U.S. Department of State

Performance Management - A Leadership Priority

FY 2005 Performance Summary (The Plan)

Bureau of Resource Management

February 2004

Report

Performance Management - A Leadership Priority

The Department uses strategic and performance planning to ensure the organization achieves its objectives and goals, and is committed to utilizing the funds it receives from the American people through the Congress to produce successful results. Under the strong leadership of the Secretary and Deputy Secretary, the Department also has implemented organizational innovations. For the first time, the State Department and USAID have developed and issued a joint Strategic Plan that governs the planning efforts for both agencies for fiscal years 2004-2009. This historic new Strategic Plan utilizes a revised strategic goal framework that better captures and articulates the Department's high priority goals and objectives, shortening the number of goals to better focus policy and management direction. Guided by the new Strategic Plan, the planning and resource allocation process receives the personal attention of the Deputy Secretary on an ongoing basis as he personally leads senior level Policy, Performance and Resource Reviews of all bureau performance and resource plans. Another significant organizational improvement has been the creation of joint State/USAID policy and management councils as recommended in the Strategic Plan. The Secretary's leadership in establishing these councils is ensuring the alignment of 'foreign policy and development assistance, and is improving the necessary management and organizational coordination and collaboration between the two agencies.

The Department's ongoing performance management process is driven by senior leadership direction and coordination. Each year, the Department's diplomatic missions and Washington-based bureaus submit Mission Performance Plans (MPPs) and Bureau Performance Plans (BPPs), respectively, that describe their policy and program goals, priorities and resource requirements, and evaluate performance. During the past year, the Department has improved the MPPs and BPPs, and fully automated the process. Missions, bureaus and senior officials now have the benefit of software applications that better support decision-making. Based on planning and performance information in the MPPs and BPPs, as well as additional budget information, the Department develops its annual Performance Budget, which focuses on the highest priority issues and is consistent with the high-level Strategic Plan. The annual Performance and Accountability Report demonstrates how well the Department performed in meeting the goals and targets described in the Performance Budget. The graphic at right shows the relationship between the key components of the performance landscape.