Goal Ambiguity, Program Size, Type, Political Content, and Budget Increases

Evaluating the performance of governmental activities has been a major topic in public administration for many decades, but has received increased attention in recent years. As part of this trend, in 2003 the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) began using the Performance Assessment and Rating Tool (PART) to assess the performance of federal programs. PART assesses program purpose and design, strategic planning, program management, program results (performance on strategic goals), and an overall performance rating that combines these four categories of indicators. Researchers have reported analyses of PART results, in relation to such variables as budget decisions in OMB, and whether the program head is a careerist or political appointee (e.g., Gilmour and Lewis, 2006). Common performance measures for disparate government programs are rare, especially in the U.S. at the federal level, and PART scores provide comparable performance indicators. The availability of PART results for a very large number of federal programs (767 programs, for the present analysis) provides an opportunity for analysis of an important performance assessment initiative, and analysis of factors related to performance indicators for federa