures?

Explanation: BEA has seven total performance measures that are updated and reviewed annually to provide accountability toward achieving goals. The first three measures mentioned above are designed to track the purpose of the organization over the long term. The remaining four measures are tied to budget initiatives to improve and enhance BEA programs.

Evidence: BEA Strategic Plan for FY 2003 - FY 2007 and the Department of Commerce FY 2004 Annual Performance Plan provide BEA's performance measures and the detailed milestone matrix for the public to review.

Does the program have baselines and ambitious targets and timeframes for its annual measures?

Explanation: BEA has set ambtious annual targets for its seven performance measures to show continual improvement in its programs and products.

Evidence: Performance measures are defined in the Department of Commerce FY 2004 Annual Performance Plan as well as in BEA's budget requests.

Do all partners (including grantees, sub-grantees, contractors, cost-sharing partners, etc.) commit to and work toward the annual and/or long-term goals of the program?

Explanation: BEA's Advisory Committee and data users are consulted on all goals and activities set out in the BEA Strategic Plan and strong agreement on the direction and work is achieved. BEA does not offer grants or use contractors to a significant extent for program activities. IT contractors have committed to the goals established for the IT work required at BEA.

Evidence: BEA's Strategic Plan includes extensive comment from both BEA staff and employees and from BEA's customers and data users.

Are independent and quality evaluations of sufficient scope and quality conducted on a regular basis or as needed to support program improvements and evaluate effectiveness and relevance to the problem, interest, or need?

Explanation: Several evaluations have been completed on BEA's economic accounts. BEA has an independent advisory board of outside experts that meets twice a year to review programs and products. A customer satisfaction survey is conducted annually to gather user feedback.

Evidence: Mid-Decade Strategic Review of BEA's Economic AccountsFederal Reserve Board evaluationsInformation on the BEA Advisory Committee is available at www.bea.gov. The customer satisfaction survey is reported in annual performance reports.

Are Budget requests explicitly tied to accomplishment of the annual and long-term performance goals, and are the resource needs presented in a complete and transparent manner in the program's budget?

Explanation: BEA's budget requests are tied to BEA's performance measures however more cost formulation information would be useful for base programs. BEA has also developed a pilot cost efficiency measure.

Evidence: Annual budget requests

Has the program taken meaningful steps to correct its strategic planning deficiencies?

Explanation: BEA reviews and updates it Strategic Plan annually. The review involves senior staff and all BEA employees as well as comments from the BEA Advisory Committee and BEA data users. The review begins near the end of the fiscal year to record performance on each milestone. Milestones for an additional year are added and other milestones updated. The Plan is finalized and made public in May of each year.

Evidence: The BEA Strategic Plan for FY 2003 - FY 2007

Does the agency regularly collect timely and credible performance information, including information from key program partners, and use it to manage the program and improve performance?

Explanation: BEA collects and monitors performance data on the release and accuracy of its economic statistics, customer satisfaction, and progress meeting programmatic milestones that it uses to improve performance and management.

Evidence: Performance measures are defined in the Department of Commerce FY 2004 Annual Performance Plan as well as in BEA's budget requests

Are Federal managers and program partners (grantees, subgrantees, contractors, cost-sharing partners, etc.) held accountable for cost, schedule and performance results?

Explanation: Annual performance plans for managers include goals and measures that are linked to BEA's strategic goals. All contracts are carefully monitored and contractors are held accountable for progress.

Evidence: Performance plans are part of each employee's annual review from entry-level to senior staff.

Are all funds (Federal and partners') obligated in a timely manner and spent for the intended purpose?

Explanation: BEA seeks to obligate needed funds in a timely and appropriate manner. Historically, BEA's budget carryover from year-to-year is less than one percent of all available funds. Actual obligations are consistent with the request.

Evidence: FY 2002 funds were approximately 89% obligated through August 2002.

Does the program have procedures (e.g., competitive sourcing/cost comparisons, IT improvements, approporaite incentives) to measure and achieve efficiencies and cost effectiveness in program execution?

Explanation: BEA has performance measures with timeliness targets and has improved the quality and timeliness of its products with relatively flat budgets. BEA has also developed a pilot cost efficiency measure to demonstrate cost effectiveness. BEA competitively sources Information Technology resources. BEA's IT program has a comprehensive IT investment review process which includes ranking all potential IT projects by their contribution to agency performance goals.

Evidence: Priorities and target milestones are specified in the BEA Strategic Plan for FY 2003 - FY 2007.

Does the program collaborate and coordinate effectively with related programs?

Explanation: BEA works extensively with other federal statistical agencies, most regularly with the Bureau of the Census and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. BEA is a member of the Interagency Council on Statistical Policy, the Federal Economic Statistics Advisory Committee, and other joint organizations and meets regularly with staff from other statistical agencies.

Evidence: Information on the Interagency Council on Statistical Policy is available in "Statistical Programs of the United States Government: Fiscal Year 2004." Information on the Federal Economic Statistics Advisory Committee is available at www.bea.gov.

Does the program use strong financial management practices?

Explanation: BEA's financial management practices have resulted in a clean opinion on its financial audit for the last two years.

Evidence: Department of Commerce's financial audits reports.

Has the program taken meaningful steps to address its management deficiencies?

Explanation: BEA contracts with OPM to annually conduct an organization assessment survey which is used to identify problems in agency management. BEA also contracted with the USDA Graduate School to conduct a leadership effectiveness inventory survey of all managers. Results are being used to strengthen manager training.

Evidence: OPM-conducted organizational assessment survey USDA leadership survey group results

Has the program demonstrated adequate progress in achieving its long-term outcome performance goals?

Explanation: BEA met all of its seven performance measures in FY 2002 and FY 2003. As an alternative measure, the BEA Strategic Plan milestones serve as a guide to meeting the performance measure targets. In FY 2002, BEA completed approximately 87 percent of its milestones and met over 90 percent of its milestones in FY 2003, including all its major ones.

Evidence: BEA Strategic Plan for FY 2003 - FY 2007 and DOC FY 2002 Performance and Accountability Report.

Does the program (including program partners) achieve its annual performance goals?

Explanation: BEA has consistently met its performance goals on an annual basis from FY 1999 through FY 2003., with the exception of the customer satisfaction measure which was postponed in FY 2001.

Evidence: BEA Strategic Plan for FY 2003 - FY 2007 and DOC FY 2002 Performance and Accountability Report.

Does the program demonstrate improved efficiencies or cost effectiveness in achieving program performance goals each year?

Explanation: BEA has consistently assembled and released its economic accounts, including GDP, and expanded electronic availability of data with base funding and continues to focus resources on core programs. Initiative funding has focused on timeliness and quality improvements to the economic accounts.

Evidence: BEA Strategic Plan for FY 2003 - FY 2007 and DOC FY 2002 Performance and Accountability Report.

Does the performance of this program compare favorably to other programs, including government, private, etc., that have similar purpose and goals?

Explanation: BEA releases GDP first in comparison to other countries. BEA is also one of few international statistical agencies in compliance with the International Monetary Fund's Standard Data Dissemination Standards (SDDS) and the United Nation's Statistical Directorate Assessment Milestones.

Evidence: DOC FY 2001 Annual Performance ReportIMF and UN report compliance status available at www.imf.org and www.un.org

Do independent and quality evaluations of this program indicate that the program is effective and achieving results?

Explanation: Independent evaluations have demonstrated effectiveness and have been used by BEA to improve economic accounts.

Evidence: Independent evaluations of BEA programs have been conducted by the BEA Advisory Committee and the Federal Reserve Board.