Senate Passes Peters Bipartisan Bill to Bolster Transparency and Accountability for Federal Agency Performance Goals

WASHINGTON, D.C. –Bipartisan legislation authored by U.S. Senator Gary Peters (MI), Chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, to bolster the performance of federal agencies and ensure they are effectively carrying out their missions for the American people has passed the Senate. The Federal Agency Performance Act updates existing performance management laws by requiring regular strategic reviews of federal agencies’ performance goals and improving publicly available data on how agencies are achieving those goals. This will strengthen transparency and accountability for how federal agencies are working to save taxpayer dollars and improve delivery of essential services across the nation. 

“People in Michigan and across the country rely on federal agencies to provide essential services, and federal agencies should be working to ensure those services are delivered quickly and effectively,” said Senator Peters. “My commonsense, bipartisan legislation will bring greater transparency to how federal agencies are meeting their performance goals, helping to save taxpayer dollars and deliver better results for Americans.” 

“Federal agencies must have transparent goals and effective strategies for measuring performance to meet the needs of the American public,” said James-Christian Blockwood, Executive Vice President for the Partnership for Public Service. “The Federal Agency Performance Act will help modernize agencies' strategic planning processes, reporting frameworks and performance accountability. The Partnership for Public Service commends this bipartisan action to create an integrated, whole of government approach to improving federal performance and reporting.” 

The Federal Agency Performance Act would update the Government Performance and Results Act for the first time since 2010 to require the White House Office of Management and Budget to regularly conduct strategic reviews of agencies’ performance goals and ensure they are following through with strategic plans. The bill would also improve the quality and amount of data on performance.gov – the federal government’s central website to track agency-specific and government-wide performance.  

Peters has led numerous efforts to ensure that taxpayer dollars are spent effectively and efficiently. His bipartisan bill to save taxpayer dollars by ensuring federal property assets are disaster resilient has been signed into law. Another law written by Peters to reduce duplicative software purchases called the MEGAByte Act has saved taxpayers more than $450 million since 2016. 

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