§1126 Program Management Improvement Officers and Program Management Policy Council

Summary

Each agency named in section 901(b) must pick a senior executive who oversees programs and projects to be its Program Management Improvement Officer (PMIO). The PMIO must put the agency’s program management rules into practice and make a plan to strengthen program managers. That plan must cover better training (including private-sector practices and cost control for big projects), mentoring, clearer career paths, recruiting and keeping skilled managers, sharing best practices and lessons learned, and using common templates and tools for data and oversight. These rules do not apply to the Department of Defense if they duplicate chapter 87 of title 10; for naming a PMIO, the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment (or that person’s designee) counts as the PMIO. The Office of Management and Budget must run a Program Management Policy Council to help agencies improve how they run programs. The Council advises the Deputy Director for Management, reviews GAO high-risk programs and suggests actions, talks about workforce and career needs, supports policies for continuous improvement, looks at big cross-agency challenges, advises on governmentwide transparency standards, and checks the information published under section 1122. Members include 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 PMIO from each agency in section 901(b), and any other federal employees the Chair names. The Deputy Director for Management is the Chair. The Council elects a Vice Chair for a term of not more than 1 year. The Chair runs meetings, sets the agenda, and can form subgroups. The Council must meet at least four times each fiscal year and may meet more often. When the Chair asks, heads of agencies with a PMIO on the Council must give administrative help.