§1126 Program Management Improvement Officers and Program Management Policy Council

Summary

Each covered agency must pick a senior executive with big program and project oversight to be its Program Management Improvement Officer. That officer must carry out the agency’s program management policies and make a plan to strengthen program managers. The plan must include better training (including private-sector skills and training on controlling costs for large projects), mentoring by experienced staff, clearer career paths and hiring/retention plans, ways to share best practices and lessons learned, and common templates and tools for collecting and analyzing program data. The Department of Defense is not covered when its own rules are essentially the same; the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment (or a designee) will serve as DoD’s officer. The Office of Management and Budget must create a Program Management Policy Council to be the main cross-agency forum on program and project management. The Council will advise the OMB Deputy Director for Management, review GAO high-risk programs and recommend actions, discuss workforce and policy needs (like career development and continuous improvement), advise on governmentwide transparency standards, and review the related website information. The Council includes five OMB officials (the Deputy Director for Management; the Administrator of the Office of Electronic Government; the Administrator of Federal Procurement Policy; the Controller of the Office of Federal Financial Management; and the Director of the Office of Performance and Personnel Management), the Program Management Improvement Officer from each covered agency, and other designated federal employees. The Deputy Director for Management chairs the Council, which must meet at least four times each fiscal year. Agencies with officers on the Council must provide administrative support when the chair asks.