- Environmental Protection Agency
More than 25 years after it was passed, the Clean Water Act still challenges us to answer critical questions about the physical, chemical, and biological state of the nation's waters. One of the most meaningful ways of answering these questions is to observe directly the plants and animals that live in bodies of water. Because these biological indicators integrate, in themselves, the effects of various stressors, aquatic organisms and their communities reflect current conditions, as well as changes over time and cumulative effects. Biological indicators can show problems otherwise missed or underestimated.
Assessing the condition of biological communities provides a basis both to determine ecological potential and to measure success in achieving that potential. Biological indicators and data are the hub for:
- setting protection or restoration goals;
- determining what to monitor and how to interpret what is found;
- prioritizing stressors and choosing control measures;
- and assessing and reporting the effectiveness of management actions.
The majority of states also have biological assessment programs. Information is also available for some Territory, Tribal, and Interstate Programs. Information available is final as of December 2002.
- Government Accountability Office (GAO)
One of the GAO’s core values is that of accountability. “Accountability describes the nature of GAO's work. GAO helps the Congress oversee federal programs and operations to ensure accountability to the American people. GAO's analysts, auditors, lawyers, economists, information technology specialists, investigators, and other multidisciplinary professionals seek to enhance the economy, efficiency, effectiveness, and credibility of the federal government both in fact and in the eyes of the American people. GAO accomplishes its mission through a variety of activities, including financial audits, program reviews, investigations, legal support, and policy analyses.”
"To have a democracy that is performance-oriented and accountable, key national indicators are needed to assess the overall position and progress of a nation. A large and growing amount of dialogue and activity is taking place, throughout the United States and around the world, on key national, state, and local indicators and how to develop them in a manner that is truly useful to a community or society.
In order to advance this dialogue, on February 27, 2003, the U.S. Government Accountability Office, in cooperation with the National Academies, hosted a forum on Key National Performance Indicators in Washington D.C. The objective of the Forum was to discuss whether and how to develop a set of key national indicators for the United States.”
The Month in Review contains the reports, testimony, correspondence, legal products, and other publications made publicly available during the previous month, grouped according to subject categories.
The Yellow Book contains standards, often referred to as generally accepted government auditing standards or GAGAS, for audits of government organizations and activities, and of government assistance received by contractors and nongovernmental organizations.
The Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 “seeks to shift the focus of government decision making and accountability away from a preoccupation with the activities that are undertaken - such as grants dispensed or inspections made - to a focus on the results of those activities, such as real gains in employability, safety, responsiveness, or program quality. Under the Act, agencies are to develop multiyear strategic plans, annual performance plans, and annual performance reports.”
- Office of Management and Budget
"OMB's predominant mission is to assist the President in overseeing the preparation of the federal budget and to supervise its administration in Executive Branch agencies. OMB oversees and coordinates the Administration's procurement, financial management, information, and regulatory policies. In each of these areas, OMB's role is to help improve administrative management, to develop better performance measures and coordinating mechanisms, and to reduce any unnecessary burdens on the public.”
“One of five government-wide management initiatives, the Budget and Performance Integration Initiative builds on the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 (GPRA) and earlier efforts to identify program goals and performance measures, and link them to the budget process.”
“In order to ensure accountability for performance and results, the Administration is using an Executive Branch Management Scorecard. The Administration will use this scorecard to track how well departments and agencies are executing the management initiatives, and where they stand at a given point in time against the overall standards for success.”
- National Center for Education Statistics (NCES)
NCES is a Federal agency that collects, analyzes and disseminates financial and other information about elementary, secondary and higher education in the United States and other nations.
Education Statistics at a Glance brings together data from several NCES sources including: The Condition of Education, The Digest of Education Statistics, and Projections of Education Statistics.
- National Partnership for Reinventing Government
National Performance Review Vice President Gore's project to redesign government considers performance measurement and managing for results key elements. This site was archived in 2001.
- U.S. General Services Administration (GSA)
The GSA develops and implements policies that promote the best management practices government-wide. GSA is also a technology leader; we are the managing partner for five of the 24 White House e-government initiatives.
