Background Information
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has instructed GSA's Office of Governmentwide Policy (OGP) to determine the effectiveness of the governmentwide regulations OGP writes. GSA evaluates:
The Program Review Tool (PRT) is a web based tool used to assess how GSA is meeting its OMB requirements. This same tool will be used to survey the adoption of best practices and services provided by GSA that are not specifically covered by regulation. GSA believes that the PRT will elicit the required information with the least possible burden on the agency, so that more inconvenient measures, such as formal on-site audits, are not required. Agency cooperation can ensure this.
The Data Collection Forms (DCFs) of this Program Review Tool should be completed by the agency headquarter personnel who are familiar with the functions covered by the questions for the entire agency. This group should also be responsible for developing agency-wide policy and monitoring operational adherence. Those management functions are:
Aircraft Management (only agencies with aircraft)
Vehicle Fleet Management
Mail Management
Personal Property Management
Relocation Management
Transportation Management
Travel Management
In addition to the headquarters personnel responsible for these areas, an agency may wish to consult with regional/field personnel to see how the agency's internal policies in each area are carried out in day-to-day work processes. Also, sometimes responsibility for work processes is split between the above program areas and related functions (e.g., financial management). In such cases, an agency should be familiar with how those related functions fulfill the policy requirements.
Who Gets the Results?
At this time, agency responses to the questions in the Data Collection Forms will be seen only by the GSA review team and its management, and GSA's assessments of the agency's adherence will be shared only with the agency. The only results that will be released outside GSA, including to OMB, will be the combined, composite results for all agencies. No individual agency's responses or assessment will be released in such a way that the agency can be identified.
Sometimes there is overlap between policy and operations, and this can make answering the questions difficult. The agency may be answering on behalf of the agency's policy office, typically located in the headquarters, and have no direct knowledge of how the policy is observed in the field. To answer accurately, the agency must know how the policy affects employees as they perform their work. A policy requirement that is followed at the headquarters but ignored in the field will be assessed as weak, not strong.
Also, sometimes there is a split between the management of a particular area covered by this Program Review Tool and other related administrative functions. For example, a policy may require that certain procedures be used in the work processes of, mail management, but part of the work process itself is accomplished in the finance office by non-mail management employees. A strong program would include the parts of the process performed by both mail managers and the finance office employees. When answering the questions, the agency may have to consult people in both areas to ensure that policy adherence is adequately performed in both places.
Last Reviewed 2/1/2009