OMB is to be commended for developing the PART to bring a renewed focus on individual
program-level management and performance. PART has had several successes,
including helping structure and discipline OMB’s use of performance information over a
broad range of programs, questions, and evidence. PART has also made OMB’s use of
performance information more transparent in terms of public reporting of judgments
and sources, including explicit recommendations to change management practices and
program design in response to PART findings. This has, in turn, stimulated agencies’
interest in performance and budget integration and in improving evidence regarding
demonstrating program results. Nevertheless, several challenges have also been evident
during the four years of PART implementation, such as the consistent application of
general principles to diverse cases, which requires interpretation and judgment. Another
challenge is for agencies, OMB, and Congress to define agreed-upon program outcomes
and reduce complexity to a consensus bottom-line rating. This challenge is exacerbated
by the difficulty of obtaining credible information on program effectiveness, which is
compounded by limited agency evaluation capacity. If these challenges can be successfully
overcomeFwhich will be an incredibly difficult task to say the leastFOMB will
have gone a long way, through its development of PART, in providing performancebased
information on individual programs to the full range of actors who implement
budget, policy, and management decisions.