The Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) is a public bipartisan law passed by Congress in 1993 (Public Law 103-62) to improve stewardship in the Federal Government by linking resources and management decisions with program performance. The law requires Federal programs to do the following:

• Develop strategic plans that specify what will be accomplished over a 3 to 5 year period;
• Annually set performance targets related to the strategic plan;
• Annually report the degree to which the targets set in the previous year were met; and
• Regularly conduct evaluations of programs and use those results to explain successes and failures based on performance data.

Performance Assessments, located in the Division of Program Cordination, Planning and Strategic Initiatives (DPCPSI) within the Office of the Director, supports activities related to NIH-level organizational performance assessments, including the coordination and preparation of the GPRA Annual Performance Plans and Annual Reports.

NIH's response to GPRA is embodied in two major activities:

1. yearly preparation of an NIH-specific Annual Performance Plan and Report, which describes the agency's mission, resources, programs and strategies, and provides an assessment of the progress towards achieving its performance goals and targets, and
2. participation in the development and periodic updating of the unified (department-wide), multiyear Strategic Plan under GPRA, prepared by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). In addition, NIH also prepares other substantial reports pertaining to GPRA, such as the Assessment of Research Outcomes, which documents the findings of the independent review process used to assess performance for many of NIH's outcome goals for research.

NIH is comprised of 27 Institutes and Centers (ICs) with one program – Research.  All performance measures are organized into five functional areas to highlight aspects of the activities involved in NIH's research.

1. Scientific Research Outcomes (SRO)
2. Communication and Transfer of Results (CTR)
3. Capacity Building and Research Resources (CBRR)
4. Strategic Management of Human Capital (SMHC)
5. Program Oversight and Improvements (POI)

GPRA reporting and Planning

• FY 2010 NIH Online Performance Appendix
• NIH Budget Request & Congressional Justification

NIH budget information can be accessed via the NIH Office of Budget website

• Past NIH Performance Reports  

 
Please click on a links below for additional performance and planning information

• GPRA Legislation and Guidance
• GPRA Legislation: Public Law 103-62 (Full Text)
• OMB Circular A-11 (Full Text)

HHS planning and performance information

• GPRA Implementation at HHS
• HHS FY 2009 Budget Documentations & Performance Information
• HHS Strategic Plan 2007-2012
• Healthy People 2010