Overview

The Government Performance and Results Act Modernization Act of 2010 (GPRAMA), as amended by the William M. (Mac) Thornberry National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 (NDAA), requires the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to develop a single website that provides a "coherent picture of all Federal programs, and the performance of the Federal Government as well as individual agencies." This picture - known as the Federal Program Inventory - would allow policymakers and the public to review and analyze Federal spending that shares a common purpose within and across agencies. An appropriately constructed inventory could also improve financial and program management through the establishment of stronger connections between spending and performance information, reduce reporting burden, and ensure Congress and OMB are better prepared to nimbly respond to emerging priorities.

Timeline

  1. January 2011

    The Government Performance and Results Modernization Act of 2010 (GPRAMA) is signed into law. GPRAMA directs the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to ensure the effective operation of a single website that provides a "coherent picture of all Federal programs, and the performance of the Federal Government as well as individual agencies." This coherent picture becomes known as a Federal Program Inventory (FPI).

  2. January 2012

    OMB performs a pilot (M-12-07) with 11 agencies as part of an iterative approach to implement the GPRAMA requirements.

  3. July 2012

    OMB issues guidance (A-11, 280.3) based on lessons learned from the pilot to develop an initial FPI. The guidance recognizes that agencies and their stakeholders use the term "program" in different ways across widely varying missions and gives significant latitude to agencies in how they define programs.

  4. May 2013

    OMB publishes an initial FPI that includes more than 1,500 programs from 24 agencies. Because of the flexibility provided to agencies in how to define programs, it is difficult to use the inventory to make meaningful comparisons across programs.

  5. May 2014

    The Digital Accountability and Transparency Act (DATA Act) is signed into law, directing OMB to establish government-wide data standards for certain financial data and improve the quality of the data reported on USASpending.gov. Meeting the DATA Act reporting requirements becomes the focal point for OMB in creating the FPI.

  6. October 2014 & September 2017

    GAO makes several recommendations to improve the 2013 FPI including using a more data-centric approach to provide a more coherent picture of all Federal programs and better ensure information is useful for decision-makers.

  7. 2015 through 2019

    OMB focuses agency efforts on implementing the DATA Act. This important work to improve data quality (M-18-16) and build a more robust data information architecture are prerequisites to creating a coherent and comprehensive FPI.

  8. Early 2020

    As agency DATA Act reporting matures, OMB uses lessons learned from that implementation and the lessons learned from the initial GPRAMA FPI pilot to re-imagine ways to create the program inventory and identify advancing FPI efforts as a 2020 priority.

  9. December 2020

    OMB issues a memo to Federal agencies launching the FPI Exploratory Pilot as the next interim step to creating a comprehensive inventory. The pilot is designed to identify gaps in existing guidance and test an innovative approach to defining programs.

  10. January 2021

    OMB launches the 2020 exploratory pilot website and publishes the initial results from the pilot. A CSV file containing the data from the 2020 pilot can be downloaded here.

  11. January 2021

    William M. (Mac) Thornberry National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 (NDAA) updates requirements for Federal Program Inventory.

  12. October 2021

    OMB report to Congress lays out OMB's vision for the FPI and a plan to implement it.

  13. January 2023

    GAO releases a summary of useful approaches to guide the creation of the FPI (GAO-23-106272).

  14. Summer 2023

    OMB works with the General Services Administration to issue guidance to agencies requiring a review and update of all assistance listings.

  15. Fall 2023

    OMB begins developing an updated FPI, using assistance listings as the basis of the inventory.

  16. February 2024

    OMB launches the Federal Program Inventory.