Title 31, U.S. Code (Selected)

31 U.S.C § 1120

Subtitle II—The Budget Process

Chapter 11—The Budget and Fiscal, Budget, and Program Information

§1120. Federal Government and agency priority goals

(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. 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. 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 the website described under 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.

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Counsel Notes

Section 1120 was set forth by Section 5 of the GPRA Modernization Act of 2010.  The bill was introduced and passed the House as H.R. 2142 (111th Congress) and sent to the Senate. The Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs marked up the bill, and reported a full substitute. The accompanying Report included the following description of the newly established 31 U.S.C. 1120:

Section 5. Federal government and agency priority goals

This section amends title 31, United States Code, by adding a new subsection 1120, “Federal Government and Agency Priority Goals.”

This section requires the Director of OMB to coordinate with agencies to develop federal government priority goals, with the aim of improving performance and management across the federal government.

This section also provides the process for developing the federal government priority goals and making them available to the public. At a minimum, the goals are required to be posted on the government-wide performance website provided under the new section 1122 of title 31, United States Code, created by section 7 of this bill. The bill provides flexibility for the Director of OMB to make adjustments to the goals during the four-year timeframe should there be significant changes in the federal government’s operating environment. When developing or adjusting the goals, and at least once per Congress, the Director of OMB is also required to consult with key congressional committees and obtain both majority and minority views on the draft goals.

Further, this section requires the head of each of the 24 CFO Act agencies (or those otherwise determined by the Director of OMB) to identify agency priority goals from among the agency’s performance goals. This section provides the Director of OMB the authority to determine the total number of agency priority goals across the federal government, as well as the number of priority goals to be developed by each agency.

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY NOTES

PUBLIC LAWS

Pub. L. 111–352, §5, Jan. 4, 2011, 124 Stat. 3873 (enacted as the GPRA Modernization Act of 2010) established this section.

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