Scorecard shows management agenda moving forward

Agencies get one grade for their status relative to the five President's Management Agenda initiatives, and a second grade for their progress toward meeting the PMA goals.Grades are green for success, yellow for mixed results and red for unsatisfactory. For example, an agency would get a red score in financial management if the agency has a history of spending more money than has been given to it by law. Johnson predicted that a year from now, 85 percent of agency status scores will be yellow. "A year from now, the average agency will be performing better than the best agency two years ago. That is a huge statement," he said. The latest scorecard, which measures progress through June 30, shows that the departments of State and Treasury, the Army Corps of Engineers and the Small Business Administration improved their human capital scores from red to yellow, and the departments of Defense and Education and the Office of Personnel Management improved their competitive sourcing scores from red to yellow.In financial performance, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Social Security Administration jumped from yellow to green. No agency progress scores increased. Most progress scores are green; only six of 26 agencies had one or more red progress scores. Two agencies have earned a green status score so far: the National Science Foundation in both financial performance and e-government, and the Social Security Administration in financial performance. "People could say most of these scores are red, and the average agency score two years ago was predominantly red. So what have we accomplished? We have accomplished a lot," Johnson said. Johnson said agency political appointees have embraced the management agenda, and in many cases are pushing to advance their scores faster than OMB's managers have planned. "Instead of pushing the agenda, [OMB is] helping agencies get to where they want to be," he said.