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OMB's Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART)What is the PART?In July of 2002, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget announced development of a tool for formally evaluating the effectiveness of federal programs, called the Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART). He described the PART’s purposes as follows: “The program assessment effort presents an opportunity to inform and improve agency GPRA plans and reports, and establish a meaningful systematic link between GPRA and the budget process.” OMB’s guidance contains this description of the PART: "The Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART) is a diagnostic tool used to assess the performance of Federal programs and to drive improvements in program performance. Once completed, PART reviews help inform budget decisions and identify actions to improve results. Agencies are held accountable for implementing PART follow-up actions, also known as improvement plans, for each of their programs. The PART is designed to provide a consistent approach to assessing and rating programs across the Federal government. PART assessments review overall program effectiveness, from how well a program is designed to how well it is implemented and what results it achieves." The PART questionnaire is divided into four sections: 1. Program Purpose & Design, 2. Strategic Planning, 3. Program Management, and 4. Program Results. Points are awarded to a program based on the answer to each question, and an overall rating of effectiveness is then assigned. There are 5 categories of possible ratings: Effective, Moderately Effective, Adequate, Ineffective, and Results Not Demonstrated. OMB has subjected all federal programs to PART evaluations. Its effort began with assessments and ratings of 234 programs covering approximately 20% of the federal budget, followed by publication of the results in the President’s FY 2004 Budget. OMB then expanded PART evaluations to an additional 20% of federal programs (or budget coverage) each year, along with selected re-evaluations of previously “PARTed” programs when there is reason to believe the rating might be changed. PART ScoringThe Program Assessment Rating Tool contains 25 questions in the basic PART instrument, which covers the category of Direct Federal Programs. These questions are organized into four sections of the PART that are each assigned a weight for calculating an overall score:
In addition to the 25 questions on the basic PART instrument, certain types of programs have several additional questions relating to their special characteristics. There are 6 such categories of programs that have their own unique set of additional questions. The 7 categories of federal programs are:
Each question in the first three sections of the PART is answered in a Yes/No format. Questions in section 4 (Program Results/Accountability) may be answered as Yes, Large Extent, Small Extent or No. When a PART is completed for a program, along with each answer there is a brief explanation that includes a description of the relevant evidence substantiating the answer. The questions within each section are given equal weight, unless the evaluator decides to alter their weight to emphasize certain key factors of importance to the program. The PART’s
instructions “A Yes answer must be definite and reflect a high standard of performance. . . . Each question requires a clear explanation of the answer and citations of relevant supporting evidence, such as agency performance information, independent evaluations, and financial information. Responses must be evidence-based and not rely on impressions or generalities.” Translating PART Scores into RatingsOMB converts the PART scores into qualitative ratings using the following scoring bands:
However, regardless of the overall score, a rating of Results Not Demonstrated (RND) is given if the program does not have performance measures that have been agreed-upon by OMB, or if the measures lack baselines and performance data. The following chart published by OMB shows a steady improvement in PART ratings achieved by federal programs over time:
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