About Strategic Planning and Accountability

Creation of the Strategic Planning and Accountability (SPA) deputy area became official with the USDA approval of the agency’s reorganization plan in September 1998. The seed was planted six months earlier when the Chief, NRCS held a Town Hall meeting attended by over 115 employees and partners to identify issues that the agency needed to address.

The key issues identified in the Town Hall meeting were the need to identify and focus on priorities and to put a performance measurement and accountability system in place. This theme was repeated over and over, by stakeholders and partners, in Congressional reports, appropriations language, Office of Management and Budget (OMB) discussions, Office of the Inspector General (OIG) reports, and General Accounting Office (GAO) reports.

The Chief charged the Deputy Chiefs with developing solutions to the issues identified during the Town Hall meeting, including organizational changes needed at the National Headquarters. Other concerns included a lack of focus in science and technology, administrative convergence, and an antiquated computer hardware and software system.

The SPA deputy area was created by consolidating all strategic planning, operations management and oversight, budgeting, and performance measurement functions under one Deputy Chief and transferring the staff who were performing those functions.

Strategic Planning and Accountability is composed of three divisions:

• Budget Planning and Analysis,
• Operations Management and Oversight, and
• Strategic and Performance Planning.

The key functions contained in the Government Performance and Results Act are located under one deputy area umbrella as a way to eliminate the stovepipes that had been created by the previous organizational structure. This action further focuses the agency’s operations management activities, and establishes a corporate database. The new management system is codified in the Strategic Planning and Accountability policy, which is part of the General Manual.

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