The website is designed to highlight government efforts to cut waste and improve efficiency. The site organizes content by eight areas of focus and by 24 Cabinet-level federal agencies.
Performance.gov was created last year but was previously only accessible to agencies for internal sharing of data and best practices. Now this information is available for the world to see.
“The site makes it easier than ever to get more details on how your government is performing,” wrote Jeff Zients, deputy director for management and chief performance officer, on the Office of Management and Budget’s blog Thursday, Aug. 25. “For example, you can document the administration’s headway on reducing improper payments in all of the biggest programs. You can also track progress on the president’s directive to save billions of dollars in contracting and to increase competition for government contracts. And you can see how agencies are doing in managing their major IT projects, transitioning to the cloud, and shutting down hundreds of data centers.”
Some of the data presented on Performance.gov is available elsewhere on other federal websites. For example, under Performance.gov’s “technology focus area,” the management metrics for the federal government’s IT projects come from the IT Dashboard website.
Two months ago the White House launched its Campaign to Cut Waste, in what Obama called an effort to halt “stupid spending.” The administration ordered agencies to freeze all new federal websites and review the necessity of existing ones.
Evidently, Performance.gov made the cut.
“Performance.gov tracks our progress on the administration’s efforts to create a government that is more effective, efficient and responsive,” Zients wrote. “Importantly, the site is also a valuable tool for sharing best practices across the government — supporting learning and coordination across agencies.”
