Biden Administration Issues New Guidance Instructing Agencies to Start Tracking Goals Again

Biden Administration Issues New Guidance Instructing Agencies to Start Tracking Goals Again

The White House on Wednesday formally reinstated requirements for federal agencies to create and track performance goals that reflect the Biden administration's objectives, reversing an 11th hour change the Trump administration implemented shortly before leaving office. 


The Biden administration instructed agencies to bring their goals in line with the president’s priorities, noting the White House will review them for compliance. Rob Fairweather, acting director of the Office of Management and Budget, issued a memorandum on Wednesday to explain the changes, which took effect through an update to Circular No. A-11, the document that sets budget preparation and execution policy. 


The Trump White House's decision in December 2020 to remove the requirement to set and track agency goals as part of budget preparation “threatened to disrupt strategic and performance planning across federal departments and agencies,” Fairweather said. “These activities are critical to clearly defining the outcomes the federal government aims to achieve, using feedback from our customers to improve service delivery, and being transparent about agency results.”


Agency goals are monitored by performance improvement officers, though each objective generally has its own point person and various offices often join forces to create “cross-agency priority goals.” The goals inform the budgeting process and the development of the president’s management agenda, which Biden officials said will be released in the coming months. They are developed in compliance with the Government Performance and Results Act and tracked on Performance.gov. In justifying their removal from the budgeting process, then-OMB Director Russ Vought said the data "attract little interest" and amounted to "bureaucratic processes that do not lead to impactful change or ..

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