PRIA, Government Policy, Made Personal

Summary

The Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) must work with federal agencies to create government-wide priority goals. These goals must focus on a few big crosscutting policy outcomes and on management improvements across the government, such as financial, people, IT, buying, and property management. The goals must be long-term, updated at least once during the first year of each Presidential term, made public at least when the President’s budget is sent in the first full fiscal year after a new term begins, include plans to meet each goal within a single Presidential term, and show which parts of the budget support each goal. OMB may change goals when needed and must talk with Congress regularly and post goal information online. Every two years each major agency head must pick agency priority goals from their performance goals, with OMB deciding how many goals each agency will have. Agency goals must be the agency’s top priorities, be achievable in two years, name a goal leader, and include quarterly milestones and, when useful, quarterly performance targets. If a goal needs classified national security information, that material goes in a classified appendix. Only federal employees may develop these goals.

Title 31, §1120

Money and Finance, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Federal Government Priority Goals.—

(1)The Director of the Office of Management and Budget shall coordinate with agencies to develop priority goals to improve the performance and management of the Federal Government. Such Federal Government priority goals shall include—

(A)outcome-oriented goals covering a limited number of crosscutting policy areas; and

(B)goals for management improvements needed across the Federal Government, including—

(i)financial management;

(ii)human capital management;

(iii)information technology management;

(iv)procurement and acquisition management; and

(v)real property management;

(2)The Federal Government priority goals shall be long-term in nature. Such goals shall—

(A)be updated and revised not less frequently than during the first year of each Presidential term;

(B)be made publicly available not less frequently than concurrently with the submission of the budget of the United States Government under section 1105(a) made during the first full fiscal year following any year during which a term of the President commences under section 101 of title 3;

(C)include plans for the successful achievement of each goal within each single Presidential term; and

(D)explicitly cite to any specific contents of the budget described in subparagraph (B) that support the achievement of each goal. As needed, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget may make adjustments to the Federal Government priority goals to reflect significant changes in the environment in which the Federal Government is operating, with appropriate notification of Congress.

(3)When developing or making adjustments to Federal Government priority goals, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget shall consult periodically with the Congress, including obtaining majority and minority views from—

(A)the Committees on Appropriations of the Senate and the House of Representatives;

(B)the Committees on the Budget of the Senate and the House of Representatives;

(C)the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate;

(D)the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform of the House of Representatives;

(E)the Committee on Finance of the Senate;

(F)the Committee on Ways and Means of the House of Representatives; and

(G)any other committees as determined appropriate;

(4)The Director of the Office of Management and Budget shall consult with the appropriate committees of Congress at least once every 2 years.

(5)The Director of the Office of Management and Budget shall make information about the Federal Government priority goals available on a website described in section 1122 of this title.

(6)The Federal Government performance plan required under section 1115(a) of this title shall be consistent with the Federal Government priority goals.

(b)Agency Priority Goals.—

(1)Every 2 years, the head of each agency listed in section 901(b) of this title, or as otherwise determined by the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, shall identify agency priority goals from among the performance goals of the agency. The Director of the Office of Management and Budget shall determine the total number of agency priority goals across the Government, and the number to be developed by each agency. The agency priority goals shall—

(A)reflect the highest priorities of the agency, as determined by the head of the agency and informed by the Federal Government priority goals provided under subsection (a) and the consultations with Congress and other interested parties required by section 306(d) of title 5;

(B)have ambitious targets that can be achieved within a 2-year period;

(C)have a clearly identified agency official, known as a goal leader, who is responsible for the achievement of each agency priority goal;

(D)have interim quarterly targets for performance indicators if more frequent updates of actual performance provides data of significant value to the Government, Congress, or program partners at a reasonable level of administrative burden; and

(E)have clearly defined quarterly milestones.

(2)If an agency priority goal includes any program activity or information that is specifically authorized under criteria established by an Executive order to be kept secret in the interest of national defense or foreign policy and is properly classified pursuant to such Executive order, the head of the agency shall make such information available in the classified appendix provided under section 1115(e).

(c)The functions and activities of this section shall be considered to be inherently governmental functions. The development of Federal Government and agency priority goals shall be performed only by Federal employees.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Amendments

2024—Subsec. (a)(2). Pub. L. 118–190 substituted “Such goals shall—” and subpars. (A) to (D) for “At a minimum, the Federal Government priority goals shall be updated or revised every 4 years and made publicly available concurrently with the submission of the budget of the United States Government made in the first full fiscal year following any year in which the term of the President commences under section 101 of title 3.” 2021—Subsec. (a)(5). Pub. L. 116–283 substituted “a website described in” for “the website described under”.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Change of Name

Committee on Oversight and Government Reform of House of Representatives changed to Committee on Oversight and Reform of House of Representatives by House Resolution No. 6, One Hundred Sixteenth Congress, Jan. 9, 2019. Committee on Oversight and Reform of House of Representatives changed to Committee on Oversight and Accountability of House of Representatives by House Resolution No. 5, One Hundred Eighteenth Congress, Jan. 9, 2023.

§1120 Federal Government and Agency Priority Goals