Agencies raise grades in OMB score card

• By Michael Hardy
• Aug 08, 2008

Agencies scored the highest ranking on 80 percent of their progress measures in the latest President’s Management Agenda score card, a slight increase from the previous report, which recorded more than 75 percent green.

The Office of Management and Budget uses a traffic-light system for the scores. Green means the agency is meeting all of its goals for that particular measure. Red signifies trouble, and yellow highlights partial progress, with some lapses.

The latest score card measures the quarter that ended June 30. OMB grades 26 federal departments and agencies on their status and progress in five major initiatives, and it releases the results four times a year. On the first score card in 2002, only one agency earned a green, and that was only for one initiative.
In the new report, the Labor Department, Social Security Administration and Environmental Protection Agency earned green scores for status and progress in all five initiatives.

“Agencies continue to work toward greater effectiveness,” said Clay Johnson, deputy director of management at OMB. “They are doing what they said they would do, as evidenced by the high number of green progress scores.

The five initiatives are: human capital management, commercial services management, financial performance, e-government, and performance improvement.

The OMB score card
Here is how agencies fared in the latest Executive Branch Management Scorecard, ranked by the number of green scores awarded in each category.

Performance improvement
18 greens
7 yellows
1 red

Human capital
13 greens
12 yellows
1 red

Financial performance
13 greens
5 yellows
8 reds

Commercial services management
9 greens
13 yellows
4 reds

E-government
7 greens
12 yellows
7 reds

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