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Accountability
Accountability is doing what you said you would do. Five years ago, agencies committed to assessing all programs in five years. With the release of the President’s FY 2008 Budget, assessments completed on almost 1000 programs or $2.5 trillion in spending are available to the public on www.ExpectMore.gov.

And with reassessments, program ratings are improving:

Program Ratings are Improving A success of the Budget and Performance Integration Initiative has been the focus it brings to program performance. For example:
  • 14 percent of programs improved their performance rating overall;
  • 80 percent of programs have acceptable performance measures;
  • 74 percent have achieved their long-term goals and 80 percent have achieved their annual goals; and
  • 90 percent of programs have efficiency measures and about half of them have achieved their efficiency targets.
Having done what we said we would do with respect to assessments, we have to redouble our efforts to do what we said we would do with regard to improvement. Every program, no matter the rating, has a plan with milestones that addresses weaknesses found in program assessments. If programs are going to make a bigger difference in the lives of American citizens, implementation of those improvement plans has to be our priority. When you have a great story to tell about how what your agency or program did resulted in better performance, submit it to me and we can share it with others on the newly redesigned www.results.gov.

USDA: Greener than ever!
This quarter, the Department of Agriculture achieved its goal to be green is status for the Budget and Performance Integration Initiative. Among other things, the Department demonstrated improvement in the National School Lunch Program, enhancing the nutritional content of meals by reducing the proportion of calories from fat and saturated fat. Congratulations USDA!