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April 25, 2003
M-03-10
MEMORANDUM FOR HEADS OF EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS AND AGENCIES
FROM: |
Mitchell E. Daniels, Jr.
Director
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SUBJECT: |
Planning for the President’s Fiscal Year 2005 Budget Request |
This memorandum provides general funding level and program performance
guidance for preparation of the President’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2005
Budget.
As part of the war against terrorism, we have requested and achieved
record funding levels to meet homeland and national security requirements.
We should constantly look for ways to save the taxpayers money, but it
is particularly important to restrain the growth in spending when we need
to meet these new priorities during a period of unprecedented pressures
on the Federal budget.
You are being asked to develop a budget for FY 2005 that is within the
FY 2005 levels included in the FY 2004 Budget for your agency. Please
ensure that your submission includes aggressive implementation of the
President’s Management Agenda within these guidance levels and that
any discretionary or mandatory increases or amounts for new initiatives
are offset within your totals by reductions in lower priority or ineffective
programs. Submissions are due to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB)
by September 8, 2003.
The President’s Management Agenda remains a top priority. OMB will
continue to work with agencies to monitor your status and progress on
both the Executive Branch Management Scorecard and the Program Initiative
Scorecard.
The Management Agenda includes a budget and performance integration initiative.
For the fiscal year 2005 Budget submission, the performance plan required
by the Government Performance and Results Act should be incorporated into
the agency budget request and Congressional budget justification, eliminating
a separate report. Further, we expect agencies to meet the long-standing
goal to submit budgets that align resources with performance measures.
Last year we established the Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART) and
published evaluations for 234 programs. This year we will monitor agency
implementation of recommendations made as a result of last year’s
PART assessments, with particular attention to those programs rated “Results
Not Demonstrated,” and evaluate and publish assessments for an additional
20 percent of programs using the PART.
The OMB Resource Management Offices have been consulting with agencies
to identify new programs and begin the PART assessments (a list of the
new programs for your agency will be provided under separate cover). Most
of the assessment work should be completed by mid-June so that the results
can inform your budget deliberations and September submission. The PART
findings should be incorporated in your September budget request so that
it is clear how performance will be improved, deficiencies will be addressed,
and resource requests are related to effectiveness ratings.
To further strengthen information technology (IT) and E-Government efforts,
agencies should ensure that IT budget information is fully integrated
with each September budget request justification, demonstrate solid business
cases for IT projects, and identify all IT investments within their budget
request. Agencies should work to get projects off the 2004 at-risk list
by addressing weaknesses in areas that include security and project management.
Because agencies are required to create and manage department-wide IT
programs for office automation, infrastructure, and telecommunication,
IT investments in these areas should be coordinated through an agency-wide
process and reported in September as a single business case for the department.
Finally, each agency must contribute to the Presidential E-Government
initiatives, as outlined under the 2004 Budget. Under separate cover,
OMB will provide each agency’s funding or other resource requirements
for participation in the Presidential E-Gov Projects, consistent with
requirements under the E-Government Act of 2002.
I look forward to working with you as we develop the President’s
Budget for FY 2005.
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