Labor, transportation departments top annual performance reporting rankings.(News & Numbers)

The Department of Labor and the Department of Transportation tied for first place in the 5th Annual Performance Report Scorecard produced by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. The rankings are based on the quality of the performance reports produced by 24 major federal agencies in fiscal year 2003. The scorecard is intended to encourage federal agencies to improve the quality of their reports, which are mandated by the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993.

"By assessing the quality of agencies' reports ... we wish to learn which agencies are supplying the information that citizens and their elected leaders need to make informed funding and policy decisions," the Mercatus Center stated in a news release. "We review these reports with the mindset of ordinary citizens who are interested in looking for the benefits that the agencies provide and the effectiveness of the agencies' efforts."

The Mercatus Center assesses the quality of the reports (not the quality of the results achieved) along three dimensions:

1. Transparency--how well the agency reports its successes and failures.

2. Public benefits--how well the agency documents its outcomes and their associated costs.

3. Forward-looking leadership--how well the agency uses its annual performance information to devise strategies for improvement.

The Labor Department scored highest in transparency, and the Transportation Department scored highest in leadership. The accompanying table shows how the 24 agencies scored in each of the three categories.

According to the Mercatus Center, the most common strength of the performance reports is accessibility. Other strengths include clarity, articulation of outcome-oriented goals, explanation of how the agency makes the U.S. a better place to live, and discussion of major management challenges. The most common weaknesses of the reports are absence of outcome-oriented performance measures, failure to link costs with results, and weak or missing explanations of failures to achieve strategic goals.

The Annual Performance Report Scorecard is available in its entirety from the Mercatus Center's Web site, www.mercatus.org.

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