Agencies Get Good Marks on Bush's Performance Scorecard

As the Bush administration nears an end, the president's key policy lieutenants are mustering data to show that many federal agencies are meeting the goals for improved performance laid out by the White House seven years ago.

In 2001, according to the administration's scorecard, 15 percent of agencies met or partially met the president's goals, compared with 82 percent today.

His administration's efforts to improve the government's internal operations will be a part of the narrative in President Bush's fiscal 2009 budget, scheduled for release today. Parts of the budget will stress the importance of the government getting its financial house in order at a time when the administration is pushing to balance the budget by 2012.

Clay Johnson III, deputy director for management at the Office of Management and Budget, citing the scorecard, told reporters last week, "We've come a long way, baby."

But the president's management scorecard has drawn skepticism and controversy.

Congress, for example, recently placed new restrictions on a key element of the administration's initiative -- stepped-up outsourcing of federal jobs. Congress also has moved slowly on the administration's vision for e-gov, or electronic government, another administration goal.

The administration is not giving in, though.

Paul Denett, in charge of government-wide procurement policy at the OMB, said studies are underway to show that savings from job competitions "are real," a concern of Congress. The OMB will help agencies comply with new restrictions on job competitions and promote efforts to re-engineer business practices and take other steps to improve efficiency.

The budget will propose spending more for technology improvements in the government and show savings of several million dollars because of e-gov initiatives in fiscal 2007, officials said.

Even areas where the administration has made substantial progress, such as financial management, appear likely to get more scrutiny from Congress.

For instance, the administration has pushed to reduce "improper payments," such as overpayments to individuals and vendors, payments that are not allowed under program rules and payments whose validity cannot be backed up with documents.

The administration has reduced the error rate for improper payments, but the estimated total still remains large, about $55 billion in fiscal 2007. Daniel I. Werfel, acting controller at the OMB, said the budget will again propose a "program integrity" effort to help eliminate wrong payments.