WASHINGTON – Today, Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Tom Carper (D-Del.) and Ranking Member Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) highlighted the Administration’s Friday release of the first Federal Program Inventory (FPI). The FPI, produced by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), is a list of programs run by the federal government, which was created as a result of the Government Results and Performance Modernization Act of 2010. 

“The Government Performance and Results Modernization Act was crafted in part to help Congress and the executive branch address inefficiencies, poor performance, overlap, duplication, and fragmentation across the federal government,” said Chairman Carper. “The Office of Management and Budget’s first Federal Program Inventory is an important tool to assist in our ongoing efforts to address these inefficiencies, helping Congress and the general public assess how federal agencies are performing and how much a government program costs. If implemented correctly, the Federal Program Inventory can also assist agencies and Congress by aligning programs with goals and desired outcomes so that these programs can be managed more efficiently.  While the creation and release of this list is a critical first step, more work remains. Federal agencies need to continue to work with the Office of Management and Budget and Congress both to refine the list and to fully implement the Performance Act. I urge them to continue their efforts in order to realize the law’s full potential. Just as important, we in Congress must continue our oversight as the law’s provisions take effect. Dr. Coburn and I, with the help of our Committee’s members, will continue to work closely with the Administration to ensure that the law and this important provision are successful so that taxpayers can get the more effective and cost-efficient federal government they deserve.” 

"It is clear government is too big when no one knows how many programs the government actually administers, or even how the government defines a program.  I am pleased OMB has taken a first step to solve this problem. Yet, this report shows we are nowhere near identifying everything the government is doing,” Dr. Coburn said. “Only when we have a comprehensive picture of what every agency and program in the federal government is doing can we make necessary reforms.  I look forward to working with OMB to improve this list and identify in greater detail how the federal government is spending taxpayer dollars in these tough economic times.” 

The Government Results and Performance Modernization Act of 2010 requires the Office of Management and Budget to issue guidance and work with agencies to produce an inventory of federal programs, a description of the purposes of the program, and an explanation of how the programs contribute to the goals and missions of the agencies. The FPI provides Congress and the public better access to a defined list of the programs that exist across the federal government.  The Performance Act also requires that this information be published on a website and be updated on a regular basis. In this first phase, the major agencies will post a list of their programs on their website and Performance.gov for feedback.  The inventory will be updated each year, and will be expanded over time with links to additional sources of information. 

For more information, please visit: www.goals.performance.gov/federalprograminventory

###