 |
Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART) Status
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) uses the Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART) to assess federal programs. The PART is a series of diagnostic questions used to assess and evaluate programs across a set of performance-related criteria, including program design and purpose, strategic planning, program management and results. PART results are then used to inform the budget process and improve program management to ensure the most effective and efficient usage of taxpayer dollars. A PART assessment takes place over the course of a calendar year, and is meant to inform the budget formulation process one year later, thus a PART assessment conducted in calendar year 2002 (CY 2002) would inform the budget process for FY 2004.
In light of foreign assistance reform, certain programs’ improvement plans have been adjusted, and the Agency and OMB are also reviewing the program parameters for current and anticipated PART assessments.
To date, USAID and OMB have conducted 11 PART reviews, which are summarized below. Additional information on these assessments can be found at http://www.expectmore.gov.
FY 2004 PART Programs
Strategic Goal 6 - Social and Environmental Issues
| Program Name |
USAID Child Survival and Health - Population |
| Rating |
- CY 2002: Moderately Effective
|
| Lead Bureau |
- US Agency for International Development - Global Health (GH)
|
| Major Findings/ Recommendations |
- The program has made significant progress toward achieving annual and long-term performance goals.
- The program continues to address its management deficiencies.
- The program is decentralized.
- The program has been highly effective in increasing contraceptive use in assisted countries.
|
| Actions Taken/ Planned |
- USAID is using the funding allocation model to rank countries globally to determine the best priority use of family planning and reproductive health funding. It is justifying how the model impacts budget decisions.
- USAID is defining U.S. assistance graduation criteria for countries and strategies for countries currently receiving family planning and reproductive health funding within reach of such criteria.
- USAID is addressing financial management system issues.
|
| Program Name |
Global Climate Change (GCC) |
| Rating |
|
| Lead Bureau |
- US Agency for International Development - Bureau for Economic Growth, Agriculture, and Trade (EGAT)
|
| Major Findings/ Recommendations |
- The program targets its resources to achieve the most benefit.
- The program coordinates its climate change activities effectively with many organizations conducting similar work.
- The program cannot numerically measure progress made toward two out of three program goals.
|
| Actions Taken/ Planned |
- The program is in the process of developing a new strategy to include more short and long-term goals.
- The program is conducting regular reviews of its performance and effectiveness to inform program improvements.
|
FY 2005 PART Programs
Strategic Goal 7 - Humanitarian Response
| Program Name |
Food Aid for Emergencies and Development (Public Law 480 Title II) |
| Rating |
|
| Lead Bureau |
- US Agency for International Development - Democracy, Conflict, and Humanitarian Assistance (DCHA)
|
| Major Findings/ Recommendations |
- This program is managed by the Food for Peace Office, which has a new strategic plan to improve food security in countries prone to hunger and famine.
- The program would be more cost-effective if several congressional mandates were eliminated, such as cargo preference requirements.
- In general, food aid is not well-integrated or coordinated with other U.S. Agency for International Development resources.
|
| Actions Taken/ Planned |
- USAID is ensuring that emergency and development food aid are directed towards the highest priority needs and that contingency planning allows this program to address unanticipated needs throughout the year.
- USAID is taking steps to integrate better food security issues and food aid into overall Agency planning in Washington and at its missions abroad and with donors, including addressing root causes of famine.
- USAID is developing new indicators for food security that encompass both emergency and development food aid programs, including tracking across-the-board progress in countries and overall.
|
Strategic Goal 1 - Regional Stability
| Program Name |
Office of Transition Initiatives |
| Rating |
- CY 2003: Moderately Effective
|
| Lead Bureau |
- US Agency for International Development - DCHA/Office of Transition Initiatives (OTI)
|
| Major Findings/ Recommendations |
- OTI provides fast, flexible, and short-term assistance to conflict-prone countries.
- OTI is able to move into countries quickly and rapidly start producing results, forging community peace-building.
- OTI has strong performance measures at the recipient and country level.
|
| Actions Taken/ Planned |
- OTI is ensuring that these programs remain short-term in nature. In general, programs should be financed by Agency’s missions abroad with other funding or by other organizations or ended after two years.
- OTI is improving performance measures where possible to track better the effectiveness and sustainability of the Office’s programs on advancing democracy and peace.
- OTI is improving coordination and cooperation across the Agency between related offices and programs to ensure that there is no duplication of efforts or overlap.
|
FY 2006 PART Programs
Strategic Goal 6 - Social And Environmental Issues
| Program Name |
Child Survival and Health for Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) |
| Rating |
- CY 2004: Moderately Effective
|
| Lead Bureau |
- US Agency for International Development – Latin America & Caribbean Bureau (LAC)
|
| Major Findings/ Recommendations |
- The program is advancing the U.S.’s long term goals for health in Latin America and the Caribbean.
- The LAC Bureau created a set of common goals across countries and region-wide indicators to provide valuable performance information to the field and Washington headquarters.
- At the regional level, this program has not yet developed budget requests that are explicitly tied to accomplishment of annual and long-term performance goals.
|
| Actions Taken/ Planned |
- As part of foreign assistance reform and the resultant new Foreign Assistance Framework, USAID is working with the Department of State to establish new measures and indicators that will allow for results to be measured across LAC countries, programs and partners.
|
Strategic Goals 1, 4, 5 & 6 - Regional Stability, Democracy & Human Rights, Economic Prosperity & Security, Social And Environmental Issues
| Program Name |
Development Assistance to Latin America and the Caribbean |
| Rating |
- CY 2004: Moderately Effective
|
| Lead Bureau |
- US Agency for International Development - Latin America & Caribbean Bureau (LAC)
|
| Major Findings/ Recommendations |
- The program supports U.S. foreign policy priorities in the region.
- The LAC Bureau has undertaken extensive efforts to create common regional measures.
- The program’s goals in Latin America are new and have not yet been linked to funding requests.
|
| Actions Taken/ Planned |
- As part of foreign assistance reform and the resultant new Foreign Assistance Framework, USAID is working with the Department of State to establish new measures and indicators that will allow for results to be measured across LAC countries, programs and partners
|
Strategic Goal 8 - Management And Organizational Excellence
| Program Name |
USAID Administration and Capital Investment Fund |
| Rating |
- CY 2004: Moderately Effective
|
| Lead Bureau |
- US Agency for International Development - multiple Bureaus
|
| Major Findings/ Recommendations |
- This program fulfills an important need, and has demonstrated effective strategic planning and program management.
- The Agency is continuing its efforts to improve financial, human capital, facilities, and information technology management.
- To overcome remaining challenges, the Agency must institutionalize performance management in decision making.
|
| Actions Taken/ Planned |
- Increasing the effectiveness and efficiency of agency operations by implementing the President’s Management Agenda, as well as other reform initiatives.
- Continuing to operationalize meaningful performance measures and utilize them in the management of agency operations.
- Expanding the use of performance based contracting to better control costs and enhance services provided.
|
FY 2007 PART Programs
Strategic Goals 1, 4, 5 & 6 - Regional Stability, Democracy & Human Rights, Economic Prosperity & Security, Social And Environmental Issues
| Program Name |
USAID’s Development Assistance for Sub-Saharan Africa |
| Rating |
|
| Lead Bureau |
- US Agency for International Development – Africa Bureau (AFR)
|
| Major Findings/ Recommendations |
- The program aims to reduce poverty and enhance democracy and the environment in African countries; but its impact is diffused across a large number of activities in a lot of countries.
- Most African countries have weak economic, social, and political institutions; poor-transparency of government programs; and systemic threat to progress from endemic diseases.
- The program’s decentralized structure makes it challenging to compare performance in different countries.
|
| Actions Taken/ Planned |
- The AFR Bureau is developing and applying common outcome goals to assure program advancement, especially of Presidential initiatives.
- The AFR Bureau is aligning country mission staffing levels and operating expense funds with international assistance levels to increase program efficiency.
|
Strategic Goal 6 - Social And Environmental Issues
| Program Name |
Africa Child Survival and Health |
| Rating |
|
| Lead Bureau |
- US Agency for International Development – Africa Bureau (AFR)
|
| Major Findings/ Recommendations |
- USAID is working to comply with federal financial management requirements.
- The health performance measures are internationally accepted and widely used.
|
| Actions Taken/ Planned |
- USAID is developing an efficiency measure for Africa health programs that demonstrates a commitment to programming funds at a lower cost either services, commodities, or total overhead.
- USAID is planning evaluations that over a 5-8 year time provide a comprehensive picture of the performance of the Africa Health programs.
|
Strategic Goal 7 - Humanitarian Response
| Program Name |
International Disaster and Famine Account |
| Rating |
|
| Lead Bureau |
- US Agency for International Development – Democracy, Conflict, and Humanitarian Assistance (DCHA)
|
| Major Findings/ Recommendations |
- The Office of US Foreign Disaster Assistance provides timely humanitarian assistance to foreign disasters, coordinating the U.S. response, including the military’s relief efforts.
- The programs seek to save lives and reduce suffering.
- The Office often collaborates well with other U.S. agencies, foreign relief agencies, international and non-governmental organizations.
|
| Actions Taken/ Planned |
- The Office is integrating assistance needs in protracted emergencies better with other USAID programs in order to reduce the Office’s long-term presence in these countries.
- The Office is improving and expanding the use of performance measures across protracted emergencies, including ensuring that certain key performance data are measured reliably and uniformly across emergencies.
- The Office is developing additional measures of cost-effectiveness, including reviewing cost-effectiveness when doing post-crises assessments and evaluations.
|
Strategic Goal 5 - Economic Prosperity and Security
| Program Name |
Development Credit Authority |
| Rating |
- CY 2005: Moderately Effective
|
| Lead Bureau |
- US Agency for International Development – Bureau for Economic Growth, Agriculture, and Trade (EGAT)
|
| Major Findings/ Recommendations |
- The Office of Development Credit, which manages this tool, has significantly improved its strategic planning by establishing strong long-term goals and annual performance measures to more effectively assess its development impact.
- Although USAID fails to meet government-wide financial management standards, the Office of Development Credit does by conducting risk assessments of all Development Credit Authority guarantees.
- The Office does not yet have independent evaluations to indicate that the tool is effective at stimulating economic development.
|
| Actions Taken/ Planned |
- The Office is working to implement improved financial and accounting management procedures and increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the tool.
- The Office is incorporating the findings of its independent evaluations into its project development and monitoring plans to improve program effectiveness.
|
Back to Top ^ | < Previous Page | Next Page >
|
