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January 14, 2003

M-03-06

MEMORANDUM FOR THE HEADS OF EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS AND AGENCIES


FROM:
Mitchell E. Daniels, Jr.
Director   

SUBJECT:

Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART) – Presentation in Congressional Justifications

Program performance assessments developed using the program assessment rating tool (PART) are an integral component of the President’s budget. Agencies have dedicated considerable time and effort to develop program effectiveness and accountability ratings using the PART. This rating process generated a great deal of interesting and useful information. OMB and Agencies conducted assessments on over 20 percent of Federal programs and in many cases these assessments helped inform budget decisions. The FY 2004 Budget will include the results of these ratings and the detailed ratings will be available to the public on the OMB website.

To ensure the best available information is included in program justifications sent to the Congress, summaries of completed PARTs and their relation to the Administration’s proposals should now be incorporated into the rationale for the budget request for all pertinent activities. In particular, they should be incorporated into your agency’s Congressional justification materials. Performance information should enhance the Congressional Justifications without overwhelming the reader. And, this addition to the Congressional Justification will also provide agency performance data in a single document to the Congress.

We appreciate the work that has gone in to developing program ratings and the effort to further incorporate performance information in the allocation of resources. Please contact your OMB representative if you have any questions.