E-gov scores shuffle in fourth quarter

Executive Branch Management score cards

NASA and the Agriculture and Health and Human Services departments dropped to the lowest rating for e-government on the Executive Branch Management Scorecard in the last quarter of fiscal 2006, while the Social Security Administration slipped to yellow, according to the Office of Management and Budget.

On the other hand, the Small Business Administration and Transportation Department leaped from red to green in the e-government category since the third-quarter score card. The State Department and the Environmental Protection Agency also received green scores in the category. OMB released the latest score card Nov. 9.

The Interior and Justice departments improved to yellow in e-government after earning red in the third quarter.

The e-government category has eight red scores, 10 yellow and eight green.

A green score means an agency is implementing its initiatives as planned. Yellow shows a need for adjustments to achieve the objectives in a timely manner, and red means an initiative is in jeopardy.

The score card evaluates agencies in five areas of the President’s Management Agenda: workforce, competitive sourcing, financial performance, e-government, and budget and performance integration.

Clay Johnson, OMB’s deputy director for management, said agencies are committed to making government better.

No agencies moved up or down in the workforce or financial performance categories. Financial performance has 16 red scores, two yellow and eight green scores.

In the competitive sourcing category, five scores improved. The Agriculture, Energy and State departments and the Social Security Administration moved up to green. The Defense Department earned a yellow score.

By improving its competitive sourcing, State achieved green partially by providing better global graphic communications and publishing at a savings of about $80 million over 10 years — roughly a one-third reduction in cost, OMB said.

In budget performance and integration, the Commerce and Education departments, the General Services Administration, and the Smithsonian Institution moved up to green, bringing the category’s total green scores to 14.