Strategic Plan Q&A's

What is the Government Performance Results Act (GPRA)? 

GPRA is a law, enacted in 1993, that requires Federal agencies to undertake a number of planning and reporting activities. Its purposes include: 

• to improve the confidence of the American public in its government 
  
  
• to increase the effectiveness of Federal programs 
  
  
• to improve government accountability with a new focus on results, service quality, and customer satisfaction 
  
  
• to help Federal managers improve service delivery and overall internal management 
  
  
• to improve Congressional decision-making 

GPRA requires Federal agencies to develop strategic plans, to link these plans to specific measures of their performance, and to report to Congress, OMB, and their Cabinet heads on their progress in achieving their strategic goals and objectives. 

What is the purpose of USDA’s strategic plan?

The plan is intended to define what the Department seeks to accomplish over the next five years, to identify the strategies it will use to achieve desired results, and then to determine how well it succeeds in reaching its goals and objectives. The plan is used to clarify organizational priorities and unify staff, partners, and others involved with USDA programs and initiatives in the pursuit of shared goals. 

While the final result is important, the process of developing a strategic plan – including outreach to stakeholders – is valuable in its own right. The ongoing process of strategic planning helps us to stay focused on our most important priorities, and can help to foster informed communication between USDA and its stakeholders.

What are "performance measures"? 

GPRA requires that Federal agencies identify measures of performance related to our goals and objectives. For each measure, we have identified a quantifiable baseline level, and specific annual targets for the measure that will reflect maintenance or improvement of our performance. 

These measures are intended to be "outcome-oriented"-that is, they should allow us to measure the achievement of the goals and objectives themselves, rather than quantify the work done to achieve them. For example, an outcome-oriented measure of a car’s performance would be its ability to travel effectively, rather than how many parts it has, or how many repairs were done. For FNS, one outcome-oriented measure could assess the rate of very low food security among low-income people, rather than the number of benefit dollars issued to those people.

Last modified: 12/04/2008