Agency,"Fiscal Year","APG Header",Description,"Goal Statement",Theme,NID
"Department of Agriculture",FY16-17,"Pollinator Habitat Health","Wherever flowering plants flourish, pollinating bees, birds, butterflies, bats, and other animals are hard at work, providing vital but often unnoticed services. Some three-fourths of all native plants in the world require pollination by an animal, most often an insect, and most often a native bee. The attributed value of crops in the United States that are directly dependent on insect pollination was estimated at $15.12 billion in 2009, including an estimated $11.68 billion of crop value directly attributable to honey bees. But many pollinators are in serious decline in the United States and worldwide. Preventing continued losses of our country’s pollinators requires immediate national attention, as pollinators play a critical role in maintaining diverse ecosystems and in supporting agricultural production. Unabated, these losses of our pollinators threaten agricultural production, the maintenance of natural plant communities, and the important services provided by those ecosystems, such as carbon cycling, flood and erosion control, and recreation. Restoring, enhancing and conserving pollinator habitat can mitigate pollinator losses by providing abundant sources of  pollen and nectar, and space for other essential niche requirements, such as nesting sites. USDA has the capacity to improve and expand pollinator habitat through two private landowner incentive programs: Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) and the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP).  ","USDA is committed to the collaborative efforts across the executive branch to reduce the impacts of stressors on pollinator health. In particular, USDA is committed to restoring and enhancing pollinator habitat acreage, contributing to research to understand, prevent and recover from pollinator loss, conducting frequent surveys of beekeepers, and education and outreach around this important issue. By September 30, 2017, USDA will promote the health of honey bees and other pollinators by restoring an additional 1 million acres of pollinator habitat."," International Affairs",45912
"Department of Agriculture",FY16-17,"Increasing assistance for rural, persistent poverty communities","Currently, 85 percent of our country’s persistent poverty counties are in rural America.  More than one third of rural Americans and one in four rural American children live in poverty.  Kids growing up in families earning even twice the poverty threshold are nearly three times as likely as other children to have poor health, are more likely to finish two fewer years of school, and earn half as much money in their adult life. Growing the economy by investing in rural communities and increasing opportunities for families is critical to our Nation’s future.  Capacity building is essential in these persistent poverty rural areas.  By doing so, it enables these communities to increase its readiness for access to USDA’s grant and loan programs as well as leveraging other resources to fund and implement projects and strategies that will spur economic growth.  Starting in FY2016, USDA Rural Development will implement Farm Bill’s Section 6025 Strategic Economic Development which enables Business & Industry Guaranteed Loan, Rural Business Development Grant, Community Facilities, and Water and Environmental Programs to set aside up to 10% of its appropriated funds for prioritizing projects that implement multi-jurisdictional community economic development plans.  In high poverty areas, community planning is a critical step for identifying needs, opportunities, resources, & strategies, building partnerships, and identifying the right processes, structure, and leadership to execute milestones and achieve economic goals.  Through USDA’s Stronger Economies Together (SET) Initiative and other federal planning programs, we are delivering training and technical assistance so high poverty rural communities can start or update their community economic development plans, build their local capacity, and have increased opportunity to access Section 6025 and other federal programs.  In FY2015, we have 75 SET Regions who are actively developing or updating their community economic development plans, which we aim to increase to a 100 by September 30, 2017.  These SET Regions along with other high poverty rural and tribal communities with multi-jurisdictional plans can compete for Section 6025 and have the opportunity to fund and implement their projects in a way that align and in support of the community or the region’s economic development and poverty reduction priorities.  As we lay the framework and build the 6025 program, USDA should be able to report by September 30, 2017 number of SET Regions and multi-jurisdictional plans adopted under SET and number of economic development projects supported, implemented, and funded due to 6025 in high poverty communities.  Moreover, the StrikeForce Initiative for Rural Growth and Opportunity was created in 2010 to address specific challenges associated with rural poverty.  Since then, USDA teams have collaborated with more than 1,000 community partners and public entities to bring targeted assistance to rural areas experiencing chronic poverty.  These efforts have helped create jobs, build homes, feed kids, assist farmers and conserve natural resources in StrikeForce designated states.  By September 30, 2017, USDA will increase the funding in StrikeForce areas by 10 percent from the 2009 baseline of $4 billion and leverage $1 billion of outside resources for investment in high poverty areas. To complement, USDA has also established Poverty Targeting goals for each of its State Office with an overall FY2015 goal of 22% of Rural Development’s program funding to be invested in high poverty rural areas.  This ensured that our Strikeforce and other States with persistent poverty are given reasonable priority and that Rural Development invests available program funding in areas that need it the most.  And in many cases, other non-federal dollars must be leveraged to sufficiently fund projects that will help build capacity and spur economic growth.  Program leveraging is essential, it ensures partnership building and utilization of other capital so high poverty communities can have adequate assets to fully support the well-being of its community members. And lastly, USDA in partnership with the White House Rural Council have been taking a comprehensive look at how its policies impact the way rural areas develop and how well those places support the people who live there, in all aspects of their lives – education, health, housing, business, energy, and transportation.  This “place-based” approach is an effort to help places work better for people.  An effective place-based policy requires comprehensive interagency collaboration and investment that can ensure an increased impact of federal dollars and a greater return on federal investments. By concentrating resources, this approach asserts the primacy of place in moving our nation towards more robust social and economic outcomes.  In FY2014, President Obama announced the Promise Zones, a place-based initiative.  USDA and HUD jointly support the coordination and implementation of the Promise Zone objectives.  As of FY2015, there are 13 Promise Zone designees, of which four are Rural and Tribal.  USDA leads the application, review, and implementation support (i.e. planning, training and technical assistance, matching their needs with the appropriate financing tools to fund projects, etc.) for these Rural and Tribal designees.  By September 30, 2017, there will be two additional Rural and Tribal designees.   ","USDA is committed to increasing program access and leveraging resources for investments in rural, persistent poverty communities. By September 30, 2017, USDA will :  a) increase the percentage of USDA funding in StrikeForce areas by 10 percent from 2010 baseline $4 billion and;  b) leverage $1 billion of outside resources from baseline in high poverty areas over two years."," Energy | Agriculture | Education, Training, Employment, and Social Services | Community and Regional Development | Economic Security and Policy",74401
"Department of Agriculture",FY16-17,"Increased food security and diet quality","A plentiful supply of safe and nutritious food is essential to the well-being of every family and the healthy development of every child in America. Scientific research has established strong links between diet, health, and productivity.  Even small improvements in the average diet may yield significant health and economic benefits. Yet we know that for a significant number of American families, a lack of sufficient food and nutrition remains a serious problem.  While most American households always have access to enough nutritious food for an active and healthy lifestyle, the latest data show that about 7.5 million American households with children, accounting for over 15.3 million children, had difficulty putting enough food on the table at some point during 2014. Even more alarming, in more than 400,000 households, with more than 914,000 children, one or more children simply did not get enough to eat.  At times during the year, these children were hungry, skipped meals, or went whole days without food.  USDA’s domestic nutrition assistance programs serve one in four Americans annually.  The Department is committed to making benefits available to every eligible person who wishes to participate in the major nutrition assistance programs, including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the Child Nutrition Programs, and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). Too often people who need benefits do not participate, because they do not know they are eligible, do not realize the size and value of benefits available to them, or believe applying is too difficult or burdensome.  While the Department’s ultimate objective is for economic opportunities to make nutrition assistance unnecessary for as many families as possible, we are working to ensure these vital programs remain ready to serve all eligible people who need them and to eliminate barriers to access for eligible Americans. In particular, USDA is working to ensure eligible children have effective and easy access to the Child Nutrition Programs. The National School Lunch Program is available in most schools, but not all eligible children participate. Some bring healthful food from home, while others, especially in high schools, may be foregoing a nutritious lunch entirely.  In addition, the School Breakfast Program (SBP) operates much like the National School Lunch Program, except the program may not be reaching all the children who need it for a number of reasons, including limited time in the school schedule and potential stigma. Eating a healthy breakfast, at home or at school, is linked to better educational performance and classroom behavior, and fewer visits to the school nurse. Therefore, USDA is focused on improving participation in SBP.  We are also focused on improving access to nutritious food for children during the summer months when school meals are not available, and the risk of hunger increases. We’ve made it a priority to expand access to summer meals with creative approaches so that children and teens can access nutritious food . The Department is working to improve access to and the nutritional quality of benefits in these programs. These efforts seek to ensure that healthful and palatable food is available to every student to support his/her health, growth, and learning.","USDA will increase food security and diet quality among America’s children through provision of nutritious food and support for healthy choices. By September 30, 2017, USDA will reduce the number of children in food insecure households by 10 percent from baseline-- 15.8 million (2013) to 14.2 million (measured annually by USDA Economic Research Service study) and, increase the average Healthy Eating Index (HEI) for all children (between ages 2 and 18) to 55 (based on USDA analysis of national nutrition survey data)."," Agriculture | Health | Community and Regional Development | Economic Security and Policy",45952
"Department of Agriculture",FY16-17,"Access and Opportunity for Beginning Farmers and Ranchers","American agriculture is at a critical juncture of need and opportunity for the next generation of farmers and ranchers. New and beginning farmers and ranchers are a fundamental part of the American and global agricultural marketplace and legacy. However, according to the most recent Census of Agriculture, in 2012, the United States had 522,058 beginning farmers (principal operators who were on their current operation ten years or less). This was 20 percent fewer than in 2007, when the last agriculture census was conducted. Additionally, consistent with the 30 year trend, the average age of a principal operator has continued to rise – and is at 58.3 years old nationwide. While USDA is working to understand additional nuance and gain a deeper picture of all the parts of the next generation of agriculture, these are important trends of note. Information from USDA’s 2015 Tenure, Ownership, and Transition of Agricultural Land report also evaluated the impending transition of agricultural land to the next generation – in the next five years, almost 10 percent (or 91 million acres) of all farmland is expected to transition, not including the 57.1 million acres that landowners have put or plan to put into wills. These trends stand to have a significant effect on the structure of the agricultural economy and rural communities.  Targeted outreach and increased investment in the next generation, proposed here by USDA, will serve to support new and beginning farmers and strengthen USDA’s ongoing efforts to assist beginning farmers in accessing capital, acquiring land, developing financially sustainable operations, and fully utilizing USDA programs – supporting the next generation of American agriculture. Since 2009, USDA has engaged its resources to support a strong next generation of farmers and ranchers by improving access to land and capital; building new markets and market opportunities; extending new conservation opportunities; offering appropriate risk management tools; and increasing our outreach, education, and technical support. Specifically, from 2009-2014, USDA increased our investment in new and beginning farmers across several key programs by 14.1%. The 2014 Farm Bill gave USDA new tools and flexibility in several key programs in order to support new and beginning farmers and ranchers, by continuing, increasing, and creating new assistance for this group. USDA is proposing to increase and broaden access for new farmers even further over the next two years – an additional 6.6% across key programs – for a total increased investment value of about $5.6 billion. Including the additional investment, by September 30, 2017, USDA will have invested roughly $17.4 billion to beginning farmers and ranchers. USDA will focus our work on the most relevant programs across the Department (excluding disaster assistance programs due to their unique nature of benefit). These programs were chosen for their impact on increasing opportunity for new and beginning farmers and ranchers and support for increased longevity of new and beginning operations. • For the purposes of our goal, increased opportunity is defined as the opportunity to begin an operation, grow an operation, develop new markets, support more effective agricultural or conservation practices, or having access to relevant training and education opportunities. • Increased longevity refers to support for new and beginning farmers during critical development periods, including the transition from a brand new operation to a more experienced level of beginning farming, and then finally graduating from being a beginning farmer to an experienced farm operator. Additionally, USDA works closely with other Federal partners that have a role in supporting new businesses, including agricultural operations.  USDA will collaborate closely with them in the achievement of this goal.   Note:  The numbers contained in the goal statement represent both dedicated programmatic funding and programmatic utilization by new and beginning farmers.  We refer to this blended number as general “access” to USDA programs.  ","New and Beginning Farmers and Ranchers (BFR) are a fundamental part of the American and global Agricultural marketplace and legacy. The 2014 Farm Bill gave USDA new tools and flexibility in several key programs in order to support BFR, by continuing, increasing and creating new assistance for this group. It is a priority of the Secretary and the Agency to ensure the success and sustainability of BFR.  By September 30, 2017, USDA will increase access to key BFR programs which will result in increasing investments to BFR by a value of $5.6 billion over 2 years. Within existing resources, USDA will expand opportunities for BFR through targeted outreach, and  increased technical assistance, resulting in increasing BFR participation in key programs by 6.6% over the goal term.  Increased investments to BFR will contribute to growing their value, and supporting economic development and stability in their communities, both through increased opportunity and support for longevity of new operations.  "," Natural Resources and Environment | Agriculture | Education, Training, Employment, and Social Services | Economic Security and Policy",45932
"Department of Agriculture",FY16-17,"Soil Health & Sustainability","The world population is expected to rise from approximately 7 billion in 2013 to over 9 billion by 2050.  To sustain this rate of growth, we must provide as much food in the next 40 years as has been grown in the last 500 years.  From 1982 to 2007, over 41 million acres of rural land was lost to development (the size of Illinois and New Jersey combined).  Approximately 23 million acres of this was active agricultural land, and 14 million acres was prime farmland. At the same time that we need to grow more food on a shrinking available land base, we are also asking more and more of our farmers and ranchers.  We ask that they help reduce our Nation’s dependency on fossil fuels by growing more bioenergy crops, that they provide adequate pollinator habitat (required for about 35% of our food supply), that they protect water quality, and that they incorporate management practices and technologies that optimize efficiencies of water and nutrient use.  In addition, while addressing these needs, producers are increasingly faced with extreme weather events, ranging from drought to flood. Improving soil health allows us to simultaneously address these and other pressing natural resource needs.  Improving soil health allows us to improve water quality, increase soil water availability, enhance resilience to extreme weather, enhance nutrient cycling, increase carbon sequestration, provide wildlife habitat (including pollinators), enhance rural economic opportunity, and meet the food and fiber production needs of a rapidly growing population on a shrinking available land base.  Simply stated, improving the health of our Nation’s soils is one of the most important things we can do for this and for future generations. USDA assists agricultural producers with improving soil health through increased knowledge, education, and technical and financial assistance in implementing soil health management systems.  The research and educational activities conducted by USDA and its partners contribute much more than a body of knowledge. The information is integrated into policies that lead to the development of science-based standards and specifications for management practices, used for appropriate implementation of practices. The practices can then be combined in a systems approach, to form customized location-specific plans for conserving selected resources.  Such conservation plans are applied by land managers to improve soil health.  In addition, the impact of implementing these standardized practices can be measured and modeled nationally, especially when combined with land, soil, climate, and other data.  ","USDA will improve the health of our Nation’s soils to make our food, fiber, and energy production systems resilient and sustainable. By September 30, 2017, USDA will continue to implement and monitor progress of modeled science-based practices that improve soil health and sustainability. Nationwide, the soil health practices that are consistent with the Secretary’s Climate Change Mitigation Building Blocks will store (sequester) more than 8.8 million metric tons of carbon per year or more than 32 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2e).   Based on results generated by EPA’s Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies Calculator (http://www.epa.gov/energy/greenhouse-gas-equivalencies-calculator), the carbon sequestration benefits of an additional 32 million metric tons of CO2e annually would offset an estimated: 76 billion miles driven by passenger cars, or 3.6 billion gallons of gasoline consumed, or 4.4 million homes electricity use emissions for one year. Soil health practice implementation will also increase resilience during seasons with extreme weather, in comparison to fields that are not using such practices.  "," Energy | Natural Resources and Environment | Agriculture | General Science, Space, and Technology | Community and Regional Development",45872
"Department of Agriculture",FY14-15,"Reduce the number of foodborne Salmonella illnesses that are associated with USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS)-regulated products—meat, poultry, and processed egg products.","Salmonella is the leading known cause of bacterial foodborne illness and death in the U.S. causing an estimated 1.3 million illnesses, and between 400 and 500 deaths annually.  FSIS estimates that, in Q4, FY2013, approximately 393,000 Salmonella illnesses were associated with Agency-regulated products. Preventing Salmonella infections depends on actions taken to reduce contamination of food by the food industry, regulatory agencies, and consumers, as well as actions taken for detecting and responding to outbreaks when they occur. FSIS, a public health regulatory agency within the USDA, is responsible for ensuring that the commercial supply of meat, poultry, and processed egg products moving in interstate commerce or exported to other countries is safe, secure, wholesome, and correctly labeled and packaged. This Agency Priority Goal (APG) tracks an established FSIS performance measure known as the “All-Illness Measure” that estimates the total number of illnesses from Salmonella, Listeria monocytogenes (Lm), and E. coli O157:H7 from all FSIS-regulated products. FSIS estimates that approximately 33% of all salmonellosis is associated with FSIS regulated products* and that Salmonella comprises approximately 95% of all estimated illnesses in the All-Illness Measure.  This corporate performance measure is included in the USDA Strategic Plan and the FSIS Strategic Plan for 2011-2016. FSIS Program Area actions designed to achieve the goal are included in the FSIS Annual Performance Plan.  This APG specifically tracks and reports on reductions in Salmonella illnesses. FSIS will attempt to achieve the ambitious reduction in Salmonella illnesses called for in this APG through the implementation of the 2013 FSIS Strategic Performance Working Group (SPWG) Action Plan for Salmonella, along with existing FSIS activities focused on reducing Salmonella contamination on regulated product. Additionally, FSIS works closely with other Federal agencies that have a role in protecting the food supply, including both the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC); FSIS has worked with these agencies on a Priority Goal to reduce Salmonella Enteritidis illnesses from FDA-regulated shell eggs.   FSIS also works with sister agencies within USDA, including the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS), Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), Food and Nutrition Service (FNS), and USDA’s research agencies such as the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), Agricultural Research Service (ARS), Economic Research Service (ERS), and National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) in protecting the food supply. This goal relates directly to the USDA Strategic Plan goal 4.3, “Protect Public Health by Ensuring Food is Safe”, to ensure that all of America’s children have access to safe, nutritious, and balanced meals. *At the time FSIS developed and submitted its Agency Priority Goal, the most recent outbreak data the Agency had to calculate foodborne illness attribution was from 2008-2010 (33% for Salmonella).  In the subsequent quarter, FSIS received new outbreak data from the CDC, which allowed the Agency to estimate a new attribution fraction for 2009-2011, which for Salmonella was 31.7%.  ","Reduce the number of foodborne Salmonella illnesses that are associated with USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) regulated meat, poultry, and processed egg products. By September 30, 2015, FSIS will reduce the total estimated number of foodborne Salmonella illnesses caused by FSIS-regulated products to 357,515 illnesses from a 2007-2009 baseline of 413,965 illnesses. The FY 2015 target aligns with the established FSIS “All-Illness Measure” that seeks an ambitious reduction in Salmonella, E. coli O157:H7, and Listeria monocytogenes (Lm) illnesses concurrent with illness reductions identified in the Department of Health and Human Services Healthy People 2020 Initiative.",,3355
"Department of Agriculture",FY14-15,"Create new economic opportunities through farming and the creation of new markets for agricultural products.","Although export opportunities and agricultural revenue are at historic highs, rural America continues to lose population.  A continued population drain from rural areas jeopardizes the economic stability of rural America and the many national assets that rural communities have historically stewarded.  In order to reverse the trend, USDA is investing in creating opportunities with potential to catalyze long-term economic growth and prosperity in rural America.  Areas of opportunity include supporting new and beginning farmers and ranchers, the bioeconomy, and local and regional food systems. To achieve the goal, USDA will make strategic investments in the following areas: New and Beginning Farmers and Ranchers:  The Microloan program operated by the Farm Service Agency (FSA) is designed to help small and family operations, beginning, minority, and women farmers and ranchers to secure loans under $50,000 (Effective December 2014).  It is aimed at bolstering the progress of producers through their start-up years by providing needed resources and helping to increase equity so that farmers may eventually graduate to commercial credit and expand their operations. The Microloan program provides a less burdensome, simpler application process in comparison to traditional farm operating loans.  In addition, for those who want to grow niche crops to sell directly to ethnic markets and local farmers markets, the Microloan program offers a path to obtain financing.   Biobased Companies:  USDA provides funding for biobased products, from the production of the renewable biomass feedstock through the sale of the resulting biobased product, including research and development for production, capital for startup businesses, and marketing and outreach.  USDA invests in the discovery and refinement of the best feedstocks and production systems for biomass through its research and development programs and partnerships.  Further, USDA provides financial and technical assistance to rural individuals, businesses, and communities to aid in sustainably producing and distributing renewable biomass resources.  USDA also leads the Federal effort to designate biobased products for preferred Federal procurement.  It is through these investments and partnerships that USDA will make strategic investment to support the creation of new biobased companies and associated economic opportunities in the coming years.   Local and Regional Food Systems:  USDA supports the development of physical infrastructure, often in partnership with private lenders, and provides technical assistance in marketing, risk management, food safety practices and other areas. The Department also works to reach stakeholders who are unaware of available federal resources and works internally to ensure that USDA programs and policies meet the unique needs of local and regional supply chains. The long-term result will be job growth driven by a maturing market and accessible infrastructure to aggregate, process, and distribute local and regionally-produced foods.","By September 30, 2015, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will: Provide credit assistance to 7,000 small and family operations, women, minority, and beginning farmers and ranchers through its Microloan program; Provide 3 percent of RBS funding to companies that produce or manufacture biobased products; and Provide assistance to develop the infrastructure for 450 new markets for local and regional food."," Agriculture",1394
"Department of Agriculture",FY14-15,"Improve the health of our Nation’s soils to make our food, fiber, and energy production systems resilient and sustainable.","The world population is expected to rise from approximately 7 Billion in 2013 to over 9 Billion by 2050.  To sustain this rate of growth, we must provide as much food in the next 40 years as has been grown in the last 500 years.  From 1982 to 2007, over 41 Million acres of rural land was lost to development (the size of Illinois and New Jersey combined).  Approximately 23 Million acres of this was active agricultural land, and 14 Million acres was prime farmland. At the same time that we need to grow more food on a shrinking available land base, we are also asking more and more of our farmers and ranchers.  We ask that they help reduce our nation’s dependency on fossil fuels by growing more bioenergy crops, that they provide adequate pollinator habitat (required for about 35% of our food supply), that they protect water quality, and that they incorporate management practices and technologies that optimize efficiencies of water and nutrient use.  In addition, while addressing these needs, producers are increasingly faced with extreme weather events, ranging from drought to flood. Improving soil health allows us to simultaneously address these and other pressing natural resource needs.  Improving soil health allows us to improve water quality, increase soil water availability, enhance resilience to extreme weather, enhance nutrient cycling, increase carbon sequestration, provide wildlife habitat (including pollinators), enhance rural economic opportunity, and meet the food and fiber production needs of a rapidly growing population on a shrinking available land base.  Simply stated, improving the health of our Nation’s soils is one of the most important things we can do for this and for future generations. USDA assists agricultural producers with improving soil health through increased knowledge and education that leads to development of science-based standards and specifications for management practices.  The research and educational activities conducted by USDA and its partners contribute much more than a body of knowledge. The information is used in standardized practices that when combined in a systems approach, form a customized plan for conserving selected resources.  Such conservation plans are applied by land managers to improve soil health.  In addition, the impact of implementing these standardized practices can be measured and modeled nationally, especially when combined with land, soil, climate, and other data. The APG contributes to two of the four goals outlined in the USDA Strategic Plan.  Specifically, it contributes to meeting Goal 2: Ensure Our National Forests and Private Working Lands Are Conserved, Restored, and Made More Resilient to Climate Change, While Enhancing Our Water Resources; and Goal 1: Assist Rural Communities to Create Prosperity So They Are Self-Sustaining, Repopulating, and Economically Thriving. Several USDA agencies will work cooperatively to achieve this APG.  Scientists from the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) will conduct and summarize research on the impacts of soil health promoting practices on available soil water holding capacity, soil carbon, water infiltration, nutrient availability and other important production system attributes.  Programs administered by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) will be used to provide competitive grants aimed at filling in the knowledge gaps (e.g. for specific soil properties or crop management systems).  Programs administered by the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) will be used to demonstrate soil health management systems (e.g. through Conservation Innovation Grants and Plant Materials Centers) and provide financial/technical assistance to enhance adoption of soil health promoting practices (e.g. through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program, EQIP).  This cooperation will allow each agency to contribute its own strengths to enhancing soil health across the public value chain from research to technology transfer to landowner adoption.  Existing partnerships with NGOs and foundations will be leveraged and broadened to amplify the impact of these investments.  These combined efforts to enhance the health of our Nation’s soils will allow USDA to help farmers and ranchers feed the world more profitably and sustainably – now and for generations to come.","By September 30, 2015, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will develop, demonstrate, and implement science-based practices to improve soil health and sustainability that, nationwide, will reduce carbon loss on cropland by over 100,000 tons per year and increase corn and soybean production by over 5 percent on those fields implementing soil health practices."," Natural Resources and Environment",1396
"Department of Commerce",FY16-17,"Advance technologies put into practice","National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is an agency that enriches and safeguards life through science. Our reach is the surface of the sun to the depths of the ocean floor as we work to keep citizens informed of the changing environment around them. Often what limits the ability to make predictions is the complexity and interconnectedness of large-scale physical and ecological systems. In order to reach this goal, NOAA will develop a suite of state-of-the-art models, and transition them to operational settings. These models will integrate physical and biological observations. They will provide Earth system predictions at varying geographic scales across time from minutes to decades to meet the needs of specific users. The twelve transitions refine the models being developed as well as create new models by moving new capabilities from a research and development (R&D) environment to an operations environment. This allows for more accurate, reliable, usable, sustainable, and precise forecasts, which provides for the protection of life and property and the enhancement to the national economy. Operationalizing these forecasts will allow people to make decisions that they would otherwise not be able to make, to take action and avoid the adverse impacts of the events being forecasted.  This goal captures NOAA’s intent to increase the number and pace of advancing scientific and technological capabilities that transition from R&D to applications. Without expeditiously transitioning new capabilities from R&D, we cannot “ensure communities and businesses have the necessary information, products, services to prepare for, and prosper in, a changing environment” (Department of Commerce Strategic Goal #3). Improving our capacity to use the results of federal R&D in socially and economically valuable applications is a priority of the NOAA Administrator, the Secretary of Commerce, and the Administration. The goal is to transition a targeted number of discrete NOAA R&D products to operations in a NOAA service (e.g. new forecast models enter the National Weather Service (NWS) operations) or to the public or commercial sectors (e.g. new technologies licensed to a private firm). It is important to note that this goal is not specific to NOAA’s weather, climate, oceans, and coasts missions. Rather, it cross-cuts these NOAA functions and is intended to accelerate the application of R&D results as a NOAA-wide priority for increased organizational excellence. To standardize reporting, NOAA will use Technical Readiness Levels (TRLs) similar to those applied at National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and other federal agencies to track system maturity. TRLs are a systematic project measurement system that describes or tracks progress of projects from research to operation, application, commercial product or service, or other use. It allows the consistent comparison of maturity between different types of R&D projects. A project achieves a readiness level once it has accomplished all elements described within a readiness level. A complete transition is a capability that has progressed from TRL 8 to TRL 9. TRL 8 is defined as a completed and operational system, process, product, service or tool. TRL 9 is defined as a system, process, product, service or tool deployed by NOAA and routinely in operations.","By September 30, 2017, the Department of Commerce will transition twelve (12) research and development (R&D) capabilities to applications (from TRL 8 to TRL 9) to improve efficiency, accuracy, or precision of forecasts to reduce adverse effects of environmental events on people and property"," Natural Resources and Environment",47911
"Department of Commerce",FY16-17,"Improve Forecasting Accuracy and Lead Times for High-Impact and Extreme Weather","Major weather events continue to demonstrate the importance of hazard preparedness and response in the United States.   The Department of Commerce’s Strategic Plan Strategic Objective 3.2, Build a Weather-Ready Nation, and the National Weather Service’s (NWS) Weather-Ready Nation goal focus on building community resilience in the face of increasing vulnerability to extreme weather and water events and providing timely and useful information to the emergency management community. A strong link exists between achieving the Department’s mission to create the conditions for economic growth and opportunity, and mitigating the economic impacts of weather events on businesses and communities. The Nation is becoming more dependent on weather prediction capabilities. Industries are demanding more weather information to make informed business decisions. Becoming a Weather-Ready Nation involves the ability to prepare for, respond to, and recover from weather and water events. To ensure that the United States has a Weather Service that is second-to-none, and meet the demands for more accurate and reliable forecasts and warnings, we need to advance our weather models faster. More lead time for the prediction of weather events allows people and businesses to make informed choices and enables better protection of life, property and enhancement of the National economy. Knowing that a major snow storm is coming 20 hours before the first snowflake is useful. Knowing with a good level of confidence that a storm is coming in 5 days vastly improves the response. Evacuations for hurricanes require 3 full days. An accurate, consistent forecast 4-7 days in advance is invaluable to people who have to make critical evacuation decisions. Travel-related evacuation costs can exceed $1 million for every 10,000 people evacuated.1  Events such as the unprecedented drought conditions in California, repeated flooding in the Ohio Valley, and massive snow storms across the Northeast (which caused a shut down during the winter of 2015) further demonstrate the need for improved forecasting accuracy and lead times for high impact and extreme weather. Severe weather can lead to massive traffic jams, stranded vehicles, and shutdowns of airports, mass transit systems, roads, schools, and businesses. It prompted the issuance of states of emergency declarations in major cities across the Northeast during the winter of 2015. Shutdown of air and sea transportation routes, construction delays, and the late deliveries of goods and services, impact the wages and the economic health of our nation in both the short and long term.  Increased lead time means more time to take the necessary actions to prepare for and protect individuals from high impact and extreme weather events. For example, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will have more time to make critical decisions regarding rerouting or grounding of planes. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will have more time to coordinate evacuation planning and contingency plans supporting Federal, State, and local efforts. Likewise, businesses will have more time to make better decisions necessary to protect their employees and customers and lessen potential economic impacts. Ultimately, this leads to lives saved, property protected and reduction in negative weather impacts to the economy.  Our FY 14-15 Agency Priority Goal (APG), Improve Forecasting Accuracy and Lead Times for Severe Weather, used a deterministic approach based on the performance of a single model. The FY16-17 goal is based on an approach using an ensemble system of global model output, which provides more robust model guidance including estimates of forecast uncertainty and reliability. The ensemble enables forecasters to communicate both the severity and likelihood of predicted weather impacts. Since December 1992, global ensemble forecasts have been part of NWS’ operational suite of forecast model guidance and use of this approach is highlighted in the reports of the National Academy of Sciences, Weather Services for the Nation: Becoming Second to None and the National Academy of Public Administration, Forecast for the Future: Assuring the Capacity of the National Weather Service. The atmosphere is a chaotic system with a significant uncertainty in each forecast. Ensemble weather forecast model guidance entails running a numeric weather prediction model multiple times, with perturbations in the initial conditions and/or model settings, to estimate inherent uncertainty in atmospheric conditions and provide a better estimate for the range of future states of the atmosphere. Use of ensemble weather forecast model guidance provides more useful forecast information that quantifies the uncertainty used to communicate risk for more informed decision making in response to incoming extreme weather events.     Over the next two years, NWS will continue to extend the useful lead time3 of its ensemble weather forecast model guidance out to 9.5 days through: Increasing Computing Capacity Achieving Higher Model Resolution and improved Physics. Improving Data Assimilation Methodology. Incorporating New Satellite Observations into NWP Models. Improving our global weather prediction skill facilitates improvements to our regional, local scale models that provide accurate information about the formation and movement of high impact storms in the right place at the right time. Our goal is to see farther into the future and enable the American public to make the right choices when extreme weather threatens.    1CENTREC. “An Investigation of the Economic and Social Value of Selected NOAA Data and Products for Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES)” February 2007. Figures updated by NOAA to reflect 2015 price levels.  2 Laurens M. Bouwer, “Reply to Neville Nichols Comments on ‘Have Disaster Losses Increased Due to Anthropogenic Climate Change?,’” Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society (June 2011), notes that anthropogenic changes have been established for smaller-scale weather extremes such as heat waves, droughts and heavy precipitation events but states that there has not been a demonstrated trend for larger events.  3 Useful lead time is showing skillful model performance as indicated by anomaly correlation score greater than 0.6 (see Indicator Overview section for more details)  ","By September 30, 2017, the Department of Commerce will improve the useful lead time of its weather forecast model guidance to 9.5 days which will enable more accurate, consistent, forecasts and warnings for high-impact and extreme weather events."," General Science, Space, and Technology",45412
"Department of Commerce",FY16-17,"Companies assisted by Global Markets that achieve export objectives","Exports are important to U.S. economic prosperity. The International Trade Administration (ITA) is committed to providing high-quality assistance that helps U.S. companies achieve their export objectives. This priority goal focuses on improving the quality of assistance ITA’s trade and commercial specialists provide to companies and supports objective 1.2 (Increase U.S. exports) under the Trade and Investment strategic goal in the Department of Commerce’s Strategic Plan.  ITA’s delivery of substantive, high value-added assistance is affirmed when companies receiving this assistance respond that they have achieved their export objectives.  The Global Markets (GM) business unit within ITA is the organizational lead on this priority goal. It is imperative that GM employees worldwide – all of whom interact with U.S. companies – are unified behind a common goal that focuses on the needs of customers. The FY 2011–FY 2014 baseline average percentage of companies assisted that achieved their export objectives was 69% for GM’s fee-for-service clients. To achieve this priority goal, GM seeks to understand individual U.S. company needs to be successful internationally and, subsequently, offer a customized approach to meet those needs drawing on the full resources available across ITA and the Federal Government. This approach steers ITA professionals toward identifying problems and challenges with exporting, and designing holistic solutions.  It focuses ITA on engaging with clients to offer substantive, high value-added assistance, such as helping companies select the best markets to enter, overcoming export trade barriers, or finding suitable international business partners. Possible barriers and challenges to achieving this priority goal originally included the transition to a new survey system within ITA’s new Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system; however, ITA successfully replaced its survey system and has not experienced barriers or challenges to date.  ","Improve export client effectiveness. By September 30, 2017, increase the percentage of companies assisted by Global Markets that achieved their export objectives from 69 percent to 75 percent in FY 2017.  "," International Affairs",35862
"Department of Commerce",FY16-17,"Improve Patent Processing Time and Quality","American innovators and businesses rely on the legal rights associated with patents in order to reap the benefits of their innovations. Timely issuance of high-quality patents provides certainty in the market and allows businesses and innovators to make informed, timely decisions on product and service development.  Processing patent applications in a quality and timely manner advances economic prosperity by using intellectual property (IP) as a tool to create a business environment that cultivates and protects new ideas, technologies, services and products. Our dedicated employees have reduced the patent application backlog from a high of over 764,000 in January 2009 to 558,091 in October 2015, a 27 percent reduction. Between the end of fiscal year (FY) 2009 and the end of October 2015, first action pendency decreased by 8.8 months and total pendency by eight months. First action pendency measures the time from when an application is filed to the mailing date of the initial communication to the applicant from the patent examiner.  The USPTO did not meet the first action pendency FY 16 goal.  Given the lower-than-expected filings in FY 2015, at the beginning of FY 2016 the USPTO projected a 1 percent overall growth in UPR filings; however, actual growth was in excess of 5 percent, and consequently the first action pendency result was negatively impacted. Total pendency measures the time from filing until an application is either issued as a patent or abandoned.  The USPTO did meet its FY 2016 goal.  Additionally, from an all-time high of 111,924 in February 2013, the Request for Continued Examination (RCE) backlog was reduced to 27,394 in October 2015, a 75.5 percent reduction. We want to continue to build on these successes, and the America Invents Act (AIA) legislation passed by Congress supports doing just that.  The AIA allows us to set our fees and retain fees collected above our appropriated level. This means our financial health is more stable than in the past, giving us a unique opportunity to further expand our quality efforts throughout the entire process. Patent quality is central to fulfilling a core mission of the USPTO, which as stated in the Constitution, is to “promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts.” It is critically important that the USPTO issue patents that are both correct and clear. Historically, our primary focus has been on correctness, but the evolving patent landscape has challenged us to increase our focus on clarity.  Patents of the highest quality can help to stimulate and promote efficient licensing, research and development, and future innovation, without resorting to high-cost court proceedings. Through correctness and clarity, such patents better enable potential users of patented technologies to make informed decisions on how to avoid infringement, whether to seek a license, and/or when to settle or litigate a patent dispute. Patent owners also benefit from having clear notice on the boundaries of their patent rights.","By September 30, 2017, the Patent and Trademark Office will reduce patent pendency to less than 14 months for first action pendency and less than 23 months for total pendency from end of FY 2015 results of 17.3 and 26.6 months. This priority goal supports the Department of Commerce’s longer-term goal focused on achieving 10 months for first action pendency and 20 months for total pendency by FY 2019."," General Science, Space, and Technology",40362
"Department of Commerce",FY14-15,"Improve Patent Processing Time and Quality","American innovators and businesses rely on the legal rights associated with patents in order to reap the benefits of their innovations. Timely issuance of high-quality patents provides certainty in the market and allows businesses and innovators to make informed, timely decisions on product and service development. Processing patent applications in a quality and timely manner advances economic prosperity by using intellectual property (IP) as a tool to create a business environment that cultivates and protects new ideas, technologies, services and products. On September 16, 2011, the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (AIA) (Pub. L. No. 112-29) was signed into law. This sweeping reform introduced some of the biggest changes to the patent system in 200 years.  The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has implemented this law and will continue to identify and implement the efficiencies, tools, and policies necessary to increase the number of applications it is capable of examining while also improving quality.","By September 30, 2015, the Department of Commerce will reduce patent pendency for first action and total pendency from the end of FY 2012 levels of 21.9 and 32.4 months to 15.7 and 26.4 months; as well as reduce the unexamined patent application backlog of 608,300 to 534,900.  Additionally, the patent quality composite score will be improved from 72.4 percent to 100 percent of the FY 2015 target."," General Science, Space, and Technology | Commerce and Housing Credit",1064
"Department of Commerce",FY14-15,"Improve Forecasting Accuracy and Lead Times for Severe Weather","Major weather events demonstrate the importance of hazard preparedness and response in the United States.  Improved weather forecast accuracy, combined with enhanced decision support services, allow emergency management and the American public more time to prepare for high-impact weather events.  This enables protection of life and property and enhancement of the U.S. economy.   A key way to measure improvements in model performance is to examine how far into the future Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) guidance demonstrates skill.  Model output ceases to have useful skill at predicting the weather at longer forecast lengths.  Large scale weather patterns that affect the local weather that each of us experience on a daily basis, are driven by features in the mid-levels of the atmosphere.  During the past 20 years, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA’s) National Weather Service (NWS) has seen its ability to provide useful predictions of future high-impact weather events extend from 6 days to 8 days. This goal focuses on improving the Global Forecast System model 2013 that currently has useful skill at forecasting the mid-levels of the atmosphere across the globe out to 8.0 days. Upon completion of forecasting upgrades over the next two years, the NWS expects to extend this out to 9 days. Improving global weather prediction facilitates improvements to regional, local scale models that provide accurate information about the formation and movement of high impact storms in the right place at the right time.  Knowing with a good level of confidence that the storm is coming 5 days in advance enables for significantly improved response.  Evacuations from hurricanes require 3 full days, and thus accurate, consistent forecasts 4-7 days in advance are invaluable to people who have to make these critical decisions.  Increased lead time means lives saved and property protected.  NWS will also continue efforts to support the use of improved weather forecast data by emergency managers through better impact-based decision support services.  Achieving this priority goal will allow NWS to predict farther into the future and enable the American public to make the right choices when extreme weather threatens.","By September 30, 2015, the Department of Commerce will improve its overall weather forecast model accuracy to 9 days which will enable more accurate, consistent, longer lead time for specific weather event forecasts and warnings."," General Science, Space, and Technology",1066
"Department of Commerce",FY14-15,"Confirm elimination of Overfishing","The purpose of this goal is to show that by implementing rigorous limits on annual catch, the U.S. can end and prevent overfishing. This is a key step to ensuring the sustainable management of our nation’s fisheries.  Federal fishery management is based on the concept of maximum sustainable yield, which is the largest long-term average catch that can be taken from a stock under prevailing environmental and fishery conditions.  A stock that is subject to overfishing has a fishing mortality (harvest) rate higher than the rate that produces maximum sustainable yield. The amount of catch equivalent to this harvest rate is the overfishing limit (OFL).   The Magnuson-Stevens Act is the primary law that governs how fisheries are managed in U.S. federal waters.  When the Magnuson-Stevens Act was reauthorized in 2007, it mandated that annual catch limits (ACLs) be put in place for all federally managed domestic fish stocks, with certain exceptions.  ACLs are set at a level below the OFL to account for scientific uncertainty and to reduce the risk of overfishing.  ACLs are in place for all fish stocks as required by the Magnuson-Stevens Act.  These catch limits should keep catch below the OFL and prevent overfishing on these stocks.  Preventing overfishing should increase the long-term economic and social benefits of the nation’s fisheries.","By September 30, 2015, the Department of Commerce will confirm the elimination of overfishing on all 21 U.S. domestic stocks identified as subject to overfishing as of June 30, 2013 by comparing catch data relative to overfishing limits (OFLs)."," General Science, Space, and Technology",1068
"Department of Commerce",FY14-15,"Companies assisted by Global Markets that achieve export objectives","Exports are important to U.S. economic prosperity. The International Trade Administration (ITA) is committed to providing high-quality assistance that helps U.S. companies achieve their export objectives. This priority goal focuses on improving the quality of assistance ITA’s trade and commercial specialists provide to companies. ITA’s delivery of substantive, high value-added assistance is affirmed when companies receiving this assistance respond that they have achieved their export objectives. The Global Markets business unit within ITA is the organizational lead on this priority goal. It is imperative that Global Markets staff worldwide – all of whom interact with U.S. companies – are unified behind a common goal that focuses on unique needs of our customers. The FY12 – FY13 baseline average percentage of companies assisted that achieved their export objectives is 67 percent for ITA’s fee-for-service clients. To achieve this priority goal, Global Markets has sought to understand individual U.S. company needs to be successful internationally and, subsequently, offered a customized approach that draws on the full resources available across ITA and the Federal Government to meet those needs. This strategic shift towards offering a more consultative approach steers ITA professionals toward identifying the problems and challenges with exporting, and designing holistic solutions. It focuses ITA on engaging with clients to offer substantive, high value-added assistance, such as helping companies select the best markets to enter, overcoming export trade barriers, or finding suitable international business partners.","By September 30, 2015, the Department of Commerce will increase the percentage of companies assisted by Global Markets that achieve their export objectives to 71 percent."," International Affairs",1428
"Department of Commerce",FY14-15,"Expand U.S. Broadband Infrastructure","Broadband access is essential to U.S. global competitiveness in the 21st century, driving job creation, promoting innovation, and expanding markets for American businesses. Broadband access also affords public safety agencies the opportunity for greater levels of effectiveness and interoperability. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) manages the implementation of the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) to expand broadband service to communities in a cost-effective manner that maximizes impacts on economic growth, education, health care, and public safety. BTOP is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). After a rigorous application and review process, NTIA invested approximately $4 billion in 233 BTOP projects benefiting every state, territory, and the District of Columbia. Most of NTIA’s broadband grant investments, 123 grant awards totaling more than $3.48 billion, fund the construction or upgrade of approximately 110,000 miles of broadband networks and employ multiple technologies, including fiber-optics, wireless, and other technologies. Network miles are a direct indicator of the nation’s growing broadband infrastructure, and represent both the increasing ability of underserved communities to contribute to America’s global competitiveness and the foundation for more affordable broadband services to homes and businesses. NTIA broadband grant investments will connect more than 24,000 community anchor institutions (e.g., libraries, hospitals, and schools) and add more than 650,000 new household and business subscribers to broadband service. NTIA continues to monitor and provide guidance to grant recipients through technical assistance on refining methodologies for collecting data on new subscribers and accurately reporting that information. NTIA also collects reports from grant recipients regularly detailing performance and performs case reviews evaluating projects’ successes and challenges in meeting milestones.  These activities help NTIA understand the progress made by recipients and inform the provision of appropriate corrective actions and enforcement measures, if needed.","By September 30, 2015, the Department of Commerce will increase the nation's broadband infrastructure developed through the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) from 78,120 miles at the end of FY 2012 to 118,000 miles.  When this goal is achieved, BTOP will connect 23,500 community anchor institution and will add 670,000 new household and business subscribers to broadband service."," General Science, Space, and Technology",1074
"Department of Defense",FY16-17,"Transition to Veterans","Problem / Opportunity: DoD and other critical federal partners are working to ensure that all eligible Service members participate in an effective program of pre-separation planning and education through evidence-based learning.  This support is delivered through a new curriculum, Transition GPS (Goals, Plans, Success) within the DoD Transition Assistance Program (TAP). There are no current Government Accountability Office (GAO) or Inspector General (IG) audits related to Performance Measures 1 and 2.  On June 24, 2015, the DoD IG requested that TVPO provide follow-up on comments made in GAO Report-14-144, Transitioning Veterans: Improved Oversight Needed to Enhance Implementation of Transition Assistance Program (GAO Code 131231).  In response to this IG request, the following response was provided: The Interagency TAP Evaluation Strategy was created and subsequently approved by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in May 2014.  A written plan describing this strategy was completed in April 2015.   There are no current Government Accountability Office (GAO) or IG audits related to Performance Measure 3 (IDES) or Performance Measure 4 (WII Active Recovery Plans). Relationship to Strategic Goal and Objective: This performance  goal supports the Department's mission through the following strategies: 1. DoD Agency Strategic Plan (ASP), Goal #3: Strengthen and Enhance the Health and Effectiveness of the Total Workforce; Strategic Objective 3.1 Service members separating from Active Duty are prepared for the transition to civilian life. 2. Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) Strategic Goal 4: Preserve and Enhance the All-Volunteer Force; Strategic Goal 5: Provide an Agile, Efficient, Comprehensive Enterprise that Responds to the Warfighter and Maintains Public Confidence Strategic Objective 4.1: Provide top-quality physical and psychological care to wounded warriors while reducing growth in overall healthcare costs; Objective 5.6: Provide more effective and efficient Force Readiness Operations Support.   Key Barriers and Challenges: Securing Transition Assistance Program (TAP) resources for both the DoD and interagency partners to meet statutory and DoD policy requirements. Achieving full accountability of Service members meeting Veterans Opportunity to Work (VOW) and Congressional Research Service (CRS) compliance, given the variety of systems and data collection methods that must be integrated to verify completion of mandatory pre-separation activities and training. Mission requirements often take priority over transition activities; full integration across the military life cycle requires a cultural shift for both Service members and commanders. DoD and Veteran’s Affairs (VA) are joint partners in the Integrated Disability Evaluation System (IDES), and both Departments’ ability to meet IDES’ goals depends on the other’s performance. The IDES process still relies in part on the exchange of paper case files.  To increase process efficiency and improve program oversight, DoD is developing a comprehensive electronic case management system that will be interoperable with VA systems. Mitigation Efforts: DoD continues to work to identify and resolve the remaining gaps in data collection and transmission of the VOW and CRS compliance rate data to ensure data accuracy and that the DD Forms 2958 are received for all eligible Service members separating from active duty. In June 2015, OSD P&R Business Council approved a streamlined enterprise data collection process that will mitigate some risks to data quality. DoD is taking steps to accelerate the transition of Wounded, Ill, and Injured Service Members into Veteran status.  The Department is incorporating feedback from Service members and quality assurance reviews of disability determination in addition to monitoring disability processing of timeliness to streamline the IDES process.  DoD is also collaborating with VA to eliminate duplicate work, and share medical examination and disability ratings to produce faster, more consistent determinations. To this end, DoD established and IDES performance measure, consisting of the timeliness for specific phases, Service member satisfaction, accuracy and consistency of determinations, and compliance with administrative processing requirements. The DoD will actively monitor and track these elements to ensure the performance targets are met.","Our Nation should provide the best support possible to those who keep our country free and strong as they transition to civilian life, especially during this time of planned structural Department of Defense (DoD) reorganizations.  By September 30, 2017, DoD will improve the career readiness of Service members transitioning to civilian life by: 1) ensuring at least 85% of eligible active duty Service members and 85% of eligible reserve component Service members complete the following required transition activities prior to separation from active duty: pre-separation counseling, a Department of Labor employment workshop, and Veterans Affairs (VA) benefits briefings; 2) verifying that at least 85% of eligible active duty Service members and 85% of eligible reserve component Service members meet established Career Readiness Standards or received a warm handover to appropriate partner agencies prior to separation from active duty; 3) accelerating the transition of recovering Service Members into Veteran status by reducing the disability evaluation processing time; and 4) supporting the seamless transition of recovering Service Members by sharing active recovery plans with the VA."," Veterans Benefits and Services",36682
"Department of Defense",FY16-17,"Reform the Acquisition Process","Problem / Opportunity: The DoD Better Buying Power initiatives begun in 2010, now in their third iteration, directed the acquisition professionals in DoD to not only deliver better value to the taxpayer and warfighter by improving the way DoD does business, but to achieve dominant capabilities through technical excellence and innovation. Next to supporting the armed forces at war, this is the highest priority for DoD’s acquisition professionals.  There is a continuing responsibility to procure the critical goods and services the U.S. armed forces need in the years ahead without having ever-increasing budgets to pay for them.  It has taken years for excessive costs and unproductive overhead to creep into DoD’s business practices.  The Better Buying Power Initiatives roadmap for addressing these problems includes targeting affordability, controlling cost growth, controlling cycle times, and promoting real competition. Relationship to Strategic Goal and Objective: This Priority Goal contributes to DoD achieving the Strategic Goal to Achieve Dominant Capabilities through Innovation and Technical Excellence and the Strategic Objective to improve acquisition process from requirement definition to execution phase and through lifecycle enhancement, to acquire and sustain military-unique and commercial items by including over 80 Major Defense Acquisition Programs and policies that enable over $250 billion in annual obligations by the Department of Defense.  The scope alone covers a significant portion of DoD’s business.      Congressional Input (Relevant Highlights): These initiatives support statutory compliance and give the taxpayer the greatest return for their money.  The initiatives also provide accurate and timely decision-making information. Key Barriers and Challenges: Budget uncertainty is the greatest risk that can impact reaching our performance goals and measures.  Stability and the ability to plan with reasonable budget projections are paramount.  All of the improvements in performance of the acquisition system can easily be undone with the inefficiencies and vagaries of budgetary uncertainty and volatility. Yet, there is a continuing responsibility to procure the critical goods and services the U.S. armed forces need in the years ahead without having ever-increasing budgets to pay for them.  The key internal challenge for DoD is to put each program on a sound footing from the beginning.  The Acquisition workforce must understand and employ a variety of Better Buying Power tools to ensure solid programmatics at program inception and throughout execution.  Through 2016, Quarterly Business Senior Integration Group (B-SIG) meetings continued with senior leader focus and attention on competition achievement to increase visibility and accountability.  At these meetings, the Service Acquisition Executives attributed difficulties with achieving Service goals for competition rates to high value sole source foreign military sales and “Bridge” contracts that impacted competition achievement.  Additionally, contracts for major non-competitive shipbuilding and aviation programs driven by historical strategic decisions made years ago continue to influence competition opportunities for the long term.  These factors contributed significantly to the Department’s FY 2016 competition rate of 52.8 (last year’s report said 55.1) percent.  Mitigation Efforts: DoD can guard against cost growth by ensuring a match between requirements and resources when the program baseline is established at program initiation or Milestone B.  In other words, acquisition programs begin with mature technologies, adequate funding and personnel resources, and sufficient time to finish product development.  Also, requirements must be achievable given those resource constraints and must be agreed upon and remain largely intact throughout the product development phase. DoD must guard against so-called “requirements creep.” Furthermore, disciplined and constant oversight is needed. The Services and program managers (PMs) also need to overcome any shortcomings in staff capabilities to perform the kind of portfolio analyses and systems engineering tradeoff analyses that would strengthen DoD’s ability to understand and control future costs from a program’s inception.  Regarding competition, it is the single most powerful tool for reducing costs, and the most common reason for DoD noncompetitive awards is that one contractor is the only responsible source for the procurement.  This occurs because the program has moved past the stage in the lifecycle where competition is economically viable.  The Department continues to take steps to increase competition for major systems by introducing competition during the sustainment phase of a product's life cycle through the use of open systems and open architectures. USD(AT&L) is undertaking additional analysis of FY 2014-2015 competition rates.  For FY 2016, the Director of Defense Procurement and Acquisition Policy (DPAP), with Component input, will examine differing circumstances and projected competitive opportunities to enable more meaningful and achievable goals. To prevent cost breaches and cycle time growth for newer MDAP programs, DoD has strengthened the front end of the acquisition process through new policy and procedural guidance.  Release of the request for proposal for the Engineering and Management Development (EMD) Phase is the critical decision point in a program. The program will either successfully lead to a fielded capability or encounter problems based on the soundness of the capability requirements, the affordability of the program, and the feasibility of the program execution plan put into motion at that point. To increase emphasis on the importance of this decision, the USD(AT&L) has issued policy guidance establishing a new decision point, the Pre-EMD review, designed to ensure a comprehensive and effective discussion of program business arrangements and readiness to proceed to EMD before EMD source selection and Milestone B.","Deliver better value to the taxpayer and warfighter by improving the way DoD does business while achieving dominant capabilities through technical excellence and innovation.  By September 30, 2017, DoD will improve its acquisition process by ensuring: 1) the median growth in cycle time for Major Defense Acquisition Programs (MDAPs) will not increase by more than 15 percent from the Milestone B baseline; 2) the biennial rate of quantity adjusted unit procurement cost growth for MDAPs will not exceed 6 percent; 3) the annual number of MDAP breaches--significant or critical cost overruns for reasons other than approved changes in quantity--will be zero; 4) the percent of acquisition positions filled with personnel meeting Levels II and III certification requirements will increase from the previous fiscal year; and 5)  the percent of contract obligations that are competitively awarded will increase from 56.9 percent in FY 2013 to 57 percent in FY 2017.  "," National Defense",72221
"Department of Defense",FY16-17,"End sexual assault in the Department of Defense (DoD)","1) Problem / Opportunity: Sexual assault is a significant challenge facing the United States military and the nation. It is a detriment to the welfare of men and women in uniform and is antithetic to core military values of trust, dignity, and respect. Although the military has made great strides in sexual assault prevention and response in recent years, sexual assault remains a problem in the Department. According to the 2014 RAND Military Workplace Survey, about four percent of military women and one percent of military men experience a sexual assault in a given year. Based on these prevalence rates, an estimated 18,900 Service members experienced unwanted sexual contact in 2014, down from the 26,000 Service member victims estimated in 2012. However, less than a quarter of them report the allegation to a military authority. The Department’s approach promotes a military climate that empowers all to do their part to prevent sexual assault, and encourages Service members to report the allegations. Increased reporting signals growing trust of command and confidence in the response system. Increased reporting also serves as the primary means by which the Department can provide restorative care and hold offenders appropriately accountable through the military justice system, which in turn contributes to improved force readiness. As outlined in the 2014 Report to the President of the United States on Sexual Assault Prevention and Response in the Military Active Bystander, “Intervention” is a, “philosophy and strategy for prevention of various types of violence, including bullying, sexual harassment, sexual assault, and intimate partner violence. The approach is based on evidence that people make decisions and continue behaviors based on the cultural conditioning and norms through subtle reactions from others and the resultant expectations of social interaction.” Bystander intervention is unique in that it: Discourages victim blaming Offers the chance to change social norms Shifts responsibility to all Service members Measuring interventions and reporting rates annually provides an indication of positive cultural change that can be sampled on a re-occurring basis. The Department employs multiple data collection efforts at varying timeframes. The Workplace and Gender Relations surveys for Active Duty and Reserve Component personnel are fielded every two years on off-years from each other.  Other surveys and focus groups also occur inside and outside of that timeframe.   Government Accountability Office (GAO) audit related to Performance Measure #3:GAO-15-284, Military Personnel – Actions Needed to Address Sexual Assaults of Male Service Members.Issue(s): DoD needs to improve its ability to prevent and respond to sexual assaults of male Service members. DoD has not used all of the available data on male victims, such as analyses that show significantly fewer male Service members than females reporting sexual assault, to inform program decision making.  DOD has not generally portrayed male sexual assault in its sexual assault prevention training material. Recommendations:  Develop a plan for data-driven decision-making to prioritize program efforts. Revise sexual assault prevention and response training to more comprehensively and directly address the incidence of sexual assault allegations by male service members and how certain behavior and activities – like hazing–can lead to a sexual assault. DoD Actions: The Department has taken steps this past year to build a foundation of data sources to shape policy and programs and to advance the appropriate prevention and response systems that meet the needs of both men and women. DoD’s research and data collection efforts have broadened our understanding of the differences in how both men and women experience the crime of sexual assault in the military. Since 2006, our biennial Workplace and Gender Relations Survey of the force has provided invaluable data on the extent of sexual assault in the military. As part of the 2014 Military Workplace Study, DoD enlisted the support of the RAND Corporation to take a closer look at gender differences in sexual assault patterns. As a result of that study, it appears that the experience of an assault may be interpreted differently. While viewed as an assault by some, other victims might see an act as a form of “hazing.” These differences in how a victim interprets the crime often fall along gender lines. Some men may not even consider the act to be something sexual, but rather abusive and humiliating. In addition, results reveal that men are more likely to report experiencing sexual assault in their place of duty; whereas women are more likely to report experiencing sexual assault outside of the workplace. The Department is incorporating key findings about gender differences into the advocate certification program and training for Service Members, as well as enhancing the male-focused information and resources on the DoD Safe Helpline. Our prevention focus leverages commanders to regularly assess their environments and take corrective action, as appropriate, with sexual assault and hazing being specific targets for intervention. Additionally, these findings motivated the Secretary of Defense to direct that the Department fully evaluate its gender-focused treatment capabilities and provider training to ensure they address the specific needs of women and men. 2) Relationship to Strategic Goal and Objective: This performance goal supports the Department's mission through the following strategies: DoD Agency Strategic Plan (ASP), Goal #2: Strengthen and Enhance the Health and Effectiveness of the Total Workforce; Strategic Objective 2.2: Support and retain the DOD workforce by fostering and encouraging workforce initiatives to ensure employees are trained, engaged and retained. Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) 2014, Strategic Goal: Maintain the strength of the all-volunteer force and implement new reforms.   DoD Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Strategy, Strategic Objective 1: Deliver consistent and effective prevention methods and programs, Strategic Objective 4: Deliver consistent and effective victim support, response, and reporting options. 3) Congressional Inputs: The Department works closely with Congress to improve its programs and policies and to eliminate sexual assault from the military. National Defense Authorization Acts for fiscal years 2012 through 2016 include over 75 sections of law and contain more than 100 requirements related to sexual assault in the military, many of which were built on or in parallel with existing Secretary of Defense initiatives. The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2014 alone provided the most sweeping changes to military law since 1968. Additionally, the Congressionally mandated Response System to Adult Sexual Crimes Panel provided over 130 recommendations to the department to improve sexual assault prevention and response in the military. In December 2015, the Department submitted the first comprehensive military justice reform package in more than 30 years to Congress, which includes 37 statutory additions and substantive amendments to 68 current provisions of the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ). Combined, these provisions seek to improve the military justice system’s capability to appropriately and effectively handle sexual assault and sexual harassment cases. 4) Key Barriers and Challenges: Although the military faces some of the same challenges with preventing and responding to sexual assault as civilian society, there are some unique barriers and challenges: Individuals within the DoD come from a wide variety of backgrounds and their past experiences shape their attitudes and behavior, which may be inconsistent with serving in the military. This, coupled with the significant turnover of personnel each year, is a challenge to maintaining force readiness and eliminating sexual assault from the military. There is a perceived stigma associated with reporting sexual assault allegations in an environment that idealizes confidence, decisiveness, and strength. Thus, military members are particularly impacted by this stigma, as many are concerned about being mislabeled as weak or experiencing inappropriate scrutiny of their sexual orientation. This is of particular concern with men. The military is roughly 85% male and we estimate that more men experience sexual assault each year than women. However, men report the crime at a much lower rate. Approximately 10% of men estimated to have experienced a sexual assault make a restricted (confidential) or unrestricted report, and approximately 40% of women estimated to have experienced a sexual assault make a restricted or unrestricted report to DoD. We must overcome the stigma and myths that suggest that only weak people are victims of crime.  Research indicates many civilian and military sexual assault victims fear being blamed for the crime. Victim blaming is often predicated on the false belief that a victim’s behavior somehow caused the offender to perpetrate the crime. We must overcome the stigma surrounding victim blaming within the military environment. Maintaining confidentiality in the military environment is difficult, even with the protections afforded certain communications in both policy and law.     Fear of negative career impact is also a factor in many victims’ decisions not to report a sexual assault allegation.  5) Mitigation Efforts: DoD has an existing leadership structure, empowered by law to promote good order and discipline. In seeking ways to eliminate sexual assault, the Department is leveraging its existing culture of honor, dignity, and respect to drive organizational changes that empower every Service Member to take action against disrespectful and dangerous behaviors. The Department will continue to deliberately solicit victim feedback and engage subject matter experts to inform SAPR policies and programs.","Improve overall force readiness and the safety of all Service members by inculcating a culture where Service members are motivated to intervene against inappropriate behavior.  This culture will be inculcated by creating an environment where victims feel supported reporting the crime of sexual assault, which will result in a decrease in the number of military members impacted by sexual violence and misconduct. By 2018, working with the Military Services and nationally-recognized organizations, shape the health and readiness of the force through the following key indicators: Prevention: Of four percent of survey respondents who indicated they saw a potential incident of sexual assault developing, 87 percent indicated on a survey that they intervened.  The percentage of bystander interventions in sexual assault will increase over 2014 survey results from 87 percent to 95 percent. Response: Increase the overall estimated report rate of restricted (confidential) and unrestricted sexual assault allegations across the DoD from 25 percent to 35 percent. Increase the proportion of men reporting sexual assault allegations across DoD from 10 percent to 20 percent.  Continue to tie this APG into other DoD efforts to prevent sexual assault and respond to victims.  ",,73561
"Department of Defense",FY16-17,"Improve DoD Energy Performance","Problem / Opportunity: As the single largest consumer of energy in the nation, accounting for around one percent of national demand, DoD spent approximately $3.9 billion in FY2015 to power its fixed installations and non-tactical vehicle fleet (installation energy).  Operational energy accounts for a substantial portion of DoDs overall consumption – warranting efforts for data accuracy and accountability. Relationship to Strategic Goal and Objective: As DoD strives to better support 21st century needs by reforming and reshaping the institution to gain efficiencies and effectiveness, efforts to reduce the nation’s predominant energy consumption and consequential expenditures must remain a Defense priority. Operational energy is the energy required for training, moving, and sustaining military forces and weapons platforms for military operations.  This includes energy used by tactical power systems and generators, as well as by weapons platforms themselves.  The DoD considers operational energy to be the energy used in military operations, in direct support of military operations, and in training that supports unit readiness for military operations, to include the energy used at non-enduring locations (contingency bases). Improving the energy supportability of DoD systems and weapons platforms directly supports the 2014 Quadrennial Defense Review statement that “Energy improvements enhance range, endurance, and agility, particularly in the future security environment where logistics may be constrained.”  Facility energy improvements support DoD’s Strategic Goal ""Reform and Reshape the Defense Institution""; and Strategic Objective ""Achieve efficiencies and effectiveness to redirect resources to direct support of combat, combat support, and combat service support elements of the DoD"". Operational energy efforts directly support DoD’s Strategic Goal to ""Defeat our Adversaries, Deter War, and Defend the Nation"". Key Barriers and Challenges: Improving facility energy performance depends upon capital investments in energy efficiency programs.  Major reductions in the facility energy budget as a result of sequestration during FY 2013 and FY 2014 will make it very difficult for the Department to meet mandated facility energy goals. To improve decision making related to operational energy, DoD needs reliable and detailed data on energy consumption.  Current methods for measuring operational energy consumption typically do not include information on end use, limiting DoD’s ability to inform planning, programming, and operational decisions.  Successfully institutionalizing energy supportability analyses in DoD force development is dependent on widespread adoption and understanding of the value of Energy Supportability Analyses (ESAs) as well as the consistent application of realistic threats and limited logistics capacity in our force development planning. Improved capabilities (e.g., increased range, improved force protection, etc.) are often inseparable from increased energy demand.  Addressing that increased energy demand through adaptations in the Department’s use of energy often come at the expense of significant funding gaps, as modifications, upgrades, or other design changes are expensive to implement. Mitigation Efforts:  The DoD will continue to pursue opportunities to use third-party financing through performance based energy savings contracts.  DoD has a commitment to execute nearly $2.1 billion in third-party financed performance-based contracts (Energy Savings Performance Contracts (ESPC) and Utility Energy Service Contracts (UESC)) by the end of CY2016, in response to the President’s December. 2, 2011 commitment.  To date, DoD has awarded $1.820 billlion in performance based energy contracts. Additionally, improved estimate efforts on end use consumption of operational energy will better inform DoD with a credible baseline.  ","As the single largest consumer of energy in the nation, DoD accounts for approximately one percent of national demand.  Executive order 13693 mandates a 2.5% annual reduction in facilities energy intensity as measured in British Thermal Units per gross square foot beginning in Fiscal Year 2016.  Improving facility energy performance on DoD installations will lower energy costs, improve mission effectiveness, improve energy resilience, and reduce reliance on fossil fuels. Energy is a fundamental enabler of military capability.  In the context of operational missions, understanding the implications of energy use in systems and weapons platforms allows DoD to improve combat effectiveness.  Specifically, the Department can assess the energy supportability of systems and concepts through scenario-based analyses that include realistic threats and logistics constraints.  By September 30, 2025, DoD will improve its facility energy performance by reducing average building energy intensity by 25% from the 2015 baseline: 1) By September 30, 2017, the DoD will improve its facility energy performance by reducing average facility energy intensity by 5% from a 2015 baseline.  2)  By September 30, 2018, the DoD will improve its facility energy performance by reducing average facility energy intensity by 7.5% from 2015 baseline.  By September 2018, DoD will institutionalize operational energy considerations in the force development process: 1) By September 30, 2016 DoD will ensure all acquisition programs that use operational energy and are designated as Joint Requirements Oversight Council (JROC) Interest Items by the Joint Staff have an Energy Supportability Analysis (ESA)-informed Energy Key Performance Parameter (eKPP); 2) By September 30, 2017, DoD will include operational energy constraints and limitations analyses in all Title 10 war games; and 3) By September 30, 2018, ensure ESAs are used in all acquisition programs that use operational energy and were established in FY 2016 and later."," Energy",36722
"Department of Defense",FY14-15,"Transition to Veterans","Our Nation should provide the best support possible to those who keep our country free and strong as they transition to civilian life, especially during this time of planned structural reorganizations within the Department of Defense (DoD).   To this end, the DoD is partnering with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), the Department of Labor, the Small Business Administration and the Department of Education, to ensure that all Service members participate in an effective program of pre-separation planning and education through evidence-based learning.  This support is delivered through a new curriculum, Transition GPS (Goals, Plans, Success), within the Department’s Transition Assistance Program (TAP). The Department is also taking steps to accelerate the transition of Wounded, Ill, and Injured Service Members into Veteran status by reducing disability evaluation processing time   The Department is incorporating feedback from Service members and quality assurance reviews of disability determinations in addition to monitoring disability processing timeliness to better streamline the Integrated Disability Evaluation System (IDES) process.  DoD is also collaborating with VA to eliminate duplicate work, and share medical examination and disability ratings to produce faster, more consistent determinations. To this end, the Department established an overall performance measure consisting of timeliness for specific phases within the IDES, Service member satisfaction with the IDES, and quality objectives measuring the accuracy and consistency of IDES disability determinations.  The Department will actively monitor and track performance against these measures to ensure DoD performance goals are met. Key barriers and challenges: Securing TAP resources for both the DoD and interagency partners to meet statutory and DoD policy requirements. Consolidating multiple Federal and private-sector websites into a single portal that offers resume building, military to civilian skills translation, and connections between Service members and employers. Achieving full accountability for delivery of Transition GPS, given the variety of systems and data collection methods that must be integrated to verify completion of mandatory pre-separation activities and training. Mission requirements often take priority over transition activities; full integration across the military lifecycle requires a cultural shift for both Service Members and Commanders. DoD and VA are joint partners in the IDES, and both Departments' ability to meet IDES’ goals depends on the other's performance. The IDES process still relies on paper case files; an electronic case management system is under development. Delays in the proposed rating and benefits decision process increase IDES process cycle time. Relationship to agency strategic goals and objectives This goal supports the Department’s mission through Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) 2010 Goal #4: Preserve and Enhance the All-Volunteer Force. There are also four supporting performance measures: Require Service Members to attend pre-separation workshops and counseling sessions prior to separation: Separation VOW Compliance (Active Duty) (5.6.1-2T5)  Create a Career Readiness Standard for Service Members prior to separation: Separation Career Readiness Standards (Active Duty) (5.6.2-2T5)  Accelerate the transition of Wounded, Ill and Injured Service Members into Veteran status by reducing the disability evaluation processing time: Percent of Wounded, Ill, or Injured Service Members who meet DoD IDES core process cycle time and satisfaction goals (4.1.3-2M)  Increase the use of Recovery Care Coordinators and ensure recovering Service Members have active recovery plans: Percentage of recovering Service Members enrolled in Wounded Warrior Programs with Active Recovery Plans that are shared with the VA to aid in successful transition (4.1.4-2M)","With America's involvement in Afghanistan winding down, there is a large influx of returning Service members and veterans transitioning to civilian life. To better support all Service members, DoD transformed its Wounded Warrior Agency Priority Goal from Fiscal Years 2012-2013 to an Agency Priority Goal (APG) focused on Transition to Veterans.  Transition to Veterans is a top DoD priority, and the Department wants to ensure our men and women in uniform are fully equipped for life after their military Service. To that end, the Department has identified four programmatic goals that best reflect transition to veterans.  These goals include: By September 30, 2015 DoD  will improve the career readiness of Service Members’ transitioning to Veteran status by:  1)  ensuring at least 85% of eligible Service Members complete required transition activities prior to separation: pre-separation counseling, a Department of Labor (DoL) employment workshop, and Veterans Affairs’ benefits briefings; 2) verifying that at least 85% of separating service members meet  newly established Career Readiness Standards prior to separation; 3)  accelerating the transition of recovering Service Members into Veteran status by reducing disability evaluation processing time; and 4)  supporting the seamless transition of recovering Service Members by sharing active recovery plans with the VA.",,1793
"Department of Defense",FY14-15,"Improve energy performance.","Improving facility energy performance at Department of Defense (DoD) installations will reduce reliance on fossil fuels, lower energy costs, improve mission effectiveness, and improve energy security. Efficiencies will be achieved by reducing the demand for   traditional energy while increasing the supply of renewable energy. Legislation mandates a 3 percent annual reduction in facilities energy intensity as measured in British Thermal Units per gross square foot (BTU/GSF). Additionally, the Department has a requirement to increase production or procurement of renewable energy equal to 25 percent of its electrical energy usage by fiscal year (FY) 2025. Reliable and detailed data on energy consumption are essential to improving decision making within the Department. Recently, the Department has improved the measurement of operational energy consumption and is improving the use of this information in the requirements, acquisition, and resourcing processes throughout the Department. The DoD is the single largest consumer of energy in the nation, accounting for   approximately one percent of national demand. For FY2014, the Department has budgeted approximately $20 billion on energy, with 80 percent going to support military operations (“operational energy”) and the remaining 20 percent to power its fixed installations (“facility energy”). Operational Energy Operational Energy is the use of energy to train, move, and sustain military forces and weapons platforms for military operations. Overseen by the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Energy, Installations and Environment (ASD (EI&E), “operational energy” powers generators at our contingency bases as well  as aircraft, ships, and tactical vehicles in operational and training activities around the globe. Petroleum is currently the fuel of choice for military operations because of its high energy density, fungibility, and global availability. As a result, a steady and reliable supply of petroleum is essential to every military capability and mission. However, the Department’s ability to reliably deliver petroleum to deployed forces is challenged by a variety of geographic, geopolitical, and military challenges. The Department’s first ever Operational Energy Strategy was released in 2011. This strategy outlines three principal ways to achieve energy security for the Department: reducing the demand for energy, expanding and securing the supply of energy, and building energy security into the future force. Facility Energy The second broad use of energy is to support the more than 500 fixed installations we operate in the United States and overseas. Overseen by the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Energy, Installations and Environment, “facility energy” consists largely of traditional energy sources used to heat, cool, and provide electrical power to these buildings. It also includes the fuel used by the 200,000 non-tactical vehicles housed at our installations. The DoD has pursued a facility energy investment strategy designed to reduce the energy costs and improve the energy security of our bases. Despite falling short of the FY 2014 intensity reduction goal of 27 percent, the DoD reduced its energy intensity by 17.6 percent from the FY 2003 baseline and improved by 0.4% from FY 2013. While DoD continues to invest in cost-effective energy efficiency and conservation measures to improve goal progress, there will be challenges in future reductions. These challenges will include: (1)  budget sequestration and delayed appropriations, which lead to a reduction in   energy efficiency and conservation projects, (2)  uncontrollable variables such as weather and temperature variability (i.e., heating and cooling degree days ), increasing facility energy use, and (3)  a greater reliance on  conducting missions at fixed installations and enduring locations (e.g., training, unmanned aircraft, intelligence, surveillance or  reconnaissance missions) , leading to an increased reliance on  energy from fixed installations and enduring locations. However, DoD saw significant gains in renewable energy performance in FY2014. DoD increased the amount of renewable energy it produced or procured from 11.8% in FY2013 to 12.3% in FY2014.","As the single largest consumer of energy in the nation, DoD accounts for approximately one percent of national demand. Executive Order 13693 mandates a 2.5% annual reduction in facilities’ energy intensity as measured in British Thermal Units per gross square foot.  Improving DoD facility energy performance on installations will lower energy costs, improve mission effectiveness, improve energy security, and reduce reliance on fossil fuels. Energy is a fundamental enabler of military capability.  In the context of operational missions, understanding the implications of energy use in systems and weapons platforms enables DoD to improve combat effectiveness.  Specifically, the Department can assess the energy supportability of systems and concepts through scenario-based analyses that include realistic threats and logistics constraints.  By September 30, 2025, DoD will improve its facility energy performance by reducing average building energy intensity by 25% from the 2015 baseline: 1) By September 30, 2017, DoD will improve its facility energy performance by reducing average facility energy intensity by 5% from a 2015 baseline. By September 2018, DoD will institutionalize operational energy considerations in the force development process: 1) By September 30, 2016 DoD will ensure all acquisition programs that use operational energy and designated as Joint Requirements Oversight Council (JROC) Interest Items by the Joint Staff have an Energy Supportability Analysis(ESA)-informed Energy Key Performance Parameter (eKPP); 2) By September 30, 2017, DoD will include operational energy constraints and limitations analyses in all Title 10 war games; and 3) By September 30, 2018, DoD will ensure ESAs are used in all acquisition programs that use operational energy and were established in FY16 and later."," Energy | National Defense",440
"Department of Defense",FY14-15,"Reform the DoD acquisition process","In the Better Buying Power (BBP) initiative announced in September 2010, the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics (USD(AT&L)) directed the acquisition professionals in DoD to deliver better value to the taxpayer and warfighter by improving the way DoD  does business. Next to supporting the Armed Forces at war, he stated that this was the President’s and Secretary of Defense’s highest priority for DoD’s acquisition professionals. USD(AT&L) pointed out their continuing responsibility to procure the critical goods and services U.S. Armed Forces need in the years ahead without having ever-increasing budgets to pay for them. It has taken years for excessive costs and unproductive overhead to creep into DoD’s business practices. The roadmap for addressing these problems includes targeting affordability, controlling cost growth, and promoting real competition. The USD(AT&L) re-emphasized the management philosophy of continued improvement when he introduced Better Buying Power 2.0 in November 2012. This announcement encompassed 36 initiatives organized into seven focus areas, and included a new focus area that reflected the importance of the total acquisition workforce. The basic goal of BBP; however, remains unchanged: deliver better value to the taxpayer and Warfighter by improving the way the Department does business. The key challenge for DoD is to put its acquisition programs on sound footing from their beginning. DoD can guard against cost growth by ensuring a match between requirements and resources when the APB is established at program initiation or Milestone B. In other words, acquisition programs begin with mature technologies, adequate funding and personnel resources, and sufficient time to finish product development. Also, requirements must be achievable given those resource constraints and must be agreed upon and remain largely intact throughout the product development phase. DoD must guard against so-called “requirements creep.” Furthermore, disciplined and constant oversight is needed. The Services and program managers (PMs) also need to overcome any shortcomings in staff capabilities to perform the kind of portfolio analyses and systems engineering tradeoff analyses that would strengthen DoD’s ability to understand and control future costs from a program’s inception. Regarding competition, the most common reason for DoD noncompetitive awards is that one contractor is the only responsible source for  the procurement. The challenge for DoD is to support and strengthen the supplier base to give the Government more supply options. The second most common reason is “authorized by statute.” For example, awards under the Small Business Administration’s 8(a) business development program.","By September 30, 2015, DoD will improve its acquisition process by ensuring that the median cycle time for Major Defense Acquisition Programs (MDAPs) will not increase by more than 2.0% from the previous year; the average rate of acquisition cost growth for MDAPs will not exceed 3%from the previous year; the annual number of MDAP breaches - significant or critical cost overruns for reasons other than approved changes in quantity - will be zero; and DoD will increase the amount of contract obligations that are competitively awarded from 58 percent in FY2014 to 59 percent in FY2015."," National Defense",480
"Department of Defense",FY14-15,"DoD Financial Statement Audit Readiness","The National Defense Authorization Act of 2010 mandates that the Department of Defense (DoD) have audit ready financial statements by 2017. Audit ready means the Department has strengthened its internal controls and improved its financial practices, processes, and systems so there is reasonable confidence the information can withstand an audit by an independent auditor. DoD’s four principle financial statements include: Statement of Budgetary Resources - Provides information about how budgetary resources were made available as well as their status at the end of the period. It is the only financial statement exclusively derived from the Department’s budgetary general ledger. Balance Sheet - Reflects the Department’s financial position as of the statement date. The assets are the amount of future economic benefits owned or managed by the Department. The liabilities are amounts owed by the Department. The net position is the difference between the assets and liabilities. Statement of Net Cost - Separately reports the components of the net cost of the Department’s operations for the period. Net cost is equal to the gross cost incurred by the Department less any exchange revenue earned from its activities, further adjusted for net gains and losses. Statement of Changes in Net Position - Presents the total cumulative results of operations since inception and unexpended appropriations at the end of the fiscal year. The statement focuses on how the net cost of operations is financed. The resulting financial position represents the difference between assets and liabilities as shown on the consolidated balance sheet. This statement is supported by achieving an audit ready Balance Sheet and Statement of Net Cost.  APG challenges include: Valuation of Assets: Valuation of General Property, Plant, and Equipment and of Inventory and Related Property is critical. Many of the Department’s assets were acquired decades ago and before there was a requirement to produce financial statements. As a result, the acquisition (cost) documents required for supporting valuation and audit are often no longer available. For these assets, the Department must use alternative valuation methods. Fund Balance with Treasury: Due to the size of the Department’s budget and the enormous amount of funds expended and collected, the number of accounting transactions that must be reconciled between the Department’s accounts and Treasury is very large and the task complex. Statement of Budgetary Resources: Universe of Transactions- Providing complete universes of transactions is especially challenging for the Components because of the numerous accounting systems used to initiate and record transactions as well as hundreds of feeder systems where most transactions originate. Beginning Balances-Components must verify that open obligations for all active and expired appropriations are supported before beginning Statement of Budgetary Resources (SBR) audits, and many hundreds of open and expired appropriations must be reviewed.","Achieve audit readiness for all DoD financial statements by September 30, 2017.  "," National Defense",444
"Department of Defense",FY16-17,"Realigning Major DoD Headquarters Activities (MHA)","Problem / Opportunity: Given constraints on the DoD budget, and projected reductions in military end-strength, the Department will review whether resources are appropriately allocated to Major DoD Headquarters Activities (MHA).  This presents an opportunity to reallocate resources from overhead activities to line to preserve mission capabilities. Relationship to Strategic Goal and Objective: Improve overall performance, strengthen business operations, and achieve efficiencies, effectiveness, and cost savings within MHA that can be transferred to higher priority needs. Congressional Input (Relevant Highlights):      1. Section 346, ""Reductions in the amounts available for DoD headquarters, administrative, and support activities"" - National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2016.      2. Section 905, ""Periodic review of DoD management headquarters"" - Carl Levin and Howard P. ""Buck"" McKeon NDAA for FY 2015.      3. Section 8038, Requirement for certification of personnel or financial requirements to establish a field operating agency (e.g., Defense Agency or DoD Field Activity) - Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2015.      4. Section 8012, Prohibition on managing civilian personnel based on any end-strength limits - Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2015.      5. Section 904, ""Streamlining of Department of Defense management headquarters"" - NDAA for FY 2014.      6. Section 906, ""Modification of reference to Major DoD Meadquarters Activities (MHA) instruction"" - NDAA for FY 2014.      7. Section 955, ""Savings to be achieved in civilian personnel workforce and service contractor workforce of the Department of Defense"" - NDAA for FY 2013.      8. Section 931, ""General Policy for Total Force Management"" - NDAA for FY 2012.      9. Section 932, ""Revisions to DoD Civilian Personnel Management Constraints"" - NDAA for FY 2012.    10. Section 944, ""Report on organizational structures of the geographic combatant command headquarters"" - Ike Skelton NDAA for FY 2011.    11. Section 1109, ""Adjustments to limitations on personnel and requirement for annual manpower reporting"" - NDAA for FY 2010.    12. Section 1111, ""Exceptions and adjustments to limitations on personnel and reports on such exceptions and adjustments"" - Duncan Hunter NDAA for FY 2009.    13. Section 901, ""Repeal of limitation on Major DoD Headquarters Activities personnel and related report"" - NDAA for FY 2008. Internal Partners: DoD Component Heads (in coordination with Office of the DCMO (ODCMO), will lead rebaselining of MHA within their component and ensure appropriate ongoing assessment and management of MHA). External Partners: Office of Management and Budget (will ensure ongoing tracking and assessment of MHA), and Congressional Defense Committee Members (will provide oversight and propose statutory changes to MHA). Key Barriers and Challenges:  Two key challenges include the ability to:      1. Maintain and ensure a consistent understanding, accounting, and tracking of MHA, and      2. Consistently manage MHA to an optimum level of efficiency, effectiveness, and economy.","Increase funding for high priority core missions by reducing the cost of overhead and management structures and redirect those savings to core missions"," Management",79931
"Department of Defense",FY16-17,"Financial Statement Audit Readiness","Problem / Opportunity: Valuing and accurately reporting over $2.2 trillion in assets, reporting over $2.4 trillion liabilities, and preparing full financial statements for audit. Audit readiness priorities expand from budgetary data reported on the Statement of Budgetary Resources (SBR) to all financial transactions reported on the Balance Sheet, Statement of Net Cost, and statement of Change in Net Position. Relationship to Strategic Goal and Objective: Achieving audit readiness supports the DoD Strategic Goal to Reform and Reshape the Defense Institution, and the Strategic Objective to improve financial processes, controls, and information via audit readiness. Congressional Highlights: As addressed in the NDAA (starting with 2010), directed requirements related to: The development of a plan that includes interim objectives and a schedule of milestones for each military department and for the defense agencies, supporting audit readiness goals, to include improvements and business systems modernization efforts necessary for the DoD to consistently prepare timely, reliable, and complete financial management information. Developing a plan that should include corrective actions for any identified weaknesses or deficiencies to include identifying near- and long-term measures for resolving any such weaknesses or deficiencies; assign responsibilities within the DoD to implement such measures; specify implementation steps for such measures; and provide timeframes for implementation of such measures. The Financial Improvement and Audit Readiness Plan describing specific actions to be taken and the costs associated with ensuring that the financial statements of the DoD are validated as ready for audit not later than September 30, 2017. Upon the conclusion of FY 2018, the Secretary of Defense shall ensure that a full audit is performed on the financial statements of the DoD for such FY. The Secretary shall submit to Congress the results of that audit not later than March 31, 2019.   Laws, Regulations, and Policies: Federal Financial Management Improvement Act of 1996 (FFMIA) OMB Circular No. A-123, Management's Responsibility for Enterprise Risk Management and Internal Control National Defense Authorization Act Chief Financial Officers Act of 1990 Government Management Reform Act of 1994 DoD Financial Management Regulation Financial Accounting Standards Advisory Board (FASAB) Handbook of Accounting Standards and other pronouncements   Key Barriers and Challenges: The size, diverse functional scope of business operations and frequently non-standard, decentralized execution of support operations makes this an extremely challenging endeavor. Valuation of Assets:  Valuation of General Property, Plant, and Equipment and of Inventory and Related Property is critical. Many of the Department’s assets were acquired decades ago and before there was a requirement to produce financial statements. As a result, the acquisition (cost) documents required for supporting valuation and audit are often no longer available. The Department must use alternative valuation methods. Fund Balance with Treasury:  Due to the size of the Department’s budget and the enormous amount of funds expended and collected, the number of accounting transactions that must be reconciled between the Department’s accounts and Treasury is very large and complex, compounded by nonstandard data, weak system controls, and edits at the end of the process instead at the beginning. Universe of Transactions:  Providing complete universes of transactions is especially challenging for the Components because of the numerous accounting systems used to initiate and record transactions as well as hundreds of feeder systems where most transactions originate. Components must verify that open obligations for all active and expired appropriations (beginning balances) are supported before starting SBR and full financial statement audits. IT Systems: The Department has nearly 500 individual IT systems relevant to audit. Meeting the needs of the auditors requires too many manual workarounds and stretches limited resources even more thinly. These systems are costly to maintain and result in substantial IT control issues. To efficiently audit the Department, auditors must be able to rely on the IT environment. The more systems DoD uses, the more difficult the task becomes. Environmental Liabilities: The Department has not been able to provide assurance that clean-up costs for all of its ongoing, closed, and disposal operations are identified, consistently estimated, and appropriately reported. Additionally, the Department is not able to consistently report environmental liability disclosures and supporting documentation is not properly maintained and readily available for all environmental sites. Mitigation Efforts: A strategy has been implemented that includes close engagement with standards setters and audit community such as the DoD Office of the IG, the Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board (FASAB), and independent public accounting firms to define cost efficient solutions for audit “show stoppers.” In addition, the Department has collaborated with Independent Public Accountants and the FASAB to issue policies governing Existence, Completeness, and Rights. Further, the Department has established working groups to address critical capabilities needed for audit and is in the process of developing detailed implementation plans. The Department will continue to assess risks against these critical capabilities and adjust corrective actions accordingly. Critical Capabilities Include: • Critical systems internal controls that impact financial statements • Fund Balance with Treasury Reconciliation • Complete Universe of Accounting Transactions • Property Existence, Completeness, Rights and Valuation • Environmental Liabilities • Unsupported Journal Vouchers The OUSD(C) is partnering with the DoD CIO, DCMO, and DFAS to establish a comprehensive Department-wide solution for risks related to the identified critical capabilities to ensure the Department’s financial statements are complete, accurate, and fully supported by financial transactions.","The National Defense Authorization Act of 2010 mandates that the Department of Defense (DoD) have audit ready financial statements by 2017. The DoD’s financial statement will be audit ready by September 30, 2017."," Management",36742
"Department of Education",FY16-17,"Enable evidence-based decision making","GOAL OVERVIEW   The Department of Education (ED) is committed to using its resources strategically to increase the amount of rigorous evidence about what works in education. Education leaders need this evidence to decide whether a potential program, policy, or practice is likely to produce improved student or other educational outcomes. While ED supports research on what works through its research programs, it also is committed to taking every opportunity to build and use research evidence in a range of competitive grant programs.   ED takes a two-pronged approach to evidence-based grant making with its competitive grants.  First, ED directs its competitive grant dollars to approaches that are supported by at least some evidence. Second, ED generates new evidence by asking grantees to conduct rigorous evaluations of their interventions.   ED’s first competitive grant program to use an evidence-based grant making strategy (other than research programs at the Institute of Education Sciences (IES)) was the Investing in Innovation program (i3), which made its first grants in 2010 and currently manages a portfolio of over 100 projects. Since then, ED has expanded its evidence-based grant making to other competitive grant programs when appropriate, given resources and program purpose. The First in the World program (FITW) is an example of a postsecondary program that invests in approaches with at least some research support and asks grantees to conduct rigorous studies of impact on student outcomes. FITW made new evidence-based awards in FYs 14 and 15, but was not funded in FY16.   Doing evidence-based grant making well involves substantial, coordinated effort from many ED offices. ED must assess whether there is existing evidence on which applicants can build, help applicants to understand ED’s evidence standards, support applicants’ search for and application of evidence, coordinate timelines and logistics of internal study reviews (to ensure that applicants who cite evidence in support of their proposed projects are citing appropriately rigorous studies), and provide support on grantees’ rigorous evaluations. ED learned from the i3 experience that technical support for grantees and their evaluators is crucial to producing the highest-caliber evidence. By way of example, ED’s application of high-quality support for grantees’ evaluations has ensured that, to date, 22 i3 projects have met rigorous What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) Evidence Standards, 107 i3 projects are currently expected to meet those standards, and 40 of 42 FITW projects are currently expected to meet them. However, providing support for rigorous studies in a consistent, cost-effective way is a new challenge that ED faces as it rolls out rigorous study expectations to additional grant programs.   Evidence-based grant making has been a high-priority initiative at ED for the past several years, and ED has underscored its importance more recently with the FY14 – FY15 APG focused on increasing the percentage of competitive dollars that support evidence-based strategies.  Prior to FY15, we focused intently on scaling the successful practices of i3 to other competitive grant programs. In FY15, ED shifted its focus to (1) investing our resources more carefully to ensure that the quality of implementing these strategies remains strong, and (2) picking only those programs where the evidence-based grant making approaches described above are likely to be successful.   Given ED’s current competitive grant programs, the availability of evidence in the field, the current funding and statutory landscape, and early projections for program funding over the next few years, increasing the new funding that supports evidence-based practices to 18% by the end of FY16 and 20% by the end of FY17 is an ambitious, yet achievable, goal. As background, 9% of ED’s new competitive grant funding supported evidence-based practices in FY12. As of FY14, almost 16% of ED’s new competitive grant funding supported evidence-based practices, and the FY15 percentage, which serves as the baseline, was significantly higher still – over 29%. Some of this jump is attributable to the size of competitions using evidence in FY15, and the number of applicants in those competitions. We do not assume this percentage will grow at a linear rate over time, and note that when taking into account ED’s ongoing planning process for using evidence in its competitive programs, and ED’s appropriations for FY16, it is likely that ensuring that more than 29% of its competitive dollars support evidence-based activities may not be possible or wise. We believe that ED has scaled this work to almost all of the competitive programs for which it makes sense to do so, and are focusing our next two years on quality of implementation so that use of evidence in competitions is supported and implemented in a meaningful way.   The second metric of the APG focuses on the number of rigorous studies ED expects to add to the education research base. ED expects that i3, in particular, will add a large number of studies on what works for elementary and secondary students. Over the next few years, we expect that 42 i3 grantees will release studies that meet WWC Evidence Standards. Because the timing of when those studies will be published and receive an official WWC rating varies, and because some i3 grantees have received extensions to collect and analyze more data, we estimated that 20 of these studies will be added to the WWC database and will be determined to meet WWC Evidence Standards by the end of FY17. As of the end of FY16, we have surpassed this target and 22 studies from i3 grantees were found to meet WWC Evidence Standards.  Since the WWC began releasing evidence reviews in 2006, more than 2,350 eligible studies (effectiveness studies with an outcome identified in a review protocol) have been reviewed.  Of those, 878 studies (approximately 37%) have findings that meet WWC standards with or without reservations.  i3’s contribution, over the next two years, of 20 rigorous effectiveness studies is critical as educators, families, and policymakers continue to seek clear and credible information on what works in education. In addition to i3, ED supports a focus on rigorous evaluation in other competitive grant programs, such as Supporting Effective Educator Development (SEED) and FITW. However, because i3 will be the only program to contribute studies by the end of FY17, only i3 project evaluations are included in the formal reporting on this APG. Even so, ED intends to provide future-focused updates that address ED’s work to support rigorous research endeavors in other programs.    As noted above, it is important that grantees tasked with rigorously evaluating their projects receive high-quality technical assistance in order to produce credible data. In addition to counting the rigorous studies that ED competitive grant programs support, this APG speaks to ED’s ability to support, through funding and technical support, high-quality evaluation.     KEY BARRIERS AND CHALLENGES   Using evidence to inform competitive grant funding decisions entails a shift in culture and capacity across ED, yet ED has limited resources to support those program offices in doing this work well. Final appropriations and other funding decisions and trade-offs also influence the amounts available to competitive grant programs. For example, the FITW program is not funded in FY16. If this and other programs that ED currently considers to be evidence-based are not funded in FY17, it may be more challenging to meet the established targets. In addition, in FY17 ED will begin implementing the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), which reauthorizes the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 and includes many changes, large and small, for grant programs. ESSA’s emphasis on the use of “evidence-based” activities creates an opportunity to increase funding that supports evidence-based activities in the future, but the challenges of implementing the new law may affect this APG in the short term while ED works to help the field understand the new definition and to support grantees in meeting new evidence requirements.   In Q4, ED announced the winners for all but two grant competitions that contribute to this APG – these programs have funds available beyond September 30, 2016.  In general, however, we note that ED’s focus on transitioning to ESSA has created a relative dearth of staff capacity across many of its competitive grant programs.  While we spent FY16 competitive dollars within the timeframes mandated by the Congress, delays in a competition schedule from previous quarters caused us to truncate crucial tasks, such as reviewing the evidence applicants submit in support of their projects.  ED continues to learn from past evidence-based competitions to improve our processes.   In addition, supporting grantees as they rigorously evaluate their grant-funded projects is resource-intensive and difficult to do well. Technical assistance is costly, and many small programs, or programs funded under different authorities, have limited ability to provide the assistance that grantees need to stay on track. All rigorous studies of effectiveness require careful stewardship, and even in the hands of skilled evaluators, many things can go wrong in the implementation of a study that threaten its credibility. Further, unlike research grant programs, competitive grant programs consider the qualifications of evaluators as one factor among many, with the result that not all evaluators of funded projects have significant experience in conducting rigorous studies of effectiveness.  ED continues to problem solve with specific program offices in order to apply the i3 model in an accessible way to get more credible and informative data from grantees. ED’s Evidence Planning Group (EPG) continues to keep this issue on its radar, but focused in Q4 on closing out FY16 competitions and preparing for select FY17 competitions.   In particular, as elementary and secondary programs transition to the ESEA as amended by the ESSA, new statutory provisions that require or incentivize evidence-based practices have caused hiccups in FY17 planning.  Specifically, the ESEA’s definition for “evidence-based” aligns with, but does not match exactly, the definitions ED created through regulations in 2013, and certain differences have created substantial process complications.  EPG devoted ample time in Q4 to come up with a short-term solution for FY17, and a longer term solution for future years, that ensures that ED continues to hold its applicants to rigorous standards while still considering the internal capacity of staff to conduct evidence-based grant competitions with integrity.   In addition, there are several programs for which ED’s model of evidence-based grant making is problematic or not possible. Some programs provide funding to comprehensive support centers that respond to the needs of an education community – it is difficult to require that all grantees under such a program demonstrate that they will only provide evidence-based support when the applicant may not be able to predict the challenges that will arise in the community or anticipate the amount of research available on such challenges.   Finally, despite general support for evidence-based grant making endeavors, many programs’ stakeholders, who are accustomed to the status quo, have pushed back on integrating evidence into competitive grant programs. Long-standing funding levels and competition designs can make applicants less willing to move toward evidence-based strategies that require them to evaluate their work’s overall impact.   EXTERNAL STAKEHOLDERS There is an increasing emphasis among stakeholders on the importance of using evidence to support government program funding decisions, and ED regularly engages the field on this topic. A number of outside organizations have convened experts to discuss how to encourage such decisions. In addition, philanthropic and congressional actors prioritized using evidence to support decision-making and have encouraged the field to do the same. Finally, ED has worked with the National Science Foundation to develop a common evidence framework around which to organize research investments and grants.","Increase use and generation of credible evidence on what works and what does not work in education. By September 30, 2017, ED will increase to 20% the percentage of new competitive grant dollars that support evidence-based strategies. By September 30, 2017, ED will increase by 20 the number of ED-funded project evaluations that provide credible evidence about what works in education."," Education, Training, Employment, and Social Services",40292
"Department of Education",FY16-17,"Support implementation of college- and career-ready standards and assessments","GOAL OVERVIEW The adoption of college- and career-ready standards is the foundation to ensuring every student graduates from high school with meaningful opportunities to be successful. The reauthorized Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), maintains the requirement that States develop and implement challenging academic content standards in reading/language arts, mathematics, and science. In the past, those standards did not always reflect the knowledge and skills needed for success after high school, either in further education or in a job. Additionally, college- and career-ready standards must be coupled with high-quality aligned assessments to measure the extent to which students are mastering the standards. High-quality, annual Statewide assessments are essential to providing critical information about student achievement and growth to parents, teachers, principals, and administrators at all levels. When the assessment system is aligned with the academic content and achievement standards that a State expects all children to know and be able to do, it provides the roadmap for aligning instruction to meet the academic needs of students.  High-quality, annual, Statewide assessments provide information on all students so that educators can improve educational outcomes, close achievement gaps among subgroups of historically underserved students, increase equity, and improve instruction.   Through the Race to the Top- Assessment (RTTA) program, ESEA flexibility, the Enhanced Assessment Grant program,  formula funds to all States for developing and administering Statewide assessments, and other federal programs, the Department of Education (ED) has provided and continues to provide significant resources to support States in implementing college- and career-ready standards and aligned high-quality assessments for all students, including English Learners, students with disabilities, economically disadvantaged and low-achieving students. The RTTA consortia and the two consortia that have developed alternate assessments based on alternate achievement standards for students with the most significant cognitive disabilities completed the field testing of their assessments during the 2013-2014 school year and successfully implemented the first full administration in spring 2015. 28 States, DC, and the US Virgin Islands (USVI) participated in the Partnerships for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) or Smarter Balanced - the two RTTA consortia- first operational administration in spring 2015.  22 of those states, DC, and the USVI administered PARCC or Smarter Balanced in spring 2016.   As States and districts transition to the ESSA, ED will continue working to support States with the implementation of their college- and career-ready standards and aligned assessments for all students, including English Learners, students with disabilities, economically disadvantaged and low-achieving students to ensure that all students are prepared for post-secondary success.      KEY BARRIERS AND CHALLENGES A challenge facing ED over the next two years relates to the changes States may make to their currently adopted college- and career-ready standards and their aligned assessments, as a result of internal pushback due to concerns about overtesting, technological challenges or political challenges. In many cases, these barriers and challenges may prohibit a State from transitioning to or keeping a high-quality assessment.   Additionally, ED is working to support States with the implementation of their college- and career-ready standards and aligned assessments for all students, including English Learners, students with disabilities, economically disadvantaged and low-achieving students to ensure that all students are prepared for post-secondary success.     EXTERNAL STAKEHOLDERS ED has and continues to seek input from a wide variety of stakeholders in the early stages of implementation of the new ESSA.  On December 22, 2015, the Department published in the Federal Register a Request for Information, seeking advice and recommendations regarding topics under Title I of the ESEA where regulations would be beneficial.  ED has also held over 200 meetings with a wide variety of stakeholders to ask for advice on regulations, guidance, or technical assistance that will be necessary to ensure successful transition to and implementation of the new law, including the standards and assessments provisions. In January 2016, the Department announced its intention to undertake a negotiated rulemaking process to regulate on provisions related to Statewide assessments under Title I of the ESSA and issued a call for negotiators, In March and April 2016, a committee representing a wide variety of stakeholders, including Federal administrators, State administrators, district administrators, teachers, principals, other schools leaders, paraprofessionals, civil rights organizations and the business community, assembled to draft such regulations. The committee reached consensus on the proposed regulations, and the Department published those draft regulations as part of a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on July 11, 2016. Hundreds of commenters commented through the public comment period on the proposed regulations, which ended on September 9, 2016.  ED is currently reviewing comments before releasing a final regulation this year. ","Support implementation of college- and career-ready standards and assessments.  By September 30, 2017, all states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico will be implementing high-quality assessments, aligned with college- and career-ready standards."," Education, Training, Employment, and Social Services",40202
"Department of Education",FY16-17,"Increase College Degree Attainment in America","GOAL OVERVIEW Dramatically boosting completion rates for postsecondary certificates and degrees is essential for the United States to successfully compete in a global economy. The President set a goal in 2009 that, by 2020, the U.S. will have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world. Meeting this goal will require millions of additional Americans to earn a postsecondary degree by the end of this decade—a 50 percent increase in the college attainment rate nationwide. The Department of Education (ED) is implementing new initiatives from the President’s Value and Affordability Agenda to help increase the college attainment rate, and has proposed several new programs which, if enacted and/or funded, will significantly accelerate progress toward the goal.   Starting from a baseline college degree attainment rate of 44.0 percent in 2012, to reach the President’s goal in 2020, ED set targets projecting the annual increase to grow progressively each year above the four-year historical average of 0.7 percentage points:  0.7, 0.9, 1.2, 1.6, 2.1, 2.8, 3.2, and 3.5. This variation in annual increase reflects the fact that, at the time targets were set, we had few programs that directly impacted the attainment rate, and the impact of newly proposed programs would take several years to play out if funded. Since the data for any given year are reported in the following year, the growth will lead to 60% of all Americans having an associate’s degree or higher (as reported in 2021, which will reflect 2020 data; note that certificates are not included since the U.S. currently is not able to measure attainment of certificates in the population).   To meet annual targets, by September 30, 2016, 46.8% of adults ages 25-34 will have an associate’s degree or higher, which will keep the nation on track to reach the President’s goal of 60% attainment by 2020. The President’s focus on the educational attainment among ages 25-34 allows us to assess progress in preparing the next generation of U.S. workers and to benchmark for international comparisons. Nonetheless, college completion for all ages is important, including unemployed, under-skilled and older workers, veterans and other underrepresented student categories.                                                                                                                                      KEY BARRIERS AND CHALLENGES Success will depend in large part on the extent to which states reinvest in higher education and on whether both states and institutions (a) implement policies and programs to increase college access and success, (b) reduce costs and time to completion, (c) support accelerated learning opportunities, including dual enrollment, (d) develop and adopt effective and innovative practices and reforms that improve student outcomes, and (e) promote seamless transitions from secondary to postsecondary education and among higher education institutions. Despite two years of per-student funding increases nationally, state higher educational appropriations per student are still below 2008 pre-recession levels (down by 15.3 percent as of 2015). Although forty states increased their funding in 2015 over prior-year funding, few are even meeting the levels they funded at the start of the recession; 45 states invested less per student in 2015 than they did in 2008.[1] ED will use its available resources and programs, administrative action, bully pulpit, technical assistance, and ability to convene stakeholders to drive collaboration and best practices, but has limited leverage to influence state policies and institutional practices without new programs that are specifically structured toward this goal, such as the proposed America’s College Promise and College Opportunity and Graduation Bonus programs.   College enrollment rates typically decrease during times of improving economic conditions, as is currently occurring. While increases in high school graduation rates (one of the factors that feed into the attainment rate) are growing, data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show that fewer high school graduates are opting for college than they were in 2009—65.9 percent in 2013, 68.4 percent in 2014, and 69.2 percent in 2015, compared with a high point of 70.1 percent in 2009.[2] Total fall enrollment has declined as well, falling by an estimated 3.6 percent in 2015 from an enrollment surge in 2010.[3] This could make it more challenging to achieve the accelerated growth in the college attainment rate that is projected in the annual targets, unless there is a significant increase in the percentage of students who complete their programs of study. In fact, after two years of achieving attainment rate targets, ED missed the 2016 target by 0.3 percentage points—a small amount, but one that hints of the challenge going forward. ED can continue to facilitate college access while incenting and supporting institutions to increase completion rates, but large-scale programs such as those proposed by the Administration will be even more impactful.   EXTERNAL STAKEHOLDERS Students and their Families, States, Institutions of Higher Education (IHEs), Accrediting Agencies, Businesses, Philanthropy, Not-for-Profit Organizations, and other Federal Departments and Agencies (particularly the Departments of Defense, Health and Human Services, Justice, Labor, Veterans Affairs, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau).   [1] State Higher Education Finance Report 2015, State Higher Education Executive Officers:http://www.sheeo.org/sites/default/files/SHEF_FY15_EMBARGOED_%20PR_04221... [2] Bureau of Labor Statistics, College Enrollment and Work Activity of High School Graduates News Release, April 22, 2014, April 16, 2015, and April 28, 2016: http://www.bls.gov/news.release/hsgec.htm [3] National Center for Educational Statistics, Digest of Education Statistics 2015, “Table 303.10. Total fall enrollment in degree-granting postsecondary institutions, by attendance status, sex of student, and control of institution: Selected years, 1947 through 2025”: https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d15/tables/dt15_303.10.asp  ","Increase attainment of college degrees by improving affordability, access, and student outcomes.  By September 30, 2017, 48.4 percent of adults ages 25-34 will have an associate degree or higher."," Education, Training, Employment, and Social Services",92581
"Department of Education",FY16-17,"Ensure equitable educational opportunities","GOAL OVERVIEW Increasing the national high school graduation rate and decreasing disparities in the graduation rate is critical to achieving the President’s goal of once again having the highest proportion of college graduates in the world.  The nation has made significant progress in increasing graduation rates, but gaps between rates for different student groups persist.  The Department of Education (ED) is committed to pursuing equity at all stages of education, from birth through adulthood, in institutions of early learning, elementary and secondary education, career and technical and postsecondary education, adult education, workforce development, and independent living programs. ED’s goal is to ensure that all—not just a subset—of the nation’s children have access to high-quality preschool, graduate high school and obtain the skills necessary to succeed in college, in the pursuit of a meaningful career, and in their lives. Accordingly, this goal incorporates programs and initiatives across ED -- including investments in local educational agencies (LEAs) through Title I Grants; State Plans to Ensure Equitable Access to Excellent Educators (Educator Equity Plans); English Language Acquisition grants and tools for English Learners; increased focus on improving outcomes for children with disabilities through the Results Driving Accountability initiative; and enforcement work to secure civil rights compliance -- to reduce the existing unacceptable inequities in the distribution of resources such as funding, high-quality teaching, and challenging coursework.    ED will work diligently to implement the changes to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) made by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), including issuing guidance and providing technical assistance to State educational agencies (SEAs), LEAs, and the public on the new law as well as on the transition to the new law. ED will continue to support SEAs and LEAs in identifying and turning around low-achieving schools while also providing significant resources to dramatically improve these same schools.  Furthermore, ED will maintain its focus on supporting innovation, not just compliance monitoring, and on spurring growth in achievement, not just absolute achievement measures.    As we assess progress on ensuring equitable educational opportunity, we also look at other indicators that go beyond this APG’s metrics such as the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP).  As the largest nationally representative and continuing assessment of America's students, NAEP provides a helpful look at what our students know and can do in various subject areas and allows for a review of achievement gaps between students groups. In 2015, the average mathematics score for 4th grade students from low-income backgrounds was 24 points lower than the average score for their more advantaged peers. Similar patterns exist for the other NAEP subject and grade assessments ­­­— the income gaps were 28 points in 4th grade reading, 28 points in 8th grade math, and 23 points in 8th grade reading. In 2015, 12th grade students from low-income families also scored lower than their more advantaged peers — 22 points in both math and reading (Table 1).   Table 1: Average scale scores on the NAEP mathematics and reading assessments in grades 4, 8, and 12, by selected student characteristics      Grade 4 (2015)   Grade 8 (2015)   Grade 12 (2015)       Math   Reading   Math   Reading   Math   Reading   All   240   221   281   264   150   285   Eligible for free or reduced-price lunch   229   209   268   253   138   273   Not Eligible   253   237   296   276   160   295   Gap between students who are and are not eligible for free or reduced-price lunch   24   28   28   23   22   22    Table 2: Percentages of students scoring at or above proficient on the NAEP mathematics and reading assessments in grades 4, 8, and 12, by selected student characteristics      Grade 4 (2015)   Grade 8 (2015)   Grade 12 (2015)       Math   Reading   Math   Reading   Math   Reading   All   39   35   32   33   23   36   Eligible for free or reduced-price lunch   24   21   18   20   11   22   Not Eligible   58   52   48   47   32   45  Notes: The 2015 NAEP assessment results for students in grade 12 retrieved report generated athttp://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/naepdata/dataset.aspx Some apparent differences between estimates may not be statistically significant. SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)0 http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/mathematics/moreabout.aspx https://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/reading/moreabout.aspx     KEY BARRIERS AND CHALLENGES Implementing the  changes to the ESEA made by the ESSA and managing the transition from NCLB; Sustainability of reforms in schools as school improvement grants (SIG) end; Supporting the implementation of school-based interventions despite limited capacity at the State, district, and school level; and  Ensuring quality and completeness of data/knowledge at state and local levels to enable better measurement of success.   EXTERNAL STAKEHOLDERS ED works closely with stakeholder groups that are focused on increasing graduation rates and increasing equitable access to educational opportunities, including the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO), Council of the Great City Schools (CGCS), the Alliance for Excellent Education, the Education Trust, Jobs for the Future, the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights (LCCHR), and the National Urban League (NUL).  APG STATEMENT  Improve high school graduation rates and decrease gaps in graduation rates between all students and students from low-income families, through comprehensive school and instructional improvement strategies such as ensuring equitable access to effective teachers and rigorous coursework in low-income schools. By September 30, 2017, the national high school graduation rate will increase to 85 percent, and the gap in the graduation rate between all students and students from low-income families will decrease to 7.4 percent. By September 30, 2017, the number of high schools with persistently low graduation rates will decrease by 10 percent and the number of schools that do not have a gap or have decreased the gap between all students and students from low-income families by 5 percent or more will increase by 3 percent.","Improve high school graduation rates and decrease gaps in graduation rates between all students and students from low-income families, through comprehensive school and instructional improvement strategies such as ensuring equitable access to effective teachers and rigorous coursework in low-income schools. By September 30, 2017, the national high school graduation rate will increase to 85 percent, and the gap in the graduation rate between all students and students from low-income families will decrease to 7.4 percent. By September 30, 2017, the number of high schools with persistently low graduation rates will decrease by 10 percent and the number of schools that do not have a gap or have decreased the gap between all students and students from low-income families by 5 percent or more will increase by 3 percent.  "," Education, Training, Employment, and Social Services",40282
"Department of Education",FY16-17,"Federal Student Aid Transparency","GOAL OVERVIEW Clear, consistent, and timely information about FSA’s mission, objectives, and services to stakeholders enables FSA to be the most trusted source of information on federal funding of postsecondary education.  FSA has built a rich database of Title IV-related information and is aware of the potential of this data to inform discussion and improve student outcomes.  FSA understands that different stakeholders have different needs, interests, and familiarity with federal financial aid programs.  Through the dissemination of useful information through general channels meant to support transparency initiatives, such as the FSA Data Center, as well as through structured reports, such as upcoming reporting on customer complaints, FSA will provide significant value to stakeholders seeking a consistent and accurate understanding of the contours of the higher education environment. FSA currently releases a variety of financial aid information and data on a quarterly basis on the FSA Data Center.  This goal commits FSA to add new and important information and data that will increase the general public’s understanding of the federal student aid programs.  The information and data will take the form of reports or datasets related to one or more of the following categories: Student Aid Data, including information on income-driven repayment plans, the Federal student loan portfolio, aid eligibility and applications, default, and forgiveness, School Data, including information on school eligibility and participation as well as school compliance, Servicer Data, and Ad Hoc Studies and Reports.    KEY BARRIERS AND CHALLENGES In the process of achieving this goal, FSA will need to ensure adherence to applicable privacy and confidentiality laws and regulations relevant to the publication of new information and data elements.  FSA is committed to ensuring that the privacy and confidentiality of student data is protected, and will leverage the robust data review and governance processes within its Enterprise Data Office to ensure that information provided adheres to applicable guidance.    EXTERNAL STAKEHOLDERS External stakeholders for this include: Taxpayers, who may be interested in better understanding the work performed by FSA,  Prospective students and their families, Researchers, advocates, and members of the media, who may use the new information to inform their own work, and   Schools and other participants in the system of higher education, who may use the data to improve processes and create better outcomes for students and borrowers, Policy makers, including members of Congress.","Increase and enhance transparency of information about the student loan portfolio for taxpayers, researchers, and the public. ED will publish on Federal Student Aid’s Data Center at least 15 new releases of data points or other information reports in 2016 and 2017, resulting in 30 new releases by September 30, 2017."," Education, Training, Employment, and Social Services",71231
"Department of Education",FY16-17,"Increase enrollment in high-quality state preschool programs","GOAL OVERVIEW Children who attend high-quality early learning programs do measurably better in school than their peers who do not attend such programs, yet there continues to be a huge unmet need for public preschool.  In April 2015, ED released A Matter of Equity: Preschool in America showing that of approximately 4 million 4-year olds in the United States, nearly 2.5 million are not enrolled in publicly funded preschool programs and even fewer are enrolled in the highest-quality programs. Significant new federal and state investments in high-quality early education are necessary to help states, local communities, and parents close the school readiness gaps between disadvantaged children and their more advantaged peers.   The Administration’s 2017 Budget renews President Obama’s call for universal preschool, supported by a 10-year, $75 billion proposal to expand access to high-quality preschool through a Federal-State cost-sharing partnership that would guarantee universal access to every 4 year old from low- and moderate-income families and create incentives for States to serve additional children from middle class families.  The Budget is also seeking $350 million for Preschool Development Grants, which will be funded through the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and jointly administered by HHS and ED, consistent with the requirements of the Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015 (ESSA).  In December 2014, eighteen states received PDG awards to improve or create new preschool slots for 4-year-old children, and are well underway serving children in their programs.  In December 2015, grantees received their second year of funding, and Congress appropriated funding for their third year.  Funding in fiscal year 2017 will support the fourth and final year of funding for the 18 current PDG grantees as well as initial implementation of the changes contained in the new ESSA law in order to better coordinate and expand early learning services for children and families.  The two agencies will continue to work closely together to jointly administer the program and will develop a Memorandum of Understanding that includes joint staffing of Preschool Development Grant implementation and ensures a smooth transition for all grantees.  In addition, the ED/HHS jointly-administered Early Learning Challenge (ELC) grants continue to provide improvements in quality in twenty grantee states.   KEY BARRIERS AND CHALLENGES In December 2015, Congress passed the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), which reauthorized the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA).  Under the reauthorized law, funding for the program is appropriated to HHS, and the program is administered jointly by ED and HHS.  Per the statute, the purpose of the program is to coordinate early childhood education programs in a mixed delivery system of providers including schools, licensed child care centers, Head Start, or other community-based organizations that will prepare low-income and disadvantaged children to enter kindergarten.  The statute specifies that one way to accomplish this goal is by improving the participation of children in a mixed delivery system and increasing the quality of the programs in this system.  As a result, both agencies will work together to award grants that focus on coordination, as well as expanding access to high-quality preschool for children from low- and moderate-income households.   EXTERNAL STAKEHOLDERS Congress Governors State educational agencies (SEAs) or in some states, the early learning agency State Advisory Councils Local Educational Agencies (LEAs, and their Superintendents and Principals) Early educators National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) National Association of Early Childhood Specialists in State Departments of Education (NAECS-SDE) National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) Council for Exceptional Children, Division of Early Childhood (DEC)","Increase the percentage of children, especially children from low-income families, enrolled in high-quality preschool programs.  By September 30, 2017, the percentage of four-year old children enrolled in state preschool programs will increase to 33% (representing the 2015-16 school year, increasing from 29.1% in 2013-14 school year). By September 30, 2017, the number of state preschool programs meeting high-quality benchmarks will increase to 19 states (representing the 2015-16 school year, increasing from 15 in 2013-14 school year)."," Education, Training, Employment, and Social Services",40322
"Department of Education",FY14-15,"Support implementation of college- and career-ready standards and assessments","GOAL OVERVIEW The adoption of college- and career-ready standards is the foundation to improving educational outcomes for all students and a fundamental step toward meeting the President’s goal of once again having the highest proportion of college graduates in the world by 2020.  The college- and career-ready standards must be coupled with high-quality aligned assessments to measure the extent to which students are mastering the standards.   KEY BARRIERS AND CHALLENGES A key challenge facing the Department of Education (ED) over the next two years  relates to the changes States may make to their currently adopted college- and career-ready standards due to changes from state leadership or the state legislature. Another key challenge is supporting states with the implementation of their college- and career-ready aligned assessments for all students, including English Learners, students with disabilities, economically disadvantaged and low-achieving students to ensure that all students are prepared for post-secondary success.  ED is taking steps to address these challenges by developing and targeting technical assistance activities that will, in part, increase state capacity to leverage limited resources and continue to identify promising practices across multiple states.  First, ED has released its Title I assessment peer review guidance, which  highlights the requirements for a high-quality assessment to help support state assessment development; in FY 2016, ED will begin conducting peer review of state assessment systems, providing examples of promising and best practices in the field.  ED will build also library of resources to assist SEAs in full and effective transition to college- and career-ready standards, leveraging work that has occurred during Race to the Top with other partner organizations such as Achieve, Student Achievement Partners, PTA, and others. In addition, ED is working internally to coordinate the provision of technical assistance across OESE, the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP), and other related offices and programs.  ED also funds a Center on Standards and Assessments Implementation (part of the ESEA Comprehensive Centers program) that helps build the capacity of State educational agencies to implement college- and career-ready standards.     ED is taking steps to address these challenges by developing and targeting technical assistance activities that will, in part, increase state capacity to leverage limited resources and continue to identify promising practices across multiple states.  First, ED has released its Title I assessment peer review guidance, which  highlights the requirements for a high-quality assessment to help support state assessment development; in FY 2016, ED will begin conducting peer review of state assessment systems, providing examples of promising and best practices in the field.  ED will build also library of resources to assist SEAs in full and effective transition to college- and career-ready standards, leveraging work that has occurred during Race to the Top with other partner organizations such as Achieve, Student Achievement Partners, PTA, and others. In addition, ED is working internally to coordinate the provision of technical assistance across OESE, the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP), and other related offices and programs.  ED also funds a Center on Standards and Assessments Implementation (part of the ESEA Comprehensive Centers program) that helps build the capacity of State educational agencies to implement college- and career-ready standards Finally, ED is working with states to provide communication support and technical assistance to help states and LEAs reduce redundant and unaligned local assessments, as well as to help states develop a process and strategy to share state assessment results from 2014-2015 as scores are likely to drop due to increased rigor of the assessments. Among other activities, this includes assisting states in resetting baselines and annual goals related to student performance.   EXTERNAL STAKEHOLDERS ED consistently engaged with Congress, advocacy organizations, education organizations, State educational agencies and other external stakeholders regarding Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) flexibility, including state plans for transitioning to and implementing college- and career-ready standards.  ED has met with stakeholders to provide information on state plans, as well as to enlist external support and technical assistance for states and districts as they move forward with implementing the new standards.","By September 30, 2015, at least 50 states/territories[1] will be implementing next-generation assessments, aligned with college- and career-ready standards. [1] In addition to the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and other territories are candidates for implementing these assessments.",,4231
"Department of Education",FY14-15,"Improve learning by ensuring that more students have effective teachers and leaders","GOAL OVERVIEW The goal is based on the premise, supported by abundant research, that teachers are the single most critical in-school factor in improving student achievement.  Principals are often cited as the second most influential in-school factor.  Teacher and principal evaluation and support systems supported by the Department of Education's (ED) contributing programs enable the development and identification of effective educators and provide needed information to improve the educator workforce.  Teachers and principals often lack meaningful evaluation, feedback, and support for professional growth. Indeed, teachers are often dissatisfied with their preparation programs and their opportunities for professional development and advancement. Too often, effective teachers and leaders are not recognized, rewarded, or asked to share their expertise with colleagues. Most teacher compensation systems do not recognize effectiveness or provide incentives to teach in challenging schools or shortage areas. And race and family income too often predict a child’s access to excellent educators. In light of the importance of teachers and school leadership for student success, the nation has to do more to ensure that every student has an effective teacher, every school has an effective leader, and every teacher and leader has access to the preparation, on-going support, recognition, and collaboration opportunities he or she needs to succeed. ED will help strengthen the profession by focusing on meaningful feedback, support, and incentives at every stage of a career, based on fair evaluation and support systems that look at multiple measures, including, in significant part, growth in student learning. ED will support state and district efforts that provide time for teacher collaboration, personalized on-the-job learning opportunities, and professional advancement. Targets are based on state implementation timelines provided through original Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) flexibility requests.  These timelines indicated that 37 states expected to implement the systems by September 30, 2015.  “Fully implemented” is defined as the school year in which teachers and principals receive effectiveness ratings.  However, as states and districts are moving forward, they are also encountering challenges with implementation of these systems, and are making adjustments to timelines, sequencing, and implementation steps that may not follow their original plans but will ultimately result in high-quality teacher and principal evaluation and support systems.   KEY BARRIERS AND CHALLENGES ED will support states in the development and adoption of state requirements for comprehensive teacher and principal evaluation and support systems and in district development and implementation of comprehensive educator evaluation and support systems. Providing additional support to teachers and principals, as well as educator evaluators regarding these new evaluation and support systems is necessary so they are able, for example, to use and develop learning objectives to measure growth in student learning and to implement new classroom observation tools.  However, providing this level of support is also resource-intense at both the state educational agency (SEA) and local educational agency (LEA) level.  Additional challenges center on maintaining momentum for reform, given districts’ and states’ current political situations, potential changes in leadership, ongoing development of valid and reliable measures of growth in student learning in non-tested grades and subjects, and the scaling up of systems in a relatively short time frame.   EXTERNAL STAKEHOLDERS Engagement of external stakeholders is regular and ongoing.  Program staff have regular contact with SEA staff through monitoring, technical assistance, and other outreach.  Policy and program staff regularly hold calls and travel to the Hill to brief member and committee staff.  ED has also engaged with and provided briefings for key external educational organizations, including the Council of Chief State School Officers, the National Governors Association, National Education Association, and American Federation of Teachers.  Ongoing outreach further involves a wide range of professional and content organizations, national community-based organizations, and foundations.","By September 30, 2015, at least 37 States will have fully implemented teacher and principal evaluation and support systems that consider multiple measures of effectiveness, with student growth as a significant factor.",,4281
"Department of Education",FY14-15,"Support comprehensive early learning assessment systems","GOAL OVERVIEW Kindergarten entry assessments (KEAs), when properly designed, can be used to inform professional development to improve the early learning workforce, be included in a State’s comprehensive early learning assessment system, and improve student achievement and program effectiveness. KEAs can inform instruction and support students’ educational success by identifying the early learning needs of each child.  They provide an opportunity for teachers and families to understand the status of children when they enter Kindergarten and policy makers to decide if there is a greater need to invest in high-quality early learning programs to ensure children enter school prepared for success.   KEY BARRIERS AND CHALLENGES Assessment in early learning is new and untested.  Many States are starting from scratch developing valid and reliable measures for KEAs.  Constructing and testing these instruments and implementing them across every school in the State will be challenging and will take time.  In addition, states will need to ensure that the KEAs are implemented in a balanced way that does not result in the loss of a significant amount of instructional time. Additionally, two of the three Enhanced Assessment Grants (EAG) grantees that are consortia may experience challenges coordinating across states due to differences in their policies and procedures. Preschool Development Gants (PDG) States are required to report on the status of children in kindergarten served by the grants in the high-need communities, but they are not required to use a KEA, and funding may be a challenge.  The U.S. Department of Education (ED), along with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is working with these grantees to minimize these coordination challenges.   EXTERNAL STAKEHOLDERS ED regularly engages external early learning stakeholders, with specific attention to HHS and Congress.","By September 30, 2015, at least 9 states will be collecting and reporting disaggregated data on the status of children at Kindergarten entry using a common measure.",,4311
"Department of Education",FY14-15,"Increase College Degree Attainment in America","GOAL OVERVIEW Dramatically boosting completion rates for postsecondary certificates and degrees is essential for the United States to successfully compete in a global economy. The President set a goal in 2009 that, by 2020, the U.S. will have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world. Meeting this goal will require millions of additional Americans to earn a postsecondary degree by the end of this decade—a 50 percent increase nationwide. New initiatives from the President’s College Value and Affordability Agenda are being implemented to help increase the college attainment rate, and the Department has proposed several new programs which, if funded, will significantly accelerate progress toward the goal. Starting from a baseline college degree attainment rate of 44.0 percent in 2012, we set annual targets projecting the annual increase to grow progressively each year above the four-year historical average of 0.7 percentage points:  0.7, 0.9, 1.2, 1.6, 2.1, 2.8, 3.2, and 3.5. (The curve reflects the results of the intensified efforts, which have a future impact given the length of postsecondary programs.) Since the data for any given year are reported in the following year, the growth will lead to 60% of all Americans having an associate’s degree or higher (as reported in 2021, reflecting 2020 data; note that certificates are not included since the U.S. does not currently have a way to measure attainment of certificates in the population). The 45.6% rate in 2015 represents two years of growth from the baseline.   The President’s focus on educational attainment of American between the ages of 25-34 allows us to assess progress in preparing the next generation of U.S. workers and to benchmark for international comparisons. Nonetheless, college completion for all ages is important, including unemployed, under-skilled and older workers, veterans and other underrepresented student categories.   KEY BARRIERS AND CHALLENGES Success will depend in large part on the extent to which states reinvest in higher education and on whether both states and institutions (a) implement policies and programs to increase college access and success, (b) reduce costs and time to completion, (c) support accelerated learning opportunities, including dual enrollment, (d) develop and adopt effective and innovative practices that improve student outcomes, and (e) promote seamless transitions from secondary to postsecondary education and among higher education institutions. The Department will use its available resources and programs, administrative action, bully pulpit, technical assistance, and ability to convene stakeholders to drive collaboration and best practices, but has limited leverage to influence state policies and institutional practices without new programs that are specifically structured toward this goal.     EXTERNAL STAKEHOLDERS States, Institutions of Higher Education (IHEs), Students and their Families, Businesses, Philanthropy, Not-for-profit Organizations, and other Federal Departments and Agencies.","We will measure the overall college attainment goal, and the effectiveness of the college value and affordability initiatives that foster higher attainment rates, by focusing on the critical 25-34 year old cohort. By September 30, 2015, 45.6% of adults ages 25-34 will have an associate’s degree or higher, which will place the nation on track to reach the President’s goal of 60% attainment by 2020.",,5542
"Department of Education",FY14-15,"Ensure equitable educational opportunities","GOAL OVERVIEW Through Race to the Top (RTT), the School Improvement Grant (SIG) program, Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) flexibility, and other federal programs, the Department of Education (ED) is providing significant resources to dramatically improve the nation’s lowest-achieving schools by using intensive turnaround models and identifying the low-achieving schools that are showing strong evidence of successfully turning around.  ED is focused on supporting innovation, not just compliance monitoring, and is focused on spurring growth in achievement, not just absolute achievement measures as done in the past. Increasing the national high school graduation rate and decreasing disparities in the graduation rate is critical to achieving the President’s goal of once again having the highest proportion of college graduates in the world by 2020.  The nation has made significant progress in increasing graduation rates, but gaps between rates for different student groups continue to persist.   KEY BARRIERS AND CHALLENGES ED is working to support states and districts in raising high school graduation rates through a number of initiatives, including ESEA flexibility, SIG, RTT, and the High School Graduation Initiative.  One key challenge will be to coordinate these multiple programs and ensure that states and districts implement coordinated efforts to increase graduation rates, rather than working through siloed funding streams.  An additional challenge is providing differentiated support to states based on their current status and progress in increasing graduation rates.  While all states have room for improvement, some states are farther behind than others in graduation rates, particularly for different subgroups of students. ED has addressed one major barrier, which was the incomparability of graduation rate data across states. All states are now required to use an adjusted cohort graduation rate, and ED is reporting these data at the state, district, and school level. However, differences in how states define a regular high school diploma, and other technical features of their calculations, continue to make comparisons challenging. Key barriers and challenges include: Sustainability of reforms in schools as SIG grants end; Capacity challenges at state, district, and school level mean some intervention challenges persist; Insufficient focus on comprehensive turnaround efforts at the state and district level beyond only the SIG program; Ensuring alignment between SIG, Race to the Top, ESEA flexibility, and other programs and initiatives; and Lack of quality and completeness data/knowledge allows others to define success.   EXTERNAL STAKEHOLDERS ED works closely with stakeholder groups that are focused on increasing graduation rates, including CCSSO, CGCS, the Alliance for Excellent Education, the Education Trust, and Jobs for the Future.  ED frequently engages these stakeholders on policy development, such as developing new SIG guidance, ESEA flexibility guidance, and High School Redesign.","By Sept. 30, 2015, the number of high schools with persistently low graduation rates[1] will decrease by 5 percent annually. The national high school graduation rate will increase to 83 percent, as measured by the Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate, and disparities in the national high school graduation rate among minority students, students with disabilities, English learners, and students in poverty will decrease.   [1] Consistent with the ESEA Flexibility definition, persistently low graduation rate is defined as a less than 60 percent graduation rate. Persistently low graduation rate high schools are defined as regular and vocational high schools with an average minimum cohort size of 65 or more, and an average ACGR of 60 percent or less over two years.  ",,5562
"Department of Education",FY14-15,"Enable evidence-based decision making","GOAL OVERVIEW Through its mix of grants, contracts, and internal analytic work, the Department of Education (ED) will support the use of research methods and rigorous study designs that provide evidence that is as robust as possible and fit for the purpose. This goal will track whether ED is increasing its internal capacity to make competitive grant awards based on the existence of (and amount of) evidence in support of projects, where appropriate.   KEY BARRIERS AND CHALLENGES The process to collect data and track progress against the goal is still under development, and using evidence to award competitive grants entails a shift in culture and capacity building across ED to do it well. Additionally, goal targets are based on reasonable projections about which competitive grant programs may make new awards in this fiscal year, but the actual dollar amount awarded will depend on final appropriations amounts and other funding decisions and trade-offs. Grantees vary in their comfort with and understanding of evaluation and use of evidence, yet ED has limited resources to support grantees in conducting rigorous evaluations that would produce evidence of effectiveness.   EXTERNAL STAKEHOLDERS There is an increasing emphasis among stakeholders on the importance of using evidence to support government program funding decisions, and ED regularly engages the field on this topic. A number of outside organizations have convened experts to discuss how to encourage such decisions. In addition, philanthropic and congressional actors prioritized using evidence to support decision-making and have encouraged the field to do the same. Finally, ED has worked with the National Science Foundation to develop a common evidence framework around which to organize research investments and grants. Indeed, ED is considered a leader on the issue among federal agencies, and external groups are eager for ED to deepen and broaden its efforts.","By September 30, 2015, the percentage of select new[1] (non-continuation) competitive grant dollars that reward evidence will increase by 70%.   [1] “New competitive grant dollars that reward evidence” includes all dollars awarded based on the existence of at least “evidence of promise” in support of a project, per the framework in the Education Department General Administrative Regulations (34 CFR Part 75). Consideration of such evidence appears through: eligibility threshold (e.g., in the Investing in Innovation program); absolute priority; competitive priority (earning at least one point for it); or selection criteria (earning at least one point for it). The percentage is calculated compared to the total new grant dollars awarded.",,5582
"Department of Energy",FY16-17,"Environmental Management and Nuclear Waste Disposal","Overview of the Management part of the goal: Fifty years of nuclear weapons production and energy research generated millions of gallons of liquid radioactive waste, millions of cubic meters of solid radioactive waste, thousands of tons of spent nuclear fuel and special nuclear material as well as the deactivation and decommissioning of thousands of excess facilities. The Environmental Management (EM) program was established in 1989 to manage the successful cleanup of this Cold War legacy. Management and removal of radioactive transuranic waste across the complex directly supports risk reduction and the goal of reducing the EM site footprint.  The EM Program coordinates with all Department sites to retrieve, repackage, characterize, ship, and dispose of transuranic waste.   The only facility where transuranic waste can be disposed is the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, New Mexico.  Currently, the repository is recovering from accident events and is not accepting any waste for emplacement.  Department sites generating and processing transuranic waste are storing these inventories requiring disposal until waste emplacement operations are resumed which is currently anticipated by the end of calendar year 2016. The EM Program has an estimated 88 million gallons of highly radioactive waste from the legacy of the Cold War stored in 239 tanks at the Hanford, Savannah River and Idaho sites. The treatment and disposal of liquid tank waste demonstrates a tangible reduction in some of the greatest risks in the EM Complex.  Lastly, through the elimination of high-risk material, corresponding life-cycle cost reductions are achieved for an activity that is a major cost driver to the EM program.  The Agency Priority Goal involves initiating treatment of tank waste at the Idaho Site at the Integrated Waste Treatment Unit as well as retrieving and processing tank waste at the Savannah River Site through the Defense Waste Processing Facility. The Defense Waste Processing Facility is targeted to produce 120 and 110 canisters of vitrified high-level waste in FY 2016 and FY 2017, respectively. The decontamination and decommissioning of excess legacy facilities are an excellent indicator of EM’s progress towards the reduction of environmental, safety and health risks in a safe, secure, compliant, and cost-effective manner as well as reducing monitoring and maintenance life-cycle costs and liabilities.  For example, at the Plutonium Finishing Plant complex, at the Hanford Site: several buildings previously used for defense production of plutonium nitrates, oxides and metal from 1950 through early 1989, are being cleaned out; special nuclear materials and fuels have been packaged and shipped to storage facilities; and the facilities are scheduled to be demolished to slab-on-grade by the end of calendar year 2016. Overview of the Storage, Transportation, and Disposal part of the goal: In March 2015, President Obama authorized the United States Energy Department to move forward with planning for a separate repository for high-level radioactive waste resulting from atomic energy defense activities.  Additionally, in remarks before the Bipartisan Policy Center, Secretary Moniz discussed this path forward for defense waste as well as a parallel path for storage and disposal of commercial spent fuel, consistent with the Administration’s January 2013 Strategy for the Management and Disposal of Used Nuclear Fuel and High-Level Radioactive Waste, which built upon the work of the bipartisan Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future completed in January 2012.  Secretary Moniz announced three specific actions that the Department will undertake (1) Planning for a defense-only repository, (2) Moving forward with planning for interim storage of commercial spent fuel, and (3) Moving forward with a consent-based siting process for both types of facilities. In support of these actions, the Office of Environmental Management and the Office of Nuclear Energy are working together to complete the safe cleanup of the environmental legacy brought about from five decades of nuclear weapons development and government-sponsored nuclear energy research and to lay the groundwork for implementing interim storage and disposal, including associated transportation.","Environmental Management & Nuclear Waste Disposal:  To support the long-term goal of safely managing cleanup and storage of nuclear materials consistent with the President’s March 2015 determination to dispose of nuclear waste separate from civilian used nuclear fuel while achieving efficiencies Management Resume waste emplacement at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant by the end of calendar year 2016 Meet production milestones at the Defense Waste Processing Facility at Savannah River of 120 canisters of vitrified high-level waste in FY 2016 and 110 canisters in FY 2017 Complete demolition to achieve slab on grade of the Plutonium Finishing Plant at Richland by the end of calendar year 2016 Begin treatment of radioactive liquid waste at the Integrated Waste Treatment Unit at Idaho by the end of fiscal year 2016 Storage, Transportation, and Disposal Complete the Deep Borehole Field Test (DBFT) Characterization Borehole by February 2017 Develop and publish the phased and adaptive consent-based siting strategy for the first Phase of the siting process by the end of FY 2017 Initiate engagement with communities and stakeholders interested in developing a consent-based siting process for integrated waste management system facilities; complete and publish a report that reflects the inputs received, documenting the priorities, comments and concerns expressed throughout the development process by Dec 2016. Complete a review of the existing transportation cask Certificates of Compliance (COC) by FY 2017 in order to identify items for confirmation and/or resolution prior to transportation of spent nuclear fuel. ",,90511
"Department of Energy",FY16-17,"Modernize the nuclear stockpile","Overview of the Life Extension Programs part of the goal: Following the Department of Energy Strategic Plan for 2014-2018, the DOE/NNSA Enterprise Strategic Vision (August 2015) provides the framework for integrating our missions and a future direction in pursuit of DOE’s strategic goals. The highest priority for the Nuclear Weapons Stockpile mission pillar is the sustainment and life extension of reduced weapons currently in the stockpile, which demands a careful and balanced execution of maintaining a safe, secure, reliable, credible and responsive nuclear weapons stockpile, without underground nuclear explosive testing. DOE/NNSA has successfully sustained the deterrent since the unilateral moratorium on nuclear explosive testing in 1992, and will continue to do so through the Stockpile Stewardship and Management Program. This has been accomplished through the capabilities, vision, and determination of DOE/NNSA’s world-class scientists, technicians, and engineers, as well as significant investments in scientific tools, facilities, and people. Sustaining the nuclear weapons stockpile includes a range of priority activities that are interdependent. As weapons systems age, life extension, alteration, and modification programs are addressing aging and performance issues, enhancing safety features, and improving security. DOE/NNSA will meet strategic deterrence requirements with a reduced stockpile size while retaining reliability. To meet national policy for a safe, secure, and effective stockpile as long as nuclear weapons exist, sustainment is necessary to maintain the operational capability. The “3+2” Strategy is the program of record that guides DOE/NNSA’s sustainment efforts, which will eventually downsize the stockpile through the sustainment process.  Consistent with the Nuclear Posture Review (DoD 2010) objectives, ongoing sustainment efforts include the production of the W76-1 LEP which will enable reduction of W76 warheads by a factor of two, and the B61-12 LEP which will consolidate four families of the B61 into one and improve both the safety and security of the oldest weapon system in the U.S. arsenal. Key Barriers and Challenges: The NNSA is committed to the national security requirement to meet the immediate needs of the stockpile while maintaining the basic research and development, technology, and production infrastructure to respond to technical, and geopolitical surprise. The NNSA underpins both confidence in the stockpile, and reinforcement of the DoD, and other national security interests. To fulfill NNSA's commitment to DoD and to the nation, the NNSA works together with its DoD partner to identify priorities and make the appropriate adjustments to scope, and schedule that will achieve the goals of the President and the NPR. NNSA must conduct surveillance, and annual assessments as the nuclear weapons stockpile ages. If technical surprises were to occur, the nation must have safe, and secure facilities, and the science and engineering base to respond. Infrastructure modernization delays continue to challenge NNSA's ability to maintain nuclear surveillance and assessment capability. NNSA must continue to meet facility safety and security requirements and work to achieve efficiencies where possible. The nation must maintain an unequaled capability to understand the design and physics of any nuclear device. This understanding extends beyond the stewardship of our own stockpile, and includes an ability to analyze and effectively respond to any nuclear threat. Overview of the Radiological Threats part of the goal: The NNSA's strategy incorporates a threat-based, defense in depth approach to illicit trafficking that recognizes: Smuggling of nuclear and other radioactive materials is an ongoing global enterprise Even a single, viable trafficking network constitutes a serious U.S. national security risk and global threat There are existing gaps in the global nuclear and radiation detection architecture International coordination is imperative to meeting global nuclear security needs","Nuclear Security: To modernize the nation’s existing nuclear weapons stockpile, make progress toward the completion of life extension programs consistent with the Nuclear Posture Review and manage nonproliferation actions to prevent, counter, and respond to global nuclear and radiological threats Life Extension Programs Complete at least 70% of W76-1 cumulative production unit builds by the end of 2016, and 80% by the end of 2017 Achieve B61-12 Phase 6.4 authorization to initiate production-engineering activities by the end of FY 2016, and achieve B61-12 First System Qualification Flight Test by the end of FY 2017 Prevent, Counter, and Respond to Nuclear and Radiological Threats Complete delivery and installation of a cumulative total of 755 fixed, mobile, and man-portable radiation detection systems by theend of FY 2017"," National Defense",45442
"Department of Energy",FY14-15,"Implement elements of the Climate Action Plan","Overview of the appliance standards part of the goal: The Appliance Standards Agency Priority Goal is to reduce cumulative carbon pollution by 3 billion metric tons by 2030 through standards set since 2009 and to promulgate new standards for consumer products and industrial equipment by the end of calendar year 2016. Residential and commercial buildings consume approximately 40 percent of the primary energy consumed in the United States. This amounts to over 39 Quads of primary energy used by the buildings sector per year, an amount that is greater than the yearly energy consumption of either the industrial or the transportation sector. By developing minimum energy efficiency standards, the Energy Department’s Equipment Standards and Analysis program helps reduce energy costs for consumers and businesses, as well as reduce associated energy use and emissions. By covering a broad range of equipment—appliances, refrigeration, space heating and cooling, water heating and other electrical equipment—the Department's work with standards development and implementation increases energy efficiency in the residential, commercial, and industrial sectors. National standards that eliminate the least energy-efficient products from the market ensure that energy saving technologies are accessible to all consumers, provide manufacturers with a single set of requirements rather than an array of potentially conflicting state and local regulations, and drive technology innovation. The Department uses three strategies to promote building energy efficiency, focused first on research and development of the most promising emerging technologies, followed by industry support activities such as Better Buildings and ENERGY STAR, and then the implementation of equipment energy efficiency standards. As mandated by the Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1978 (as amended), the Department’s Equipment Standards and Analysis program is developing and enforcing efficiency standards and test procedures to cover at least 75 percent of the energy used in the building sector.   Under current law, covered products are responsible for 82 percent of residential building energy consumption, 67 percent of commercial, and approximately half of industrial.   DOE is required to promulgate energy conservation standards that are technically feasible and economically justified, subject to the Energy Policy and Conservation Act’s (EPCA) seven factors. In determining whether a standard is economically justified, DOE determines whether the benefits of the standard exceed its burdens by considering these seven factors (to the greatest extent practicable): (1) the economic impact of the standard on the manufacturers and on the consumers of the products subject to such standard; (2) the savings in operating costs throughout the estimated average life of the covered product in the type (or class) compared to any increase in the price of, or in the initial charges for, or maintenance expenses of, the covered products which are likely to result from the imposition of the standard; (3) the total projected amount of energy, or as applicable, water, savings likely to result directly from the imposition of the standard; (4) any lessening of the utility or the performance of the covered products likely to result from the imposition of the standard; (5) the impact of any lessening of competition, as determined in writing by the Attorney General, that is likely to result from the imposition of the standard; (6) the need for national energy and water conservation; and (7) other factors the Secretary considers relevant. To maximize energy savings subject to EPCA, the Standards subprogram first meets all statutory and other legal deadlines for completing standards and test procedures.  The Department is also committed to streamlining the process for developing and issuing rulemakings in partnership with industry and other stakeholders. To determine which products should be added through coverage determinations, DOE conducts analyses that examine the energy savings potential of various unregulated residential appliances, electronics, and commercial equipment while considering the impact of non-regulatory energy-efficiency programs currently available in the market. In addition to these actions, DOE also develops test procedures for ENERGY STAR, which is an effective non-regulatory program that saves consumers energy. The Department is working to address a variety of different challenges associated with this work, including: Standards require a robust test procedure to be effective. Changes to the statute or its legal interpretation and the need for additional information in response to public comments on the draft rulemakings are factors that can affect the schedule for final issuance of the standards.  Energy price, product cost and consumer use projections vary and must be factored into the rulemaking process. Stakeholder Engagement:  Energy conservation standards are established by a four-phase rulemaking process: a framework phase, preliminary analysis phase, notice of proposed rulemaking (NOPR), and final rule. The Department actively encourages stakeholder participation and interaction at all stages of the process. Early and frequent interactions among stakeholders have been useful for providing a balanced discussion of critical information required to conduct the analysis to support any standards.  Stakeholders include equipment manufacturers, building owners, State energy agencies, utilities, trade associations and other interested parties. The Department also coordinates with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on key certification and compliance issues with the Energy Guide Label and ENERGY STAR, respectively.  The Department of Energy has also engaged with non-governmental organizations, such as the Collaborative Labeling and Appliance Standards Program, on international harmonization with respect to certification and compliance requirements. Overview of the loan guarantees part of the goal: As part of the President’s Climate Action Plan, the Loan Programs Office (LPO) issued the Advanced Fossil Energy Projects Solicitation, which makes up to $8 billion in loan guarantees available to support innovative, advanced fossil energy projects in the U.S. that reduce, avoid, or sequester greenhouse gases. Fossil fuels currently account for more than 80 percent of U.S. energy production and are projected to remain a significant energy source in the future. As a result, President Obama’s Climate Action Plan announced that LPO would issue this solicitation to accelerate the deployment of cleaner fossil energy technology. This is an important part of the Administration’s long-term plan to achieve a cleaner and more secure energy future as part of its “all-of-the-above” energy strategy.","Implement elements of the Climate Action Plan, including Supporting the goal of reducing cumulative carbon pollution by 3 billion metric tons by 2030 through standards set since 2009 and promulgating new standards for consumer products and industrial equipment by the end of calendar year 2016. Providing up to $8 billion in loan guarantees for advanced fossil energy technologies that reduce greenhouse gas emissions by the end of FY 2017."," Energy | Natural Resources and Environment",5102
"Department of Energy",FY16-17,"Energy Policy","Overview of the Efficiency Standards part of the goal: Residential and commercial buildings consume approximately 40 percent of the primary energy consumed in the United States. This amounts to over 39 Quads of primary energy used by the buildings sector per year, an amount that is greater than the yearly energy consumption of either the industrial or the transportation sector. By developing minimum energy efficiency standards, as mandated by legislation, the Energy Department’s Equipment Standards and Analysis program helps reduce energy costs for consumers and businesses by billions of dollars, as well as associated energy use and emissions. Savings from these standards free up money to be spent elsewhere, spurring economic growth. By covering a broad range of equipment—appliances, refrigeration, space heating and cooling, water heating and other electrical equipment—the DOE's work with standards development and implementation increases energy efficiency in the residential, commercial, and industrial sectors. National standards that eliminate the least energy-efficient products from the market, ensure that energy saving technologies are accessible to all consumers, provide manufacturers with a single set of requirements rather than an array of potentially conflicting state and local regulations, and drive technology and cost improvements. The Department of Energy uses three strategies to drive building energy efficiency, focused first on research and development of the most promising emerging technologies, followed by industry support activities such as Better Buildings and ENERGY STAR, and then implementation of equipment energy efficiency standards. As mandated by the Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1978 (as amended), the Department’s Equipment Standards and Analysis program is developing and enforcing efficiency standards and test procedures to cover at least 75 percent of the energy used in the building sector.   Under current law, covered products are responsible for 82 percent of residential building energy consumption, 67 percent of commercial, and approximately half of industrial.   DOE promulgates energy conservation standards that are technically feasible and economically justified, subject to the Energy Policy and Conservation Act’s (EPCA) seven factors. In determining whether a standard is economically justified, DOE determines whether the benefits of the standard exceed its burdens by, to the greatest extent practicable, considering these seven factors: (1) the economic impact of the standard on the manufacturers and on the consumers of the products subject to such standard; (2) the savings in operating costs throughout the estimated average life of the covered product in the type (or class) compared to any increase in the price of, or in the initial charges for, or maintenance expenses of, the covered products which are likely to result from the imposition of the standard; (3) the total projected amount of energy, or as applicable, water, savings likely to result directly from the imposition of the standard; (4) any lessening of the utility or the performance of the covered products likely to result from the imposition of the standard; (5) the impact of any lessening of competition, as determined in writing by the Attorney General, that is likely to result from the imposition of the standard; (6) the need for national energy and water conservation; and (7) other factors the Secretary considers relevant. To maximize energy savings subject to EPCA, the Standards subprogram first meets all statutory and other legal deadlines for completing standards and test procedures.  The Department is also committed to streamlining the process for developing and issuing rulemakings in partnership with industry and other stakeholders.  In order to expand coverage to new products, EPCA requires that these products consume at least 100 kilowatt-hours of electricity per household per year.  To determine which products should be added through coverage determinations, DOE conducts analyses that examine the energy savings potential of various unregulated residential appliances, electronics, and commercial equipment while considering the impact of non-regulatory energy-efficiency programs currently available in the market. In addition to these actions, DOE also develops test procedures for ENERGY STAR, which is an effective non-regulatory program that saves consumers energy. By taking these actions, the Department’s Equipment Standards subprogram will contribute to the Department’s broader efforts to help buildings and industrial facilities reduce energy use and save costs. The Department is working to address a variety of different challenges associated with this work, including: Standards require a robust test procedure to be effective. Changes to the statute or its legal interpretation and the need for additional information uncovered during the review process are factors that can affect the schedule for final issuance of the standards.  Energy price, product cost and consumer use projections vary and must be factored into the rulemaking process. Stakeholder Engagement:  Energy conservation standards are established by a four-phase rulemaking process: a framework phase, preliminary analysis phase, notice of proposed rulemaking (NOPR), and final rule. The Department actively encourages stakeholder participation and interaction at all stages of the process. Early and frequent interactions among stakeholders have been useful for providing a balanced discussion of critical information required to conduct the analysis to support any standards.  Stakeholders include equipment manufacturers, building owners, State energy agencies, Utilities, Trade Associations and other interested parties. The Department also coordinates with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on key certification and compliance issues with the Energy Guide Label and ENERGY STAR, respectively.  The Department of Energy has also engaged with non-governmental organizations, such as the Collaborative Labeling and Appliance Standards Program, on international harmonization with respect to certification and compliance requirements. Overview of the Loans Guarantees part of the goal: As part of the President’s Climate Action Plan, the Loan Programs Office (LPO) issued the Advanced Fossil Energy Projects Solicitation, which makes up to $8.5 billion in loan guarantees available to support innovative, advanced fossil energy projects in the U.S. that reduce, avoid, or sequester greenhouse gases. Fossil fuels currently account for more than 80 percent of U.S. energy production and are projected to remain a significant energy source in the future. As a result, President Obama’s Climate Action Plan announced that LPO would issue this solicitation to accelerate the deployment of cleaner fossil energy technology. This is an important part of the Administration’s long-term plan to achieve a cleaner and more secure energy future as part of its “all-of-the-above” energy strategy Overview of the Quadrennial Energy Review (QER) part of the goal: In January 2014, President Obama issued a Presidential Memorandum that initiated a review process to provide a multi-year roadmap for U.S. energy policy known as the Quadrennial Energy Review (QER). The QER is envisioned as a focused, actionable document designed to provide policymakers, industry, investors, and other stakeholders with unbiased data and analysis on energy challenges, needs, requirements, and barriers that will inform a range of policy options, including legislation. Each installment of the QER will analyze and make recommendations for a key component of the energy value chain. As directed by the President, the Department of Energy (DOE) provides analytical support for the QER and helps manage the interagency process through a Secretariat. These activities are consistent with DOE’s statutory responsibilities and reinforce the objectives of DOE’s Strategic Plan by supporting the first two components of Goal 1: Advance the goals and objectives in the President’s Climate Action Plan by supporting prudent development, deployment, and efficient use of “all of the above” energy resources that also create new jobs and industries; and Support a more economically competitive, environmentally responsible, secure, and resilient U.S. energy infrastructure. Overview of the Quadrennial Technology Review (QTR) part of the goal: The 2015 Quadrennial Technology Review (QTR) describes the Nation's energy technology landscape and the changes that have taken place since the first report in 2011.  The 2015 QTR approaches the analysis from a systems perspective to explore the integration of science and technology.","Energy Policy:  To enable cost-competitive, clean energy technologies and resilient energy infrastructure consistent with the Climate Action Plan,  Quadrennial Energy Review (QER), and Quadrennial Technology Review (QTR) Efficiency Standards Issue final energy standards that meet the Climate Action Plan goal of 3 GT total cumulative CO2 reduction by 2030 Loans Guarantees Issue new conditional loan guarantee commitments, as appropriate, of up to $8.5 billion for advanced fossil energy and $4.5 billion for renewable energy and efficient electricity technologies that include distributed energy and storage systems by the end of FY2017 Solicit additional applications, and as appropriate, issue new conditional loan commitments to increase fuel efficient vehicle and advance vehicle component manufacturing    Quadrennial Energy Review (QER) Issue semi-annual implementation reports on Transforming U.S. Energy Infrastructures in a Time of Rapid Change Develop and issue the second installment of the QER on the electricity system as a whole by the end of CY 2016 QTR Develop a clean energy technology R&D portfolio reflecting the analysis and assessments of the QTR for the President’s FY 2017 Budget "," Energy | Natural Resources and Environment",45482
"Department of Energy",FY14-15,"Enhance desirable characteristics and diminish vulnerabilities of the U.S. energy infrastructure to meet goals of economic competitiveness, national security, and environmental responsibility","Support the Quadrennial Energy Review (QER): Innovation and new sources of domestic energy supply are transforming the nation’s energy marketplace, creating economic opportunities at the same time they raise environmental challenges. To ensure that federal energy policy meets our economic, environmental, and security goals in this changing landscape, the Administration will conduct a Quadrennial Energy Review which will be led by the White House Domestic Policy Council and Office of Science and Technology Policy, supported by a Secretariat established at the Department of Energy, and involving the robust engagement of federal agencies and outside stakeholders. This first-ever review will focus on infrastructure challenges, and will identify the threats, risks, and opportunities for U.S. energy and climate security, enabling the federal government to translate policy goals into a set of analytically based, clearly articulated, sequenced and integrated actions, and proposed investments over a four-year planning horizon.","Support the first installment of the Quadrennial Energy Review (QER) through early 2015 and begin implementation of relevant recommendations within DOE’s existing authorities."," Energy",5041
"Department of Energy",FY16-17,"High Performance Computing","Contribute to implementation of the President’s Executive Order establishing the National Strategic Computing Initiative including accelerating delivery of a capable exascale computing system that integrates hardware and software capability to deliver approximately 100 times the performance of current 10 petaflop systems across a range of applications representing government needs, and establishes a viable path forward for future High Performance Computing systems even after the limits of current semiconductor technologies are reached.","High Performance Computing:  Contributes to implementation of the President’s Executive Order establishing the National Strategic Computing Initiative including accelerating delivery of a capable exascale computing system that integrates hardware and software capability to deliver approximately 100 times the performance of current 10 petaflop systems across a range of applications representing government needs, and establishes a viable path forward for future High Performance Computing systems even after the limits of current semiconductor technologies are reached. By Q2 FY 2016, establish a multiyear exascale research program plan in support of DOE’s contribution to the President’s high performance computing initiative By the end of FY 2017, identify software technology investments needed to accelerate delivery of a capable exascale system By Q1 FY2017 establish a plan for DOE’s contribution to research of new progressive technologies that perform beyond Moore’s Law"," Energy | General Science, Space, and Technology",45492
"Department of Energy",FY14-15,"Support and conduct basic research to deliver scientific breakthroughs and extend our knowledge of the natural world by capitalizing on the capabilities available at the national laboratories, and through partnerships with universities and industry.","The Office of Science (SC) mission is to deliver the scientific discoveries and major scientific tools that transform our understanding of nature and advance the energy, economic, and national security of the United States. The Office of Science accomplishes its mission and advances national goals by: Supporting a balanced research portfolio that invests in discovery science—research that probes some of the most fundamental questions in high energy, nuclear, and plasma physics; materials and chemistry; biological systems and earth system components; and mathematics.  The Office of Science supports about 24,000 investigators at over 300 U.S. academic institutions and at all of the DOE laboratories. Providing the Nation’s researchers with over 30 state-of-the-art national scientific user facilities, the most advanced tools of modern science, enabling the U.S. to remain at the forefront of science, technology, and innovation. The Office of Science also supports targeted research and development (R&D), to determine the technical feasibility and design options for future facilities and facility upgrades to deliver desired capabilities and maximize scientific potential.  Nearly 27,000 researchers from universities, national laboratories, industry, and international partners are expected to use the Office of Science scientific user facilities by FY 2015.","In support of this goal, DOE will, by the end of FY 2015: Incorporate science user facility prioritization into program planning efforts Identify programmatic drivers and technical requirements in coordination with other Departmental mission areas to inform future development of high performance computing capabilities and in anticipation of capable exascale systems"," Energy | General Science, Space, and Technology",5022
"Department of Energy",FY14-15,"Maintain and modernize the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile and dismantle excess nuclear weapons to meet the national security requirements, as assigned by the President, through the Nuclear Posture Review.","The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) ensures that nuclear warheads and bombs in the United States (U.S.) nuclear weapons operationally-deployed stockpile are safe, secure, reliable (effective), and available to the President for deployment. Until the world is free of nuclear weapons, the U.S. will assess and maintain a safe, secure, and effective stockpile that deters adversaries and assures allies that they are covered by the U.S. nuclear deterrent umbrella. However, because these weapons will exist for an indefinite period, the U.S. must manage its stockpile while meeting the overarching objectives of: 1) Providing no new military capabilities; 2) Conducting no underground nuclear tests; 3) Requiring no production of new fissile material for warheads; and 4) Contributing to U.S. nonproliferation goals. The NNSA shares responsibilities with the Department of Defense (DoD) for the implementation of actions that follow from the President's Nuclear Weapon Stockpile Memorandum and the 2010 Nuclear Posture Review. Our nation's nuclear weapons are exceeding their stockpile design life and their lifespan must be extended while maintaining the weapons’ safety, security, and effectiveness. At the same time, the NNSA must confront challenges arising from the loss of original manufacturing capabilities, specialized labor skills, and certification without returning to underground nuclear testing. These life extensions cannot be allowed to degrade the historically high confidence levels that underpin our nuclear deterrent. Key Barriers and Challenges: The NNSA is committed to the national security requirement to meet the immediate needs of the stockpile while maintaining the basic research and development, technology, and production infrastructure to respond to technical and geopolitical surprise. The NNSA underpins both confidence in the stockpile and reinforcement of the DoD and other national security interests. To fulfill NNSA's commitment to DoD and the nation, the NNSA works together with its DoD partner to identify priorities and make the appropriate adjustments to scope and schedule that will achieve the goals of the President and the NPR. NNSA must conduct surveillance and annual assessments as the nuclear weapons stockpile ages. If technical surprises were to occur, the nation must have safe and secure facilities and the science and engineering base to respond. Infrastructure modernization delays continue to challenge NNSA's ability to maintain nuclear surveillance and assessment capability. NNSA must continue to meet facility safety and security requirements and work to achieve efficiencies where possible.  The nation must maintain an unequaled capability to understand the design and physics of any nuclear device. This understanding extends beyond the stewardship of our own stockpile and includes an ability to analyze and effectively respond to any nuclear threat.  The highly-skilled workforce that designed, tested, produced, and manufactured weapons which entered the stockpile needs to be replaced with the next generation of designers, engineers, and scientists trained in the unique capabilities required and armed with adequate tools and production facilities to steward the nuclear weapons stockpile as it evolves. Stakeholder Engagement: Management of this priority goal will require close coordination with the Department of Defense (DoD). The DoD and the NNSA share joint responsibility for all U.S. nuclear weapons. Part of keeping the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile safe, secure, and reliable includes working with the DoD to maintain the quantity and quality of weapons necessary for U.S. national security needs. From the earliest days of the Manhattan Project, the DoD and NNSA have maintained a set of joint programs to maintain the U.S. nuclear stockpile and counter the threat of nuclear proliferation.","In support of this goal, DOE will: Each year through FY 2015 and into the future, maintain 100% of the warheads in the stockpile as safe, secure, reliable, and available to the President for deployment. Conduct activities necessary to complete planned W76-1 production in FY 2019 and achieve the first B61-12 production unit in FY 2020, as reported in the FY 2013 Selected Acquisition Reports."," National Defense",3901
"Department of Energy",FY14-15,"Continue to make progress toward securing the most vulnerable nuclear materials worldwide.","In his April 2009 Prague speech, President Obama stated that “we must ensure that terrorists never acquire a nuclear weapon. This is the most immediate and extreme threat to global security. One terrorist with one nuclear weapon could unleash massive destruction. Al Qaeda has said it seeks a bomb and that it would have no problem with using it. And we know that there is unsecured nuclear material across the globe. To protect our people, we must act with a sense of purpose without delay. So today I am announcing a new international effort to secure all vulnerable nuclear material around the world within four years. We will set new standards, expand our cooperation with Russia, pursue new partnerships to lock down these sensitive materials.” The Joint Statement from the Moscow Summit between Presidents Obama and Medvedev in July 2009, the September 2009 United Nations Security Council (UNSC) Resolution 1887, and the Nuclear Security Summits in April 2010 and March 2012, reinforce that this is a pressing global security issue. Key Challenges include: • Host country’s commitment to implement and sustain their nuclear security/removal activities. • Additional agreements need to be negotiated with foreign governments before all work can be completed as planned. Stakeholder Engagement: The Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) works with other U.S. government agencies, multilateral institutions, foreign governments, and commercial contractors. Policy issues are coordinated with the National Security Council and the Department of State. NNSA nonproliferation programs maintain close coordination with the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Department of Defense's Cooperative Threat Reduction Agency. This priority goal supports the nuclear security strategic goal and the strategic objective to reduce goal nuclear security threats.","In support of this goal, DOE will: Remove or confirm disposition of an additional 315 kilograms of highly enriched uranium and plutonium for a cumulative total of 5,332 kilograms by the end of FY 2015."," National Defense",3722
"Department of Energy",FY16-17,"Manage DOE Capital Asset Projects","The Department of Energy (DOE) is the largest civilian contracting agency in the Federal Government and spends approximately 95% of its annual budget on contracts to operate its scientific laboratories, engineering and production facilities, and environmental restoration sites and acquire capital assets. The Department has been challenged, both externally and internally, to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of its contract and project management processes.  The Department remains committed to making continuous improvements in contract and project management performance. Since 1990, the Department has been on the GAO High-Risk List for inadequate contract and project oversight and management. In its February 2013 High-Risk List update, GAO acknowledged the Department’s continuing improvement in contract and project management by shifting the focus of DOE’s high-risk designation to major contracts and projects executed by NNSA and EM with values of $750 million or greater. This focus continued in GAO’s update provided in February 2015. In November 2014, a working group of DOE’s most senior project managers produced an in-depth analysis of project management in a report entitled “Improving Project Management” which resulted in a Secretarial policy memorandum, “Improving the Department’s Management of Projects” released by the Secretary in December 2014. Based on the report and policy memorandum, and drawing from industry and government best practices, the Department took several steps to supplement ongoing efforts to improve project management, including: strengthening the Energy Systems Acquisition Advisory Board (ESAAB), establishing a Project Management Risk Committee (PMRC), and improving the lines of responsibility and the peer review process. Progress toward achieving this goal, project management success, is tracked in the Department’s Project Assessment and Reporting System (PARS II) and reported to Program Offices, GAO and OMB on a quarterly basis.","Capital Projects:  To manage DOE Capital Asset Projects effectively in support of DOE national security, clean energy, and cleanup goals and complete DOE capital asset projects within scope, schedule, and cost Complete 90% of DOE post-Critical Decision (CD)-3, Approve Start of Construction or Execution, capital asset projects within 110% of the cost baseline in effect as of the start of FY 2016"," Energy | Natural Resources and Environment | National Defense | General Science, Space, and Technology | Management",45502
"Department of Energy",FY14-15,"Increase the focus on efficient and effective management across the DOE enterprise and improve performance in the areas of environmental cleanup, construction project management, and cybersecurity.","Overview of the Environmental Management part of the goal: The Department and its predecessor agencies generated radioactive liquid waste as a by-product of the production of nuclear weapons. The EM Program has an estimated 88 million gallons of highly radioactive waste from the legacy of the Cold War stored in 239 tanks at Idaho, the Savannah River Site and the Office of River Protection.  By reducing and disposing of the liquid waste tank wastes, EM is demonstrating tangible evidence of the program's goal to reduce the highest risks in the complex.  By eliminating high-risk material, corresponding life-cycle cost reductions are achieved for an activity that is a major cost driver to the EM program.  Management and removal of legacy Transuranic (TRU) waste across the EM complex directly supports risk reduction and the goal of reducing the EM site footprint.  The EM Program also coordinates with all DOE sites that generate transuranic waste to retrieve, repackage, characterize, ship, and dispose of transuranic waste resulting in cleaning up sites, reducing risks, and decreasing the Department’s nuclear footprint. Challenges for meeting EM’s Agency Priority Goal (the retrieval of tank waste, closing waste tanks and disposing of transuranic waste) include designing, building, starting up, and operating complex, hazardous, and unique nuclear facilities.  These facilities include the Waste Treatment Plant in Hanford, Washington; the Integrated Waste Treatment Unit at Idaho National Laboratory; and the Salt Waste Processing Facility at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. Successful completion of these cleanup goals depends on overcoming technical, quality assurance, schedule, regulatory, and management challenges. The Department will leverage past experience, applying best practices and lessons learned; identify, develop, and deploy practical technological solutions; and look for innovative and sustainable practices that make cleanup more efficient. Overview of the Project Management goal: The Department of Energy (DOE) is the largest civilian contracting agency in the Federal Government and spends approximately 95% of its annual budget on contracts to operate its scientific laboratories, engineering and production facilities, and environmental restoration sites and to acquire capital assets. The Department has been challenged, both externally and internally, to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of its contract and project management processes.  The Department remains committed to making continuous improvements in contract and project management performance. DOE has been on the Government Accountability Office (GAO) High-Risk List since 1990.  During the past several years, the Department has launched and completed several initiatives to address its challenges including a Root Cause Analysis (RCA) and associated Corrective Action Plan (CAP) in 2008, Contract and Project Management Summit-related corrective actions, and issuance of several Deputy Secretary policy directives.  Many measurable improvements have been implemented resulting from these efforts to include:  improving front-end planning by requiring sufficient design maturity prior to establishing performance baselines; defining required project staff-size and required skill-set across the project lifecycle and enhancing training and qualifications of project and contract management personnel; stabilizing project funding and affordability by adhering to baseline funding profiles for incrementally funded projects in annual budget requests; strengthening DOE Order 413.3B inclusive of new independent cost estimating requirements at Critical Decision (CD) gateways; deploying a new and more robust Project Assessment and Reporting System (PARS II), which allows for direct upload of contractor project performance data; and implementing Project Peer Reviews, a best practice successfully employed by the Office of Science, across the Department to better monitor project development and execution and foster sharing of design, procurement and construction lessons learned. Based on the Department’s progress, GAO narrowed the scope of the high-risk designation in 2009, removing the Office of Science and focusing on the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and the Office of Environmental Management (EM).  GAO issued a scorecard with five criteria for removing all DOE programs from the High-Risk List: Demonstrate strong commitment and leadership; Demonstrate progress in implementing corrective measures; Develop a corrective action plan that identifies root causes, effective solutions, and a near-term plan for implementing the solutions; Have the capacity (people and resources) to resolve problems; and Monitor and independently validate the effectiveness and sustainability of corrective measures. GAO acknowledged the Department met the first three of these criteria in February 2011.  In GAO’s February 2013 High-Risk List update, GAO acknowledged the Department’s continuing improvement in contract and project management by shifting the focus of DOE’s high-risk designation to major contracts and projects executed by NNSA and EM with values of $750 million or greater. Progress toward achieving this goal, project success, is tracked in the Department’s Project Assessment and Reporting System (PARS II) and reported to Program Offices, GAO and OMB on a quarterly basis. Overview of the JC3 part of the goal: The Joint Cybersecurity Center (JC3) is a Departmental enterprise asset designed to improve information sharing and coordinated incident response for all cybersecurity events. Accordingly the DOE Chief Information Officer (CIO) is responsible for developing and maintaining the Department’s overall cybersecurity strategy in coordination with the Undersecretaries of Science & Energy, Nuclear Security, and Management & Performance.","In support of this goal, DOE will: Retrieve tank waste, close tanks, and dispose of transuranic waste within cost and schedule through FY 2015 On a three-year rolling basis, complete at least 90% of departmental projects baselined since the start of FY 2008 within the original scope baseline and not to exceed 110% of the cost as reflected in the performance baseline established at Critical Decision 2 through FY 2015 Achieve full operational capability of the Joint Cybersecurity Coordination Center (JC3), including TS-SCI operations, by the end of FY 2015"," Energy | Natural Resources and Environment | National Defense | General Science, Space, and Technology | Management",3511
"Department of Energy",FY16-17,"National Laboratories","Deliver the highest quality R&D and production capabilities, strengthen partnerships with DOE headquarters, and improve management of the physical infrastructure of the national laboratories to enable efficient leadership in science, technology, and national security.","National Laboratories:  To deliver the highest quality R&D and production capabilities, strengthen partnerships with DOE headquarters, and improve management of the physical infrastructure of the national laboratories to enable efficient leadership in science, technology, and national security By the end of FY 2017, the percentage of assessed DOE laboratory facilities categorized as “adequate” will increase by 2 percentage points from the FY 2015 baseline Sponsor an annual “National Laboratory Big Ideas Summit” in FY 2016 and FY 2017 Develop and implement a consistent, annual process to track and assess laboratory planning and evaluation "," Energy | Management",45512
"Department of Energy",FY14-15,"Restructure the relationship and interactions between the Department and the national laboratories and sites","Cross-cutting initiatives that leverage the science, technology and engineering capabilities in program offices and the DOE national laboratories will enhance and provide opportunities for economic growth by strengthening the Department and supporting the Department’s missions and other national missions. The Department of Energy National Laboratories are engaged in a broad program of scientific research and technological innovation supporting the Department’s mission responsibilities in energy, nuclear security, science and environmental management.  The National Laboratory Policy Council will provide a forum for the National Laboratories to provide strategic advice and assistance to the Secretary in the Department’s policy and program planning processes and for the Department to provide strategic guidance on National Laboratory activities in support of Departmental missions. The objectives of the National Laboratory Operations Board are to strengthen and enhance the partnership between the Department and National Laboratories, and to improve management and performance to more effectively and efficiently execute the missions of the Department and the National Laboratories.","Restructure the relationship and interactions between the Department and the national laboratories and sites to ensure the continued status of the national laboratories as world-class research institutions best able to achieve DOE’s mission, maximize the impact of federal R&D investment in the laboratories, accelerate the transfer of technology into the private and government sectors, and better respond to opportunities and challenges.  In support of this goal, DOE will: Establish the National Laboratory Policy Council to address high-level policy challenges and develop initiatives to build and focus the laboratory system on critical economic, research and national security priorities Establish the National Laboratory Operations Board to address operational and administrative issues and enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of DOE’s management of the national laboratories Improve stewardship of national assets across the national laboratories and DOE operating sites to assure that DOE physical plants and their operating practices comply with DOE Directives and achieve Administration priority initiatives by end of FY 2015"," Energy | Management",3461
"Environmental Protection Agency",FY16-17,"Reduce greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks.","Combined with DOT’s fuel efficiency standards, EPA’s vehicle GHG standards enable historic progress to be made in reducing carbon pollution and addressing climate change which threatens the public health and welfare of the American people. These standards will cut GHG emissions by about 6 billion metric tons and reduce U.S. oil consumption by about 12 billion barrels while saving consumers more than $1.7 trillion at the gas pump over the lifetime of the light-duty vehicles for model year 2012-2025. For commercial trucks, the estimated combined standards will reduce CO2 emissions by about 270 million metric tons and save about 530 million barrels of oil over the life of model year 2014 to 2018. For the passenger vehicle GHG and fuel economy standards, individual consumers will save an estimated $8,000 on fuel over the lifetime (i.e., approximately 200,000 average vehicle miles traveled (VMT)) of a model year (MY) 2025 vehicle. For the heavy-duty truck standards, the average operator of a semi-truck can pay for the technology upgrades in under a year, and have net savings of up to $73,000 over the lifetime of the truck This FY 2016-2017 APG builds upon the successes of the related FY 2014-2015 and FY 2012-2013 Agency Priority Goals related to reducing greenhouse gas emissions from transportation activities. The FY 2012-2013 APG focused on the implementation of the first light-duty vehicle standards (MY 2012-2016) and preparing for the implementation of heavy-duty standards (MY 2014-2018The FY 2014-2015 APG focused on incorporating the light-duty GHG standards for model years 2017-2025 (finalized in August 2012) and transitioning from the voluntary early credit earning phase (i.e., credit banking/trading, off-cycle credits, air-conditioning improvement credits) to full implementation of the 2014-2018 heavy-duty rule. The focus of the FY 2016-2017 APG will be on manufacturer compliance with the standards, the natural progression as the programs mature. EPA will continue to track issuing certificates and confirmatory testing but will also track new reporting metrics to capture compliance activities.","Through September 30, 2017, EPA, in coordination with Department of Transportation’s fuel economy and fuel consumption standards programs, will implement vehicle and commercial truck greenhouse gas standards with a focus on  industry compliance to ensure the significant reductions in greenhouse gases and oil consumption called for under the standards are realized.  The light-duty and heavy-duty standards for model years 2012-2025 are projected to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by more than 6.3 billion metric tons and reduce U.S. oil consumption by more than 12.5 billion barrels over the lifetime of the affected vehicles and commercial trucks."," Natural Resources and Environment",35252
"Environmental Protection Agency",FY16-17,"Advance resilience in the nation’s water infrastructure, while protecting public health and the environment, particularly in high-risk and vulnerable communities.","The uninterrupted delivery of safe drinking water is an integral element in maintaining the public health of the nation. Improvements in the drinking water sector preparedness to prevent and mitigate the duration and severity of interruptions to the delivery of safe drinking water continues to be necessary in light of evolving stresses, whether attributed to natural, accidental, or intentional circumstances or aging or stressed infrastructure.  Extreme weather events, sea level rise, shifting precipitation patterns and temperature variability, all intensified by climate change, have significant implications for the sustainability of the water sector. By planning for, assessing and adapting to these challenges, the water sector can fulfill their public health and environmental missions and begin the process of becoming climate ready.   Under Presidential Policy Directive 21, the President has designated EPA as the Sector Specific Agency responsible for enhancing the resilience and preparedness of the nation’s water sector, which includes about 180,000 drinking water and wastewater utilities. Further, the Department of Homeland Security has designated the water sector to be one of four “lifeline” sectors, meaning that if a disruption of service occurs in any one of these four sectors, then a community or region will experience potentially significant consequences in terms of public health, the economy, and the other critical infrastructure sectors, many of which rely on the lifeline sectors.   EPA’s green infrastructure program works with communities to assess how green infrastructure can enhance their stormwater management systems and be an integral part of their climate resiliency strategy. The agency has developed green infrastructure tools and resources for communities to use in planning their long-term stormwater actions.   EPA’s efforts to improve the resilience of the water sector derive not only from these homeland security directives, but also from its core mission as an agency, viz., the protection of public health and the environment.   Drinking water and wastewater utilities must remain operational in the face of all hazards if we are to preserve the many gains in public health and environmental protection which have been realized from the water sector. As with the other lifeline sectors, the water sector is at risk from a multitude of threats spanning natural disasters, climate change, cyber-attacks, and terrorism.   The 2002 amendments to the SDWA required drinking water systems serving more than 3,300 people to submit a vulnerability assessment to EPA. However, Congress required that such systems prepare a vulnerability assessment as a one-time mandate, not a recurring one. The statutory requirements also excluded water systems serving fewer than 3,300 people and all wastewater systems.   EPA’s water security and resilience program has developed a robust array of successful tools, training, and direct technical assistance for the water sector to improve prevention, as well as enable appropriate situational response, including application of resources, to mitigate the interruption of delivery of safe drinking water to the nation’s consumers. For instance, under EPA’s leadership, the number of intrastate mutual aid compacts (peer-to-peer assistance networks) has increased from just three states in 2006 to 49 states in 2015. Small and larger scale incidents have triggered the activation of eighty-six percent of these agreements. Despite this success, enhancing resilience competes with many other priorities within the water sector, notably, regulatory compliance, aging infrastructure, and funding inadequacies. As such, EPA continues to try to lower the barriers to adopting resilience measures by providing innovative, easy to use software tools and in person, nationwide training sessions to help water systems of all sizes and types to enhance their resilience.   In addition to motivating the water sector, EPA must be mindful of the evolving threats to the water sector. Extreme weather events, the increasing impacts of climate change, and the almost omnipresent threat of cyber-attacks in particular will impose a daunting challenge to the water sector, as evident by several recent events: the persistent drought in California and much of the west, drought then extreme flooding in Texas, storm surge in New York and New Jersey from Hurricane Sandy, and cyber intrusions into water utilities’ operations. Such threats will jeopardize the ability of the water sector to continue to fulfill its public health and environmental missions unless the sector manages to improve its resilience to all hazards.   In response, EPA has undertaken a national effort to enhance resilience—with an emphasis on severe drought, flooding, cybersecurity, and climate change—through the provision of planning tools, training sessions, and direct technical assistance.   Stormwater is an increasing water infrastructure challenge. As more land is developed with impervious surfaces, the amount of stormwater that communities must manage continues to grow. Stormwater is a significant source of water pollution, contributes to sewer overflows, and causes local flooding. As the climate changes, more precipitation and more intense rain events in certain portions of the country will further strain community stormwater management systems. In the west and southwest increasing drought conditions will emphasize the need for communities to use rain as a beneficial water resource before in can become polluted stormwater runoff.","By September 30, 2017, EPA will provide technical assistance and other tools to 75 urban communities to advance green infrastructure planning and implementation efforts to increase local climate resilience and water quality protections in stormwater infrastructure. EPA will also provide tools and training for 5000 operators of small water utilities to improve resilience in drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater systems. Trainings will be targeted based on regional threats, such as drought and flooding.",,36782
"Environmental Protection Agency",FY16-17,"Strengthen environmental protection through business process improvements enabled by joint governance and technology.","The evolving relationship of the EPA, states, and tribes over more than four decades is reflected in environmental programs developed under statutes that used different approaches and funding mechanisms to address varied environmental problems.  While these programs have achieved dramatic improvements in environmental quality during this period, challenges remain.  To tackle these complex environmental challenges, EPA, states and tribes have an opportunity to transform the way we implement these programs, as a shared responsibility, into an integrated national enterprise for environmental protection. Additionally, environmental regulators face ever growing needs to share information within and across agencies, reduce staff burden of data entry, reduce regulatory reporting burdens, and improve environmental and human health protection. There is also an increasing expectation from the public and regulated community for the use of on-line systems and the desire for data transparency and personalized access. Both federal and state agencies recognize that easier access to and use of environmental data will facilitate better environmental protection and decision-making while also increasing overall data transparency. E-Enterprise for the Environment is a joint initiative of states and EPA to improve environmental outcomes and enhance service to the regulated community and the public by maximizing the use of advanced monitoring and information technologies, optimizing operations, and increasing transparency. E-Enterprise will enable new environmental management approaches by modernizing EPA programs and regulations while streamlining and improving existing business processes. E-Enterprise will use the transformational capabilities of technologies to identify and implement programmatic and service improvements.  ","By September 30, 2017, reduce burden by one million hours, add five new functionalities to the E-Enterprise Portal, and begin development on two projects selected through E-Enterprise Leadership Council joint governance."," Natural Resources and Environment",36762
"Environmental Protection Agency",FY14-15,"Reduce greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks.","This Priority Goal advances the Strategic Plan objective to address climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the strategic measure to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from light duty vehicles and is a continuation of the FY 2012/2013 Priority Goal.  The FY 2012/2013 Priority Goal focused on the implementation of the first light-duty vehicle standards (Model Years (MY) 2012-2016) and heavy-duty standards (MY 2014-2018) to address greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) from transportation activities, which accounted for 27% of U.S. GHG emissions in 2010, with the largest source being from passenger cars, light-duty trucks and freight trucks.  The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) report, “Adapting to the Impacts of Climate Change,” indicates that climate change is associated with increased flooding, prolonged drought, more severe heat waves, more frequent wildfires, and changes in wetland, forest, and grassland habitats. These events result in substantial economic consequences through the contamination of drinking water resources, impaired air and water quality and reduced capacity of ecosystems to provide the services to society that we depend upon. It is important to continue this APG because both the light-duty (MY 2012-2016) and heavy-duty vehicle rules are in the early stages of implementation, and the real benefits of these rules will not be realized until later years. For light-duty rules, the implementation for vehicles started in 2012, and will ramp up each year until 2025. For the heavy-duty rule, EPA is in the early credit earning phase, and will start in 2014/2015 to implement the first standards and assess compliance for the 2014 model year. The next phase includes incorporating the GHG standards in the light-duty vehicle rule for model years 2017-2025 (finalized in August 2012) and transitioning from the voluntary early credit earning phase (i.e., credit banking/trading, off-cycle credits, air-conditioning improvement credits) of the heavy-duty rule to the implementation phase of the 2014 model year standards.","Reduce greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks. Through September 30, 2015, EPA, in coordination with Department of Transportation’s fuel economy standards program, will be implementing vehicle and truck greenhouse gas standards that are projected to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 6 billion metric tons and reduce oil consumption by about 12 billion barrels over the lifetime of the affected vehicles and trucks."," Natural Resources and Environment",354
"Environmental Protection Agency",FY14-15,"Improve public health protection for persons served by small drinking water systems, which account for more than 97% of public water systems in the U.S., by strengthening the technical, managerial, and financial capacity of those systems.","The responsibility for communities and public water systems to continuously provide safe drinking water is a key component of the Nation’s health and well-being. The delivery of safe drinking water is often taken for granted and is extremely undervalued. More than 156,000 public water systems provide drinking water to the approximately 305 million persons in the U.S. More than 97% of these public water systems serve fewer than 10,000 persons. Many of the communities that operate these small systems face a number of challenges in their ability to reliably administer, operate, and assure adequate and long term funding capacity in order to provide safe drinking water to their customers. These challenges include aging infrastructure, increased regulatory requirements, workforce shortages/high-turnover, increasing operational costs, and declining rate bases, and extreme natural disasters/weather events. EPA will work closely with state primacy agencies, tribes, and other organizations to implement a series of efforts to address these challenge areas and strengthen the capacity of small systems to sustainably provide safe water to the public now and in the future. Trends and Milestone Status Updates:  Capacity Development Program: The 1996 Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) Amendments established a strong emphasis on enhanced water system management to achieve and maintain technical, managerial, and financial (TMF) capacity of water systems. The Capacity Development Program establishes a framework within which states and water systems can work together to help systems achieve the SDWA’s public health protection objectives. The state Capacity Development programs are supported federally by the Public Water System Supervision state grant funds and the set-asides established in the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund. Since the 1996 Amendments, states have implemented a variety of activities to assist small systems with their compliance challenges and enhance their technical, managerial, and financial capacity. In FY 2010, EPA re-energized its small systems focus with the intent to work more closely with state programs to improve public water system sustainability and public health protection for persons served by small water systems. As such, EPA launched the State/EPA Re-Energizing Workgroup to better understand state programs’ existing implementation efforts, evaluate barriers to water system capacity and identify areas where EPA and states need to collaborate to improve program implementation. The workgroup released its findings document in April 2011 http://water.epa.gov/type/drink/pws/smallsystems/upload/re-energizing_ap..., which identifies challenges faced by small systems and states in assisting them, best practices for assisting small systems, and other opportunities to further enhance state programs. In addition, four additional State/EPA workgroups were formed in FY 2011 and conducted further discussions of topics identified by states:  promoting water system partnerships to improve system sustainability; opportunities to improve collaboration across various state and federal programs to increase efficiency and assist small systems; best practices for assessing managerial capacity of small systems and opportunities to increase asset management; approaches for addressing projected water sector workforce shortages. In FY12, EPA launched two new EPA-state workgroups: Asset Management Workgroup and the Non-Community Water Systems (NCWS) Workgroup. EPA also partnered with other federal agencies that work with small systems, such as USDA-Rural Development, or offer resources that can assist small systems with workforce challenges, such as the Department of Labor and Department of Veterans Affairs.  Through these and other efforts, EPA has worked with states to continue to enhance their Capacity Development programs to improve small system capabilities. Optimization Program: EPA’s Optimization Program or Area Wide Optimization Program (AWOP) provides a systematic approach for states and tribes to assess small water system performance, deliver needed technical assistance, measure the results of those efforts, and maintain performance at drinking water utilities. The Optimization program helps states and tribes prioritize their technical assistance resources by identifying which public water systems are in most need of help (based on water quality and public health risk) and most effectively apply a range of compliance and technical assistance tools to enable small water systems to meet (and sustain) compliance requirements and optimization goals. This is being done through a series of ongoing field training activities. The Optimization Program was first piloted in 1998 in one EPA region with Drinking Water Program (DWP) staff from four states; the program is currently utilized by over 20 states with support from four EPA regions. The program originally focused on optimizing surface water treatment plant performance to improve finished water quality (lower microbial risk); more recently these concepts have been applied to control Disinfection By-Products (DBPs) in the treatment plant and distribution system, and are now being piloted to address groundwater systems, distribution system water age and storage challenges, and systems that utilize membrane filtration. Additionally, operators at systems that pursue optimization often possess the prioritization and problem solving skills to address “unexpected” challenges (e.g., natural disasters, security concerns) and longer term changes in water quality (e.g., due to the impact of climate change).  The Optimization Program and the Capacity Development Program have been working together to identify opportunities for collaboration and integration of core program activities. Combined, these programs provide resources, guidelines, technical assistance and a framework to the states to assist them in managing their drinking water programs and helping small systems.  ","By September 30, 2015, EPA will engage with an additional ten states (for a total of 30 states) and three tribes to improve small drinking water system capability to provide safe drinking water, an invaluable resource."," Natural Resources and Environment | Health | Community and Regional Development",356
"Environmental Protection Agency",FY14-15,"Improve, restore, and maintain water quality by enhancing nonpoint source program leveraging, accountability, and on-the-ground effectiveness to address the Nation’s largest sources of pollution.","The Clean Water Act Section 319 Program is a vital source of support for the management of nonpoint source (NPS) pollution –  excess nitrogen, phosphorus, pathogens and sediments that are the primary cause of pollution in the vast majority of impaired waterways across the Country. NPS pollution comes from many diffuse sources and can include excess fertilizers and pesticides from agricultural lands and residential areas; oil, grease and toxic chemicals from urban runoff and energy production; sediment from improperly managed construction sites, crop and forest lands, and eroding streambanks; bacteria and nutrients from livestock, pet wastes and faulty septic systems, among others. Because resources are limited and NPS pollution comes from diverse sources that differ by state and locale, strategic use of Section 319 funds is essential to achieving the best water quality outcomes for this limited natural resource. In 2013 EPA took steps to strengthen the Section 319 program, issuing revised national guidelines for Section 319 grants to states. Key aspects of the new guidelines include 50% of a state’s 319 funds are devoted to on-the-ground projects to restore and protect waterways; strengthened incentives for leveraging of additional state and local funds; an emphasis on collaboration and leveraging with USDA; and a requirement that all states have updated NPS management programs with relevant goals and annual milestones to guide their investment of Section 319 funds. Effectively utilizing limited resources for such a diverse set of pollution problems requires setting priorities, sustaining priority efforts over time, and substantial leveraging with other programs and partners. The role of the states’ NPS Management Program is to provide a roadmap for doing just that. A meaningful state NPS Management Program reflects the state’s goals, priorities, and key annual milestones and actions over a five-year period, which focuses resources to decrease pollution and protect high quality waters. The Plan describes how multiple state agencies and other partners, such as federal agencies, will coordinate, contribute, or leverage resources to meet the state’s articulated NPS goals and employ locally driven solutions that restore degraded waterways and revitalize communities. Because a state’s NPS management program spans five years, it provides a point of reference and an accountability framework for EPA to use in evaluating and approving annual Section 319 grant workplans. EPA will work with states to ensure that the commitments and milestones in their management program are reflected in annual Section 319 workplans. This priority goal is a continuation of the work achieved under the 2012-2013 goal that 50 percent of states with outdated NPS management programs would update their programs in accordance with new Section 319 grant guidelines that EPA released in April 2013. Significant progress has been made, but additional work remains. This priority goal will track the continued progress of states updating their NPS Management Programs. Under the FY 2012-2013 priority goal, 22 states must update their programs. (Seven states already had updated programs that meet the guidance.) This FY 2014-2015 priority goal is that all state NPS management programs will be current and aligned with the new grant guidelines by September 2015. Moving forward beyond FY 2015, states are required to review and update their program every five years to keep them relevant.","By September 30, 2015, 100 percent of the states will have updated nonpoint source management programs that comport with the new Section 319 grant guidelines that will result in better targeting of resources through prioritization and increased coordination with USDA."," Natural Resources and Environment | Agriculture | Health | Community and Regional Development",476
"Environmental Protection Agency",FY16-17,"Clean up contaminated sites to enhance the livability and economic vitality of communities.","~~OLEM tracks over 500,000 sites, representing about 23 million acres of land. EPA’s Superfund, Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) corrective action (CA), leaking underground stor¬age tank (LUST), and Brownfields cleanup programs reduce risks to human health and the envi¬ronment by assessing and cleaning up contaminated sites to enhance the livability and economic vitality of neighborhoods.  Challenging and complex environmental problems, such as the presence or perceived presence of hazardous substances in soil, sediment, and ground¬water, persist at many contaminated properties, and can threaten the health of American families. The proposed FY 2016/17 APG provides a path toward meeting long-term Agency’s priorities, as well as immediate social and economic benefits, including: reducing mortality and morbidity risks by preventing and reducing human exposure to contaminants; making land available for commercial, residential, industrial, or recreational reuse; and promoting community economic development. When sites are ready for anticipated reuse, communities are able to reclaim them for ecological, recreational, commercial, residential and other productive purposes. Although each program establishes its own targets, the collective nature and combined overall target of the RAU Priority Goal offers an opportunity for EPA cleanup programs to work together to identify lessons learned, efficiencies and opportunities to advance site cleanup. Since EPA began collecting the number of sites RAU in FY 2008, the number of sites RAU has increased by approximately 22.3% to over 463,000 sites at the end of FY 2015, which is approximately 84% of total number of sites EPA tracks.  Similarly, the number of acres RAU increased by approximately 148%, to over 2.4 million acres, during the same period.  The total number of acres that EPA tracks represents around 3.6% of all Federal Land.  It, however, is becoming increasingly difficult to maintain the pace of RAU. As a result of recent resource constraints affecting programs that cleanup contaminated sites for both EPA and our Federal and State partners, the pace of ongoing construction projects is expected to be slowed, extending the timeline to achieve site cleanup and the return of sites to productive use.  Keeping RAU as the priority goal focuses senior management attention on an important indicator of program outcomes.","By September 2017, an additional 18,600 sites will be made ready for anticipated use (RAU) protecting Americans' health and the environment, one community at a time."," Natural Resources and Environment | Health | Community and Regional Development",35262
"Environmental Protection Agency",FY14-15,"Clean up contaminated sites to enhance the livability and economic vitality of communities.","Problem or opportunity being addressed EPA’s Superfund, Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) corrective action (CA), leaking underground stor­age tank (LUST), and Brownfields cleanup programs reduce risks to human health and the envi­ronment by assessing and cleaning up contaminated sites to enhance the livability and economic vitality of neighborhoods. Challenging and complex environmental problems, such as the presence or perceived presence of hazardous substances in soil, sediment, and ground­water, persist at many contaminated properties, and can threaten the health of American families. There are multiple benefits associated with cleaning up contaminated sites and making them ready for reuse: reducing mortality and morbidity risk; preventing and reducing human exposure to contaminants; making land available for commercial, residential, industrial, or recreational reuse; and promoting community economic development. When sites are ready for anticipated reuse, communities are able to reclaim them for ecological, recreational, commercial, residential and other productive purposes. Since EPA began collecting the number of sites ready for anticipated use (RAU) in FY2008, the cumulative number of sites RAU has increased. As of the end of FY2013, 441,333 sites were made ready for anticipated use, or approximately 83% of all sites.  Program   FY14 Target   FY15 Target   Superfund   55   55   RCRA CA   80   80   LUST   9,000   8,600   Brownfields   550   550   Total   9,685   9,285    Although each program establishes its own targets, the collective nature and combined overall target of the RAU Priority Goal offers an opportunity for EPA cleanup programs to work together to identify lessons learned, efficiencies and opportunities to advance site cleanup.   Efficiencies and cost savings  In an effort to improve the accountability, transparency, and effectiveness of EPA’s cleanup programs, EPA initiated the Integrated Cleanup Initiative, a multi-year effort to better use the most appropriate assessment and cleanup authorities to address a greater number of sites, accelerate cleanups where possible, and put those sites back into productive use while protecting human health and the environment. By using relevant tools available in each of the cleanup programs, including enforcement, EPA will better leverage the resources available to address needs at individual sites. EPA will focus on enforcement activities that are critical to ensuring that responsible parties are compelled to clean up contaminated sites, thereby preserving federal monies for clean up at sites where viable responsible parties do not exist.   Relationship to agency strategic goals and objectives The Priority Goal directly supports EPA’s FY2014-2018 Strategic Plan, specifically Goal 3: Cleaning Up Communities and Advancing Sustainable Development.  Over the next several years, two of EPA’s priorities under this goal are to prevent and reduce exposure to contaminants and accelerate the pace of cleanups across the country. RAU is an indicator that the local, state, or federal agency has determined that cleanup goals and engineering and institutional controls have been implemented for the media that affects current and reasonably anticipated future use so that the sites are available for communities to use or reuse. Making contaminated sites ready for anticipated reuse also supports several of the Administrator’s Themes for EPA, including Making a Visible Difference in Communities across the Country; Launching a New Era of State, Tribal and Local Partnerships; and Working Toward a Sustainable Future. These connections are further described in the overview of our goal, as well as our description of goal partners.  ","Clean up contaminated sites to enhance the livability and economic vitality of communities.  By 2015, an additional 18,970 sites will be made ready for anticipated use protecting Americans and the environment one community at a time."," Natural Resources and Environment | Health | Community and Regional Development",358
"Environmental Protection Agency",FY16-17,"Assess and reduce risks posed by chemicals and promote the use of safer chemicals in commerce.","Improving chemical safety is one of the most critical aspects of EPA’s work to protect human health and the environment and advance a sustainable future. Three statutes provide EPA the authority to regulate chemicals: The Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) and the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetics Act (FFDCA) govern the regulation of pesticides and the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) governs regulation of other commercial chemicals. This APG addresses a key component of EPA’s chemical strategy – using all available information to assess whether chemicals entering or already being used in commerce pose risks to human health and the environment.  EPA’s work on this critical issue is organized into three components: • Assessing pesticides safety and effectiveness in determining whether to register and re-evaluate them for commercial use. Pesticides distributed and sold in the United States must generally be registered by EPA, based on scientific data showing that they will not cause unreasonable risks to human health, workers, or the environment when used as directed on product labeling.  The registration and registration review programs ensure that chemicals coming to and now available on the market meet current safety standards and, as the ability to assess risk evolves and as policies and practices change, all registered pesticides continue to meet the statutory standard of no unreasonable adverse effects, that is, continue to be safe when used according to the label.  Although changes in science, public policy, and pesticide use practices will occur over time, such changes could impact EPA’s ability to make determinations in a timely manner.  Through the registration review program, the Agency periodically reevaluates (at least every fifteen years) pesticides to make sure that as change occurs, products in the marketplace can still be used safely.  The Office of Pesticide Programs is continuously challenged to improve its processes, science, and information management while maintaining a collaborative and open process for decision-making to ensure safety to human health and the environment.  Please refer to section 4 for a more detailed discussion of the challenges presented by implementing the Endangered Species Act (ESA), Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program (EDSP) and White House Pollinator Health Strategy concerns.  While challenging, implementing solutions to these issues will improve the Agency’s processes and allow for an open public venue for determining that products coming to market as well as those currently in the marketplace can be used safely. • Assessing the safety of commercial chemicals, using the authorities of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). o TSCA Work Plan Assessments: As part of EPA’s chemical safety program, EPA has identified a work plan of chemicals for assessment. Originally released in March 2012, and updated in October 2014, EPA’s TSCA Work Plan helps focus and direct the activities of its Existing Chemicals Program. The Agency committed to assess the chemicals in every-day, wide spread use to which our people, our communities and our environment may be exposed, starting with those on the Work Plan. The findings of these assessments guide decisions on whether risk reduction actions are needed to address risks to human health or the environment from exposure to particular chemical uses or groups of chemicals.  More information about the TSCA Work Plan is available at: http://www.epa.gov/oppt/existingchemicals/pubs/workplans.html. o TSCA Section 5 (New Chemicals) Notice Assessments: In FY 2016 and FY 2017, the EPA will continue to fulfill its mandate under TSCA Section 5 to manage the potential risk to human health and the environment from chemicals to be introduced into the marketplace. Functioning as a “gatekeeper,” the EPA can identify conditions, up to and including a ban on production, to be placed on the use of a new chemical before it is entered into commerce. Anyone who plans to manufacture (including import) a new chemical substance for a non-exempt commercial purpose is required by section 5 of TSCA to provide EPA with notice before initiating the activity. This premanufacture notice, or PMN, can include information such as specific chemical identity, use, anticipated production volume, exposure and release information and existing available test data. Each year, the EPA receives approximately 1,000 new chemical notices under section 5, and must review and assess each PMN within 90 days of receipt. More information about the TSCA New Chemicals Program is available at: http://www.epa.gov/oppt/newchems/index.htm. • Assessing whether chemicals have the potential to disrupt endocrine systems.  Congress directed the agency to develop the Endocrine Disruptors Screening Program (EDSP) in accordance with the Food Quality Protection Act of 1996. The agency is employing high-throughput and computational methods to evaluate endocrine activity to screen over 10,000 chemicals for potential endocrine activity using validated test methods. The program involves requiring registrants to generate screening data for chemicals suspected of having effects on the endocrine system.  In setting up the EDSP, it took several years to determine the appropriate tests, establish protocols, issue tests orders requiring these data, develop the data and review the data.  To date, about 50 pesticides have been tested and reviewed.  When a chemical is determined to be an endocrine disruptor, it will be incorporated into risk assessments and considered in the risk management decision for the chemical.","By September 30, 2017, the EPA will complete more than 3,400 assessments of pesticides and other commercially available chemicals to evaluate risks they may pose to human health and the environment. These assessments are essential in determining whether products containing these chemicals can be used safely for commercial, agricultural, and/or industrial uses. For example, assessments can help determine the potential for chemicals to disrupt endocrine systems or to pose risks to honey bees and other pollinators by outdoor use of pesticides."," Natural Resources and Environment",35422
"Environmental Protection Agency",FY14-15,"Assess and reduce risks posed by chemicals and promote the use of safer chemicals in commerce.","Keeping communities safe and healthy requires action to reduce risks associated with exposure to chemicals in commerce, our indoor and outdoor environments, and products and food.  The agency’s chemical safety and pollution prevention programs are at the forefront of EPA’s efforts to advance a sustainable future.  Chemicals are often released into the environment as a result of their manufacture, processing, use, and disposal.  The agency uses a variety of approaches and tools to assess, prevent, and reduce these chemical releases and exposures by conducting risk assessments, assessing chemical alternatives, and taking other risk management actions. Three statutes provide EPA the authority to regulate chemicals:  The Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) and the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetics Act (FFDCA) govern the regulation of pesticides and the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) governs regulation of other commercial chemicals. EPA is committed to utilizing TSCA to the fullest extent possible to ensure the safety of commercial chemicals.  Peer-reviewed risk assessments are essential to informing the agency’s chemical safety decisions with the best available scientific information and analyses.  The findings of these assessments guide decisions on whether risk management actions are needed to address risks to human health or the environment from exposure to particular chemical uses or groups of chemicals.  To enhance its existing chemicals program, EPA has identified a group of TSCA Work Plan Chemicals that are to receive priority for risk assessment in the 2012-2014 timeframe.  These chemicals were selected based on criteria developed by EPA in consultation with a wide range of stakeholders. Through its TSCA Work Plan risk assessment program, EPA plans to conduct risk assessments for the group of Work Plan chemicals identified in March 2012.  Subsequent risk assessments will be determined based on any periodic revisions to the TSCA Work Plan. All pesticides distributed and sold in the United States must be registered by EPA, based on scientific data showing that they will not cause unreasonable risks to human health, workers, or the environment when used as directed on product labeling.  The registration review program makes sure that, as the ability to assess risk evolves and as policies and practices change, all registered pesticides continue to meet the statutory standard of no unreasonable adverse effects, that is, continue to be safe when used according to the label.  Although changes in science, public policy, and pesticide use practices will occur over time, such changes could impact EPA’s ability to make determinations in a timely manner.  Through the registration review program, the Agency periodically reevaluates (every fifteen years) pesticides to make sure that as change occurs, products in the marketplace can still be used safely.  The registration review program challenges EPA to continuously improve its processes, science, and information management while maintaining a collaborative and open process for decision-making to ensure safety to human health and the environment. Please refer to section 7 for a more detailed discussion of the challenges presented by ESA and EDSP concerns.  While challenging, addressing these new problems will improve the Agency’s processes and allow for an open public venue for determining that products in the marketplace can still be used safely. In 1996, Congress directed the agency to develop an Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program (EDSP) to screen over 10,000 chemicals for potential endocrine activity, using validated test methods.  To date, we have employed validated test methods, covering a range of mammalian and ecological species, to screen 52 chemicals.  Based on current cost and time projections, it would require tens of millions of dollars, millions of laboratory animals and decades to screen and test 10,000 chemicals using the current methods.  Recent advances in computational toxicological methods (e.g., ToxCast) provide new technologies offering greater speed, efficiency and effectiveness to the EDSP in accomplishing our core mission.","Assess and reduce risks posed by chemicals and promote the use of safer chemicals in commerce. By September 30, 2015, EPA will have completed more than 250 assessments of pesticides and other commercially available chemicals to evaluate risks they may pose to human health and the environment, including the potential for some of these chemicals to disrupt endocrine systems.  These assessments are essential in determining whether products containing these chemicals can be used safely for commercial, agricultural and/or industrial uses."," Natural Resources and Environment",1159
"Environmental Protection Agency",FY14-15,"Improve environmental outcomes and enhance service to the regulated community and the public.","Environmental regulators face ever growing needs to share information within and across agencies, reduce staff burden of data entry, reduce regulatory reporting burdens, and improve environmental and human health protection. There is also an increasing expectation from the public and regulated community for the use of on-line systems and the desire for data transparency and personalized access. Both federal and state agencies recognize that easier access to and use of environmental data will facilitate better environmental protection and decision-making while also increasing overall data transparency.   Consistent with the 2012 White House Digital Government Strategy and Executive Order 13563, EPA seeks to transform the way business is conducted. E-Enterprise for the Environment is a joint initiative of states and EPA to improve environmental outcomes and enhance service to the regulated community and the public by maximizing the use of advanced monitoring and information technologies, optimizing operations, and increasing transparency. E-Enterprise will enable new environmental management approaches by modernizing EPA programs and regulations while streamlining and improving existing business processes. E-Enterprise will use the transformational capabilities of information and advanced monitoring technologies to identify and implement programmatic and service improvements.   These improvements will include “smart” tools and services that guide the regulated community in understanding and fulfilling their federal, state and, local regulatory reporting obligations, offer basic validations and error checking of entered information, and support electronic signature submissions. E-Enterprise projects that take advantage of tools and practices such as advanced monitoring technology and streamlined data collection will also expand the ability of the government, regulated entities, and the public to see and measure pollutant discharges, emissions and environmental conditions. A fundamental premise of E-Enterprise is that providing a more complete and integrated (cross media - air, water, and land) view of environmental data can support greener behavior of the public and regulated entities. For example, broad availability of high-speed internet allows real-time reporting of emissions and provides unprecedented opportunities for transparency and public involvement in matters affecting local environmental conditions. These technological advances will allow better tracking of environmental progress. Innovative technology can also help regulators improve compliance with environmental laws.","By September 30, 2015 reduce reporting burdens to EPA by one million hours through streamlined regulations, provide real-time environmental data to at least two communities, and establish a new portal to service the regulated community and public."," Natural Resources and Environment",360
"Department of Health and Human Services",FY16-17,"Reduce opioid-related morbidity and mortality","Opioid abuse and overdose present a nationwide public health challenge. Death by drug overdose is the leading cause of injury death in the United States, with deaths from opioids in particular increasing precipitously in the twenty-first century. Overdose deaths from prescription opioids, such as oxycodone, hydrocodone, and morphine, have more than quadrupled over the period 1999-2013. Overdose deaths involving heroin have increased significantly in recent years, more than tripling from 2010-20141. Agencies across HHS recognize the urgency of halting the rise of opioid use disorder and overdose, and are working to develop and implement the most effective interventions, from prevention through treatment.   In March of 2015, HHS Secretary Burwell introduced the Secretary’s Opioid Initiative to accelerate progress toward two broad goals: 1) decreasing opioid overdoses and overall overdose mortality and 2) decreasing the prevalence of opioid use disorder. This unifying strategy is designed to focus implementation efforts on action steps most likely to yield rapid and meaningful results. Specifically, the Initiative focuses on the three areas of reforming of opioid prescribing practices to reduce excess prescribing; improving naloxone development, access, and distribution; and expanding access to medication-assisted treatment (MAT). This Agency Priority Goal (APG) and accompanying metrics align with the three emphasis areas of the Initiative. Further, this opioid APG represents targeted assessment of the near-term progress that will be essential for achieving the broader Initiative goals of overall reduction in the morbidity and mortality associated with opioid use. ","To reduce opioid-related morbidity and mortality: By September 30th, 2017, opioid-related overdose death and opioid use disorder will be addressed through the three priority areas of reforming opioid prescribing practices, increasing the use of naloxone, and expanding access to and use of MAT for opioid use disorders. Decrease by 10% the total morphine milligram equivalents (MME) dispensed in the U.S. outpatient retail pharmacy setting. Increase by 15% the number of prescriptions dispensed for naloxone in the U.S. outpatient retail pharmacy setting Increase by 10% the number of unique patients receiving prescriptions for buprenorphine and naltrexone in the U.S. outpatient retail pharmacy setting."," Health",47231
"Department of Health and Human Services",FY16-17,"Improve the timeliness of initiation into treatment for individuals with serious mental illness.","Serious mental illnesses often first arise in adolescence or early adulthood, and delays in treatment initiation are common.  As a result, people with serious mental illness (SMI) may experience multiple episodes of acute illness accompanied by accumulating disability.  The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) estimates that the direct and indirect financial costs of serious mental illness—including health expenditures, disability benefits, and loss of earnings—exceed $300 billion per year in the United States.   Individuals with serious mental illness (SMI) are a high-need, high-cost population.  They are frequent utilizers of emergency departments and have high rates of readmission to inpatient care, especially when co-occurring substance use disorders are present.  In addition, people with SMI often have co-morbid physical health conditions and shorter life expectancies than people without SMI, primarily due to co-occurring physical health conditions that too often go unaddressed. Individuals with serious mental illness (SMI) often experience barriers to treatment, including difficulty accessing and initiating treatment.  Significant delays in the identification and treatment of SMI are common; for example, research has repeatedly found that individuals with psychosis in the U.S. often do not receive appropriate treatment for that condition for one to three years.  Moreover, once they do receive care, individuals with serious mental illness might not receive evidence-based care, or care that is coordinated with medical care.  There is a growing body of evidence highlighting the effectiveness of early intervention using evidence-based treatments to improve outcomes for individuals with SMI, including psychotherapy and education and employment supports.  The use of peer supports is another promising practice with a growing evidence base.  Challenges that prevent the dissemination of these best practices in the provision of early intervention services include lack of funding, the need for technical assistance, the need to educate and engage consumers, and the need to further build the evidence base supporting the provision of early intervention services.  These challenges impact the ability of states to establish and maintain early intervention programs using Community Mental Health Services Block Grant funding. The SMI Initiative builds on activities that are currently underway in various HHS agencies; these activities are coordinated through the HHS Behavioral Health Coordinating Council (BHCC).  The BHCC subcommittee on SMI is critical to the implementation of the Initiative, which is also oriented towards achievement of this Agency Priority Goal on SMI.","Improve the timeliness of initiation into treatment for individuals with serious mental illness.  By September 30, 2017, expand the availability of evidence-based early intervention services for individuals with serious mental illness (SMI) funded through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) Community Mental Health Services Block Grant by increasing the number of states with at least one evidence-based early intervention program that provides a team-based approach to treatment including services such as case management, recovery-oriented cognitive and behavioral skills training, supported employment, supported education services, family education and support, and low doses of medications when indicated.  The goal is to increase by 130 percent from a baseline of 13 states in 2015. ",,47191
"Department of Health and Human Services",FY16-17,"Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria (CARB)","Antibiotics have been a critical public health tool since the discovery of penicillin in 1928, saving the lives of millions of people around the world. Today, however, the emergence of drug resistance in bacteria is reversing the miracles of the past eighty years, with drug choices for the treatment of many bacterial infections becoming increasingly limited, expensive, and, in some cases, nonexistent. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that drug-resistant bacteria cause two million illnesses and approximately 23,000 deaths each year in the United States alone. Thus, combatting antibiotic resistance has become a priority for both the White House, and the Department of Health Human Services (DHHS) Secretary. In response to President Barack Obama’s Executive Order: Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria (CARB), the National Strategy and the National Action Plan for CARB were developed to provide a roadmap to guide the Nation in rising to this challenge. One of the core strategies within the action plan is improving the use of antibiotics, also known as antibiotic stewardship. This Agency Priority Goal (APG) will help advance efforts related to antibiotic stewardship in hospitals, where complications of and risk factors for antibiotic resistance are most concentrated. The APG also aligns with the strategic goals listed in the 2014-2018 HHS Strategic Plan. Current Problem/Challenges: At least one-third of antibiotics used in inpatient settings are either unnecessary or inappropriately prescribed. Antibiotic stewardship interventions have been proven to improve individual patient outcomes, reduce the overall burden of antibiotic resistance, and save healthcare dollars. Implementation of antibiotic stewardship programs in hospitals will help ensure that hospitalized patients receive the right antibiotic, at the right dose, at the right time, and for the right duration. Improved antibiotic use leads to reduced mortality, reduced risk of Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhea, shorter hospital stays, reduced overall antibiotic resistance within the hospital, and increased cost savings. Despite all of these benefits, the uptake of antibiotic stewardship programs and interventions among U.S. hospitals is variable. Data from 2014 show that only about 40% of US acute care hospitals report having antibiotic stewardship programs that incorporate all of the CDC Core Elements for Hospital Antibiotic Stewardship Programs.","Combat antibiotic-resistant bacteria to save lives.  By September 30, 2017, HHS will increase the percent of hospitals that report implementation of antibiotic stewardship programs that comply with all of the CDC Core Elements for Hospital Antibiotic Stewardship Programs by 50% from a baseline of 40.9% to 61.3%. "," Health",47211
"Department of Health and Human Services",FY16-17,"Reduce Foodborne Illness","With enactment of the 2011 Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) Congress mandated a paradigm shift to prevention – to establishing a modern system of food safety protection based not on reacting to problems but on preventing them from happening in the first place.  FSMA has stimulated fundamental changes in FDA’s approach with establishment of preventive controls food safety standards. Key components of our implementation strategy include providing technical guidance and assistance to the industry, reorienting food safety staff to work in new ways, and improving surveillance of the food supply chain, so we can provide consistent, high quality oversight within the more technically sophisticated FSMA framework and better detect food safety problems when they occur. While prevention is the focus, food contamination events do occur. Listeria monocytogenes (L.m.) infections are one of the leading causes of death from foodborne illness in the United States, resulting in an estimated 1,600 illnesses and 260 deaths each year. Outbreak investigations determine which foods are responsible for illness and can lead to important food safety improvements. For example, recent investigations identified previously unknown sources of L.m. illnesses—cantaloupe, ice cream, and caramel apples—and focused attention on preventing contamination of these products. However, finding the source of clusters of L.m. illnesses is difficult. Determining if the same strain of L.m is making people sick, meaning the illnesses likely came from the same food source, requires intensive investigation. Clusters of illnesses caused by L.m. strains with the same genetic fingerprint are often small. Figuring out what ill persons ate in common is often very difficult; especially when some are too sick for interviews or have died and the long incubation period makes it more difficult for patients to remember what and where they ate. More complete information from patient interviews, information about isolations of L.m. from food and the environment, and whole genome sequencing of strains can all help to detect outbreaks and identify their sources.  When food sources and the cause of contamination are identified, food safety changes can be implemented throughout an industry and prevent future outbreaks. Tracing foods to the source of contamination and determining how the contamination occurred is challenging.  Ready-to-eat (RTE) foods can be contaminated if ingredients in the foods are contaminated with L.m. and are not treated to destroy viable cells of this pathogen, or if L.m. is allowed to contaminate the RTE food because of improper sanitary conditions or practices.  For many RTE foods, contamination with L.m. can be avoided – e.g., through the application of current good manufacturing practices and sanitation. Sanitation controls include effective environmental monitoring programs designed to identify and eliminate L.m. in and on surfaces and areas in production and processing facility.  As we learn from L.m. illness investigations and implement the preventive controls regulations, FDA will work with our food safety partners to better characterize the risks of L.m. contamination and provide guidance on how to better evaluate the hazards in food production and processing operations, and implement and monitor effective measures to prevent contamination. As part of a shared vision to reduce foodborne L.m. illnesses, HHS’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the United States Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (USDA-FSIS) have undertaken several activities to realize this vision. FDA recently released new preventive controls standards and is now working to increase industry’s application of preventive controls for L.m. hazards.  FDA, CDC, National Institute of Health (NIH), and USDA-FSIS are collaborating to use genomic methods to help determine the food source of outbreaks and to determine the sources of L.m. in the food supply chain. Whole genome sequencing (WGS), combined with robust data from epidemiologic investigations, has the potential to greatly improve the detection and investigation of L.m. outbreaks and can even help link single, sporadic illnesses to foods, something rarely possible before.  FDA and USDA-FSIS share regulatory responsibility for preventing L.m. contamination in food and as such will jointly report on their array of activities to reduce L.m. contamination at various points across the food supply chain.  Collectively, these activities should help to reduce the overall burden of listeriosis in the population. Findings from these efforts will ultimately advance the work of the Interagency Food Safety Analytics Collaboration, a tri-agency group of FDA, CDC, and USDA-FSIS, that is combining data from outbreaks with other information to determine the major sources of L.m. illness.  The results of this work will significantly contribute to FDA’s and USDA-FSIS’s efforts in implementing more risk-informed food safety strategies and to better target resource allocations. This Agency Priority Goal supports HHS Strategic Plan Goal 3, Objective E to reduce the occurrence of infectious disease and the Healthy People 2020 goal to reduce the incidence of L.m. infections.  It also supports FDA Strategic Priorities, Goal 1, Enhance Oversight of FDA-Regulated Products and all the corresponding Objectives.  Improving food safety is one of the CDC Director’s designated “Winnable Battles.” The indicator to strengthen collection of patient interview and laboratory data is consistent with a Quarterly Progress Report target for the CDC Director.  And while FSIS does not fall under HHS, it is important to mention that this HHS Agency Priority Goal aligns with an outcome under USDA’s Strategic Goal 4 - to reduce the total number of Salmonella, L.m. and E.coli illnesses from USDA-FSIS regulated products and to FSIS’s Strategic Goal of preventing foodborne illness and protecting the public’s health.  ","  By December 31, 2017, working with federal, state, local, tribal, and industry partners, improve preventive controls in food production facilities and reduce the incidence rate (reported cases per 100,000 population per year) of Listeria monocytogenes (L.m.) infections by 8%."," Health",66781
"Department of Health and Human Services",FY16-17,"Improve the quality of early childhood programs for low-income children","This area of work has been a Priority Goal for each of the previous Priority Goal iterations.  Previously the work was limited to the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) programs; HHS intends to keep the same overarching Priority Goal, with its emphasis on improving quality, but add a second Key Indicator for ACF’s Head Start program focused on increasing the percent of teachers with a BA.  In addition, HHS will expand the contributing programs to include information regarding partnerships with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration (SAMHSA) and the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) to demonstrate that this Priority Goal represents an overarching Departmental priority. This Priority Goal reflects HHS’ efforts to enhance the quality of early childhood education for low-income children.  All three key measures provide unique and important aspects of boosting the quality of early childhood programs and services. Head Start is the largest early learning funding stream, serving about 1 million low-income children and their families each year.  The two key measures for Head Start address the quality of instructional practice in the classroom using Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS) scores and workforce qualifications through BA degrees.  Reducing the percent of Head Start grantees scoring in the low range on the three CLASS measures is key to our effort to improve the overall quality of instructional practice in Head Start.  A key way to achieve this is ensuring that our teachers have evidence-based knowledge, skills, and practice.  By emphasizing the credentials of teachers, and striving to increase the percent of Head Start and Early Head Start teachers with a BA degree, ACF is prioritizing a distinct but complementary goal in boosting the quality of Head Start programs.  A challenge is the availability of resources to ensure BA teachers are paid commensurate with their qualifications. The third key measure assesses state Quality Rating and Improvement Systems (QRIS), which is another important aspect of quality, but rather than providing information at the individual program level, this indicator gets at quality at the state systems level.  QRIS is a system used by states to improve the quality of child care available in communities and increase parents’ knowledge and understanding of the child care options available to them.  QRIS supports child care providers through professional development and training as well as financial incentives; help increase parental choice by improving the overall quality of early care and education across a range of settings, giving parents more high-quality child care options; and lead to more low-income children in higher quality child care settings.  QRIS across the country have been heavily funded by ACF's Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) and CCDF technical assistance funding, and support has played a key role in helping states to design, implement, evaluate, and improve their QRIS.  By creating and investing significant resources in QRIS, states have recognized QRIS as a systemic approach for promoting quality of early childhood and afterschool programs, and it is important to track the development and implementation of QRIS across the country. In order for a QRIS to be considered as meeting high-quality benchmarks, it must 1) be statewide; 2) be eligible to child care centers and family child care homes; 3) include quality improvement indicators that cover learning environments and curriculum, teacher/practitioner standards, and family partnerships and strengthening; 4) use training or on-site consultation to help child care programs attain or maintain quality improvement standards beyond licensing; 5) offer financial incentives for maintaining or increasing quality to child care centers and family child care homes; 6) include quality assessments of child care centers and family child care homes; and 7) use symbols or simple icons that indicate levels of quality as part of resource and referral/consumer education services to parents seeking child care.  More than half the states have implemented QRIS open to child care providers across the state, and the majority of the remaining states are piloting or planning QRIS.  However, not all states have a QRIS that meets high-quality benchmarks and systemic changes take time to implement. This goal supports HHS Strategic Goal 3: Advance the Health, Safety, and Well-Being of the American People, in particular Objective A (Promote the safety, well-being, resilience, and healthy development of children and youth.) and Objective B (Promote economic and social well-being for individuals, families, and communities).  The new proposed key measure from ACF’s Office of Head Start (OHS) regarding teacher credentialing supports HHS Strategic Plan Goal 4 (Ensure Efficiency, Transparency, Accountability, and Effectiveness of HHS Programs.) Objective C: Invest in the HHS workforce to help meet America’s health and human services needs.  This Priority Goal also supports three ACF Strategic Goals – to “Promote economic, health, and social well-being for individuals, families, and communities;” “Promote healthy development and school readiness for children, especially those in low-income families;” and “Promote safety and well-being of children, youth, and families.”","Improve the quality of early childhood programs for low-income children.  By September 30, 2017, HHS will improve the quality of early childhood programs for low-income children by increasing the number of states with Quality Rating and Improvement Systems (QRIS) that meet high quality benchmarks from a baseline of 17 states in FY 2011 to 37 states in FY 2017, reducing the proportion of grantees receiving a score in the low range on the basis of the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS) from a baseline of 25 percent (FY 2012)  to 24 percent in FY 2017, and increasing the percent of teachers in Head Start and Early Head Start that have a BA or higher by 2 percentage points each year from a baseline of 52 percent (FY 2012)."," Education, Training, Employment, and Social Services | Health",47131
"Department of Health and Human Services",FY16-17,"Shift Medicare health care payments from volume to value","Many health care providers today receive a payment for each individual service, such as a physician visit, surgery, or blood test, regardless of whether these services help or harm the patient. In other words, many providers are paid based on the volume of care, rather than the value of care provided to patients.    To build a health care system that delivers better care, that is smarter about how dollars are spent, and that makes people healthier, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) created a number of new programs and payment models that move the needle toward rewarding value and quality. These models include Accountable Care Organization (ACO) models, medical home models focused on primary care, and new models of bundling payments for episodes of care. In these alternative payment models (APMs), health care providers are accountable for the quality and cost of the care they deliver to patients and have a financial incentive to coordinate care for their patients who are therefore more likely to receive high quality, team-based care.    In 2011, Medicare made almost no payments to providers through alternative payment models, but by the end of 2014 such payments represented approximately 20 percent of Medicare payments. These APMs and payment reforms that increasingly tie Medicare payments to quality and value are currently moving the health care system in the right direction, and increased alignment across payers and providers would be even more beneficial. When health systems, practices, and clinicians encounter new payment strategies for one payer, but not others, the incentives to fundamentally change their system are weak. In the past, there was no common timeline among payers or providers for moving the health care system away from volume based payments. Therefore, for the first time in the history of the program HHS has set an explicit goal for tying Medicare payments to APMs that reward quality and value over volume.  ","A critical step toward better care, smarter spending, and healthier people is to use payment incentives to motivate higher-value care by increasingly tying payment to alternative payment models that reward value over volume. To this end, the Secretary has identified the following high priority indicator for managing and tracking progress: By December 31, 2017, increase the percentage of Medicare Fee-for-Service (FFS) payments tied to quality and value through alternative payment models (APMs) to 40 percent"," Health | Medicare",47171
"Department of Health and Human Services",FY16-17,"Reduce the annual adult combustible tobacco consumption in the United States.","Smoking and second hand smoke is the leading preventable cause of death in the United States, killing more than an estimated 480,000 people in the U.S. each year.  For every smoker who dies from a smoking-attributable disease, another 30 live with a serious smoking-related disease.  Smoking costs the U.S. more than $300 billion a year, including nearly $170 billion in direct medical costs, and more than $156 billion in lost productivity.  An estimated 58 million nonsmoking Americans are exposed to secondhand smoke, which causes more than 41,000 deaths in non-smoking adults each year[1].  While cigarette smoking among adults has declined significantly over the past several decades, the use of other tobacco products has increased or stayed the same in recent years, concurrent with reductions in state investments in tobacco control program.  Fortunately, people who stop smoking greatly reduce their risk for disease and premature death. Smoking cessation lowers the risk for lung and other types of cancer; it reduces the risk for coronary heart disease, stroke, and peripheral vascular disease.  .  For FY15, the annual per capita adult cigarette consumption fell to 1,211 cigarette equivalents a 4% reduction from FY 14, but missing the target of 1,174 (37 cigarette equivalents).  However, the FY14 results (the most recent available data) of other combustible tobacco use indicators are tracking lower usage across both adults and youth: Percentage of adult smokers  - 16.8%; exceeding the FY14 target of 18% (National Health Interview Survey) Percentage of adult smokers last smoked 6 months to 1 year ago – 7.6%; exceeding the FY14 target of 7.2% (National Health Interview Survey) Percentage of children/adolescents initiation – 3.8%; exceeding the FY14 target of 4.7% (National Survey on Drug Use and Health) Percentage of young adults initiation – 7.2%; exceeding the FY14 target of 7.5% (National Survey on Drug Use and Health) These significant trends with the continued plans of the Department to address combustible tobacco use make the FY16-FY17 combustible tobacco Agency Priority Goal highly achievable.  In 2010, HHS issued Ending the Epidemic – A Tobacco Control Strategic Action Plan, outlining a set of comprehensive actions framed around four key Healthy People 2020 tobacco control objectives: reduce tobacco use reduce the initiation of tobacco use increase successful cessation attempts by smokers reduce the proportion of nonsmokers exposed to secondhand smoke. The National Prevention Strategy, released in 2011, includes tobacco control as one of seven priorities across the U.S. Government. In 2013, cigarette and smokeless tobacco companies spent more than $9.5 billion, more than $1 million per hour that year, on advertising and promotional expenses in the United States to attract new users, retain current users, increase consumption, and generate favorable attitudes toward smoking.  There is also a growing concern regarding new tobacco products that are being marketed to smokers as alternatives for use in smoke-free environments.  Dual use of cigarettes and other tobacco products can maintain tobacco addiction and use among smokers who might otherwise quit.  The marketing of purported reduced-risk products may increase overall tobacco use. Consumer mistaken perceptions of the “safety” of these products may pose a continuing obstacle for tobacco control. States continue to reduce funding for comprehensive tobacco control. Research has shown that progress to prevent initiation and promote cessation in comprehensive programs is reversed when funding is no longer sustained.  HHS engages with multiple stakeholders in implementing tobacco control activities, which include: Congress, the public, minority communities, groups affected by tobacco-related health disparities, state and local tobacco control officials, tobacco control and public health non-governmental organizations, the scientific & research community, and businesses. The U.S. Congress has provided direction and support for tobacco control activities in the following legislative actions: The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (FSPTCA) The Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act (CHIPRA) HHS oversees tobacco control and prevention committees covered by the Federal Advisory Committee Act. All meetings of these committees are open to the public and offer opportunities for stakeholder feedback.    [1] http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6404a7.htm?s_cid=mm6404a7_w    ","By December 31, 2017, reduce the annual adult combustible tobacco consumption in the United States from 1,216 cigarette equivalents per capita to 1,127 cigarette equivalents per capita, which will represent an approximate 7% decrease from the 2014 baseline."," Health",63371
"Department of Health and Human Services",FY14-15,"Improve patient safety.","At any given time, about one in every 25 hospitalized patients has a healthcare-associated infection while over 1 million HAIs occur across the U.S. healthcare system every year. These infections can lead to significant morbidity and mortality, with tens of thousands of lives lost each year. Of these hospital-acquired events, catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI) are among the most common. Research has shown that a significant portion of these infections can be prevented, avoiding patient morbidity and mortality from this HAI while reducing costs accrued to the healthcare system. The HAI Agency Priority Goal is to reduce the national rate of HAI by demonstrating significant, quantitative and measurable reductions in hospital-acquired CAUTI. As such; the FY2014-15 HAI Agency Priority Goal (APG) is to reduce the national CAUTI standardized infection ratio by 10% by September 2015 over the current 2012 baseline of 1.03. Of note, this SIR baseline was changed from 1.02 to 1.03 in this goal. This reflects the fact that the CDC released preliminary final numbers for 2012 in September 2013, the time at which this goal was written. However, hospitals still had through the end of the year to report final data to NHSN. Accounting for the last three months of data submitted by some hospitals caused a slight adjustment in the final (and thus baseline) 2012 SIR from 1.02 to 1.03. The final national CAUTI SIR for March 2016 is 0.93, which meets the Departmental target of a 10% reduction by the end of FY2015. By addressing the root causes and continued coordination of the federal response we were able to continue the decline in CAUTIs seen in the initial half of this goal. It is important to note that the rise and now current fall in the national CAUTI SIR can be attributed to the nature and natural progression of the quality improvement process. As we move forward, including ICU-focused quality improvement in this arena, we closely monitor for further decline in hospital-acquired CAUTI. A concerted effort between the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and Office of the Assistant Secretary of Health (OASH) will continue to be a crucial to meeting goal targets. The main US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) operating divisions that constitute this workgroup will focus on applying their HAI programmatic efforts in a way that aligns strategy and metrics, provides consistent messaging to its audience, uses data to target those facilities in most need of improvement, and creates synergy to achieve CAUTI reduction outcomes. We will continue to use combined HHS programmatic levers to contribute to the achievement of CAUTI targets. These initiatives include: Quality Improvement Organization (QIOs) Program Hospital Inpatient Quality Reporting (HIQR) Program Disseminating Data for Action using the  National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) State HAI programs Partnership for Patients (PfP) Comprehensive Unit-based Safety Program (CUSP) for CAUTI Ongoing coordination through HAI strategic planning, HAI Regional and National Meetings Regular review and updates to the National Action Plan to prevent HAIs: ""Roadmap to Elimination."" Attention to several factors are necessary to assess progress toward goals in this new period. As in the previous HAI goal and consistent with a measurement strategy used by a majority of hospitals that participate in national HAI reporting initiatives, this goal will use the standardized infection ratio (SIR) as the measure, NHSN, the CDC-run infection surveillance system as the primary data source and report data points on  a biannual basis. A six month lag in data will remain in order to ensure the most complete and accurate data being reported out and minimize statistically insignificant variations in the data. Lessons learned from the previous goal allow us to predict potential changes in the CAUTI SIR trend in the months following January 2015 now that CMS' Hospital Inpatient Quality Reporting (HIQR)  program requires participating hospitals to report CAUTI in non-intensive care units to receive their full annual payment update. The influx of new CAUTI reporters in the middle of the previous 2011-13 HAI.APG was identified as one but not the sole, etiology behind an increase in the CAUTI SIR over the life of this goal. The differences in CAUTI SIRs in ICU and non-ICU settings along with the influx of new reporters among non-ICU locations in 2015 may impact this goal. The degree to which this could again be a factor again is unknown especially since through programmatic outreach, many hospitals already report non-ICU CAUTI data to NHSN voluntarily. We also anticipate application of the new CAUTI definition, which went into effect January 1, 2015, to the APG data we will report in subsequent quarters. Because our baseline CAUTI SIR was calculated using the old CAUTI definition, a strategy to ensure continuity and validity of new SIR data across this goal has been established. The CDC constructed a new SIR by applying the new CAUTI definition to our current baseline SIR and data points proceeding January 1, 2015. In other words, we will translate SIR data including our baseline data prior to January 1st to SIR data that is reflective of the changes in the CAUTI definition. We will also be able to illustrate the CAUTI SIR baseline and trending data by applying the new vs the old definition in order to demonstrate the degree of difference or lack thereof resulting from this definitional change. CDC has changed the CAUTI definition in response to input from stakeholders and scientific data.The HAI Workgroup presented full details on the definition change in relation to this goal and our targeted CAUTI SIR reductions to HHS leadership in November of 2015. Lastly, analysis of the CAUTI data continues to reveal marked difference in reductions between intensive care and non-intensive care units. Intensive care units have significantly higher SIRs, higher number of catheter-days, and show less reductions in these indicators of progress than in the non ICU setting. The difference in CAUTI reductions between ICUs and non-ICU settings have been highlighted in analysis of both NHSN and CUSP for CAUTI data. Given the fact that sicker patients are admitted in ICUs, retaining a urinary catheter for  longer may be a rooted in practice necessity or  provider belief that it is a necessity and so concentrating on behavioral and systems process change may need to be further emphasized as we  work in this setting to reduce CAUTI. The 10% goal for CAUTI reduction in this APG effort represents a composite goal that reflects greater reductions in non-ICU settings and lesser reductions in ICUs. Improvements in CAUTI however, have been demonstrated in large scale improvement programs when actively engaged in embedding evidence-based infection control protocol and a culture of safety unit and facility-wide.","To reduce the national rate of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) by September 30, 2015 by demonstrating a 10% reduction in national hospital-acquired catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI) from the current SIR of 1.03 to a target SIR of 0.92."," Health | Medicare",374
"Department of Health and Human Services",FY14-15,"Reduce combustible tobacco use","Smoking and second hand smoke is the leading preventable cause of death in the United States, killing more than an estimated 480,000 people in the U.S. each year.  For every smoker who dies from a smoking-attributable disease, another 30 live with a serious smoking-related disease.  Smoking costs the U.S. more than $300 billion a year, including nearly $170 billion in direct medical costs, and more than $156 billion in lost productivity.  An estimated 58 million nonsmoking Americans are exposed to secondhand smoke, which causes more than 41,000 deaths in non-smoking adults each year .  While smoking among U.S. adults is down significantly from a decade ago, the decline in adult smoking rates has slowed, concurrent with reductions in state investments in tobacco control program.  Fortunately, people who stop smoking greatly reduce their risk for disease and premature death. Smoking cessation lowers the risk for lung and other types of cancer; it reduces the risk for coronary heart disease, stroke, and peripheral vascular disease.  .  In 2010, HHS issued Ending the Epidemic – A Tobacco Control Strategic Action Plan, outlining a set of comprehensive actions framed around four key Healthy People 2020 tobacco control objectives: 1) reduce tobacco use 2) reduce the initiation of tobacco use 3) increase successful cessation attempts by smokers 4) reduce the proportion of nonsmokers exposed to secondhand smoke. The National Prevention Strategy, released in 2011, includes tobacco control as one of seven priorities across the U.S. Government. In 2012, cigarette and smokeless tobacco companies spent more than $9.6 billion, more than $1 million per hour that year, on advertising and promotional expenses in the United States to attract new users, retain current users, increase consumption, and generate favorable attitudes toward smoking.  There is also a growing concern regarding new tobacco products that are being marketed to smokers as alternatives for use in smoke-free environments.  Dual use of cigarettes and other tobacco products can maintain tobacco addiction and use among smokers who might otherwise quit.  The marketing of purported reduced-risk products may increase overall tobacco use. Consumer mistaken perceptions of the “safety” of these products may pose a continuing obstacle for tobacco control. States continue to reduce funding for comprehensive tobacco control. Research has shown that progress to prevent initiation and promote cessation in comprehensive programs is reversed when funding is no longer sustained.  HHS engages with multiple stakeholders in implementing tobacco control activities, which include: Congress, the public, minority communities, groups affected by tobacco-related health disparities, state and local tobacco control officials, tobacco control and public health non-governmental organizations, the scientific & research community, and businesses. The U.S. Congress has provided direction and support for tobacco control activities in the following legislative actions: • The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act • The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) • The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (FSPTCA) • The Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act (CHIPRA) HHS oversees tobacco control and prevention committees covered by the Federal Advisory Committee Act. All meetings of these committees are open to the public and offer opportunities for stakeholder feedback.    ","By December 31, 2015, reduce the annual adult combustible tobacco consumption in the United States from 1,342 cigarette equivalents per capita to 1,174 cigarette equivalents per capita, which will represent an approximate 12% decrease from the 2012 baseline."," Health",372
"Department of Health and Human Services",FY14-15,"Reduce foodborne illness in the population.","Salmonella is the leading known cause of bacterial foodborne illness and death in the United States. Each year in the United States, Salmonella causes an estimated 1.2 million illnesses, including fever and diarrhea, and between 400 and 500 deaths. Salmonella serotype Enteritidis (SE), a subtype of Salmonella, is now the most common type of Salmonella in the United States and accounts for approximately 20% of all Salmonella cases in humans. The most significant sources of foodborne SE infections are shell eggs (FDA-regulated) and broiler chickens (USDA-regulated). Therefore, reducing SE illness from shell eggs is the most appropriate FDA strategy for reducing illness from SE. Preventing Salmonella infections depends on actions taken by regulatory agencies, the food industry and consumers to reduce contamination of food, as well as actions taken for detecting and responding to outbreaks. As part of the shared vision to reduce foodborne illness, HHS's Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has developed a Priority Goal to reduce Salmonella contamination in shell eggs, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is working with FDA to gather more data to better estimate sources of illness. Additionally, USDA, FDA and CDC are involved in many interagency efforts, including the Interagency Food Safety Analytics Collaboration (IFSAC). This interagency collaboration is working to improve methods used to estimate the proportion of foodborne illnesses associated with specific sources.","By December 31, 2015, decrease the rate of Salmonella Enteritidis illness in the population from 2.6 cases per 100,000 (2007-2009 baseline) to 1.9 cases per 100,000."," Health",368
"Department of Health and Human Services",FY14-15,"Improve health care through meaningful use of health information technology.","At the heart of HHS’s strategy to strengthen and modernize healthcare is the use of data to improve healthcare quality, reduce unnecessary healthcare costs, decrease paperwork, expand access to affordable care, improve population health, and support reformed payment structures. The nation’s health information technology infrastructure enables the flow of information to power these critical efforts— that can help facilitate the types of fundamental changes in access and healthcare delivery proposed in the Affordable Care Act. HHS is taking a leading role in realizing health information technology’s potential benefits. The Recovery Act provided an unprecedented investment in health information technology to propel a range of initiatives, including regulations on the meaningful use of health information technology and standards as well as the funding of Health IT Regional Extension Centers, State Health Information Exchanges, and other programs. This Priority Goal is to increase the number of eligible providers in these important programs who adopt/meaningfully use electronic health records (EHRs), since it is believed that the increased use of EHRs will improve coordination across providers and settings, improve health care delivery, improve quality of care and reduce medical errors. The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT within the Office of the Secretary of Health and Human Services is the designated lead for this priority goal in close partnership with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). A key step in this strategy is to provide incentive payments to eligible providers serving Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries who adopt and meaningfully use certified EHR technology. Detailed reports showing the provider types and EHR Incentive Programs breakouts are available on the CMS website at http://www.cms.gov/EHRIncentivePrograms/56_DataAndReports.asp","By the end of FY2015, increase the number of eligible providers who receive incentive payments from the CMS Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs for the successful adoption or demonstration of meaningful use of certified EHR technology to 450,000."," Health | Medicare",472
"Department of Health and Human Services",FY14-15,"Improve the quality of early childhood education.","This Priority Goal calls for actions in FY 2014 and FY 2015 to improve the quality of early childhood education programs for low-income children.  For the ACF Child Care program, the goal is to increase the number of states with Quality Rating and Improvement Systems (QRIS) that meet the seven high quality benchmarks for child care and other early childhood programs, developed by HHS.  QRIS is a mechanism by which to improve the quality of child care available in communities and increase parents’ knowledge and understanding of the child care options available to them.  In order for a QRIS to be considered as meeting high-quality benchmarks, it must 1) be statewide; 2) be eligible to child care centers and family child care homes; 3) include quality improvement indicators that cover learning environments and curriculum, teacher/practitioner standards, and family partnerships and strengthening; 4) use training or on-site consultation to help child care programs attain or maintain quality improvement standards beyond licensing; 5) offer financial incentives for maintaining or increasing quality to child care centers and family child care homes; 6) include quality assessments of child care centers and family child care homes; and 7) use symbols or simple icons that indicate levels of quality as part of resource and referral/consumer education services to parents seeking child care.  For FY 2011, a baseline of 17 states had implemented a QRIS that met all outlined high quality benchmarks.  The baseline was calculated using FY 2012-2013 State Plans that were submitted in September 2011.  In FY 2014, 29 states had a QRIS that met high quality benchmarks, meeting the previously established target.  States expanded from pilot programs to statewide-systems and increased availability to quality information, leading them to meet more components of the QRIS measure. States were also supported by targeted technical assistance through state specific benchmarks and goals.  The FY 2014 results show that states continue to make progress toward implementing QRIS that meet high-quality benchmarks, and the ACF Office of Child Care (OCC) has established a target of 32 states for FY 2015. Currently, many states meet some, but not all seven, of the outlined benchmarks. States are making significant progress toward implementing a comprehensive QRIS that meets all outlined quality benchmarks; however, their progress is masked by the single figure reported. To provide a more complete picture of QRIS implementation and improvements across the country, OCC is closely tracking the progress of states that may not meet all quality benchmarks, but that have demonstrated improvements by increasing the number of benchmarks reached.  For example, as of FY 2014, at least six states have incorporated six quality benchmarks and at least six states have incorporated five quality benchmarks.  Between FY 2011 and FY 2014, 27 states and territories have made progress on at least one of the components of the measure.  In addition, targeted technical assistance provided by the new National Center on Early Childhood Quality Assurance, as well as other technical assistance partners funded by ACF, will continue to help states work toward their goal of improving their QRIS. Also as part of this Priority Goal, the ACF Office of Head Start (OHS) is striving to increase the percentage of Head Start children in high quality classrooms. Progress is measured by reducing the proportion of Head Start grantees scoring in the low range in any domain of the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS: Pre-K). This research-based tool measures teacher-child interaction on a seven-point scale in three broad domains: Emotional Support, Classroom Organization, and Instructional Support.   OHS successfully began data collection using random samples for the CLASS: Pre-K in the first quarter of FY 2012.  Analysis of the full data set of CLASS scores for the cohort of 388 Head Start grantees that received on-site monitoring in the 2011-2012 Head Start “school year” occurred in October of 2012, and OHS established a baseline of 25 percent scoring in the low range. An analysis of CLASS scores for the most recent cohort of 404 Head Start grantees that received on-site monitoring in the 2013-2014 Head Start “school year” (FY 2014 actual result) indicates that 23 percent of grantees scored in the low range, thus meeting the target of 27 percent.  All grantees scoring in the low range (below 2.5) in FY 2014 did so for the Instructional Support domain.  (Nationwide for the CLASS: Pre-K tool, scores are typically higher in the domains of Emotional Support and Classroom Organization than in the domain of Instructional Support.) The FY 2014 result is a signicant improvement relative to the previous FY 2013 result, when the number of grantees scoring below a 2.5 was 31 percent.  In response to the data from the FY 2013 CLASS reviews, OHS developed a system to provide more intentional targeted assistance to those grantees that score in the low range on CLASS.  OHS is continuing to flag grantees that score in the low range, conduct more analyses on the specific dimension level, which are specific elements or skill areas within each of the three domains, and providing periodic reports to its Regional Offices so they can direct their TTA to specific grantees.  For example, concept development, quality of feedback, and language modeling are the three dimensions within the domain of Instructional Support.  Providing TTA at the more specific dimension-level supports grantees to focus in on the skills that need improvement. There are some challenges to making progress in these areas.  In the past two decades, a growing body of evidence has established the importance of quality child care in promoting healthy child development and school readiness and success for children.  However, systemic changes take time to implement, and states are at different starting points.  In the FY 2016 Budget request to Congress, the President continued to build a continuum of high-quality early childhood programs, including proposing an historic investment of $82 billion over 10 years to increase the availability of high-quality child care for children under four years old.  On November 19, 2014, the President signed into the law the first statutory reauthorization of the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) program since 1996, which aims to move children receiving subsidies into high-quality child care settings.  Among a comprehensive array of reforms, the new statute includes an increased focus on improving the quality of child care through systemic quality investments, which will help move states toward meeting this priority performance goal. In addition, the statute includes provisions requiring states to evaluate the measurable outcomes of their quality improvement activities. OCC is gathering information about QRIS implementation through the CCDBG Plan and the annual quality performance report, as well as providing states with targeted technical assistance through state specific technical assistance plans and goals.  ACF recently announced the Early Childhood Training and Technical Assistance System, which transforms the current TA system for child care, T/TA for Head Start, and related programs into a coordinated system that will provide training, resources and materials to multiple stakeholder groups at regional, state and local levels to support school readiness.  The new National Center on Early Childhood Quality Assurance will help OCC continue to support the infrastructure of an early childhood education quality improvement framework, including QRIS.         Additionally, with respect to Head Start, there are 50,000 Head Start and Early Head Start classrooms across the country in diverse settings ranging from New York City to the bottom of the Grand Canyon.  Changing teacher behavior and practices at the ground level to improve the quality of the classroom is a formidable challenge, particularly in highly rural areas, American Indian and Alaska Native programs, and Migrant and Seasonal Head Start programs where finding qualified staff can be difficult due to more limited access to higher education.  OHS is using multiple approaches to address this challenge, including policy levers, training and technical assistance, and professional development efforts.","By September 30, 2015, improve the quality of early childhood programs for low-income children through implementation of the Quality Rating and Improvement Systems in the Child Care and Development Fund, and through implementation of the Classroom Assessment Scoring System in Head Start."," Education, Training, Employment, and Social Services",432
"Department of Homeland Security",FY16-17,"Combatting Transnational Criminal Organizations","Transnational criminal organizations (TCOs) are self-perpetuating associations of individuals who operate transnationally for the purpose of obtaining power, influence, monetary and/or commercial gains, wholly or in part by illegal means.  This is accomplished while protecting their activities through a pattern of corruption and/ or violence, or while protecting their illegal activities through a transnational organizational structure and the exploitation of transnational commerce or communication mechanisms. There is no single structure under which transnational organized criminals operate; they vary from hierarchies to clans, networks, and cells, and may evolve to other structures.  Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCO’s) are an adaptive and innovative adversary; they are known to search for new ways to leverage their business model to generate profits and engage in criminal activity - whether it be finding new smuggling routes and methods or entering into new criminal enterprises.  TCOs represent a persistent threat to western hemisphere stability, economic prosperity, free trade, and security, because of their control of illicit trade, travel, and finance—by utilizing existing and/or creating new illegal pathways for smuggling throughout the Southern Border and Approaches (SB&A) region.  This region extends from the waters off Los Angeles, California, eastward to Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, and southward to the North Coast of South America.   The region includes approximately 2,000 miles of land border with Mexico, 3,050 miles of coastline along California, the Gulf of Mexico, and Florida, as well as the airspace spanning U.S. territorial land and waters, and international waters of the Eastern Pacific Ocean, and Caribbean Sea.  The greatest criminal threat within this region is posed by TCOs in regional groups in Central and South America and the Caribbean. This threat is based on their ability to generate massive illicit profits, which they have been known to use to suborn public officials and law enforcement, and perpetuate drug-related violence and other crimes, such as kidnappings and extortion. To more effectively combat the TCO threat, DHS established Joint Task Forces (JTFs) to integrate intelligence, planning, interdiction and investigative efforts across U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the U.S. Coast Guard, and to prioritize and target threat streams operating in the Southern Border and Approaches region, as well as combat TCO activity and splinter organizations present within the U.S. and internationally.  DHS will leverage both domestic and international resources and capabilities through intelligence, information sharing, and law enforcement collaboration to weaken and eliminate TCOs who pose the greatest threat to border security, while still facilitating the flow of lawful trade, travel, and commerce across our nation’s borders.  Disrupting and/or dismantling TCOs is a primary outcome of the JTFs and is a result of concentrated, unified actions taken by DHS law enforcement components to identify, target and stop some of the most dangerous and damaging criminal and smuggling operations impacting our Nation’s southern border and approaches regions.  Daily actions are taken to counter and degrade threats posed by TCOs, but true disruptions and dismantlements of operations are hard won battles. Disruptions and dismantlements incapacitate threats from targeted TCOs, represent the best and most enduring successes against these criminal organizations, and demonstrate gains to border security made possible through coordinated law enforcement campaigns.  Since new threats continuously present themselves, new lists are created throughout each year that targets the highest priority threats.","Decrease the ability of targeted transnational criminal organizations to conduct illicit activities impacting the southern border and approaches region of the United States. By September 30, 2017, actions by the DHS Joint Task Forces via synchronized component operations will result in the disruption and/or dismantlement of 15% of targeted transnational criminal organizations. "," National Defense",46731
"Department of Homeland Security",FY16-17,"Improve Federal Network Security","The 2014 Quadrennial Homeland Security Review and the FY14-18 DHS Strategic Plan recognizes the continuing need to secure the federal civilian executive branch agencies’ information technology (IT) networks and systems.  By law, each head of a federal department or agency is primarily responsible for their agency’s own cybersecurity. The Department of Homeland Security has overall responsibility for protecting federal civilian executive branch systems from cyber threats, helping agencies better defend themselves, and providing response teams to assist agencies during significant incidents. There is no one “silver bullet” for cybersecurity. The key is to install multiple layers of protection to best secure federal networks.  DHS’s National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center (NCCIC) is the U.S. government’s 24/7 hub for cybersecurity information sharing, incident response and coordination. The NCCIC shares information on cyber threats and incidents, and provides on-site assistance to victims of cyberattacks. The NCCIC is also where DHS manages the EINSTEIN system, the first basic layer of protection DHS provides at the network perimeter of each federal civilian executive branch agency.  While there are three parts to the EINSTEIN set of capabilities, the focus is currently on the deployment of the third phase, known as EINSTEIN 3 Accelerated (E3A), which has the capacity to identify and block known malicious traffic.   DHS also helps federal agencies identify and fix problems inside their networks in near real-time using the Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation program (CDM). Once fully deployed, CDM will constantly scan agency networks for vulnerabilities that bad actors could exploit if they did breach an agency’s perimeter.  The CDM Program consists of three phases that are currently in various stages of availability to federal civilian executive branch agencies.  The first phase of CDM focuses on “What is on the Network,” specifically asset management. This includes hardware and software assets, managing configuration settings, and vulnerabilities, all of which are foundational capabilities to protect systems and data. Phase 2 (“Who is on the Network”) covers user account and network privilege management; and Phase 3 (“What is Happening on the Network”) covers boundary protection,  event management and  security lifecycle management. As of October 1, 2015, DHS has delivered the first phase of CDM to the 23 civilian Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Act agencies, covering 97 percent of the federal civilian Executive Branch government.  These agencies are expected to deploy these CDM tools on their networks within the fiscal year. Information sharing is also fundamental to achieving cybersecurity.  The NCCIC shares information on cyber threats, vulnerabilities and incidents.  In order to sufficiently address the rapidly evolving threats to our cyber systems, DHS and its partners must move beyond information sharing methods that are overly reliant on manual processes to be able to share cyber information in as close to real-time as possible.  DHS is pursuing an aggressive schedule to deploy one of its next-generation information sharing techniques. The Department has an automated system in place to share cyber threat indicators, and DHS will extend this capability across the federal government and to the private sector, so that the larger community can send and receive threat indicators in near real-time. This goal aligns with Administration cybersecurity priorities. The goal was established in coordination with OMB policies and guidance, to include the Cybersecurity Strategy and Implementation Plan (CSIP), the Fiscal Year 2015-2016 Guidance on Federal Information Security and Privacy Management Requirements, and the Cybersecurity CAP goal.  ","Improve federal network security by providing federal civilian executive branch agencies with the tools and information needed to diagnose, mitigate, and respond to cybersecurity threats and vulnerabilities. By September 30, 2017 DHS will deliver two phases of continuous diagnostics and mitigation tools to 100% of the participating federal civilian executive branch agencies so that they can monitor their networks."," National Defense",71151
"Department of Homeland Security",FY16-17,"Enhance Disaster Preparedness and Response","FEMA continues to allocate resources to supplement whole community investment to prepare for the greatest challenge in emergency management—a catastrophic disaster. In order to successfully respond to and recover from a catastrophic event, the whole community, including FEMA, state and local governments, and individuals that may be affected, need to build and sustain capabilities and implement the National Preparedness System to achieve the National Preparedness Goal of a secure and resilient Nation.  In order to achieve this goal, FEMA has implemented activities and programs that assist in  addressing gaps in state and local planning efforts, improved the governance, coordination structures, and guidance for managing the Agency’s incident workforce, and designed and delivered accessible information and tools to promote collective actions and empower grassroots problem solving.  ","Enhance the Nation’s ability to respond to and recover from a catastrophic disaster through whole community preparedness and partnership.  By September 30, 2017, 70 percent of states and territories will achieve an intermediate or above proficiency toward meeting the targets established through their Threat and Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment (THIRA).",,46751
"Department of Homeland Security",FY14-15,"Strengthen aviation security counterterrorism capabilities by using intelligence driven information and risk-based decisions.","TSA performs and oversees security operations at the nation’s airports, screening over 650 million passengers annually, to ensure the freedom of movement of people and commerce. In an effort to strengthen aviation security while enhancing the passenger experience, TSA is focusing on risk-based, intelligence-driven security procedures and enhancing its use of technology. Since 2011, the agency has implemented several risk-based initiatives including the TSA Preü™ expedited screening program; the nationwide implementation of modified screening protocols for passengers 12 and younger, passengers 75 and over, and active duty service members; expediting physical screening of Veterans on chartered Honor Flights; and providing modified screening to Wounded Warriors.  A number of initiatives will further enable TSA to reach its goal of expanding expedited screening for known populations in order to focus on those that are unknown including the development and deployment of the TSA Pre✓™ Application and TSA Risk Assessment programs; expansion of  TSA Pre✓™participation to international air carrier; continued expansion of the Known Crewmember program; and developing operational policies, procedures, and other activities such as the evolution of checkpoint screening technologies to support deployment of Risk Assessments that will grow the volume of passengers eligible for expedited screening. As of December 2013, on a weekly basis, more than 32%  of passengers  receive some form of expedited screening, and TSA expects to continue to grow that number.  While driving the growth of eligible populations is key to the initiative’s long term success, TSA faces challenges in aligning, planning, and executing activities for incorporating these various populations.  The success of achieving TSA’s risk-based security milestones is in many ways reliant upon external and internal partners that TSA continues to work with to mitigate these challenges.","Strengthen aviation security counterterrorism capabilities and improve the passenger experience by using intelligence driven information and risk-based decisions. By September 30, 2015, TSA will expand the use of risk-based security initiatives to increase the percentage of travelers eligible for expedited screening at airports to 50 percent and enhance the passenger experience."," National Defense",486
"Department of Homeland Security",FY14-15,"Enforce and administer our immigration laws through prioritized detention and removal of criminal aliens","U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is committed to identifying, arresting, detaining, prosecuting, and removing aliens who present a danger to national security or are a risk to public safety, as well as those who otherwise undermine the integrity of our immigration laws and our border control efforts.  These include, but are not limited to aliens engaged in or suspected of terrorism or espionage, violent criminals, felons and repeat offenders, and organized criminal gang members.  Also critical to ICE enforcement priorities are recent illegal border crossers. This goal is a continuation of effort began in FY12 to increase efficiencies in the process of detaining and removing illegal aliens.  The focus for the next two years will be to showcase ICE’s abilities to remove criminal aliens from the United States.  These efforts include identifying and apprehending at-large criminal aliens, and expanding coverage in jails and prisons in order to identify and process removable incarcerated foreign-born detainees. ICE uses prosecutorial discretion which improves efficiencies by identifying and eliminating low priority cases clogging the immigration system.  The use of prosecutorial discretion also allows ICE to prioritize the use of its enforcement personnel, detention space, and removal assets to ensure that the aliens it removes represent, as much as reasonably possible, the agency's enforcement priorities, namely the promotion of national security, border security, public safety, and the integrity of the immigration system.  ","Enforce and administer our immigration laws through prioritized detention and removal of criminal aliens.  By September 30, 2015, ICE will increase criminal alien removals, as a percentage of total removals by 5%."," National Defense",454
"Department of Homeland Security",FY14-15,"Ensure resilience to disasters by strengthening disaster preparedness and response capabilities.","To enhance national preparedness and resilience, FEMA established the THIRA to provide a common approach for identifying and assessing risks and documenting their associated impacts.   Developing an understanding of its risks from natural, technological, and human-caused threats and hazards allows a community to make informed decisions about how to manage risk and develop needed capabilities. In addition, states and territories assess their current capability and set targets for improvement for preventing, protecting against, mitigating, responding to, and recovering from these threats and hazards. FEMA expects states and territories to mature and demonstrate improvement towards achieving their capability targets over the next two years through their THIRAs.  ","By September 30, 2015 states and territories will demonstrate improvement towards achieving their core capability targets established through their Threat and Hazards Identification and Risk Assessment (THIRA)."," National Defense",452
"Department of Housing and Urban Development",FY16-17,"Preserve affordable rental housing.","During the past 80 years, the federal government has invested billions of dollars in the development and maintenance of affordable public and assisted multifamily housing.  Despite the sizable investment and the great demand for such housing, assisted units continue to be lost.  Some units have been lost because of their deteriorated physical condition.  Others, both publicly and privately owned, have been removed from the affordable inventory because of owners’ decisions or because periods of affordability have expired.  Some multifamily housing programs either have no option for owners to renew their subsidy contracts with HUD or do not support contract renewal on terms that attract sufficient capital to preserve long-term affordability.  Moreover, the public housing stock faces an estimated $26 billion capital needs backlog that will be difficult to meet given federal fiscal constraints.[1]  Rather than view these trends as an obstacle, HUD is taking advantage of the opportunity to update its housing stock and transition to funding strategies with more long-term viability.  All the while, HUD remains committed to providing other decent, safe, sanitary, and affordable options for low-income renters through the Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD), tax credits, Choice Neighborhoods, mixed financed public housing development, and other creative programs. RAD makes it possible for public housing authorities to address capital repair and replacement needs of their properties, preserving these affordable rental units.  RAD allows public housing authorities and owners of Moderate Rehabilitation, Rent Supplement, and Rental Assistance Payment developments to convert to long-term Section 8 rental assistance contracts so they can access private funding sources.    [1] U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, 2010 (Nov.); Capital Needs in the Public Housing Program, http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/documents/huddoc?id=PH_Capital_Needs.pdf    ","HUD remains committed to preserving and expanding the nation's current affordable housing stock. Between October 1, 2015 and September 30, 2017, HUD aims to preserve and expand affordable rental housing through its rental housing programs to serve an additional 134,516 households over a baseline of 5,547,563 households*.   *This baseline is up from the previously reported 5,541,541. HUD experiences many data reporting lags, often impacting previously reported data. HUD is committed to providing the most accurate count it can, and therefore strives to update historic totals whenever better data becomes available. "," Commerce and Housing Credit | Community and Regional Development | Income Security",79041
"Department of Housing and Urban Development",FY14-15,"Rental Alignment","During the past 75 years, the federal government has invested billions of dollars in the development and maintenance of affordable publicly- and privately-owned rental housing.  Despite this sizable investment, the supply of affordable housing units has not kept up with demand.  Some units have been lost because of their deteriorated physical condition; others have been removed from the affordable inventory because of owners’ decisions or because periods of affordability have expired.  Some Multifamily Housing programs that subsidized private owners of affordable rental housing either have no option for owners to renew their subsidy contracts with HUD or cannot be renewed on terms that attract sufficient capital to preserve long-term affordability.  Moreover, the public housing stock faces an estimated $26 billion capital needs backlog, which will be difficult to meet, given federal fiscal constraints. To enable public housing agencies to address the immediate and longer-term needs of their properties, HUD’s Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) allows public housing agencies and owners of Moderate Rehabilitation, Rent Supplement, and Rental Assistance Payment developments to convert to long-term Section 8 rental assistance contracts, thereby allowing access to private funding sources. Preservation of an expanded range of HUD-assisted properties will be facilitated by the establishment of a Recapitalization Office that will provide a one-stop shop for owners to handle a variety of complicated preservation transactions.  Moreover, HUD’s participation in the White House Rental Policy Working Group has spurred improvements in rental housing across agencies, particularly in the area of unit physical inspections and HUD’s Real Estate Assessment Center’s role.","Between October 1, 2013, and September 30, 2015, HUD aims to preserve and expand affordable rental housing through its rental housing programs to serve an additional 121,000 households."," Commerce and Housing Credit | Community and Regional Development | Income Security",376
"Department of Housing and Urban Development",FY16-17,"End homelessness","The annual “Point-in-Time” (PIT) count estimates the scope of homelessness on a single night in January. Based on data reported by more than 3,000 cities and counties, the January 2016 one-night estimate reveals a 47 percent drop in homelessness among veterans and a 27 percent reduction among individuals experiencing long-term or chronic homelessness since the 2010 release of Opening Doors. HUD's estimate also found a decline of 23 percent in the number of families experiencing homelessness since 2010. Overall, a total of 549,928 people experienced homelessness in the United States on a single night in January 2016. In 2010, the Obama administration released Opening Doors, the first-ever comprehensive federal strategic plan to prevent and end homelessness. The plan set the stage for HUD’s goals of preventing and ending homelessness for veterans by 2015; preventing and ending homelessness for individuals experiencing chronic homelessness by 2017; preventing and ending homelessness for families, youth, and children by 2020; and ultimately setting a path to ending all types of homelessness.  HUD continues its longstanding work with the US Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH) and all its other federal, state, and local partners to deploy effective solutions, such as rapid re-housing, permanent supportive housing, and housing vouchers for the populations for which they are proven effective. These tools should be informed by a Housing First approach, in which preconditions and barriers to housing entry are removed and people move into housing as quickly as possible. HUD and its partners are taking concerted steps to understand the best strategies to prevent and end homelessness among unaccompanied youth, especially for high-risk groups, including youth aging out of foster care and LGBTQ youth. HUD’s success in reducing homelessness depends on effectively using and targeting resources. However, continued investments in programs that work, such as HUD’s Homeless Assistance Grants, are crucial to reaching the goals laid out in Opening Doors. .","In partnership with other agencies, the Department of Housing and Urban Development will reduce the total number of homeless families, youth and children, and people experiencing chronic homelessness, as well as keep the number of veterans living on the street at zero (as measured by the 2018 Point-in-Time count)."," Veterans Benefits and Services | Income Security",42192
"Department of Housing and Urban Development",FY14-15,"End Veterans homelessness","This goal represents HUD’s effort to reduce homelessness among Veterans. Veterans are overrepresented in the homeless population; while only 9.3 percent of the U.S. adult population has Veteran status, Veterans represented approximately 11.3 percent of homeless adults at a given point in time in 2014.  On a single night in January 2014, there were 49,933 Veterans reported as experiencing homelessness. Veterans experiencing homelessness often face the same issues that lead others into homelessness, including a lack of affordable housing and inadequate income and savings.  Service men and women returning from active duty may also have specific challenges, such as lingering effects of post-traumatic stress disorder and substance abuse, which can make it more difficult for them to find and maintain adequate employment and, consequently, to pay for housing. Effectively transitioning Veterans experiencing homelessness to permanent housing requires access to healthcare, employment, and benefits.  Because Veterans have greater medical and mental health needs than non-Veterans, healthcare and its associated benefits play a significant role in achieving and maintaining stability in permanent housing for Veterans experiencing homelessness.  Employment and VA benefits are critical in providing Veterans the income required to support housing and other daily living expenses. HUD and VA continue to implement proven systems of service delivery to end Veteran homelessness, especially among those experiencing chronic homelessness, such as the Housing First approach.  Housing First offers individuals and families experiencing homelessness immediate access to permanent affordable or supportive housing. Reducing clinical and economic barriers, Housing First yields higher housing retention rates, lower returns to homelessness, and significant reductions in the use of crisis service and institutions.","In partnership, the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) aim to reduce the number of Veterans living on the streets, experiencing homelessness to zero (as measured by the 2016 Point-in-Time count)."," Veterans Benefits and Services | Income Security",458
"Department of Housing and Urban Development",FY16-17,"Increase the energy efficiency and health of the nation's housing stock.","HUD has committed to creating energy efficient, green, and healthy housing as part of a broader effort to foster the development of inclusive, sustainable communities. The residential sector is responsible for fully 21 percent of the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions.[1] With approximately 5.6 million housing units assisted through its rental assistance programs, HUD’s share of this total is significant. HUD spends an estimated $6.4 billion annually on utilities (both water and energy) in the form of allowances for tenant-paid utilities, direct operating grants for public housing, and housing assistance payments for privately-owned assisted housing. Utility costs account for around 22 percent of public housing operating budgets, and a similar share in the assisted housing sector. Reducing these rising costs—generating savings for residents and owners, as well as for taxpayers—is a key HUD priority. Significant progress has been made over the past five years with energy retrofits, healthy housing interventions, or new energy projects completed in more than 510,000 housing units. In FY 2016-17, HUD will continue or expand energy investments in the residential sector to support the goals of the President’s Climate Action Plan to cut energy waste in half by 2030 and accelerate clean energy leadership—both in HUD-assisted housing, as well as in market-rate housing. We will reduce barriers to financing energy efficiency as well as on-site renewable energy generation, help unlock innovative and traditional sources of capital, and strengthen codes and standards that promote energy efficiency and healthy housing. The need to retrofit HUD-assisted housing is not limited to the efforts to increase energy efficiency and reduce costs. Housing is also an important determinant of health, and poor housing conditions are associated with a wide range of health conditions, including respiratory infections, asthma, lead poisoning, and injuries. HUD makes homes healthy and safe through several programs, led by the Office of Lead Hazard Control and Healthy Homes’ (OLHCHH) lead hazard control grant programs and Lead Safe Housing Rule (LSHR) compliance. OLHCHH also educates the general public about healthy homes through a public communications campaign to help people connect the dots between their health and their home. The production of lead-safe housing units will continue to depend strongly on the level of funding for the lead hazard control grant programs and the rehabilitation programs that make required lead hazard reduction measures in assisted housing covered by the LSHR. With funding for OLHCHH grant activities projected to be approximately level through FY 2016, and the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and Home Investment Partnership Program (HOME) experiencing significant funding reductions in recent years, the number of pre-1978 housing units made lead-safe in 2016 is expected to decrease.    [1] Department of Energy, 2011 Building Energy Data Book, Table 2.4.1.","HUD is committed to increasing the health and safety of homes and embed comprehensive energy efficiency and healthy housing criteria across HUD programs. Since fiscal year 2010, HUD has completed over 510,000 green or healthy units. Between October 1, 2015 and September 30, 2017, HUD aims to increase the energy efficiency and health of the nation’s housing stock by enabling an additional 160,000 cost-effective energy efficient or healthy housing units."," Energy | Natural Resources and Environment | Health | Community and Regional Development",41782
"Department of Housing and Urban Development",FY14-15,"Increase the energy efficiency and health of the nation's housing stock.","HUD has committed to creating energy efficient, green, and healthy housing as part of a broader effort to foster the development of inclusive, sustainable communities. The residential sector is responsible for fully 21 percent of the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions.[1] HUD spends an estimated $6.4 billion annually on utilities (both water and energy) in the form of allowances for tenant-paid utilities, direct operating grants for public housing, and housing assistance payments for privately-owned assisted housing. Utility costs account for around 22 percent of public housing operating budgets, and a similar share in the assisted housing sector. Reducing these rising costs—generating savings for residents and owners, as well as for taxpayers—is a key HUD priority. Housing is also an important determinant of health, and poor housing conditions are associated with a wide range of health conditions, including respiratory infections, asthma, lead poisoning, injuries, and other housing-related health hazards. Significant progress has been made over the past five years with completed energy retrofits, healthy housing interventions, or new energy projects in more than 460,000 housing units. From 2014–2018, HUD aims to continue to focus on energy and health investments in the residential sector, both in HUD-assisted housing, as well as in market-rate housing, to support the goals of President Obama’s Climate Action Plan to cut energy waste in half by 2030 and accelerate clean energy leadership. We will reduce barriers to financing energy efficiency as well as on-site renewable energy, help unlock innovative and traditional sources of capital, and raise the bar on codes and standards that promote energy efficiency and healthy housing. The production of lead-safe housing units will continue to depend strongly on the level of funding for the lead hazard control grant programs and the rehabilitation programs that make require lead hazard reduction measures in housing being assisted. With funding for Lead Hazard Control and Healthy Homes grant activities projected to be approximately level through FY 2015, and the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and Home Investment Program (HOME) experiencing significant reductions in recent years, the number of pre-1978 housing units made lead-safe in 2015 and 2016 is expected to decrease.    [1] EPA 2013","Between October 1, 2013 and September 30, 2015, HUD aims to increase the energy efficiency and health of the nation’s housing stock by enabling 160,000 cost-effective energy efficient or healthy housing units."," Energy | Natural Resources and Environment | Health | Community and Regional Development",380
"Department of Housing and Urban Development",FY16-17,"Increase educational attainment among HUD-assisted tenants","The persistent and growing education gap between children of low-income families and higher-income families demands further attention to the agency’s role in supporting the educational attainment of our residents. Improving access to stable, quality, and equitable education for HUD-assisted children is crucial to increasing employment opportunities and breaking the cycle of intergenerational poverty. Recent research on HUD’s Moving to Opportunity experiment confirmed that place matters for children's educational attainment and access to opportunity, now and in the future.[1] HUD is exploring options to increase the use of housing vouchers in high opportunity areas, through mobility counseling and the Small Area Fair Market Rent (SAFMR) demonstration. The department is equally committed to investing in communities where low-income and rent-assisted residents are concentrated. The Choice Neighborhood and Promise Zone programs were developed with an understanding that these long-term revitalization efforts require community-driven solutions and cross-sector involvement to holistically increase opportunity and outcomes for residents. HUD is working with the Department of Education on several initiatives from increasing access to early childhood education to improving access to financial assistance and tax credits that make college more affordable. Through the alignment of resources at the local level, we can most effectively improve the quality of life for the children and families HUD serves.   [1] Chetty, Raj, et al. Is the United States still a land of opportunity? Recent trends in intergenerational mobility. No. w19844. National Bureau of Economic Research, 2014.","Increase educational attainment for HUD-assisted tenants by improving access to stable, quality, and affordable education, as measured by increasing the percentage of HUD-assisted tenants who are currently enrolled in college."," Education, Training, Employment, and Social Services",42512
"Department of Housing and Urban Development",FY16-17,"Expand in-home adoption of high-speed internet","ConnectHome is a demonstration program aimed at narrowing the digital divide in 28 communities across the nation.  It offers a platform for collaboration among the federal government, local governments, public housing agencies, Internet service providers, philanthropic foundations, nonprofit organizations, and other stakeholders to develop and implement local solutions. Through ConnectHome, many HUD-assisted residents have access to free or substantially discounted high-speed Internet access in their homes, as well as the resources and training they need to take advantage of this access.  The program is particularly focused on narrowing the “homework gap” by enabling school-age children to access the Internet at home.","Narrow the digital divide by ensuring that 50 percent of public housing households with school-age children in ConnectHome communities are connected with at-home high-speed internet by September 30, 2017."," Education, Training, Employment, and Social Services | Community and Regional Development",71131
"Department of the Interior",FY14-15,"Climate Change Adaptation","Problem or opportunity being addressed The Department has established policy emphasizing the importance of considering and analyzing potential climate change impacts when undertaking long-range planning exercises. Such plans must evaluate risks to and vulnerabilities in bureau operations and missions, and outline actions to manage these in the short- and long-term. The Department continues to develop, implement and update comprehensive plans to integrate consideration of climate change science and response strategies into operations to help make the nation’s communities, watersheds, and natural resources more resilient, and safeguard our cultural heritage. Relationship to agency strategic goals and objectives The Secretary of the Interior has identified the effects of climate change as a major challenge   affecting missions across the Department, just as the President has identified in his Climate Change Action Plan Policy and Executive Order 13514 (October 5, 2009) and on “Preparing the United States for the Impacts of Climate Change” (November 1, 2013).   The Department’s Climate Change Adaptation Policy (523 DM 1) provides a set of principles and guidance to bureaus and offices for addressing climate change impacts on the Department’s mission, programs, operations and personnel. The policy also establishes roles and responsibilities for carrying out climate change adaptation principles. Key barriers and challenges  Understanding, communicating, and responding to the diversity of impacts associated with climate change across the various landscapes of the United States is an ambitious undertaking.  Identifying similar terminology and means of measurement, engaging in collaborative communications with partners both within and outside DOI, obtaining adequate scientific understanding, and integrating various datasets and information sources are just some aspects of this undertaking that are already underway, and each of these activities is challenging. Stakeholder Engagement Climate Science Centers and Landscape Conservation Cooperatives are engaging Interior and other Federal agencies, local and State partners, and the public to craft practical, landscape-level strategies for managing climate-change impacts within the eight regions.  The Department is building the scientific and organizational infrastructure to work with partners in the development of adaptation tools and the coordination of climate-change responses at the landscape level.  We are partnering to develop state-of-the-art strategies to translate science into adaptive management and to develop robust ecological-forecasting models.","Climate change adaptation.  By September 30, 2015, the Department of the Interior will demonstrate maturing implementation of climate change adaptation as scored when carrying out strategies in its Strategic Sustainability Performance Plan."," Natural Resources and Environment",1848
"Department of the Interior",FY16-17,"Renewable Energy Resource Development","Problem or opportunity being addressed As manager of one-fifth of the nation’s landmass and 1.7 billion acres of the outer continental shelf, the Department of the Interior plays a major role in implementing the Obama Administration’s “Smart from the Start” strategy to develop all appropriate sources of renewable and conventional energy on U.S. public lands.  Responsible development of conventional and renewable resources on Interior managed lands and waters involve processing applications in a focused manner with full environmental analysis and public review. By advancing renewable energy, Interior helps America produce more energy at home, reducing our dependency on foreign oil while supporting a growing economy, creating jobs, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Onshore, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has identified 20.6 million acres of public land with wind energy potential in 11 western states, 30 million acres with solar energy potential in six southwestern states, and 111 million acres of public land in western states and Alaska with geothermal resource potential.  Offshore, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) manages the Outer Continental Shelf, 1.7 billion acres of federal-offshore lands with enormous wind-energy potential. In addition, Interior reduces energy consumption within its own buildings at over 1,000 Interior sites nationwide ranging from visitor centers to wildlife refuges and tribal facilities, and increasingly self-generates energy by installing rooftop solar panels at Interior owned sites as appropriate.    Relationship to agency strategic goals and objectives This goal ties directly to Mission Area 3, “Powering Our Future and Responsible Use of the Nation’s Resources,” of the Department of the Interior’s FY 2014-2018 Strategic Plan.  The priority goal helps Interior meet Goal 1, “Secure America’s Energy Resources,” through responsible development of renewable energy on our public lands by facilitating environmentally appropriate solar, wind and wave, geothermal, and hydropower projects in the right ways and right locations.     Key barriers and challenges  Permitting in an environmentally responsible manner sometimes results in changes to applicants’ project proposals.  For example, proposed projects may be rejected or reduced in size and scope to avoid or minimize impacts to tribal and cultural resources, threatened and endangered species and their habitat, viewsheds, and other areas designated for protection by Congress, the President, or the Secretary of the Interior.   Additionally, renewable energy companies themselves sometimes scale down, modify timelines, develop projects in phases, or otherwise modify or withdraw projects for reasons unrelated to Interior’s permitting process.  By tracking progress on a quarterly basis, Interior monitors emerging issues and challenges associated with renewable energy projects.  In recent years, private companies’ applications for renewable energy projects on Interior lands have declined due to difficulties in securing financing and obtaining power purchase agreements with electric utility companies.  Additionally, technology and transmission constraints, such as an applicant needing to upgrade a transmission line, impact the number of renewal energy applications and approvals.   Stakeholder Engagement BLM developed the goal in conjunction with the Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management as well as other Federal agencies including DOD, USDA, EPA, NOAA; Interior bureaus including BIA, FWS, NPS, USGS; and States, local entities, conservation groups, industry and others engaged in advancing the Administration’s ‘all-of-the-above’ strategy to develop domestic energy resources and to achieve one of the Secretary of the Interior’s top priorities for “Powering Our Future.”  Additional information is available via http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/prog/energy/renewable_energy.html.  ","Increase the approved capacity for production of energy from domestic renewable resources to support a growing economy and protect our national interests while reducing our dependence on foreign oil and climate-changing greenhouse gas emissions.  By September 30, 2017, increase approved capacity authorized for renewable (solar, wind, geothermal, and hydropower) energy resources affecting Department of the Interior managed lands, while ensuring full environmental review, to at least 16,600 Megawatts (since the end of FY 2009)."," Energy | Natural Resources and Environment",44642
"Department of the Interior",FY14-15,"Renewable Energy Resource Development","The Obama Administration’s coordinated strategy to develop all appropriate sources of renewable and conventional energy on U.S. public lands calls for development of onshore and offshore renewable energy under a ‘Smart from the Start’ approach that prioritizes and processes existing applications in a coordinated, focused manner with full environmental analysis and public review. As manager of one-fifth of the nation’s landmass and 1.7 billion acres of the outer continental shelf, the U.S. Department of the Interior has the resources to help America produce more energy at home, thereby supporting a growing economy and job creation and reducing dependence on foreign oil and increasing sustainable practices with reduced greenhouse gas emissions. Secretary Sally Jewell has placed a priority on “Powering Our Future,” emphasizing the responsible development of conventional and renewable resources on our nation’s public lands and waters. Onshore, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has identified 20.6 million acres of public land with wind energy potential in 11 western states, 30 million acres with solar energy potential in six southwestern states, and 111 million acres of public land in western states and Alaska with geothermal resource potential.  Offshore, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) manages the Outer Continental Shelf, 1.7 billion acres of federal-offshore lands with enormous wind-energy potential, and approved in 2011 the construction plan for Cape Wind Energy off the coast of Massachusetts. In addition to the multiple renewable energy efforts on public lands, the Department of Interior is reducing energy consumption within its own buildings while also self-generating renewable energy at over 1,000 Interior sites nationwide, including locations such as visitor centers, wildlife refuges, recreation centers, and tribal facilities.  Developing such renewable energy resources responsibly could help support a growing economy and protect our national interests while reducing our dependence on foreign oil and climate-changing greenhouse gas emissions. Relationship to agency strategic goals and objectives As the means for advancing the Administration’s ‘all-of-the-above’ strategy to develop domestic energy resources, realizing one of the Secretary of the Interior’s key priorities in creating a new energy frontier and as reflected in Interior’s Strategic Plan’s mission area to “Powering Our Future and Responsible Use of the Nation’s Resources,” this goal continues to expand upon the efforts started with the initial FY 2010/2011 Priority Goal to, “Increase approved capacity authorized for renewable (solar, wind, and geothermal) energy resources on Department of the Interior managed lands, while ensuring full environmental review, by at least 9,000 megawatts through 2011.”  As part of securing America’s energy future, DOI is helping to move our nation toward a clean-energy economy. At Interior, this means changing the way we do business by opening our doors to responsible development of renewable energy on our public lands. This means using a ‘Smart from the Start’ approach that prioritizes and processes existing applications in a coordinated, focused manner with full environmental analysis and public review.  Efforts include facilitating environmentally appropriate renewable-energy projects involving solar, wind and waves, geothermal, and hydropower. These resources, developed in the right ways and the right places, will help curb our dependence on foreign oil, reduce our use of fossil fuels and promote new industries and jobs here in America. Key barriers and challenges  Renewable energy projects, especially solar and wind, are complex.  The Department is committed to permitting renewable energy projects on public lands in an environmentally responsible manner.  As a result, proposed projects are sometimes rejected or reduced in size and scope to avoid or minimize impacts to tribal and cultural resources, threatened and endangered species and their habitat, or areas near or adjacent to lands designated by Congress, the President, or Secretary for the protection of sensitive viewsheds, resources, and values that could be adversely affected by development.  Additionally, renewable energy companies sometimes decide to scale down, modify timelines and develop their projects in phases, or otherwise modify or withdraw projects for reasons unrelated to the permitting process. By tracking progress on a quarterly basis, Interior is aware of the emerging complex issues and challenges associated with the formulation of renewable energy projects that require time and resources to address—including for example, rerouting and modification of plans to avoid impacts to natural resources like sensitive avian and wildlife species and tribal concerns.  Further, while Interior agencies play a critical role in facilitating the siting and permitting of renewable energy projects on public lands, there are other factors that impact a potential project’s progress, including the project proponent’s ability to secure financing and to obtain power purchase agreements with electric utility companies.  Technology and transmission constraints, such as an applicant needing to upgrade a transmission line, can also impact the overall schedule. Stakeholder Engagement This goal includes a broad number of stakeholders within Interior and externally.  It is a continuation of a FY 2012-2013 goal that was developed by BLM in concert with the Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management.  Other Federal agencies including DOI, USDA, EPA, NOAA; Interior bureaus including FWS, NPS, USGS; as well as States, local entities, conservation groups, industry and others  are engaged to advance the Administration’s ‘all-of-the-above’ strategy to develop domestic energy resources and to achieve one of the Secretary of the Interior’s top priorities for “Powering Our Future.”","Renewable energy resource development.  By September 30, 2015, increase approved capacity authorized for renewable (solar, wind, and geothermal) energy resources affecting Department of the Interior managed lands, while ensuring full environmental review, to at least 16,500 Megawatts (since 2009)."," Energy | Natural Resources and Environment",382
"Department of the Interior",FY16-17,"Water Conservation and Supply Enhancement","Problem or opportunity being addressed The Nation faces an increasing set of water resource challenges: aging water-related infrastructure, rapid population growth, depletion of groundwater resources, and climate variability and change. Shortages and water use conflicts have become more commonplace in many areas of the US, even in ""normal"" years. Water issues and challenges are especially increasing in the West due to prolonged drought and population shift.  A sustainable water supply is critical to address current and future water shortages, degraded water quality, increased demands for water and energy from growing populations, recognition of environmental water requirements, and water inequity for Indian tribes and rural communities disadvantaged by financial need or geographic isolation.   Traditional water management approaches, by themselves, no longer meet today's needs.  Federal leadership is critical to widespread acceptance and implementation of effective conservation and recycling techniques.    Relationship to agency strategic goals and objectives This goal contributes to Mission Area 5, “Ensuring Healthy Watersheds and Sustainable, Secure Water Supplies,” of the Department of the Interior’s FY 2014-2018 Strategic Plan.  This latest version of the Priority Goal builds upon efforts started with the initial FY 2010/2011 Priority Goal to “Enable capability to increase available water supply for agricultural, municipal, industrial, and environmental uses in the western United States up to 350,000 acre-feet (estimated amount) by 2012 through the bureau’s various conservation-related programs, such as water reuse and recycling (Title XVI) and WaterSMART Grants.   Key barriers and challenges  Measuring water conservation can be complex. The primary challenges and risks that influence achievement of the Priority Goal include: The availability of water measurement data;   The number and scope of the projects proposed from year-to-year; State water laws (e.g., disincentives to water conservation); The ability to complete environmental compliance in a reasonable timeframe and cost; Local cost-shares (e.g., inability to meet cost-share requirements identified by respective program).   Stakeholder Engagement Reclamation works collaboratively with non-federal, state, local and tribal governments, water districts, and other entities on a cost-shared basis to implement water management and conservation projects in the 17 Western states. Reclamation incorporates stakeholder feedback into its conservation efforts by engaging stakeholders during program formulation and significant program revisions.  For example, based on applicant feedback, Reclamation revised the Title XVI funding opportunity to make it easier for applicants to request funding for ongoing work without having to break it into project phases. Similarly, Reclamation published the WaterSMART Strategic Implementation Plan in the Federal Register in March 2011 (http://www.usbr.gov/watersmart/docs/FedRegister_WaterSMART_Implementation_plan_FINAL.PDF) and incorporated comments into the final document.  Reclamation also routinely works with its partners at the State and local level through public outreach meetings, scoping committees, and through reporting and program oversight. ","Enable capability to increase the available water supply in the Western States through conservation-related programs to ensure adequate and safe water supplies. By September 30, 2017, the Department of the Interior will facilitate the availability of water supplies employing conservation, efficiency, and technology in the western United States through Bureau of Reclamation water conservation programs to 1,100,000 acre-feet cumulatively since the end of FY2009."," Natural Resources and Environment",44822
"Department of the Interior",FY14-15,"Water conservation","Problem or opportunity being addressed The Nation faces an increasing set of water resource challenges: aging water-related infrastructure, rapid population growth, depletion of groundwater resources, and climate variability and change. Shortages and water use conflicts have become more commonplace in many areas of the US, even in ""normal"" years. Water issues and challenges are especially increasing in the West, due to prolonged drought and population shift.Traditional water management approaches, by themselves, no longer meet today's need.Federal leadership is critical to widespread acceptance and implementation of effective conservation and recycling techniques. Relationship to agency strategic goals and objectives As the means for realizing one of the Secretary of the Interior’s key priorities for tackling the water challenges in the west, this goal will add to the achievements reflected in the Strategic Plan under the mission area to “Sustainably Manage Energy, Water, and Natural Resources. Reclamation works collaboratively with non-federal, state, local and tribal governments, water districts, and other entities, on a cost-shared basis to implement projects that improve water management and result in water conservation in the 17 Western states.  This includes projects to line unlined canals, install remote technology to allow for more accurate control over water deliveries, install new water measurement devices, and other projects that allow water users to decrease water diversions by increasing efficiency and operational flexibility.  By conserving water that can be made available for other uses, these projects contribute to the goal by increasing the available water supply and contribute to Reclamation’s broader objective of achieving a more sustainable water supply. A sustainable water supply is critical to address current and future water shortages; degraded water quality; increased demands for water from growing populations and energy needs; amplified recognition of environmental water requirements; the potential for decreased water supply availability due to drought, climate change, or decreased storage and delivery capacity; and water inequity for Indian tribes and rural communities disadvantaged by financial need or geographic isolation.  Reclamation believes that water conservation, use of water markets, and improved efficiency are crucial elements of any plan to address western water issues. With leveraged water sustainability grants, an important step will be taken towards increasing conservation for a more efficient use of water in the West. Key barriers and challenges  The primary challenges and risks that influence achievement of the Priority Goal include: The availability of data needed to measure water conserved. Water savings are heavily dependent upon applications submitted by project sponsors. State Water Laws (e.g., disincentives to water conservation). Ability to complete environmental compliance in a reasonable timeframe and cost. Local cost-shares (e.g., inability to meet cost-share requirements identified by respective program). Stakeholder Engagement This goal is a continuation of the FY 2012-2013 goal that was developed by the Reclamation Commissioner and the Assistant Secretary Water and Science as a means for helping achieve one of the Secretary of the Interior’s top priorities in addressing the water challenges facing the western U.S. Programs that contribute to the Priority Goal for Water Conservation provide funding for improvements proposed, planned, and carried out by non-Federal entities with Reclamation’s assistance.Collaboration is therefore a crucial aspect of efforts to achieve this Priority Goal. Reclamation also incorporates stakeholder feedback into its conservation efforts by engaging stakeholders during program formulation and significant program revisions.For example, Reclamation made draft funding criteria for the Title XVI Program available for public review and comment in 2010 and incorporated feedback into final criteria.Similarly, the WaterSMART Strategic Implementation Plan was published in the Federal Register in March 2011 and comments were incorporated into the final document.Reclamation also routinely works with its partners at the State and local level through public outreach meetings, scoping committees, and through reporting and program oversight.","Water Conservation.  By September 30, 2015, the Department of the Interior will further enable the capability to increase the available water supply for agricultural, municipal, industrial, and environmental uses in the western United States through Reclamation water conservation programs to 840,000 acre-feet, cumulatively since the end of FY2009."," Natural Resources and Environment",388
"Department of the Interior",FY16-17,"Safer and More Resilient Communities in Indian Country","Problem or opportunity being addressed The rate of recidivism nationally among Native Americans, an estimated 33% higher than non-native populations, creates a huge drain on the already overtaxed local Native economies: overcrowding at dilapidated detention centers, court dockets overwhelmed with cases, and, in many instances, loss of family primary bread winners. This priority goal seeks to reduce recidivism by addressing root causes and by implementing alternatives to incarceration.  In terms of addressing underlying causes of re-arrest, BIA focuses resources on drug and alcohol abuse treatment and prevention programs, including addressing pre-disposing factors such as safety in the home and community; emotional, psychological, and physical poverty; and grief from loss of family and culture.  BIA coordinates social service needs of the target population, including mental health, education, employment, and family issues with the goal of reducing re-offenses.  In terms of alternatives to incarceration, BIA uses, as appropriate, probation, courts specific to substance abuse cases, and traditional cultural courts including healing to wellness courts that apply solutions-focused sentencing options and talking circles for truant juveniles. This priority goal focuses on reducing repeat incarceration in five tribal communities.  Three communities, Duck Valley, Red Lake, and Ute Mountain, carry over from the FY 2014-15 priority goal.  For FY 2016-17, two additional communities will be identified and included.  Communities are chosen based on existing infrastructure and services, and the potential for enhancing these services/infrastructure, as well as tribal willingness to participate.  During the 2014-15 goal period, the first year involved putting into place the services, infrastructure, and activities at the pilot locations.  Actual measurement began in FY 2015, during which there were 81 repeat offenders among the 150 habitual offenders initially identified in FY 2013 at the three tribal communities; a reduction of 69 in the number of repeat offenders .  Given the length of time required to address the causes of repeat offenses, the FY 2016-17 results, combined with those of FY 2015, will give the Department a more realistic, multi-year picture of these recidivism reduction efforts.     Relationship to agency strategic goals and objectives The recidivism reduction effort ties directly to Mission Area 2, “Strengthening Tribal Nations and Insular Communities,” in the Department of the Interior’s FY 2014-2018 Strategic Plan as well as Administration initiatives to improve the quality of life in tribal and native communities.    Key barriers and challenges  While pursuing the prior FY 2010-2013 Priority Goal on reducing violent crime, BIA realized that reducing the number of repeat offenses could have a significant effect on the crime rate.  Techniques used in other cities that direct attention and services to reducing repeat offenses were considered for application in tribal communities.  Duck Valley, Red Lake and Ute Mountain, three very geographically dispersed communities, experience high levels of crime, disparate levels of staffing and training, equipment shortages, and significant differences and gaps in technology.  Additionally, reducing recidivism requires negotiating commitments with the Justice Department’s Tribal justice program and internal BIA programs.  Successful reduction in repeat incarcerations also requires cooperation and support from federal, state and tribal participants.  Other key challenges may include: Access to tribal correctional facilities records; Availability of funding for components of the program not under Interior’s jurisdiction, e.g. detention facilities; Availability of substance abuse treatment programs – social program budgets, staffing, and capacity have not kept pace with the increased law enforcement effort; Sentencing resources and alternative program availability; and Other environmental, social, and economic factors.   Stakeholder Engagement This priority goal and the implementation plan included consultation with tribal leaders of the participating reservations to ensure a high level of understanding and commitment for the goal.  Developing alternatives to incarceration requires ongoing coordination with, and assistance from, multiple entities within the tribal community to confront issues such as substance abuse, domestic violence, and worker training that can impact recidivism rates.  Interior regularly meets with and assists tribal programs to discuss progress and any barriers or issues that may negatively affect meeting the goal.","Reduce the need for repeat incarcerations in Indian communities By September 30, 2017, reduce rates of repeat incarceration in five target tribal communities by 3% through a comprehensive “alternatives to incarceration” strategy that seeks to address underlying causes of repeat offenses, including substance abuse and social service needs, through tribal and federal partnerships."," Natural Resources and Environment | Administration of Justice",44862
"Department of the Interior",FY14-15,"Safer and More Resilient Communities in Indian Country","Problem or opportunity being addressed The rate of recidivism nationally among Native Americans is estimated to be 33% higher than non-native populations, according to one Department of Justice report. Locally recidivism creates a huge drain on already overtaxed economies as well as overcrowded and dilapidated detention facilities.Individuals who repeat offend and are incarcerated, fill court dockets, and in many cases take primary bread winners out of the home. Relationship to agency strategic goals and objectives This goal and associated activities will facilitate the ability of Interior to realize one of the President’s key objectives and a key priority for the Secretary of the Interior.  The effort is in direct support of the goal to re-establish the relationship with Indian Tribes and support the Strategic Goal to “Advance Government-to-Government Relationships with Indian Nations and Honor Commitments to Insular Areas.” Key barriers and challenges  Conducting a focused program in highly geographically dispersed communities, with high levels of crime, disparate levels of staffing and training, and equipment have proven to be significant challenges.  Cooperation and support from Federal, State and tribal participants is a key requirement.  Tribal justice program commitment, differences and gaps in technology and program availability and participation is a key issue.  Funding increases for these program components has been aligned with the priority goal making this more feasible. Other key challenges may include but not limited to: Record access of Tribal Correctional facilities Availability of funding for components of the program that are not under Interior’s jurisdiction, e.g. detention facilities Availability of substance abuse treatment programs – social program budgets, staffing and capacity have not kept pace with the increased law enforcement effort Sentencing resources and alternative program availability. Stakeholder Engagement The Department conducts consultation with tribal leaders and other stakeholders during the development of the budget and prior to the development and implementation of the Priority Goal on their respective reservations. This ensures a high level of understanding and commitment is received from all parties. The Department has already begun to assist the Tribes in developing alternative to incarceration strategic plans based on the available resources in the community and or resources that stakeholders can provide to assist. The Department assists the tribal programs with developing and coordinating stakeholder and community meetings throughout the initiative to discuss progress and any barriers or issues that may negatively affect meeting the goal.","Safer and More Resilient Communities in Indian Country.  By September 30, 2015, reduce rates of repeat incarceration in three target tribal communities by 3% through a comprehensive “alternatives to incarceration” strategy that seeks to address underlying causes of repeat offenses, including substance abuse and social service needs through tribal and federal partnerships."," Natural Resources and Environment | Administration of Justice",386
"Department of the Interior",FY16-17,"Climate Change Adaptation Management","Problem or opportunity being addressed Interior established policy emphasizing the importance of considering and analyzing potential climate change impacts in long-range planning exercises. These plans evaluate risks to and vulnerabilities in bureau operations and missions, and outline actions to manage these in the short- and long-term. Interior continues to develop, implement and update comprehensive plans to integrate consideration of climate change science and response strategies to make the nation’s communities, watersheds, and natural resources more resilient, and safeguard our cultural heritage.   Relationship to agency strategic goals and objectives The Secretary of the Interior identified the effects of climate change as a challenge affecting missions across Interior, just as the President identified in his Climate Change Action Plan Policy and Executive Order 13514 (October 5, 2009) and “Preparing the United States for the Impacts of Climate Change” (November 1, 2013).   (https://www.whitehouse.gov/climate-change) Interior has developed Climate Change resilience policies and strategies providing principles and guidance to bureaus and offices for addressing climate change impacts on Interior’s mission, programs, operations and personnel. (See https://www.doi.gov/climate).   Key barriers and challenges  Understanding, communicating, and responding to the diversity of impacts associated with climate change across the various landscapes of the United States is an ambitious undertaking.  Identifying similar terminology and means of measurement, engaging in collaborative communications with partners both within and outside Interior, obtaining adequate scientific understanding, and integrating various datasets and information sources are just some aspects of this effort that are already underway, and each of these activities is challenging.    Stakeholder Engagement Climate Science Centers and Landscape Conservation Cooperatives engage Interior and other Federal agencies, local and State partners, and the public to design practical, landscape-level strategies for managing climate-change impacts.  Interior is building the scientific and organizational infrastructure to work with partners to develop adaptation tools and coordinate climate-change responses at the landscape level.  Interior is partnering to develop state-of-the-art strategies to translate science into adaptive management and to develop robust ecological-forecasting models.  ","Understand, communicate, and respond to the diversity of impacts associated with climate change to improve the resilience of the nation’s communities, natural resources, and safeguard our cultural heritage sites. By September 30, 2017, the Department of the Interior will mainstream climate change adaptation and resilience into program and regional planning, capacity building, training, infrastructure, and external programs, as measured by scoring at least 400 of 500 points using the Strategic Sustainability Performance Plan scorecard."," Natural Resources and Environment",44542
"Department of the Interior",FY16-17,"Engaging the Next Generation","Problem or opportunity being addressed The future of the Nation’s natural, cultural and historic heritage depends on the next generation of active stewards.  The Millennial generation, defined as individuals born in 1980 or later, is larger, more urban and diverse than any generation in our history.  Yet Millennials have grown up more disconnected from the natural world.  As Secretary Sally Jewell has said, “Engaging the Millennial generation in service on public lands, welcoming them into the Department of the Interior, and so many other opportunities to have work within public lands management, is going to be a critical part of our future, if we care about these special places that help define us.” Secretary Sally Jewell, March 14, 2014 – Announcing the Next Generation Priority            http://www.doi.gov/youth/news/engaging-the-next-generation.cfm Interior's Engaging the Next Generation priority goal seeks to establish meaningful and deep connections between young people from every background and every community to the great outdoors.  Interior is working to inspire millions of young people to play, learn, serve and work outdoors, and aims to provide 100,000 work and training opportunities over four years to individuals up to the age of 35.     Relationship to agency strategic goals and objectives This priority goal supports Mission Area 4, “Engaging the Next Generation,” of the Department of the Interior’s FY 2014-2018 Strategic Plan, as well as efforts to create a 21st Century Workforce.  Interior benefits from a workforce that is passionate about the mission, dedicated to public service, and highly skilled and knowledgeable.  Across Interior, 40% of our permanent workforce will be eligible to retire within the next five years.  As part of our succession planning, a variety of work and training opportunities to next generation students and recent graduates are provided.  Interior’s goal of engaging youth in conservation includes programs to encourage the nation’s youth to play, learn, serve, and work in the great outdoors.    Key barriers and challenges  By and through its partners, Interior must provide work and training opportunities within a specific time-frame for seasonal and temporary summer employment.  If bureaus miss the window of opportunity during the limited time-frame, participants may seek employment opportunities elsewhere.  Additionally, with approximately one-third of Interior youth employment stemming from partnership agreements, our ability to enter into partnership agreements is essential, particularly for the peak hiring seasons when colleges are out of session.  These public/private partnership efforts help to leverage Federal dollars, in some cases by a 3 to 1 ratio, and assist Interior in increasing youth employment opportunities.    Stakeholder Engagement Interior partners with the Corps Network, which engages 30,000 young people in all 50 States, in addition to the Public Lands Service Coalition.  Also, Interior partners with non-profit, corporate, state, local and tribal entities to enhance volunteer service opportunities and youth employment in the great outdoors.  Interior will continue to engage these stakeholders in implementing broader youth stewardship and engagement. ","Build the next generation of conservation and community leaders by supporting employment of youth and Millennials at the Department of the Interior.  By September 30, 2017, the Department of the Interior will provide 100,000 work and training opportunities over four fiscal years (FY 2014 through FY 2017) for individuals age 15 to 35 to support Interior’s mission."," Natural Resources and Environment | Education, Training, Employment, and Social Services",44902
"Department of the Interior",FY14-15,"Engaging the Next Generation","a.  Problem or opportunity being addressed The future of the Country’s natural, cultural and historic heritage depends on the next generation of active stewards.  The Millennial generation, defined as individuals born in 1980 or later, is larger, more urban and diverse than any generation in our history.  Yet Millennials have grown up more disconnected from the natural world.  As Secretary Sally Jewell indicated,  “Engaging the millennial generation in service on public lands, welcoming them into the Department of the Interior, and so many other opportunities to have work within public lands management, is going to be a critical part of our future, if we care about these special places that help define us.” Secretary Sally Jewell, March 14, 2014 – Announcing the Next Generation Priority            http://www.doi.gov/youth/news/engaging-the-next-generation.cfm The underlying objective of Interior's Engaging the Next Generation priority is to establish meaningful and deep connections between young people from every background and every community to the great outdoors. Interior is investing millions of dollars in our Engaging the Next Generation priority to inspire millions of young people to play, learn, serve and work outdoors.  To that end, Interior has established a goal of providing 100,000 work and training opportunities over four years to individuals up to the age of 35.   In support of this long-term goal, the FY 2014-FY 2015 priority goal is being extended to include ages 15-35 in providing 40,000 work and training opportunity over the two year period, starting in FY 2015.  This priority goal complements Interior’s efforts to develop a 21st Century Workforce.  The Department benefits from a workforce that is passionate about the mission, dedicated to public service, and highly skilled and knowledgeable.  Across Interior, 40% of our permanent workforce will be eligible to retire within the next five years.   Providing a variety of work and training opportunities to students and recent graduates is critical to our succession planning.  b.  Relationship to agency strategic goals and objectives This priority goal supports Strategic Plan mission area 4, “Engaging the Next Generation” as well as efforts to create a 21st Century Workforce.  The priority goal aims to address reductions in work and training opportunities created by fiscal challenges in FY 2013 and builds upon the number of opportunities provided in FY 2010-FY 2012.  This priority goal for work and training opportunities builds upon other Engaging the Next Generation initiatives at DOI.  The Department’s goal of engaging youth in conservation includes programs to encourage the nation’s youth to play, learn, serve, and work in the great outdoors.  As the culmination of this four pronged approach, work and training opportunities for youth depend in great part on successful efforts to promote recreation on DOI-managed public lands, encourage the nation’s educators to bring our natural environment into classrooms, and cultivate a culture of service in support of conservation and natural resource management. c.  Key barriers and challenges  Work and training opportunities, both directly by the Department and through partners, must occur within a specific time-frame for seasonal and temporary summer employment in order to secure commitments from participants.  If bureaus miss the window of opportunity during the limited time-frame, participants may seek employment opportunities elsewhere.  Additionally, with approximately one-third of DOI youth employment stemming from partnership agreements, budget uncertainty creates significant challenges to Bureaus’ ability to enter into partnership agreements, particularly for the peak hiring seasons when colleges are out of session.  These public/private partnership efforts help to leverage Federal dollars, in some cases by a 3 to 1 ratio, and assist the Department in increasing youth employment opportunities. In FY 2013, fiscal and budgetary challenges significantly impacted the Department’s ability to fund work and training opportunities for youth.  Furthermore, the timing of the budgetary uncertainty, as well as the implementation of new models of youth employment across the government, via the Pathways program, made timely hiring of youth for those available positions difficult.  Should current budgetary and fiscal trends continue, the Department expects these to pose a barrier to fulfillment of this goal. d.  Stakeholder Engagement Key partners include the over 150 members of the Corps Network that engage 30,000 young people in all 50 States in addition to the work of the Public Lands Service Coalition.  These public/private partnership efforts help to leverage Federal dollars in some cases 3 to 1 and have assisted the Departments in increasing youth employment opportunities.  In addition, there are many non-profit, corporate, state, local and tribal entities that partner with the Department to enhance volunteer service opportunities and youth employment in the great outdoors. It will continue to be important to engage these stakeholders as we implement related recommendations for the broader youth stewardship and engagement priority goal.","Engaging the Next Generation:  By September 30, 2015, the Department of Interior will provide 40,000 work and training opportunities over two fiscal years (FY 2014 and FY 2015) for individuals age 15 to 35 to support the mission of the Department."," Natural Resources and Environment | Education, Training, Employment, and Social Services",390
"Department of the Interior",FY16-17,"Oil and gas resource management","Problem or opportunity being addressed Oil and gas production on Interior’s managed lands represents a significant part of the nation’s hydrocarbon production.  In February 2011, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) listed Interior’s management of Federal oil and gas on GAO’s High-Risk List for deficiencies in its oversight of three broad areas: Revenue Collection: (a) whether Interior is collecting a “fair return”; (b) whether Interior is consistently meeting its target for production verification inspections; and (c) whether Interior has sufficient capacity to ensure that it is collecting reliable and consistent data on the production and sale of oil and gas from Federal lands and waters.  Human Capital: Interior’s ability to adequately address persistent problems in hiring, training, and retaining sufficient staff for oversight and management of oil and gas operations on Federal lands and waters.  Reorganization: whether Interior has the capacity to undertake the broad reorganization of its offshore oil and gas management and revenue collection functions while still providing reasonable assurance that billions of dollars in revenue are properly assessed and collected as well as managing oil and gas exploration and production on Federal lands and waters. In February 2013, GAO reported Interior’s completion of addressing this deficiency. Conducting annual inspections of high risk oil and gas cases helps ensure accurate production reporting and correct royalty payments, as part of addressing the recommendations specified in the GAO High Risk Listing.  High risk case identification focuses on the following seven risk factors, four generated by the BLM and three derived from the Office of Natural Resources Revenue’s (ONRR) risk model:  BLM : (1) production rating; (2) number of missing Oil and Gas Operations Reports (OGOR); (3) non-compliance rating; and (4) date of last production inspection. ONRR: (1) OGOR reporting error rating; (2) production variance rating; and (3) audit findings rating.   Relationship to agency strategic goals and objectives In addition to assisting with addressing the revenue collection deficiency, this priority goal ties directly to Mission Area 3, Powering Our Future and Responsible Use of the Nation’s Resources, in the Department of the Interior’s FY 2014-2018 Strategic Plan.  Additionally, inspecting high risk producing cases ensures compliance of oil and gas operations with lease terms, regulations in title 43 CFR 3161.3 (a), and other applicable regulations.  Section 101(a) of the Federal Oil and Gas Royalty Management Act of 1982 requires, at a minimum, annual inspections of those federal and Indian lease sites producing, or expected to produce, significant quantities of oil or gas or for which a history of non-compliance exists.   Key barriers and challenges  The number of certified inspectors limits the Department’s ability to meet annual high risk cases inspection requirements.  Historically, high turnover of certified Interior inspectors resulted from competing private sector companies’ hiring efforts.  Recent oil price drops, however, seem to be slowing this trend.   Stakeholder Engagement Interior developed this goal in conjunction with the White House/OMB and oil and gas production recommendations in response to GAO and the Office of the Inspector General.","Improve production accountability, safety, and environmental protection of oil and gas operations through increased inspection of high-risk oil and gas production cases. By September 30, 2017, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) will complete 100 percent of the inspections for federal and Indian potential high-risk oil and gas production cases annually to better ensure accountability and safety."," Energy | Natural Resources and Environment",45262
"Department of the Interior",FY14-15,"Oil and gas resource management","Problem or opportunity being addressed The inspection of high risk producing oil and gas cases is paramount to help ensure that hydrocarbon production on federally managed lands are properly accounted for and results in accurate royalty payments to the public and Indian owners of such minerals.Oil and gas production on federally supervised lands represent a significant part of the nation’s hydrocarbon production.Operating regulations at 43 CFR 3161.3 (a) require the BLM to inspect all leases which produce high volumes of oil or natural gas and those leases that have a history of non-compliance at least once a year.The high risk cases are determined by four risk factors: production rating; number of missing Oil and Gas Operations Reports (OGOR); non-compliance rating; and, last production inspection date rating.   This effort is a component of addressing the deficiencies identified in the GAO High Risk report, which identified the areas for needed improvement including:   ensuring data on production verification and royalties are consistent and reliable, meeting goals for oil and gas verification inspections, and ensuring that informal employee training is supported by formalized training courses offered on a consistent basis. Relationship to agency strategic goals and objectives Achieving a high rate of inspecting high risk producing cases will advance the BLM’s mission by ensuring that oil and gas operations are conducted in compliance with lease terms, with the regulations in title 43 CFR 3161.3 (a), and all other applicable regulations.  The BLM is charged, in Section 101. (a) of the Federal Oil and Gas Royalty Management Act of 1982, with procedures to ensure that each federal and Indian lease site which is producing or is expected to produce significant quantities of oil or gas in any year or which has a history of non-compliance be inspected at least once annually. Key barriers and challenges  The Bureau is limited in its ability to meet the requirement of inspecting all high risk cases by the number of certified inspectors available to inspect these cases.  Competing priorities take time from these inspectors in completing high risk production inspections.  High priority drilling and abandonment inspections must be completed prior to high risk production inspections.  In addition the Bureau has historically had a high turnover of certified inspectors. Stakeholder Engagement The Government Accountability Office (GAO) and the Department of the Interior Office of Inspector General (OIG) has pointed out the failure of the BLM to adequately ensure production of federal and Indian minerals.  The BLM answered the requests from both the GAO and OIG.  This Priority Goal was created to help address some of the identified concerns while providing a forum by which the Department can continue to track the progress toward addressing the other concerns identified by GAO.  The goal was developed in concert with the White House and released with the President’s FY 2013 Budget.","Oil and gas resources management.  By September 30, 2015, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) will increase the completion of inspections of federal and Indian high risk oil and gas cases by 9 percent over FY 2011 levels, which is equivalent to covering as much as 95% of the potential high risk cases."," Energy | Natural Resources and Environment",474
"Department of the Interior",FY16-17,"Monarch Butterfly and Other Pollinators Conservation","Problem or opportunity being addressed This Agency Priority Goal (APG) is part of Interior’s efforts to support and implement the National Strategy to Promote the Health of Honey Bees and Other Pollinators (Strategy) released on May 19, 2015, by the White House Pollinator Health Task Force (Task Force).  The Strategy documents current and planned Federal actions to achieve three longer-term overarching goals: Honey Bees: Reduce honey bee colony losses during winter within 10 years. Monarch Butterflies: Increase the Eastern population of the monarch butterfly by 2020. Pollinator Habitat Acreage: Restore or enhance land for pollinators over the next 5 years through Federal actions and public/private partnerships. The Strategy addresses four themes: conducting research to understand, prevent, and recover from pollinator losses; expanding public education programs and outreach; increasing and improving pollinator habitat; and developing public-private partnerships across all these activities. The Strategy consists of a Pollinator Research Action Plan (Plan), and plans for outreach and education; habitat enhancement and increased acreage; and public-private partnerships.  The Task Force will modify and adjust the Strategy to reflect evolving science. This will ensure that Federal agencies use resources effectively to improve pollinator habitat and health. The President directed representatives from each of the departments and agencies responsible for various elements of the plan to report regularly to the Task Force. Interior’s proposed FY2016/2017 priority goal is one portion of the Government-wide response to the Strategy and complements other agencies’ efforts (as both part of proposed APGs, as well as other Task Force implementation actions) without being duplicative.  The monarch butterfly population is in crisis, having declined by more than 90 percent from its peak in the late 1990’s to the lowest population count on record during the winter of 2013-2014.  The Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) leads the federal government’s efforts to guide actions for monarch conservation, which serves as a flagship effort for broader pollinator conservation work. Interior’s APG on Monarchs and Other Pollinators directly addresses two of the three Task Force overarching goals (on Monarch Butterflies and Pollinator Habitat) as well as addressing public education and outreach and public-private partnerships.  The other agencies with APGs related to pollinators also address multiple but not identical facets of the National Strategy to Promote the Health of Honey Bees and Other Pollinators. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) APG focuses on habitat restoration to assist honey bees and other pollinators (not specifically Monarchs).  This effort directly addresses the goal for honey bees while also addressing pollinator habitat in general.  The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) APG addresses assessment of pesticides, other commercially available chemicals, and the risks those may pose to honey bees and other pollinators.  This goal also addresses larger issues affecting all pollinators and is complementary to all other agency efforts since it uses EPA’s expertise in risk evaluation of the use of chemicals in the environment.    Relationship to agency strategic goals and objectives This priority goal supports Goal 1, “Protect America’s Landscapes,” in Mission Area 1 of the Department of the Interior’s FY 2014-2018 Strategic Plan. The strategies employed in this goal are: 1) Improve land and water health by managing the wetlands, uplands, and riparian areas that comprise our national parks, wildlife refuges, and BLM lands; and 2) Sustain fish, wildlife, and plant species by protecting and recovering the Nation’s fish and wildlife in cooperation with partners, including states.  The state of Monarchs reflects the health of the American landscape and its pollinators. Monarch population declines are symptomatic of environmental problems that also pose risks to food production; the spectacular natural places that help define our national identity, and our own health. Conserving and connecting habitat for monarchs will benefit many other plants and animals, including critical insect pollinators, as well as future generations of Americans.   Key barriers and challenges  North American monarch butterflies are in trouble. Threats, including loss of milkweed habitat needed to lay their eggs and for their caterpillars to eat, are having a devastating impact on monarch populations and the migration phenomenon.  Much of the habitat that Monarchs and other pollinators utilize is on private lands, so it is crucial to have a strong set of partners who can reach out and work with private landowners to create sufficient habitat to protect and sustain healthy populations of Monarchs and other pollinators.   Stakeholder Engagement The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) and the Fish and Wildlife Service serves as a catalyst for national collaboration on monarch conservation, particularly in planting native milkweed and nectar plants - the primary food sources in breeding and migration habitats for the butterfly.  One of the MOU goals is to stimulate efforts to work together — individuals, communities, farmers, land managers, and local, state, and federal agencies — to ensure that every American child has a chance to experience amazing Monarchs in their backyards. Stakeholder engagement plans address the growing threats affecting so much of America’s treasured wildlife — habitat loss, pesticide overuse and climate change — to preserve Monarchs and America’s rich wildlife legacy. The NWF and its state affiliates will engage other key partners on the front lines of action. The USDA agencies implementing the conservation provisions of the 2014 Farm Bill will play a key role in helping engage agricultural producers in monarch conservation efforts.    The National Fish and Wildlife Federation’s (NFWF) new Monarch Conservation Fund provides the first dedicated source of funding for projects working to conserve monarchs. From California to the Corn Belt, the FWS will fund numerous conservation projects totaling $2 million in 2015 to restore and enhance more than 200,000 acres of habitat for Monarchs while also supporting over 750 schoolyard habitats and pollinator gardens. Many of the projects will focus on the monarch flyway anchored around the I-35 corridor from Texas to Minnesota - areas that provide important spring and summer breeding habitats for the eastern population.","Restore or enhance habitat to improve the health of the monarch butterfly and other pollinator populations that help sustain functioning ecosystems and the long-term productivity of working agricultural lands. By September 30, 2017, the Department of the Interior (through the Fish & Wildlife Service) will double the acres of restored or enhanced habitat for Monarch butterflies and other pollinators. (Doubling the number of acres restored or enhanced for Monarch butterflies and other pollinators by September 30, 2017 will result in a total of 320,000 acres of agency land, private land, and state land restored or enhanced.)"," Natural Resources and Environment",45372
"Department of the Interior",FY16-17,"Enhancing Indian Education","Problem or opportunity being addressed The 183 federally-funded Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) schools, educating more than 48,000 students on 63 reservations in 23 states, have a graduation rate of 53 percent compared to a national average of 80 percent.[1] Removing barriers to the success of Native American youth includes improving Indian education.  Low rates of educational attainment perpetuate a cycle of limited opportunity for higher education or economic success.  Tribal communities can best identify barriers and opportunities for Indian education and design effective, culturally-relevant strategies for operating tribal schools that improve outcomes for their students.  Tribal communities need an educated citizenry to lead their governments, develop reservation economies, contribute to the social well-being of the community, and sustain Indian cultures.[2]   Relationship to agency strategic goals and objectives This priority goal ties directly to Mission Area 2, “Strengthening Tribal Nations and Insular Communities,” of the Department of the Interior’s FY 2014-2018 Strategic Plan.  Additionally, improving graduation rates and giving tribes more control over educational curricula supports Administration initiatives to improve the quality of life in tribal and native communities.    Key barriers and challenges  Educational achievement can also be affected by conditions in the community including its economy, available nutrition, wellness, mental health, substance abuse, family life, exposure to bullying and violence, housing shortages, etc.  As such, the education provided by BIE-funded schools may be only one of several factors impacting graduation rates.    Stakeholder Engagement BIE engages with tribal education departments and tribal colleges to help build the capacity and needs of schools. In education, as in other areas of Federal Indian services, the Administration recognizes that successful Indian education involves tribal management of their schools. Today, tribes operate more than 2/3 of BIE funded schools, with BIE directly operating the remaining schools.  Interior comprehensively reviewed BIE operations for achieving improvements in Indian education, as described in “Findings & Recommendations” prepared by the Indian Education Study Group (see http://www.bie.edu/NewsEvents/StudyGroup/index.htm and http://www.doi.gov/news/upload/Study-Group-Blueprint-DOI-FINAL.pdf).  The review revealed significant organizational changes necessary to provide tribes the resources and support needed to directly operate high-performing schools, to remove institutional obstacles that hamper student achievement, and to enable principals to focus on instructional leadership. The review also highlighted the need to provide targeted and highly customized technical assistance that meets the unique instructional needs of each BIE-funded school, including instruction on the tribe’s language, history, and culture.   [1] Page 5, 2014 Native Youth Report, Executive Office of the President, December 2014.  [2] Page 19, 2014 Native Youth Report, Executive Office of the President, December 2014.","Improve the graduation rate of tribal high school students and facilitate tribal self-determination in shaping the educational curriculum for students. By September 30, 2017, the Department of the Interior will increase the percentage of tribal students attending bureau funded schools who complete high school with a regular diploma within four years of their 9th grade entry date by 5% (relative to 2014-2015 school year) and convert 4 schools from bureau to tribal operated."," Education, Training, Employment, and Social Services | Community and Regional Development",45392
"Department of Justice",FY16-17,"Enhancing Public Safety","The three tenets of community policing are problem solving, community engagement, and organizational change. The Department of Justice (DOJ) supports community policing through a broad range of training and technical assistance activities. These activities are implemented along a continuum that starts with the initial contact with law enforcement and/or community members looking for new or promising practices to address problems in their community.  Typically, these problems are addressed through outreach, publications, or awareness training.  By working with the community to implement more complex needs for community policing, the community becomes involved in their own safety. This proactive approach consists of training law enforcement and the community together, community meetings/interventions, and trust building activities. When a community has significant trust issues or a law enforcement is in need of reform, the technical assistance and training becomes more in depth, site specific, and targeted to promote change. For those communities where there exists a strong bond and a vibrant community policing program, providing technical assistance and training will build upon that trust and increase the viability of the program.","Strengthen relationships with the communities we serve, and enhance law enforcement capabilities by constructing new foundations of trust, respect and mutual understanding. By September 30, 2017, increase by 40 percent, the number of law enforcement officers and community members engaged in technical assistance and training activities supportive of community policing to ensure police reform and produce an informed citizenry."," Administration of Justice",71561
"Department of Justice",FY16-17,"National Security","Terrorism is the most significant national security threat that the country faces.  Accordingly, the Department’s number one priority is, and will continue to be, protecting the security of this Nation’s citizens.  The Administration has recognized that terrorism cannot be defeated by military means alone and the Department of Justice is at the forefront of the fight against terrorism.  The Department provides a broad spectrum of tools and skills to combat terrorists.  Specifically, the Department’s agents, analysts, and prosecutors will continue to use every available resource and appropriate tool to detect, deter, and disrupt terrorist plots, investigate and prosecute terrorists, and aid in developing rule of law programs in post-conflict countries to help prevent terrorism abroad.  The Department will aggressively pursue emerging threats around the world and at home, enhance the ability to gather and analyze actionable intelligence, and engage in outreach efforts to all communities in order to prevent terrorism before it occurs.","Protect Americans from terrorism and other threats to National Security.  By September 30, 2017, the Department of Justice will disrupt 400 terrorist threats and groups."," National Defense",71501
"Department of Justice",FY14-15,"Violent Crime","The Violent Crime Priority Goal supports the Administration’s plan to protect our communities by reducing gun violence with smart prevention and investigative strategies in order to prevent violent acts from occurring.  Gun-related violence continues to constitute a serious threat to public safety throughout the United States.  While data shows that overall violent crime in the United States has decreased in the past thirty years, many communities continue to experience high levels of gun violence.  The Department recognizes that the challenges confronting each community are different and require solutions tailored to each community’s needs.  The Department will focus its actions and resources on 1) gun-violence prevention, by effecting an increase in the number of records submitted to NICS Index, which in turn supports the Department’s efforts to accurately and expeditiously identify persons who are legally prohibited from possessing firearms and (2) enhanced and more effective investigation by substantially increasing the number of records entered into NIBIN that contribute to investigative leads.  Collectively, accomplishment of these goals will demonstrate and facilitate our progress in preventing and investigating gun-related violent crime.","Violent Crime:  Protect our Communities by Reducing Gun Violence by using smart prevention and investigative strategies in order to prevent violent acts from occurring. By September, 30, 2015, the Department of Justice will: Increase the number of records  submitted to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) Index by states and federal agencies by 10%; Increase the number of records entered into the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network (NIBIN) by 3%; and Increase the number of NIBIN “hits”, that is, the linkage of two or more separate crime scene investigations, based upon comparisons of the markings made on fired ammunition recovered from crime scenes by 3%."," Administration of Justice",464
"Department of Justice",FY14-15,"National Security","Terrorism is the most significant national security threat that the country faces.  Accordingly, the Department’s number one priority is, and will continue to be, protecting the security of this Nation’s citizens.  The Administration has recognized that terrorism cannot be defeated by military means alone.  The Department of Justice serves at the forefront of the fight against terrorism, providing a broad spectrum of tools, resources, and skills to combat terrorists.  Specifically, the Department’s agents, analysts, and prosecutors will continue to use every available resource and appropriate tool to detect, deter, and disrupt terrorist plots, investigate and prosecute terrorists, and aid in developing rule of law programs in post-conflict countries to help prevent terrorism abroad.  The Department will aggressively pursue emerging threats around the world and at home, enhance the ability to gather and analyze actionable intelligence, and engage in outreach efforts to all communities in order to prevent terrorism before it occurs.   Cyber activities, likewise, constitute a growing threat to our national security.  As an initial matter, an increasing number of sophisticated state and non-state actors have both the desire and the capability to steal sensitive data, trade secrets, and intellectual property for military and competitive advantage.  In addition, cyber-enabled terrorism poses a viable threat to national security.   Although the United States has not yet encountered terrorist organizations using the Internet to launch a full-scale cyber-attack, the Department believes that it is a question of when, not if, they will attempt to do so.  The cyber threat demands ready and fluid means of sharing information and coordinating actions and responses.  In order to successfully investigate and disrupt cyber threats, the Department must be creative and forward-looking in its approach, considering what kinds of tools, investigations, and outreach can be launched now to lay the groundwork for future cyber protective efforts.","National Security:  Protect Americans from terrorism and other threats to National Security, including cyber security threats. By September 30, 2015, the Department of Justice will: Disrupt 175 terrorist threats and groups and disrupt and dismantle 600 cyber threat actors."," National Defense | Administration of Justice",462
"Department of Justice",FY16-17,"Combating Cyber Threats","A range of cyber activities also constitutes a growing threat to our national security and economic stability.  An increasing number of sophisticated state and non-state actors have both the desire and the capability to steal sensitive data, trade secrets, and intellectual property for military and competitive advantage.  Insiders pose an additional threat to engage in insider-enabled cyber theft and sabotage.  The other major national security threat in cyberspace is cyber-enabled terrorism.   Although the United States has not yet encountered terrorist organizations using the Internet to launch a full-scale cyber attack, the Department believes that it is a question of when, not if, they will attempt to do so.  The cyber threat demands ready and fluid means of sharing information and coordinating actions and responses.  The Department’s cyber strategy involves an all-tools approach, inclusive of investigation and prosecution, and with a focus on the disruption of the threat, regardless of the particular tool used.  The Department has significant and growing national security responsibilities in the area of cyber security, and retains primary authority over the investigation and prosecution of cybercrimes, including those that have national security implications.  These investigations most frequently arise in instances where an agent of a foreign government seeks to infiltrate or harm a sensitive or important piece of U.S. cyber infrastructure.  Finally, the Department has increasing legal and policy duties assisting interagency and legislative cyber initiatives to protect American critical infrastructure, networks, businesses, and computer users in a manner consistent with the law.   This goal aligns with Administration cybersecurity priorities.  The goal was established in coordination with OMB policies and guidance, to include the Cybersecurity Strategy and Implementation Plan, the Fiscal Year 2015-2016 Guidance on Federal Information Security and Privacy Management Requirements, and the Cybersecurity Cross-Agency Priority Goal.","Identify and pursue cyber threat actors.  By September 30, 2017, the Department of Justice will conduct 1,000 computer intrusion program disruptions or dismantlements while successfully resolving 90 percent of both national security and criminal cyber cases."," National Defense | Administration of Justice",71711
"Department of Justice",FY14-15,"Financial and Healthcare Fraud","The recent financial crisis, which has impacted every American, has resulted in fraud and deception in the finance and housing markets as well as fraudulent schemes that misuse the public’s unprecedented investment in economic recovery.  Criminals who commit mortgage fraud, securities and commodities fraud, and other types of fraud relating to the response to the economic crisis, victimize the American public as a whole.  Similarly, those who defraud Medicare, Medicaid, and other government health care programs defraud every American.  In particular, health care fraudsters take critical resources out of our health care system—thus contributing to the rising cost of health care for all Americans and endangering the short-term and long-term solvency of these essential health care programs.  The Department will continue to address these critical problems by vigorously investigating and prosecuting both health care fraud and financial fraud, in order to protect American businesses, consumers, and taxpayers.","Financial-Healthcare Fraud: Reduce financial and healthcare fraud.  By September 30, 2015, the Department of Justice will: reduce by 3 percent  the number of financial and healthcare fraud investigations pending longer than 2 years to efficiently and effectively drive those investigations to resolution."," Administration of Justice",478
"Department of Justice",FY16-17,"Vulnerable People","The abuse, neglect, exploitation, and trafficking of children, and vulnerable populations, causes irrevocable harm to victims and society. Ensuring that all citizens, particularly children and other vulnerable populations, can live without being disturbed by sexual trauma, exploitation, or human trafficking are more than criminal justice issues, they are societal and moral issues. Despite efforts to date, the threat of these crimes remains very real. In the broadest terms, the goal of the Department is to prevent child exploitation, abuse, hate crimes, and human trafficking from occurring, and protect every person from the physical and mental traumas associated with these crimes.","Protect the most vulnerable among us, including victims and survivors of human trafficking. By September 30, 2017, the Department will: Open investigations concerning the sexual exploitation of children (5% over FY 15 target /3,051) FY 16 target = 3,127 and FY 17 target = 3,204; Open investigations concerning human trafficking (5% over FY 15 target/218) FY 16 target = 223 and FY 17 = 229 Increase the number of open investigations concerning non-compliant sex offenders (3% increase over baseline/1,760) FY 16 target = 1,786 and FY 17 = 1,813 Percent of civil rights cases that are favorably resolved – criminal  (85%) FY 16 target = 85% and FY 17 target = 85% Percent of civil rights cases that are favorably resolved - civil (85%) FY 16 target = 85% and FY 17 target = 85% Increase the number of human trafficking leads and complaints reviewed by the Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit (5% increase over baseline/150) FY 16 target = 154 and FY 17 = 158"," Administration of Justice",72571
"Department of Justice",FY14-15,"Vulnerable People","The abuse, neglect, exploitation, and trafficking of children, the elderly, and other vulnerable populations, causes irrevocable harm to victims and society.  Ensuring that our children, seniors, and all citizens can live without being disturbed by sexual trauma, physical abuse, or financial exploitation is more than a criminal justice issue; it is a societal and moral imperative.  Despite efforts to date, the threat of these crimes remains very real.  In the broadest terms, the goal of the Department of Justice (the Department or DOJ) is to prevent child sexual exploitation, elder abuse, and human trafficking from occurring in the first place, in order to protect every person from the physical and mental traumas associated with these crimes.","Vulnerable People: Protect vulnerable populations by increasing the number of investigations and litigation matters concerning child exploitation, human trafficking, and non-compliant sex offenders; and by improving programs to prevent victimization, identify victims, and provide services. By September 30, 2015, working with federal, state, local, and tribal partners, protect potential victims from abuse and exploitation through three sets of key indicators: Open investigations concerning non-compliant sex offenders (4% over average of FYs 2012, 2013), sexual exploitation of children (3% over average of FYs 2011, 2012, 2013), and human trafficking (2% over FY 2013). Open litigation matters concerning sexual exploitation of children and human trafficking (5% increase over baseline (TBD)) Percent of children recovered within 72 hours of issuance of an AMBER alert (90%)"," Administration of Justice",466
"Department of Justice",FY16-17,"Fraud and Public Corruption","The term white collar crime is synonymous with a full range of frauds committed by business and government professionals. It is not a victimless crime. A single scam can destroy a company, devastate families by wiping out their life savings, or cost society billions of dollars (or even all three). Today’s fraud schemes are more sophisticated than ever. The financial crisis of 2008, impacting every American, resulted in fraud and deception in the finance and housing markets, as well as fraudulent schemes that misused the public’s unprecedented investment in economic recovery. The distressed condition of the national housing market, paired with high unemployment, created a fertile environment for unscrupulous fraudsters seeking to take advantage of desperate homeowners. Criminals who commit mortgage fraud, securities and commodities fraud, and other types of fraud victimize the American public as a whole. Similarly, those who defraud Medicare, Medicaid, and other government health care programs defraud every American. Fraudsters take critical resources out of our health care system—thus contributing to the rising cost of health care for all Americans and endangering the short-term and long-term solvency of these essential health care programs. The Department will address these critical problems by vigorously investigating and prosecuting white collar crimes, including financial fraud and health care fraud, in order to protect American businesses, consumers, and taxpayers. Fraud and public corruption, as reported by this Priority Goal, include a number of criminal and civil reporting categories including but not limited to: financial crime and corruption; public and corporate fraud, including health care fraud and mortgage fraud; public corruption; computer/cybercrime; identity theft; intellectual property crimes; and procurement fraud. Public corruption is a breach of trust by federal, state, or local officials—often with the help of private sector accomplices. Public corruption misdirects public monies, distorts governmental decision-making and threatens our democratic processes. Corrupt public officials undermine our country’s national security, our overall safety, the public trust, and confidence in the U.S. government, wasting billions of dollars. This corruption can tarnish virtually every aspect of society. The U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), passed in 1977, makes it illegal for U.S. companies, U.S. persons, and foreign corporations with certain U.S. ties to bribe foreign officials to obtain or retain business overseas. Foreign bribery can impact U.S. financial markets, economic growth, and national security. It also breaks down the international free market system by promoting anti-competitive behavior and, ultimately, makes consumers pay more. The Department will pursue criminal and civil litigation to protect the federal fisc and hold accountable corrupt officials and those who commit fraud; and promote transparency in markets by preserving competition and protecting consumers and investors.","Protect the American people from fraud and public corruption. By September 30, 2017, increase the number of new investigations by 2 percent with emphasis on holding individuals accountable associated with fraud and public corruption, including white collar crime, financial fraud, and health care fraud."," Administration of Justice",71251
"Department of Labor",FY16-17,"Expand Registered Apprenticeships","In 2014, President Obama challenged our nation to expand ApprenticeshipUSA, a way for companies to showcase their current work-based learning programs that meet industry and national standards for registration, and double the number of apprentices in the U.S. over the next five years.  To support this challenge, the President announced new federal investments using existing funds to support job-driven Registered Apprenticeships through the American Apprenticeship Initiative.  While significant progress has been made, we must add another 250,000 apprenticeships over the next two years to reach this goal.  Registered Apprenticeship programs offer workers a way to start new careers with good wages and are a proven gateway to the middleclass. Workforce organizations, community colleges, and other education and training institutions must work with employers to develop this earn-while-you-learn employment and training strategy.  According to DOL data, graduates of Registered Apprenticeship programs earn an average of $60,000 a year and over 8 in 10 graduates retain their employment 9 months after exiting their apprenticeship training.[1]  Every federal dollar spent on apprenticeship has yielded roughly $27, a significant return on federal investment.[2]  Building on historic bipartisan support from Congress and leadership across a broad range of states and industry partners, DOL has awarded nearly $90 million in funding appropriated for the ApprenticeshipUSA program to further the goal to double and diversify Registered Apprenticeships by 2019.  The $90 million consists of strategic investments to accelerate and expand state apprenticeship strategies and grow the use of apprenticeships in new industries while ensuring that these profound educational and economic opportunities are within reach for more Americans. These new investments are the result of a bipartisan agreement to provide the first-ever programmatic funding for Registered Apprenticeship through the Fiscal Year 2016 spending bill.   [1] DOL/ETA and the Kansas Department of Commerce (Kansas) have a Memorandum of Understanding that enables ETA’s national programs access to wage records through the Wage Record Interchange System (WRIS) and the Federal Employment Data Exchange System (FEDES) in order to calculate the WIA common measures. This arrangement is the Common Reporting Information System (CRIS).   [2] See page 39 of “An Effectiveness Assessment and Cost Benefit Analysis of Registered Apprenticeship in 10 States” by Mathematica Policy Research. http://wdr.doleta.gov/research/FullText_Documents/ETAOP_2012_10.pdf","Expand opportunities for workers to start new careers with good wages, and provide gateways to the middle class by increasing the number of registered apprentices. By September 30, 2017, increase the number of registered apprentices from 450,000 as of September, 2015, to 600,000.",,37272
"Department of Labor",FY16-17,"Secure safe and healthy workplaces, particularly in high-risk industries.","Each year, thousands of workers are killed and millions are injured or made ill on the job due to unsafe and unhealthy working conditions.[1] Department of Labor (DOL) agencies charged with improving workplace safety and health will use rigorous enforcement, science-based rulemaking, and stakeholder involvement to achieve this crucial strategic goal. All workers have a right to a safe and healthful work environment.  The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) conduct inspections and outreach in high-risk areas, and complete mandated enforcement activities.  DOL expects these activities to have the greatest effect on overall compliance and the ultimate reduction in workplace injuries, fatalities and illnesses.  Therefore, the Department will continue its commitment to the Agency Priority Goal of reducing injuries, illnesses and fatalities.       [1] 2011 Injuries, Illnesses and Fatalities. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Available at www.bls.gov/iif/.","By September 30, 2017, increase the number of abated workplace hazards associated with falls by 0.5 percent per year compared to FY 2015 through inspections at workplaces covered by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and reduce worker fatality rates in mining by two percent per year based on a rolling five-year average per 200,000 hours worked through its enhanced enforcement regime, educational outreach and training and cooperation with industry stakeholders.***   ***This is a tentative target. OSHA expects two rulemakings to affect the number of hazards abated related to falls in FY 2016 – the final rule on Occupational Injury and Illness Recording and Reporting Requirements—Northern American Industry Classification System (NAICS) Update and Reporting Revisions, issued in September 2014, and the forthcoming final rule on Walking and Working Surfaces and Personal Protective Equipment (Fall Protection Systems).  OSHA will continue to analyze data related to this measure and may revise the target based on the results of the analysis.  "," Health",36812
"Department of Labor",FY14-15,"Secure safe and healthy workplaces, particularly in high-risk industries.","Each year, thousands of workers are killed and millions are injured on the job due to unsafe working conditions.[1] Department of Labor (DOL) agencies charged with improving workplace safety and health will use rigorous enforcement, science-based rulemaking, and stakeholder involvement to achieve this crucial strategic goal. All workers have a right to a safe and healthful work environment. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) recognize that some workers are more vulnerable than others and that some workplaces are more hazardous than others. By strategically conducting inspections and outreach in high-risk areas, in addition to completing mandated enforcement activity, DOL expects to have the greatest effect on overall compliance. With more employers in compliance, workplace injuries, fatalities, and illnesses should decline – the ultimate outcome for DOL and American workers. Therefore, the Department will continue its commitment to the Agency Priority Goal of reducing injuries, illnesses and fatalities.     [1] 2011 Injuries, Illnesses and Fatalities. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Available at www.bls.gov/iif/.","By September 30, 2015, increase the number of abated workplace hazards associated with falls, through inspections at workplaces covered by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and reduce worker fatality rates in mining by five percent per year based on a rolling five-year average."," Management",314
"Department of Labor",FY14-15,"Improve opportunities for America's workers through attainment of industry-recognized credentials that employers demand by 10 percent.","Improving the employment prospects for millions of Americans is a growing challenge for our nation. This challenge is especially acute for those who are identified as low-skilled, disadvantaged or displaced. One reason job seekers struggle to find work is that the 21st century economy requires a different skill mix from prior decades. Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) report released in November 2015, based on October 2015 data, indicate that more than 1.7 million of the 7.9 million unemployed adults in the U.S. lack any post-secondary degree or certificate. For adults over the age of 25 without a high school diploma or equivalent credential, the unemployment rate is 7.4 percent, and for adults with a high school diploma or equivalent credential but not a college degree, it’s 5.2 percent.[1] The immediate employment and training needs of low-skilled adults must be addressed to help this population move into the middle class, or for those that are in the middle class, to help them remain there. As the economy recovers, we find that low-skilled adults are being left behind.   Workforce skills are the key to a strong economy and a thriving middle class. The U.S. has the most talented and resilient workforce in the world. We have to invest in them. We have to create more career pathways for them, more opportunities to acquire the credentials that employers demand. We need to build our human capital - and we have to do it in a smart, strategic, efficient way.   The economic downturn has had lingering effects on both low-skilled adults and employers. Industries such as manufacturing that previously employed a large number of adults without post-secondary training are now seeking replacement workers with post-secondary credentials. Drivers of the economy will be concentrated in industry sectors and occupations that require some post-secondary education or training. Data from BLS indicate that occupations that usually require a post-secondary degree or other credential are expected to account for nearly half of all new jobs from 2008 to 2018, and one-third of job openings. While labor market projections and employer surveys point to a strong and growing demand for skilled workers, education attainment levels in the U.S. are declining. Declining rates of postsecondary credential attainment threaten America's global competitiveness and ability to generate broadly-shared prosperity at home.   At the same time, the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act[2](WIOA), which supersedes the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (WIA), funds training that leads to successful outcomes although it may not always result in a credential. For example, previously under WIA adult programs, on-the-job training does not result in a credential, yet such training can result in the acquisition of valuable occupational skills. Although training that leads to credentials is an important Employment and Training Administration (ETA) strategy, the optimal level of credential attainment is not 100% for all WIA, and now WIOA, authorized programs.   ETA is working to explore the use of real-time labor market information to identify credentials in-demand by businesses and will pursue approaches to engage with industry to identify high-quality and portable credentials within key sectors as well as encouraging similar efforts at the state and local levels as part of sector strategy and economic development efforts. [1]The Employment Situation – October 2015.  Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor (http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/empsit.pdf) [2] The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) took effect on July 1, 2015.  The passage of WIOA provides new authorizing legislation for programs that had been authorized under WIA.  ","By September 30, 2015, increase the percentage of training program completers who attain industry-recognized credentials by 10 percent."," Education, Training, Employment, and Social Services",3352
"Department of Labor",FY16-17,"Improve employment outcomes for veterans","As large numbers of service members and veterans return to the civilian labor force, they are met by an improving but still-challenging labor market. Veterans, service members, and their families still face significant barriers to entering and maintaining meaningful employment. This is especially true for veterans with significant barriers to employment, including those with a service-connected disability, the educationally or economically disadvantaged, and veterans ages 18 - 24, who have experienced historically high unemployment. Veterans' Employment and Training Service (VETS) intensive services, now reported as individualized career services due to the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), include comprehensive and specialized assessments of skill levels and needs, the development of an individual employment plan, group and individual career counseling and planning, and short-term skills development (such as interview and communication skills). VETS believes that providing individualized career services to veterans leads to better outcomes. This is supported by findings from an initial study (dated January 30, 2015), conducted by the Department's Chief Evaluation Office, analyzing Wagner-Peyser and Jobs for Veterans State Grants (JVSG) data for the time period of January 2011 to March 2013. Data analysis from the study indicated the following: JVSG veterans, compared to non-JVSG veterans and non-veterans, exhibited the highest employment rates, highest earnings, and quickest time-to-first staff-assisted service. JVSG veterans have smaller gender earnings gaps and smaller military-separation-time earnings gaps.","By September 30, 2017, VETS will remain at 90 percent of participants who receive individualized career services from Disabled Veterans' Outreach Program (DVOP) specialists.",,37072
"Department of Labor",FY14-15,"Increase the percent of participants who receive intensive services provided by Disabled Veterans Outreach Program specialists, with a focus on improving employment outcomes for veterans.","As large numbers of service members and veterans return to the civilian labor force, they are met by an improving but still-challenging labor market. Veterans, service members, and their families still face significant barriers to entering and maintaining meaningful employment. This is especially true for veterans with significant barriers to employment, including those with a service-connected disability, the educationally or economically disadvantaged, and veterans ages 18-24, who experience historically high unemployment. Additionally, the last several decades have seen significant shifts in the American economy and workplace. Globalization, outsourcing, the shift from manufacturing to service sector jobs, the rise of technology, the decline in unionization, and the changing ethnic and gender make-up of the population, have changed the physical, social, and cultural landscape of the workforce. Today’s employers increasingly rely on highly-skilled workers with post-secondary degrees, state licensure, or other credentials. Veterans’ transferable skills (gained in past jobs and in the service) can help meet the needs of employers in the 21st century.","By September 30, 2015, increase to 75 percent of participants served by Disabled Veterans' Outreach specialists who receive intensive services.",,318
"Department of State and USAID",FY16-17,"Excellence in Consular Service Delivery","The mission of the Bureau of Consular Affairs (CA) is to provide efficient and effective consular services to protect U.S. citizens abroad, ensure U.S. security, facilitate the entry of legitimate foreign travelers, and foster economic growth.  Two core functions of this mission are the adjudication of passport and visa applications.  Demand for passports and visas is subject to unpredictable factors, and this variability affects workload planning.  Domestically, the Department supports a significant presence across the country to respond to the consular service needs of the U.S. public.  This presence consists of 29 passport agencies and centers and a network of more than 8,000 public offices managed by other federal, state, and local government agencies/offices designated to accept passport applications.  Approximately 126 million U.S. citizens, 38.6 percent of the population, have valid passports; this number has almost doubled in the last decade.  In fiscal year (FY) 2014, CA processed 13.3 million passport applications, a 4.6 percent increase over FY 2013.  An expected surge in passport renewal applications represents a rising challenge to the achievement of our passport-related performance goal.  Based on analysis of renewal application trends, passport renewal rates increased by 14.8 percent in FY 2015, and are expected to increase further through FY 2017. Executive Order 13597, issued in January 2012, required CA to increase visa adjudicating capacity in Brazil and China by 40 percent and ensure that 80 percent of nonimmigrant visa (NIV) applicants worldwide are interviewed within three weeks of receipt of an application.  In FY 2015, CA adjudicated more than 13 million NIV applications, a 13.5 percent increase from FY 2014, while working through extraordinary increases in visa demand in key markets, including a 50 percent increase in China.  Adjudications of NIV applications grew by more than 86 percent from FY 2009 to FY 2015.  Even with this growth, in FY 2015, more than 92.5 percent of applicants worldwide, on average, were interviewed within three weeks of submitting their applications, a significant change from 70 percent in early FY 2012. In calendar year (CY) 2014, the Department’s efforts facilitated the travel of 75 million visitors to the United States, who, according to the Department of Commerce’s 2014 United States Travel and Tourism Statistics, spent $220.6 billion, an average of almost $3,000 per visitor.  An estimated 1.1 million jobs in the United States are supported by international travel.  In addition to the economic benefits, the visa adjudication process puts CA at the front line of U.S. border security, as consular staff vet individuals who seek to travel to the United States.","Improve visa and passport customer service and processing speed in support of the travel and tourism sector of the U.S. economy, while preserving the integrity of passport and visa adjudication processes. Through September 30, 2017, process 99 percent of all passport applications within published timeframes and ensure 80 percent of nonimmigrant visa applicants are interviewed within three weeks of the date of application."," Management",42492
"Department of State and USAID",FY16-17,"Outreach to U.S. Business","President Obama announced the National Export Initiative (NEI) in his 2010 State of the Union.  This initiative aimed to renew and revitalize our efforts to promote American exports abroad.  Exports have been a key driver in our nation’s economic growth.  The United States has added 1.6 million new jobs since 2009 solely due to exports.  Jobs related to exports pay up to 18 percent higher than jobs not related to exports.  Earlier this year, the Department of Commerce released a report showing that U.S. goods and service exports supported more than 11.7 million jobs in 2014 – a new record.  In May 2014, the Administration announced the launching of NEI/NEXT:  a new customer service-driven strategy with improved information resources that will ensure American businesses are fully able to capitalize on expanded opportunities to sell their goods and services abroad.  This initiative will build on the success of the NEI.    Today, a small percentage of America’s 30 million companies export their goods or services.  Of the U.S. companies that do export, two-thirds export to only one country. Increasing this number, even by a small percentage, could have a big impact on the U.S. economy.  EB has been a leading player in the U.S. government’s efforts to shape opportunities of American businesses overseas and one of our signature efforts is the ""Direct Line"" program. The Direct Line program provides a unique opportunity for American businesses, particularly small- and medium-sized enterprises, to engage directly via teleconference or webcast with U.S. Ambassadors overseas at our 270 Embassies and Consulates in over 190 countries. Small and medium enterprises (SME) operating in a high-speed global marketplace need answers to their questions quickly.  Quick access to accurate information is the cornerstone of Direct Line program.  It is important to note that U.S. business, particularly SMEs, face considerable hurdles to enter overseas markets.  This information will provide U.S. companies with tactical, on-the-ground information critical to market access and decision-making.","Increase access to market information for U.S. businesses looking to export.   By September 30, 2017, the Department of State will increase the number of Direct Line calls and webinars by 20 percent and increase the average number of participants on the calls by 10 percent over the FY2015 baseline to provide U.S. companies with tactical, on-the-ground information critical to market access and decision-making."," Economic Security and Policy",45432
"Department of State and USAID",FY14-15,"Excellence in Consular Service Delivery","The mission of the Bureau of Consular Affairs (CA) is to provide consular operations that most efficiently and effectively protect U.S. citizens, ensure U.S. security, facilitate the entry of legitimate travelers, and foster economic growth.  Two core functions of this mission are the provision of passports and visas.  Demand for passport and visa documents is inherently unpredictable in the long term, and this variability can greatly affect workload planning efforts.  This is true especially with regard to the current Congressional discussion surrounding comprehensive immigration reform and the potential challenges the Department would face in implementing any reform legislation. While the proposed reforms would have a major impact on consular operations and workload, CA will work closely with Congress, the Administration, and its interagency partners to be sure it has the human and financial resources to implement any changes to U.S. law efficiently and effectively. Domestically, the Department supports a significant presence across the country to respond to the consular service needs of the U.S. public.  Most notably, this presence consists of 28 passport agencies and centers and a network of more than 8,441 public offices managed by other federal, state, and local government agencies/offices that are designated to accept passport applications.  The number of valid passports in circulation has doubled in the past decade.  Approximately 114 million U.S. citizens, or 37 percent of the population, have valid passports.  In FY 2013, CA issued 13.5 million passport book and card products, a 3.1 percent increase over FY 2012.  A potential impending surge in passport renewal applications represents a rising challenge to the achievement of this performance goal.  Based on analysis of renewal application trends, passport renewal rates are expected to increase significantly from previous years, beginning in FY 2017. With Executive Order 13597 issued in January 2012, CA needed to increase its visa processing capacity in Brazil and China by 40 percent and ensure that 80 percent of nonimmigrant visa (NIV) applicants worldwide are interviewed within three weeks of receipt of an application.  In FY 2013, CA processed 10.7 million nonimmigrant visa applications and issued 9.2 million nonimmigrant visas, a 3.6 percent increase over the previous year, while working through extraordinary increases in visa demand in key markets such as a nearly 38 percent increase in Colombia.  Currently, more than 80 percent of applicants worldwide, on average, are interviewed within three weeks of submitting their applications, a significant change over the 70% in early FY 2012. Providing Excellence in Consular Service Delivery provides additional benefits toward the achievement of the Department’s goals.  The Department’s efforts facilitate the travel of 67 million visitors to the United States each year, who, according to the Department of Commerce’s 2012 United States Travel and Tourism Statistics, spent $166 billion, an average of $2,478 per visitor.  An estimated 1.2 million jobs in the United States are supported annually by international travel. In addition to the economic benefits, the visa issuance process is the front-line of ensuring U.S. security through the visa interview process, which can eliminate applicants desiring to travel to the U.S. for illegitimate purposes.","Through September 30, 2015, maintain a 99% rate of all passport applications processed within the targeted timeframe and ensure 80% of nonimmigrant visa applicants are interviewed within three weeks of the date of application."," International Affairs",424
"Department of State and USAID",FY14-15,"USAID Procurement Reform","As a cornerstone of its USAID Forward reform agenda, USAID has begun a critical shift in the way we administer our assistance, placing a greater emphasis on public-private partnerships, channeling funding to local governments and organizations that have the in-country knowledge and expertise to create sustainable positive change, and expanding our partner base.  USAID is also focused on streamlining the procurement process, building new partnerships, and institutionalizing our reforms.   USAID is committed to work in full partnership with local governments and organizations and tailoring its approaches accordingly.  The Agency’s Local Solutions initiative will focus on the following: Convening partners from across local organizations with which USAID has partnered – whether these are governments, civil society, the private sector, donors, or implementing resource partners to identify development challenges; Connecting these stakeholders with innovative products, processes, or policies to address these challenges; and Contextualizing and scaling up these solutions within local systems.   In so doing, the Agency will support sustainable development results and allow cooperative and mutually accountable relationships to grow.  These relationships – between USAID and partner country stakeholders, as well as among these stakeholders are critical to the development of resilient societies that can deliver results to their citizens.   The Agency collaborates with these stakeholders by investing in projects and programs in these countries through its procurement process.  In 2012, USAID obligated $13.9 billion through acquisition and assistance mechanisms.  Given the important role that procurement plays in enabling USAID to carry out its mission around the world, it is critical that the Agency’s acquisition and assistance processes operate efficiently and effectively to achieve our development objectives.  In 2009, the average time for USAID to award a contract in originating in Washington was 513 calendar days. This delay in lead time for awarding contracts resulted in a delay in program implementation. Therefore, reducing the time it takes to make an award is a critical priority for the Agency.   Small businesses are vital to the U.S. economy and provide critical resources that contribute to the mission of USAID.  By expanding opportunities for U.S. small businesses, we energize the U.S. economy and leverage a greater diversity of experience and expertise in our development objectives.  U.S. small businesses make up a majority of U.S. businesses, and USAID partners with these businesses to increase innovation and provide new approaches to our programs.","By September 30, 2015, USAID will reduce procurement administrative lead time (PALT) by 40 percent from the 2009 baseline of 513 calendar days, increase percentage of program funding going directly to local partners to 30 percent, and meet or exceed the prime contract acquisition dollars obligated to U.S. small businesses worldwide by 10 percent from the FY 2013 baseline of 8.2 percent."," International Affairs",428
"Department of State and USAID",FY14-15,"Climate Change","The focus of this Agency Priority Goal (APG) is to enable economic growth concurrent with significant reductions in national emissions trajectories through 2020 and the longer term by supporting the development and implementation of low emission development strategies (LEDS).  Specifically, this APG measures the progress of Enhancing Capacity for Low Emission Development Strategies (EC-LEDS) and the multilateral Low Emission Development Strategies Global Partnership (LEDS GP). Through EC-LEDS, a multiagency U.S. Government team is working with partner countries to identify and advance effective economy-wide LEDS. The LEDS Global Partnership is a multilateral platform for enhanced coordination, information exchange, and cooperation among countries and international programs working to advance low emission climate resilient growth that the U.S. State Department founded. Low-emission, climate-resilient sustainable economic growth is highlighted as a U.S. diplomatic and development priority in the U.S. National Security Strategy, the President’s development policy, the President’s Climate Action Plan, and the Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review.","Enable economic growth concurrent with significant reductions in national emissions trajectories through 2020 and the longer term by supporting the development and implementation of low emission development strategies (LEDS). By the end of 2015, U.S. bilateral assistance under LEDS will reach at least 25 countries (from the previous baseline of 22 countries) and will result in the achievement of at least 45 major individual country milestones, each reflecting a significant, measureable improvement in that country’s development or implementation of LEDS.  Also by the end of 2015, at least 1,200 additional developing country government officials and practitioners (from a baseline of 0) will strengthen their LEDS capacity through participation in the LEDS Global Partnership and that capacity will be meaningfully applied to 25 countries (from a baseline of 0)."," Natural Resources and Environment | International Affairs",420
"Department of State and USAID",FY16-17,"Climate Change","The focus of this Agency Priority Goal (APG) is to enable economic growth in developing countries in a manner that supports their long term transition to a low greenhouse gas emissions economy, thereby enhancing their ability to contribute to the global effort to address climate change. The U.S. Government (USG) will accomplish this by supporting the development, refinement and implementation of country-driven low emission development strategies (LEDS) and international and domestic climate change mitigation commitments. LEDS is both a development and a diplomatic priority.  The USG's development agenda is supported by work on LEDS, which promotes long-term, sustainable, low emission economic growth. The USG's diplomatic agenda is supported by LEDS, as it is the foundation for enabling developing countries to better understand and prioritize their options in order to determine which development and mitigation goals they can achieve to contribute to the international effort to address climate change. An effective global effort to reduce GHG emissions in turn benefits the U.S. by reducing climate related risks.           This APG focuses on measuring the progress of the Enhancing Capacity for Low Emission Development Strategies (EC-LEDS) program and the multilateral LEDS Global Partnership. Through EC-LEDS, a multiagency U.S. Government team is working with partner countries to advance effective country-driven, economy-wide LEDS that support national development and economic growth objectives by scaling up clean energy capacity; increasing the area of land under improved management; and advancing other actions that significantly reduce projected emissions from a ""business as usual"" pathway and monitor progress. The LEDS Global Partnership is an international community of practice for enhancing coordination, information exchange, and cooperation among countries and international programs working to advance low emission, climate-resilient growth. The U.S. worked with other donor countries and technical leaders to launch this Partnership in 2011. This APG will also aim to capture progress of complementary U.S.-supported climate change programs that contribute to LEDS objectives in developing countries, including the major outcomes of programs that seek to incorporate climate change mitigation.  Low-emission, climate-resilient economic growth is highlighted as a U.S. diplomatic and development priority in the President’s Climate Action Plan, the U.S. National Security Strategy, the President’s Development Policy, and the Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review.  Promoting low emission, climate-resilient development is a central pillar of the President’s Global Climate Change Initiative and is at the core of USAID’s Climate Change and Development Strategy. ","Combat global climate change by supporting the transition to high-performing, low-carbon economies.  By September 30, 2017, U.S. government partnerships with developing countries to refine and implement their low emission development strategies (LEDS) will result in achievement of 100 (from a baseline of 46) major  milestones which contribute to significant, measureable progress toward achieving domestic and international contributions to global greenhouse gas reductions.  At least 4,000 developing country government officials and practitioners (from a baseline of 2,000) will strengthen their LEDS capacity through participation in the LEDS Global Partnership (GP), and that capacity will result in strengthened LEDS policies or measures in 24 countries (from a baseline of 0). "," Natural Resources and Environment | International Affairs",51941
"Department of State and USAID",FY14-15,"Food Security","Approximately 840 million people in the world remain hungry today, and 98 percent of them live in developing countries.  In addition, the world’s population is projected to increase to nine billion by 2050.  This population increase and changes in diets will require at least a 60 percent increase in global food production, all in a world that will have less arable land and less access to water under changing climate patterns. Improving food security has risen to prominence as a global development goal in recent years due to factors such as food price spikes, increasing poverty rates, and social unrest related to poverty and hunger.  At the G-8 Summit in L’Aquila, Italy, in July 2009, global leaders—including President Obama—agreed to take significant action to improve food security through agricultural development and reforms to the way the international community approaches food security.  The U.S. committed at least $3.5 billion and other countries committed over $18 billion through 2012.  In May 2012, at the Camp David G-8 Summit with African heads of state and corporate and G-8 leaders, President Obama again led global food security efforts by launching the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition for Africa, a shared goal to achieving sustained and inclusive agricultural growth and raising 50 million people out of poverty by 2022.   The Feed the Future initiative is the U.S. Government’s contribution to the global effort launched by President Obama at L’Aquila.  Feed the Future works with the global community, strengthening coordination with other donors and stakeholders, to: Advance comprehensive, country-led strategies that focus on accountability and improving the productivity and market access of small-scale producers, particularly women, who make up the majority of small farmers in developing countries; Catalyze private sector economic growth, finance, and trade with necessary investments in public goods as well as policy, legal, and regulatory reforms; Use science and technology to sustainably increase agricultural productivity; Protect the natural resource base upon which agriculture depends; Build resilience and help to prevent recurrent food crises in vulnerable regions; and Invest in improving nutrition for women and young children as a foundation for future growth.   Feed the Future is well-positioned to support the U.S. Government’s aim to promote inclusive economic growth, reduce extreme poverty, and improve food security, as outlined in the State Department-USAID Joint Strategic Plan.","Increase food security in Feed the Future initiative countries.  By September 30, 2015, increase the number of farmers and others who have applied new technologies or management practices to eight million, from a corrected base of five million in 2012."," Agriculture | International Affairs",434
"Department of State and USAID",FY16-17,"Food Security","Nearly 800 million people in the world suffer from chronic hunger; the vast majority live in developing countries.  In addition, the world’s population is projected to increase to nine billion by 2050.  This population increase and changes in diets will require at least a 60 percent increase in global food production, without adversely affecting the environment.  Investments in global agriculture and nutrition are the key to addressing these issues. Improving food security has risen to prominence as a global development goal in recent years due to factors such as food price spikes, increasing poverty rates, and social unrest related to poverty and hunger.  To address this challenge, President Barack Obama called upon global leaders in 2009 at the G-8 L’Aquila Summit to unlock the potential of agricultural development as the key to reducing hunger, extreme poverty and malnutrition.  President Obama’s leadership at L’Aquila helped spur commitments from other donors, totaling more than $22 billion, as well as new and expanded financial commitments in host countries. Feed the Future emerged from this commitment as the center of U.S. Government efforts to end global hunger, poverty and malnutrition.  Led by USAID, Feed the Future leverages the expertise and programs of 10 additional U.S. Government departments and agencies to work in partnership with host-country governments, businesses, smallholder farmers, research institutions and civil society organizations to promote a comprehensive approach to global food security and nutrition. With an emphasis on smallholder farmers, particularly women, Feed the Future aims to reduce the prevalence of poverty and the prevalence of stunted children under five years of age by an average of 20 percent, in the areas where USAID works. Feed the Future will continue to support the U.S. Government’s aim to promote inclusive economic growth, reduce extreme poverty, and improve food security, as outlined in the State Department-USAID Joint Strategic Plan and the Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review. The momentum created by President Obama’s commitment at L’Aquila has helped inspire a series of related development efforts centered around inclusive, collective global action.  For example, it helped pave the way for the 2010 establishment of the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program, an innovative multi-donor trust fund that to date has allocated about $1.4 billion to 25 low-income countries to help boost agricultural productivity. And in 2012, recognizing the critical role of the private sector in sustainable agricultural transformation, President Obama, African leaders and other G-8 members announced the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition to significantly expand responsible private-sector investment in African agriculture and nutrition.  National governments made specific policy commitments to improve the enabling environment for responsible private sector investment.  As a result, more than 200 global and African companies have committed to invest $10.2 billion to benefit 8.7 million smallholders through sourcing or services. Collectively, these and other efforts are reducing hunger and poverty, improving nutrition, building a strong foundation for continued economic growth, and promoting resilient communities.","Increase food security in Feed the Future initiative countries.  By September 30, 2017, 10 out of 19 Feed the Future-focus countries will exhibit reductions of 10 percent or greater in the prevalence of poverty or stunting in their zones of influence, compared to the 2011-2012 baseline study results."," Agriculture | International Affairs",35702
"Department of State and USAID",FY14-15,"Global Health","USAID with its partners in the U.S. Government and the global community are committed to the goal of ending preventable child and maternal deaths.  While many challenges remain, today, more than ever, we are equipped with the tools and knowledge to reach this goal. The health of mothers and children around the world is linked to improvements in maternal health, which inherently affect child health. Over the past two decades, there has been a nearly 50 percent reduction in maternal deaths, from 543,000 in 1990 to 287,000 in 2010. Meanwhile, the annual number of under-five deaths declined from 12.6 million in 1990 to 6.6 million in 2012. While under-five mortality is declining faster now than in the past two decades, with the annual rate of reduction more than tripling in 2005-2012 compared to the rate in 1990-1995, 18,000 children still die every day. The U.S. cannot act alone and in order to meet the Millennium Development Goal Four (Reduce Child Mortality) target by its agreed date of 2015, an additional 3.5 million children's lives above the current trend rate will need to be saved between 2013 and 2015.  ","Support the global effort to end preventable child and maternal deaths.  By September 30, 2015, U.S. assistance to end preventable child and maternal deaths will contribute to reductions in under-five mortality in 24 maternal and child health U.S. Government-priority countries by 4 deaths per 1,000 live births as compared to a 2013 baseline."," Health | International Affairs",436
"Department of State and USAID",FY16-17,"Global Health","USAID with its partners in the U.S. Government (USG) and the global community are committed to the goal of ending preventable child and maternal deaths.  While many challenges remain, today more than ever, we are equipped with the tools and knowledge to reach this goal. Child deaths nearly halved from 1990 to 2013, saving an estimated 100 million child lives. Maternal deaths decreased by 45 percent over the same period. Between 2001 and 2013, malaria mortality rates decreased globally by 47 percent and by 54 percent in Africa alone. Estimates indicate that more than four million global malaria-related deaths were averted, primarily in children under five in Africa.  Rates of modern contraceptive use have increased from 12 percent in 1990 to 31 percent in 2013 in the countries with the largest USAID-supported programs, enabling healthy timing and spacing of pregnancies, which could lower child deaths by 25 percent and cut maternal deaths by 30 percent.  USAID reduced stunting, caused by a lack of essential vitamins and nutrients during early years and by frequent illness that robs growing bodies of the capacity to utilize available nutrients, from 55.6 percent in 1990 to 37.7 percent in 2014 in its 19 nutrition-focus countries.  To continue progress on these issues, USAID focuses its work to end preventable child and maternal deaths in 24 high burden countries around the world.  These 24 countries account for approximately 70 percent of maternal and child deaths and 50 percent of the global unmet need for family planning.  USAID selected these countries because of the magnitude and severity of child and maternal deaths, high country commitment, and the greatest potential to leverage U.S. Government programs, as well as those of other partners and donors. By analyzing the causes of child and maternal death and the current coverage of life-saving interventions, USAID has identified the investments that will have the greatest impact. In the Acting on the Call report, released in June 2014, USAID developed a plan of action for the 24 priority countries.  These plans quantified the potential impact on lives saved if USAID scaled high impact interventions at rates previously achieved by countries with similar characteristics (so-called “best performers”).  This information allows the global community to sharpen implementation of these high-impact interventions and align investments for maximum efficiency.","Support the global effort to end preventable child and maternal deaths. By September 30, 2017, U.S. assistance to end preventable child and maternal deaths will reduce under-five mortality in 24 Maternal and Child Health U.S. Government-priority countries by three deaths per 1,000 live births as compared to a baseline of 2015.  "," Health | International Affairs",50681
"Department of Transportation",FY16-17,"Reduce the rate of roadway fatalities","Background: Reducing roadway fatalities continues to be a top priority at the Department of Transportation (DOT).  Roadway crashes are among the leading causes of death in the United States, especially among young people. In 2015, an estimated 35,200 people died on the Nation’s roadways and action must be taken to address this serious public health and safety problem.  The financial impact of roadway crashes also puts a significant burden on the Nation: approximately $871 billion per year in economic and societal losses underscores the magnitude of the problem.  Roadway crashes are one of the leading causes of traumatic brain injuries as well as permanent spinal cord injuries, putting a heavy burden on our medical systems. The importance of improving transportation safety is reflected in DOT’s Strategic Plan. The Department strives to make the U.S. transportation system the safest in the world. DOT will work with all of its stakeholders — transportation agencies, elected officials, law enforcement, industry, safety advocates, novice drivers, the disability and older adult communities, and the public — to reduce transportation-related fatalities and injuries and make our roadway system safe for all users. Progress toward a national roadway safety goal requires collaboration with a diverse group of stakeholders and partners across a range of disciplines.  Within DOT, the relevant operating administrations can leverage the respective resources and expertise to more effectively achieve a safer transportation environment. These organizations include the following: Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) provides Federal State and local partners the tools, resources, and information necessary to make sound safety investment decisions and coordinates with States to develop Strategic Highway Safety Plans (SHSP) and implement programs that improve the safety of roadway infrastructure on all public roads. Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) promotes safe commercial motor vehicle (CMV) (large truck and bus) operations through education, innovation, regulation, enforcement, financial assistance, partnerships, and full accountability to reduce crashes, injuries, and fatalities on our Nation’s roadways involving CMVs. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) develops vehicle safety standards, conducts research on new vehicle safety and technology, and oversees compliance, defect investigations and recalls.  NHTSA equally focuses on driver behavior by developing effective traffic safety programs, providing grant funds to States to implement these programs, and implementing national high visibility enforcement campaigns.    ","Reduce the rate of roadway fatalities from 1.26 in 2008 to 1.03 per 100 million vehicle miles traveled (VMT) by December 31, 2018."," Transportation",45981
"Department of Transportation",FY16-17,"Reduce the rate of aviation accidents","Aviation fatality rates are at historic lows and continue to drop over time.  However, FAA recognizes the need to continue addressing precursors to accidents in order to continue to improve the current level of safety in the national airspace. In the past, the FAA focused on actual incidents and accidents to identify risk within the aviation system.  The number of accidents has now dropped to a level in which this is a more difficult activity.  The FAA has now developed a proactive approach to identify and address risk.  This is done through dramatically increased air traffic data collection, improved analysis, and the implementation of safety mitigations put in place before an accident occurs.","Reduce aviation fatalities by addressing risk factors both on the ground and in the air. Commercial aviation (i.e. U.S. Carriers): Reduce fatalities to no more than 6.9 per 100 million people on board through FY 2017. General aviation (i.e. private planes): Reduce fatal accident rate per 100,000 flight hours to no more than 1.04 through FY 2017.  Reduce category A&B runway incursions in all airports to a rate of no more than 0.395 per million operations through FY 2017."," Transportation",45542
"Department of Transportation",FY16-17,"Improve the Efficiency of the National Airspace System through more Effective Data Communications Systems - DATACOMM Deployment","The DATACOMM program provides digital communications services between pilots and air traffic controllers (similar to text messaging).  DATACOMM will provide a link between ground automation and flight deck avionics for safety-of-flight ATC clearances, instructions, traffic flow management, flight crew requests and reports. DATACOMM is critical to the success of NextGen operational improvements (OIs) by providing needed communication infrastructure enhancements. DATACOMM will reduce the impact of delays due to ground delay programs, airport reconfigurations, convective weather, congestion, and other causes.  DATACOMM will also reduce communication errors, improve controller and pilot efficiency through automated information exchange, enable NextGen services (e.g., enhanced re-routes, trajectory operations), and increase controller productivity leading to increased capacity.","By the end of FY2017 (September 2017), DATACOMM will be implemented at cumulative total of 18 Airport Traffic Control Towers (ATCTs). In Q1 FY17 (October – December 2016), measurement of the impact of DATACOMM implementation on Taxi Out Times will begin at two airports, where DATACOMM Segment 1 Phase 1 (S1P1) will already be fully operational: Newark (EWR) and John F Kennedy (JFK).  Impact measurement will continue at these two airports through Q3 FY2017. "," Transportation",45532
"Department of Transportation",FY14-15,"Reduce the rate of roadway fatalities","Background: Reducing roadway fatalities continues to be a top priority at the Department of Transportation (DOT).  Roadway crashes are among the leading causes of death in the United States, especially among young people. Over the past 10 years, there has been a 25 percent reduction in the number of fatalities on the Nation’s roadways. In 2014, there were a projected 32,675 motor vehicle fatalities. This decline in fatalities shows a continuation in the general trend downward in fatalities that started in 2006.  In fact, the projected 2014 fatality rate of 1.08 per 100 vehicle million miles traveled (VMT) is the lowest ever recorded. The importance of improving transportation safety is reflected in DOT’s Strategic Plan. The Department strives to make the U.S. transportation system the safest in the world. DOT will work with all of its stakeholders — transportation agencies, elected officials, law enforcement, industry, safety advocates, novice drivers, the disability and older adult communities, and the public — to reduce transportation-related fatalities and injuries and make our roadway system safe for all users. Progress toward a national roadway safety goal requires collaboration with a diverse group of stakeholders and partners across a range of disciplines.  Within DOT, the relevant operating administrations can leverage the respective resources and expertise to more effectively achieve a safer transportation environment. These organizations include the following: Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) provides Federal State and local partners the tools, resources, and information necessary to make sound safety investment decisions and coordinates with States to develop Strategic Highway Safety Plans (SHSP) and implement programs that improve the safety of roadway infrastructure on all public roads. Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) promotes safe commercial motor vehicle (CMV) (large truck and bus) operations through education, innovation, regulation, enforcement, financial assistance, partnerships, and full accountability to reduce crashes, injuries, and fatalities on our Nation’s roadways involving CMVs. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) develops vehicle safety standards, conducts research on new vehicle safety and technology, and oversees compliance, defect investigations and recalls.  NHTSA equally focuses on driver behavior by developing effective traffic safety programs, providing grant funds to States to implement these programs, and implementing national high visibility enforcement campaigns. Roadway fatalities impact all road users, including drivers, passengers, pedestrians, bicyclists, motorcyclists, commercial vehicle operators, and those who work to build and maintain the Nation’s four million miles of roadways. The  Federal government is the only entity that has the authority to establish national safety standards for vehicles, regulate interstate motor carriers, and mandate roadway safety features. Stakeholders: FHWA, FMCSA, and NHTSA have formed strategic alliances with partners from a wide array of backgrounds to enhance and forward the Nation’s roadway safety agenda through guidance, technical assistance, and development of resource materials. Many stakeholders currently address transportation safety issues independently, through individual goals, plans, and activities. Some have implemented substantial safety initiatives, and these contributions are vital to maintaining and improving roadway safety. As described in the RSP, involvement by multiple stakeholders provides opportunities for broader public outreach and for the development and implementation of cross-cutting roadway safety strategies reflecting the common interests of many parties. Each partner offers unique strengths and abilities to assist each mode to deliver its programs and leverage resources in protecting the public on the Nation’s roadways.  Progress toward a national roadway safety goal requires collaboration with a diverse group of stakeholders and partners across a range of disciplines.  The agencies within DOT work with a network of partner organizations, such as State Highway Safety Offices, State transportation departments, Tribal governments, local and county traffic engineers, law enforcement agencies, public health associations, safety advocacy groups, the motorcoach industry, hazardous shipping businesses, interstate trucking operations and the auto industry on the development of evidence-based roadway safety programs, projects, and safety standards.  Such collaboration will help to integrate a broad range of factors affecting roadway safety and create more efficient and effective problem-solving synergies across the transportation industry. Challenges: A number of challenges could slow down or even reverse positive trends.  Many States continue to face budget shortfalls and are under tremendous pressure to reduce services, resulting in cut backs to roadway safety programs.  Cutbacks in State, Tribal and local law enforcement agency budgets could weaken national enforcement campaigns and local traffic safety enforcement efforts.  States, Tribes, and local governments must be willing to use data-driven analytical processes to make the best and most effective safety investments. Distracted driving has emerged as a new threat over the past few years as the rise of portable electronic devices has swiftly expanded.   Moreover, as in-vehicle electronic systems become ever more sophisticated and complex, distracted driving could become an even greater threat if it is not addressed in a manner keeping pace with technological advancements.  In fact, a new report by the Governors' Highway Safety Association (GHSA) cites 50 percent of the US adult population now owning smartphones and the wireless industry reports a subscription penetration rate of 102.2 percent (^1).  Also, as the economy continues to gain momentum, more recreational travel and driving may lead to higher crash rates.  Additionally, safety defects in vehicles that are not addressed in a safe and efficiently manner can lead toward more serious vehicle crashes and injuries.  Finally, the repeal of proven life-saving traffic safety laws at the State level, such as universal motorcycle helmet or primary seat belt laws, could also result in higher injuries and fatalities.  Nevertheless, significant opportunities remain for continued progress in reducing roadway fatalities.  The Department will seek new and innovative ways to serve the American people and keep our roadways safe. MAP-21, The Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (P.L 112-141), was signed into law by President Obama on July 6, 2012.  MAP-21 provides an increase in safety funds available for the Highway Safety Improvement Program along with a focus on performance-based programming.  Implementation of MAP-21 will rely heavily on increased partnership across State agencies with DOT.  Additionally, the shift to performance-based programming may require additional effort on the part of some States.  There are also challenges associated with improving safety with local roads and local agencies with Federal-aid program funds, as well as the capacity and willingness of States to use data-driven and analytical processes to make the best safety infrastructure investments. ^1 - 2013 Distracted Driving: Survey of the States, See http://www.ghsa.org/html/publications/survey/distraction 2013.html","Reduce the rate of roadway fatalities from 1.26 in 2008 to 1.03 per 100 million vehicle miles traveled (VMT) by December 31, 2018."," Transportation",3761
"Department of Transportation",FY14-15,"Reduce the rate of aviation accidents","Aviation fatality rates are at historic lows and continue to drop over time.  However, FAA recognizes the need to continue addressing precursors to accidents in order to continue to improve the current level of safety in the national airspace. In the past, the FAA focused on actual incidents and accidents to identify risk within the aviation system.  The number of accidents has now dropped to a level in which this is a more difficult activity.  The FAA has now developed a proactive approach to identify and address risk.  This is done through dramatically increased air traffic data collection, improved analysis, and the implementation of safety mitigations put in place before an accident occurs.","Reduce aviation fatalities by addressing risk factors both on the ground and in the air. Commercial aviation (i.e. U.S. Carriers): Reduce fatalities to no more than 6.9 per 100 million people on board through FY 2015. General aviation (i.e. private planes): Reduce fatal accident rate per 100,000 flight hours to no more than 1.04 through FY 2015.  Reduce category A&B runway incursions in all airports to a rate of no more than 0.395 per million operations in FY15."," Transportation",4121
"Department of Transportation",FY14-15,"Advance the development of passenger rail in the United States","High-speed and intercity passenger rail represents an innovative approach to addressing the complex 21st century transportation challenges facing the United States. By 2050, the U.S. population will likely increase by more than 100 million people. Highway and airport congestion are increasing, with related severe economic and environmental impacts. To address these challenges and strengthen the country’s competitive position in an increasingly global economy, the U.S. Department of Transportation has a comprehensive program to develop high-speed and intercity passenger rail. The Federal Railroad Administration manages an approximately $20 billion grant and loan portfolio focused on: Building new high-speed rail corridors that expand and fundamentally improve passenger transportation in the geographic regions they serve; Upgrading existing intercity passenger rail corridors to improve reliability, speed, and frequency of existing services; and Laying the groundwork, through corridor and state planning, for future high-speed rail services. For the High-Speed and Intercity Passenger Rail Program, FRA selected 153 projects across the country, with nearly 85 percent of rail investments concentrated in 6 corridors (San Francisco-Los Angeles, Boston-New York City-Washington, D.C., Seattle-Portland-Eugene, Charlotte-Washington, D.C., Chicago-St. Louis, and Chicago-Detroit). These corridors are in five mega-regions, in which about 65 percent of the U.S. population resides and which will likely absorb the bulk of future population growth. FRA has developed a sophisticated grants management apparatus, laid the foundation for sustainable long-term passenger rail improvements, and strengthened industry capacity to deliver rail projects through technical assistance and strategic initiatives. FRA is strongly committed to robust stakeholder outreach, communication, and collaboration as central components of program management, allowing FRA to identify program improvements, engage in project planning and development, and provide the support necessary for grantees to carry out projects successfully.","Initiate construction on 65 construction projects and substantially complete 74 planning, preliminary engineering/environmental analysis for passenger rail by September 30, 2015."," Transportation",4331
"Department of Transportation",FY14-15,"Improve the efficiency of the National airspace system at Air Route Traffic Control Centers - ERAM Deployment","Air traffic control systems can improve the efficiency of airspace. As of December 2014, ERAM achieved Initial Operation Capability at all 20 Air Route Traffic Control Centers (ARTCCs).  By March 2015, all 20 Air Route Traffic Control Centers will have achieved Operational Readiness Date (ORD) for ERAM. The En Route Automation Modernization (ERAM) System replaces the 40-year-old En Route HOST Computer System and backup system used at 20 FAA ARTCCs around the country.  ERAM is the main computer system air traffic controllers use to guide airplanes flying at high altitudes.  Air traffic control towers, terminal radar approach control facilities, the Air Traffic Control System Command Center, flight service stations, and other agencies, such as the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Defense, all connect to and use the information managed by the En Route HOST Computer System.  The original HOST computer software architecture was developed in the late 1960s and was implemented as National Airspace System (NAS) Stage A in the early 1970s. For controllers, ERAM provides a user-friendly interface with customizable displays.  Trajectory modeling is more accurate than in HOST, allowing maximum airspace use, better conflict detection, and improved decision making.  ERAM will substantially increase the number of flights that can be tracked and displayed to controllers from 1,100 to 1,900.  The ERAM system also provides two functionally identical channels with dual redundancy, providing a more robust back-up capability than today's environment.  Coverage will also extend beyond facility boundaries, enabling controllers to handle additional traffic more efficiently because ERAM is designed to process data from up to 64 radars instead of the current 24.  The ERAM system is needed to replace the current HOST system and allow the FAA to continue to provide the high level of safe, reliable air traffic control services that the nation has come to expect; and also put in place the infrastructure necessary to transition the NAS to NextGen.","Air traffic control systems can improve the efficiency of airspace. By December 2014, ERAM will achieve Initial Operation Readiness at all 20 Air Route Traffic Control Centers.  By March 2015, all 20 Air Route Traffic Control Centers will have Operational Readiness Dates for ERAM."," Transportation",4751
"Department of the Treasury",FY16-17,"Increase Secure Self-Service Options for Taxpayers","The IRS will increase taxpayer satisfaction by delivering high-quality, timely, innovative, and consistent customer service that better addresses taxpayer needs, reduces burden, and encourages voluntary compliance. Using analytics and a user-centric approach, the IRS will develop online options as part of its multi-channel service model.  The APG’s objective is to deliver the enabling infrastructure and next wave of digital services, which will better enable taxpayers to navigate the tax system, understand and meet their tax obligations, and conduct their business in the most efficient and effective manner.  As a result of delivering better service to all taxpayers, the IRS brand will benefit by reflecting the attributes of transparency, fairness, trustworthiness, accessibility, and innovation. Associated Strategic Goal: Treasury Strategic Goal 5 – Create a 21st century approach to government by improving efficiency, effectiveness, and customer interaction Associated Strategic Objective: Treasury Strategic Objective 5.4 - Create a culture of service through relentless pursuit of customer value  ","The IRS will introduce self-service and electronic-service taxpayer options to enable taxpayers to securely authenticate, view account status, view and print tax records online, pay outstanding debts, enter into installment agreements, get tax law information, and easily access all parts of IRS.gov. By September 2017, the percentage of service interactions processed electronically should reach 32 percent and the percentage of electronic interactions completed by taxpayers should reach 47 percent."," General Government | Management",41762
"Department of the Treasury",FY16-17,"Financial Transparency","Treasury operates and oversees the government’s central financial accounting and reporting system.  This role is critical to helping ensure the proper management of the nation’s finances and public confidence in the U.S. government.  In this role, Treasury collects, analyzes, and publishes government-wide financial information used by the federal government to establish fiscal and debt management policies.  The public and private sectors also use this vital information to monitor the government’s financial status, which in turn informs their business decisions. Treasury leads the government-wide implementation of the Digital Accountability and Transparency Act (DATA Act) in collaboration with OMB and has also been working to improve the USAspending.gov site to better meet stakeholder needs since assuming responsibility for it in February 2014. The objective of this APG is to standardize data exchanges, publish additional federal financial data, and implement USAspending.gov (or a successor site) improvements. Associated Strategic Goal: Treasury Strategic Goal 3 – Fairly and effectively reform and modernize federal financial management, accounting, and tax systems Associated Strategic Objective: Treasury Strategic Objective 3.1 - Improve the efficiency and transparency of federal financial management and government-wide accounting External Links: https://openbeta.usaspending.gov/ http://fedspendingtransparency.github.io/  ","Develop and promote financial transparency policies and their adoption that reflect a 21st century economy and data-driven decision-making to enable a more efficient and effective government.  By May 2017, federal spending data is standardized, reliable, and accessible to the public in a structured industry format."," General Government | Management",41742
"Department of the Treasury",FY14-15,"Focus Enforcement on High-Priority Threats using Pro-active Analysis","FinCEN is responsible for safeguarding the financial system from illicit use, which includes using enforcement measures to address high priority threats.  The relevant area of responsibility constitutes tens of thousands of financial institutions in the United States and abroad.  It is thus essential to take a risk-based, intelligence-driven approach to enforcement.  With the technological advancements made available through the new FinCEN information technology (IT) system and a reorganization of personnel that realigns resources to intelligence and enforcement, FinCEN has an opportunity for improvement in this area.  Specifically, FinCEN will leverage the new technology, FinCEN data, analytical resources, tools, and methodologies to identify high priority threats compromising our financial system.  FinCEN will use this intelligence to focus its own enforcement efforts against high priority threats, and assess civil monetary penalties, impose injunctions, issue special measures under Section 311 of the USA PATRIOT Act, and apply geographic targeting orders, as appropriate.  FinCEN will also use this intelligence to help focus the enforcement actions of partner law enforcement and regulatory agencies in the United States and abroad. Key Factors: One key external factor that significantly affects the achievement of the goal is the commitment and availability of resources of partner agencies to take enforcement action against identified high priority threats.  FinCEN has sufficient legal authority to take enforcement action on its own, but not sufficient resources or jurisdiction to cover the full scope of the problem.  Partner agencies must also significantly contribute to enforcement. This APG relates to the Treasury Strategic Plan, Strategic Objective 4.1: Identify priority threats to the financial system using intelligence analysis and outreach to the financial sector  ","By September 2015, employ a proactive, intelligence-driven approach to focus enforcement efforts against high priority threats.",,1176
"Department of the Treasury",FY14-15,"Increasing Self-service Options for the Taxpayers","The IRS will increase taxpayer satisfaction by delivering high-quality, timely, innovative, and consistent customer service to better address taxpayer needs, reduce burden, and encourage voluntary compliance.  Using analytics and a user-centric approach, IRS will develop online options as part of its multi-channel service model.  This APG’s objective is to deliver the enabling infrastructure and next wave of digital services to allow taxpayers to navigate the tax system, understand and meet their tax obligations, and conduct their business in the most efficient and effective manner.  As a result of delivering better service to all taxpayers, the IRS brand will benefit by reflecting the attributes of transparency, fairness, trustworthiness, accessibility, and innovation. Key Factors: Enabling Infrastructure and Digital Products/Services are subject to schedule agreement with IRS Business and IT. This APG aligns to the Treasury Strategic Plan Objective 5.4: Create a culture of service through relentless pursuit of customer value.  ","By September 2015, introduce self-service and electronic-service taxpayer options to enable taxpayers to securely authenticate, view, and print tax records online, pay outstanding debts, enter into installment agreements, establish powers of attorney, get tax law information, and easily access all parts of IRS.gov."," General Government",290
"Department of Veterans Affairs",FY16-17,"Improve Veterans Experience with VA","VA offers a remarkable array of services and benefits to Veterans and eligible dependents. But the experience is disjointed and inconsistent. There are hundreds of phone numbers and thousands of websites, each operating independently under different standards. Similarly, there are a wide array of VA and non-VA resources at the Federal, state, local, corporate, non-profit and tribal level that are not coherently organized or coordinated into a single source or reference point for the Veteran. Veterans deserve better and so do VA staff, who care deeply about delivering the best possible outcome for Veterans. The Veterans Experience team is leading a powerful new effort to improve customer experiences across VA, nationwide. Our goal: Fostering the delivery of effective and easy customer experiences in which Veterans feel valued. We are achieving this goal the same way the world’s most successful companies do: by listening to our customers – Veterans, their families and supporters – when they describe how they want things to work and making adjustments to match their expectations, to the extent authorized by law. Equally important, we are listening to our employees about obstacles to excellence on-the-job. Employee empowerment is an essential part of the equation. This is user-centered design. It puts Veterans and the employees who serve them front and center. VA and the Veterans Experience team face a number of challenges and barriers: Siloed products and services without a common view of customers and their needs and wants. Customer touchpoints and experiences owned by individual product and service teams, not integrated within a complementary suite of offerings. Insular approach that does not account for the community resources used by customers. The APG will track our ability to overcome these barriers by implementing the strategies described in the next section. To build trust among our customers, VA must consistently deliver customer experiences marked by effectiveness, ease, and engagement. [1] To ensure comparability across VA’s disparate service and product lines, the same measures of Trust and Customer Experience will be applied. Trust VA earns trust among Veterans by knowing them and showing that we care; by understanding and anticipating their needs; by providing fair benefits and timely services; by being there when they need us; and by keeping our promises. With every interaction, VA has the opportunity to deepen a trusting relationship with Veterans, or to diminish that trust.  Our Agency Priority Goal states: By September 30, 2017 VA will reach 90 percent agreement with the statement “I trust VA to fulfill our country’s commitment to Veterans.” Timeline: Q1 FY 2016:               Trust and Experience measures incorporated into existing customer experience surveys Q2 FY 2016:               Baseline data collection begins Q3 FY 2016:               Baseline measurement established; quarterly targets specified Q4 FY 2016:               Publish quarterly update Q1 FY 2017:             70 percent of VA customers surveyed ‘agree’ or ‘strongly agree’ with Trust statement Customer Experience Q2 FY 2017:              75 percent of VA customers surveyed ‘agree’ or ‘strongly agree’ with Trust statement ustomer Experience Q3 FY 2017:             80 percent of VA customers surveyed ‘agree’ or ‘strongly agree’ with Trust statement ustomer Experience Q4 FY 2017:               90 percent of VA customers surveyed ‘agree’ or ‘strongly agree’ with Trust statement ustomer Experience Trust in VA is built one interaction at a time. he experience must be effective; it must be easy; and, ideally, it must be engaging and reflective of a valued, personal relationship with our customer.Trust is broken when VA does not consistently meet expectations in these three categories. VA will use customers’ ratings of their individual experiences as indicators of performance toward the overall Veterans Experience APG. The measures will include level of agreement with questions such as: Effectiveness: “I got the care or service I needed.” Ease: “It was easy to get the care or service I needed.” Engagement: “I felt like a valued customer.” These measures are also new, and will be implemented along the timeline for the Trust measure indicated above. They will be added to new and existing VA customer experience surveys where responses will be correlated with operational data to highlight performance improvement opportunities that will improve Veterans experiences. [1] Adopted from the Forrester Research customer experience framework.  ","Improve Veterans Experience with VA: Fulfilling our country’s commitment to Veterans, VA will deliver effective and easy customer experiences in which Veterans feel valued. By September 30, 2017, reach 90% agreement with the statement “I trust VA to fulfill our country’s commitment to Veterans.” Because this is a new measure, VA will establish the baseline in FY16 and add the measure to surveys covering all of VA’s primary services and product lines."," Education, Training, Employment, and Social Services | Health | Veterans Benefits and Services | National Defense | Income Security | General Government | Management | Economic Security and Policy",62291
"Department of Veterans Affairs",FY14-15,"Improve Veteran Virtual Access to VA Benefits and Services","VA’s focus in Fiscal Year (FY) 2015 is to deliver seamless and integrated services while increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of virtual access.  To achieve the best possible outcomes for Veterans, Servicemembers, and eligible beneficiaries, VA will improve access to, and encourage the use of, its virtual benefits and services.  VA and Department of Defense (DoD) have established a jointly supported portal known as eBenefits, which allows Veterans, Servicemembers, and other eligible beneficiaries to access and submit information when, where, and how they want. The development and proliferation of virtual access to care supports an organizational approach that is personalized, proactive, and patient-driven.  VA virtual health services use technology and health informatics to provide Veterans with better access and more effective care management.  Advances in virtual care expand where health care services can be accessed, reduce the need for travel to medical facilities, and transform VA’s delivery of health care and its effect on patients’ health outcomes.","Improve client and stakeholder awareness of, and access to, Veterans benefits and health care services. By September 30, 2015, VA will increase the use of virtual service options by increasing the percent of claims received electronically, by increasing the number of accredited Veterans service officers registered on the Stakeholder Enterprise Portal, by increasing the number of registered eBenefits users, and by increasing the percent of patients who access VA health care using a virtual format such as video telehealth or online services. 			Indicators:  				Increase the annual percent of disability compensation claims received virtually/electronically from a baseline of 2 percent in FY 2013, to 12 percent in FY 2014 and 20 percent in FY 2015. 				  				Increase the number of accredited Veterans advocates who are registered users on the Stakeholder Enterprise Portal (SEP) from a baseline of 1,000 in FY 2013, to 2,000 in FY 2014 and 3,500 in FY 2015. 				  				Increase the number of registered eBenefits users to 3.8 million in FY 2014 and 5 million in FY 2015. 				  				Increase the percent of patients who access VA health care using a virtual format (e.g., video, smart phone, or online services) from 23 percent baseline utilization in FY 2013, to 30 percent in FY 2014 and 35 percent in FY 2015."," Education, Training, Employment, and Social Services | Health | Veterans Benefits and Services | Income Security",1025
"Department of Veterans Affairs",FY16-17,"Improve VA’s employee experience","Leader and managerial actions can help boost job satisfaction and ultimately improve business outcomes. Strong leaders are important to creating a positive organizational climate. Employees who are regularly engaged with their leaders are more innovative than others, more likely to want to remain with their employer, absent less often, enjoy greater levels of personal well-being, and perceive their workload to be more sustainable than others. Ultimately, our customer, the Veteran, will enjoy a higher level of satisfaction with VA services as a result of an improved Employee Experience. VA is committed to creating a work environment that provides all employees with a more consistent, positive Employee Experience, ultimately improving the Veteran’s experience within our organization. Studies indicate that employees who are satisfied with leadership behaviors provide a higher level of positive responses on employee surveys. To evaluate progress, VA will use six questions from the Federal Employment Viewpoint Survey (FEVS) to pulse VA employees on a quarterly basis about their experience with VA leaders. The six questions were selected after a thorough review and assessment of what leadership behaviors can drive the biggest improvements in employee engagement and job satisfaction. Transformational leaders engage in relationship-building and relationship maintaining behaviors with their employees. Strong leaders tend to have the ability to motivate employees, establish trust, communicate goals, and generate commitment. Changing an organization’s culture may take a decade or longer, especially with a large organization such as VA. This APG, which covers only a two-year time period, focuses on a strategy that primarily addresses improving leadership practices, and that can bring about measurable changes in a relatively short period of time. The leadership strategy in this APG is supported by myriad programs and activities including strategic communications which, over time, should lead to improved favorable responses to the six employee survey questions. The leadership strategy also supports the accomplishment of one of VA’s Strategic Objectives, “Make VA a Place People Want to Serve,” and VA’s MyVA Initiative. MyVA is what we are calling our transformation from VA’s current way of doing business to one that puts Veterans in control of how, when, and where they wish to be served. It is a catalyst to make VA a world-class service provider.  VA realizes it will take more than one program or initiative to improve the Employee Experience and/or change VA employees’ perceptions of its leaders. However, overall, VA believes that participation in leadership programs and the subsequent implementation of leadership practices should have a significant positive impact on employee perceptions of leadership. Potential barriers to improving the VA Employee Experience include: Lack of leader/employee engagement to execute improvement ideas Resistance to change Inadequate leader development, training and experience Insufficient execution of communication strategies by leadership","Improve VA’s Employee Experience by developing engaged leaders at all levels who inspire and empower all VA employees to deliver a seamless, integrated, and responsive VA customer service experience.  Success by September 30, 2017 will be measured by an increase of four points or more in the percent of positive responses by VA employees (over VA’s FY 2015 baseline) to the following statements: My supervisor provides me with constructive suggestions to improve my job performance. In my work unit, steps are taken to deal with a poor performer who cannot or will not improve. Employees have a feeling of personal empowerment with respect to work processes. I feel encouraged to come up with new and better ways of doing things. How satisfied are you with the information you receive from management on what's going on in your organization? My organization's leaders maintain high standards of honesty and integrity. Note:  “Percent Positive” is defined as the percent of respondents who agree or strongly agree with the survey item."," Education, Training, Employment, and Social Services | Veterans Benefits and Services",65741
"Department of Veterans Affairs",FY14-15,"Eliminate the Disability Claims Backlog","VA will provide timely, accurate decisions on Veterans’ disability compensation and eliminate the claims backlog in Fiscal Year (FY) 2015.  Improving quality and reducing the length of time it takes to process disability claims are integral to VA's mission of providing benefits to eligible Veterans in a timely, accurate, and compassionate manner.  In FY 2013, VBA began measuring the accuracy of individual issues for each claim (“issue-based accuracy”), as it provides a more detailed measure of workload proficiency.  However, VBA will continue to monitor and report out on claim-based accuracy as a key indicator for this Agency Priority Goal.  To improve benefits delivery, VA is transitioning to an electronic claims process that will reduce processing time and increase accuracy.  As of the end of June 2015, over 94 percent of VBA’s inventory is in an electronic format and is being processed electronically by VBA employees using the Veterans Benefits Management System (VBMS).  All claims are either received electronically or are converted to electronic format for processing. ","Improve accuracy and reduce the time it takes to complete disability compensation benefit claims.  Eliminate the disability claims backlog and process all claims in 125 days in FY 2015. 			Indicators:  				Reduce the percentage of disability claims pending for more than 125 days to 50 percent in FY 2014 and 0 percent in FY 2015. 				  				Improve national “issue-based” rating accuracy for disability claims to 97 percent in FY 2014 and 98 percent in FY 2015.* 				  				Improve national “claim-based” rating accuracy for disability claims to 94 percent in FY 2014 and 98 percent in FY 2015.* 				 * VA is in the midst of reviewing its claims processing accuracy metrics and goals to ensure VA continues to drive decisions of the highest quality. VA plans to engage its VSO partners and other stakeholders as more information becomes available."," Veterans Benefits and Services",1027
"Department of Veterans Affairs",FY16-17,"Improve Access to Health Care as Experienced by the Veteran","VA has experienced unprecedented growth in demand for its services as a result of better recognition of service-connected conditions; innovative and favorable clinical offerings for complex and costly health conditions; and the growing needs of an aging Veteran population.  VA is also embedded within the larger U.S. health system, which is similarly experiencing increased demand for services and shortages of providers in key clinical professions due to advances in technology and the aging of the population[1].  In FY 2015, a congressionally-mandated Independent Assessment of VA Healthcare Capabilities[2] as well as an Institute of Medicine report[3] highlighted that VA access, while meeting timeliness standards on average, still had unacceptable levels of variation by site for specific services.  These independent reviews are candid in stating that highly specialized services required by Veterans are frequently not available in their communities even from private sector providers.  Those independent reports interviewed many of U.S. medicine’s thought leaders, and these experts highlighted the critical importance of addressing access challenges by taking a systems approach, and recommended strategies such as modeling system supply and demand relationships, exploring design and policy changes, and creating a culture of service excellence that empowers the front line to experiment, identify limitations, and learn from trials.   The ultimate success of these strategies and programs must be evaluated through the eyes of the Veteran, as a noticeable improvement in their self-reported ability to receive needed care.  Assessing access to health care through direct survey of patients is the only access measure currently endorsed by the National Quality Forum.  Using a survey-based approach to measure access also provides additional advantages, such as 1) ability to benchmark with private sector health systems and 2) avoiding the shortcomings of current VA scheduling software (a replacement scheduling system will not be in place until late FY 2017).  [1] Rosenthal E.  Long waits for doctors’ appointments have become the norm.  New York Times July 5, 2014. [2] www.va.gov/opa/choiceact/factsheets_and_details.asp [3] Institute of Medicine, Transforming Health Care Scheduling and Access. Washington: National Academies Press, 2015.","Improve Access to Health Care as Experienced by the Veteran.  By September 30, 2017, the VA national access composite score will improve by 15 percent over baseline."," Health | Veterans Benefits and Services",73511
"Department of Veterans Affairs",FY14-15,"End Veteran Homelessness","VA has taken decisive action toward its goal of ending homelessness among Veterans.  The End Veteran Homelessness initiative is intended to prevent Veterans and their families from entering homelessness and to assist those who are homeless in exiting as safely and quickly as possible.  VA’s “no wrong door” philosophy will ensure that homeless and at risk for homeless Veterans have timely access to appropriate housing and services.  Any door a Veteran comes to - at a medical center, a regional office, or a community organization - will lead to the tools to offer Veteran assistance.  Ending homelessness among Veterans will advance the mission of VA by ensuring that all Veterans and their families achieve housing stability. On a single night in January 2014 during the Point in Time (PIT) Count [1], there were 49,933 homeless Veterans in the US.  Effectively ending homelessness among Veterans requires rapid access to permanent housing, health care, employment, benefits, and other supportive services.  VA works closely with community partners to meet current and new demands for any Veteran who is experiencing or is at imminent risk of homelessness.  Housing First and Rapid Re-housing are two of the many evidence-based approaches VA uses to end homelessness.  The Housing First model follows the philosophy of providing permanent housing as quickly as possible to Veterans/individuals experiencing homelessness and then wrapping health care and other supportive services as needed around the Veteran to sustain housing and improve their quality of life.  Rapid Re-housing is a set of strategies to help families quickly move out of homelessness and into permanent housing.  It typically involves:  housing search and landlord mediation assistance, short-term or flexible rental assistance, and transitional case management services.  Rapid Re-housing provides crisis intervention services to quickly place an individual or family who is currently homeless into a permanent, sustainable housing situation. [1] The annual PIT estimates are a snapshot of homelessness.   They are submitted to HUD each year by communities and account for homeless Veterans in emergency shelters or transitional housing on the night of the PIT count (i.e., sheltered) as well as homeless Veterans who are in places not meant for human habitation such as the streets, abandoned buildings, cars, or encampments (i.e., unsheltered).  Communities typically conduct their PIT count during the last week in January when a large share of the homeless population is expected to seek shelter rather than stay outside.  Because counting people in shelters is more precise than conducting street counts, the timing of the PIT count is intended to improve the accuracy of the estimates.  (Source:  Veteran Homelessness:  A Supplemental Report to the FY 2010 Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress).  ","In partnership, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and VA aim to reduce the number of Veterans living on the streets, experiencing homelessness to zero (as measured by the FY 2016 PIT Count). Indicators:  	Reduction in homeless Veterans living on the streets, experiencing homelessness to zero (as measured by the FY 2016 PIT Count). 	  	The “Number of Homeless Veterans” on a single night is determined by the PIT Count, which is conducted annually the last week of January each year “The PIT Count reflects the results of the work performed and the fiscal obligation/budget made in the prior fiscal year.” 	  	Reduction in total homeless Veterans temporarily living in shelters or transitional housing to 12,500 (as measured by the FY 2016 PIT Count). 	     "," Education, Training, Employment, and Social Services | Health | Veterans Benefits and Services | Income Security",1031
"Department of Veterans Affairs",FY16-17,"Improve Dependency Claims Processing","It is VA’s mission and responsibility to ensure Veterans receive the benefits and services they have earned accurately and within a reasonable amount of time. Since FY 2009, VA’s Agency Priority Goal (APG) for improving access to benefits was focused on eliminating the backlog of disability claims, defined as the number of rating-related claims pending more than 125 days. VA has made dramatic progress in reducing the backlog, improving the timeliness of decisions, and reducing the overall pending inventory of disability rating claims – while at the same time improving the quality of its decisions. To achieve these service improvements, VA defined the requirement, transformed claims processing through implementation of streamlined processes and systems, and accordingly focused resources on achieving the goal.  Veterans who are awarded disability compensation at the 30-percent level or higher are entitled to additional compensation for their eligible dependents.  Approximately 70 percent of the 4.1 million Veterans currently receiving compensation are eligible for this additional benefit – nearly 45 percent more than those eligible for the same benefits just 5 years ago.  As the status of these Veterans’ dependents change (through marriage, divorce, death, birth, adoption, or school attendance for children over 18 years of age), VA must adjust Veterans’ compensation awards.   VA’s record-levels of production of disability rating decisions (almost 1.3 million disability claims completed in FY 2016), continue to add more and more Veterans to the compensation rolls. The result was an inventory at the end of FY 2015, the baseline year, of almost 227,000 pending dependency claims that have been pending, on average, nearly a year.   Ensuring that Veterans receive timely and accurate claim decisions is paramount.  As VA continues to improve timeliness of disability claims decisions, VA will also focus on the dependency claims that are the direct result of the dramatic increase in completed disability rating decisions and growth in the number of Veterans receiving compensation at the higher disability evaluation levels.  ","Improve access to benefits and the customer experience for Veterans who are entitled to additional benefits for their dependents.  By September 30, 2017, VA will reduce the overall inventory of dependency claims to 100,000 or fewer (a 56 percent improvement from the FY 2015 baseline of 227,000) and improve the average days to complete (ADC) dependency claims to 125 days (a 43 percent improvement from the FY 2015 baseline of 221 days)."," Education, Training, Employment, and Social Services | Veterans Benefits and Services | National Defense | Income Security | General Government | Management",73531
"General Services Administration",FY16-17,"Increase savings through acquisition solutions","Federal Agencies operate in a constrained budget environment and seek to maximize the use of each budgeted dollar.  Through using FAS solutions Federal Agencies are able to purchase the goods and services needed to execute their mission at reduced cost, and as a result are able to maximize the support provided to key mission critical activities.  Additional savings are generated for agencies by FAS through expanding the use of strategic buying leveraging FAS offerings across a wider customer base and through the development of new solutions.  ","By September 30, 2017; GSA's Federal Acquisition Service (FAS) will save $10.4B ($5.2B during FY 2016 and $5.2B during FY 2017) through its programs that provide goods and services to the Federal Government.  Whether it’s buying office supplies, electric vehicles, or complex information technology solutions, FAS gets them at a discounted price and delivers the savings back to our customer agencies. FAS  has developed defined methodologies for quantifying savings for the myriad of products and services offered to customer agencies.  The methodologies can generally be grouped into the following categories: • Savings realized by utilizing FAS procurement vehicles compared to what is available commercially • Savings realized by using FAS offerings compared to other government offerings • Savings returned to customers via bank refunds given for using FAS purchase, travel, and fleet cards",,37422
"General Services Administration",FY16-17,"Negotiate leased office space at or below market rates","The mission of the U.S. General Service Administration’s Public Buildings Service (PBS) is to provide effective, mobile, sustainable workplace solutions for federal agencies at the best value and service for the American people. PBS is one of the largest and most diversified public real estate organizations in the world. At the end of FY15, its portfolio consisted of 374.1 million rentable square feet (RSF) in 8,792 active assets across the United States, in all 50 states, 6 U.S. territories, and the District of Columbia. GSA is using the Lease Cost Relative to Market (LCRM) measure to demonstrate value for the American taxpayer.  Under the LCRM methodology, the net present value (NPV) of the life-cycle costs of GSA leases in the fiscal year signed for office space in major markets will be compared to the NPV of a market lease.  The market lease rate is based on GSA’s Bullseye report, which combines respected nationwide commercial real estate sources.  This metric covers all off-airport office leases that are located in markets covered by these national real estate market information sources. This metric covers 42 percent of GSA’s current lease inventory which accounts for 70 percent of the total annual lease rent and 63 percent of total square feet. GSA will count the number of transactions at or below market, with the goal of having at least 55 percent of transactions at or below market. GSA compares its deals to market costs in order to ensure it is getting the best deal possible for the American taxpayers. While the final comparison to market for this measure is based on post-award rates, a preliminary comparison to market is also run prior to lease award, allowing GSA to continue negotiations if rates are not competitive. By negotiating a majority of lease transaction below market rates, GSA is providing cost savings to our customer agencies and the American taxpayer.  By focusing on the number of transactions that are below market, GSA is demonstrating its commitment to negotiate the best deal possible in every lease transaction.","GSA will generate savings for taxpayers by negotiating 55 percent of the leased office space agreements at or below market rates in FY 2016 and FY 2017"," General Government | Management",37382
"General Services Administration",FY14-15,"Generate savings through Federal Strategic Sourcing Initiative","By September 30, 2015, GSA will save $255 million ($111 million during FY 2014 and $144 million during FY 2015) through the use of Federal Strategic Sourcing Initiative (FSSI). Federal agencies purchase over $500B of goods and services annually. A key vehicle used by GSA, and other top purchasing federal government agencies, to promote cost savings, improved management visibility and adoption of best practices, has been the Federal Strategic Sourcing Initiative. Established in 2005, FSSI is designed to improve government management of commonly purchased goods and services. FSSI provides customers with significant savings, decreases administrative redundancy, and improves business intelligence while meeting or exceeding small business and sustainability goals.  ","By September 30, 2015, GSA will save $255M through the use of Federal Strategic Sourcing Initiative (FSSI).  "," General Government | Management",1060
"General Services Administration",FY14-15,"Reduce the federal footprint",,"By September 30, 2015, GSA will reduce the amount of leased space by 5 percent for replacement leases. GSA will also work with agencies to complete a total of 15 Client Portfolio Plans (three new plans each year) to identify opportunities for agencies to optimize their real estate portfolios."," General Government | Management",366
"General Services Administration",FY16-17,"Improve federal purchasing decisions through increased use of the Acquisition Gateway","GSA's goal is to foster increased use of the Acquisition Gateway, resulting in better purchasing decisions and increased productivity of the acquisition workforce.  By September 30, 2017, GSA will increase the number of federal users of the Acquisition Gateway to 15,000, from a baseline of 1,000 in FY 2015 and the number of federal agencies accessing the Acquisition Gateway to 50, from a baseline of 15 in FY 2015.","By September 30, 2017, GSA’s will increase the number of federal users of the Acquisition Gateway to 15,000 from a baseline of 1,000 in FY 2015 and the number of federal agencies accessing the Acquisition Gateway to 50, from a baseline of 15 in FY 2015"," General Government",37402
"National Aeronautics and Space Administration",FY16-17,"Human deep space exploration","NASA is developing key elements of the Nation’s first human deep-space exploration capability in the form of the Space Launch System (SLS) and the Orion crew vehicle. With the support of Exploration Ground Systems (EGS), the SLS and Orion will carry humans farther into space than ever before, and are essential for exploration of deep space, including future human exploration of Mars. Human space exploration inspires the Nation. As the foundation of the human exploration endeavor, these programs are also building a highly skilled workforce. NASA’s human exploration portfolio will advance American leadership in space, and create a path for peace, diplomacy, and global cooperation. NASA’s first flight of the SLS and the Orion crew vehicle, Exploration Mission (EM)-1, will be an uncrewed mission beyond low Earth orbit with the Orion capsule returning safely to Earth. The EM-1 flight will exercise multiple systems and technical approaches in preparation for a crewed mission. In order to achieve this goal, the SLS launch vehicle, Orion spacecraft, and EGS programs will complete several significant design reviews, as well as test flight and ground hardware and software prior to launch. The successful completion of these milestones, in conjunction with the final assembly and test of the launch vehicle and spacecraft hardware at the Kennedy Space Center launch site, will enable the successful launch of the EM-1 flight. By the end of FY 2017, the SLS, Orion, and EGS programs will be past critical design and into system qualification and major flight hardware production. For this reporting period, the SLS program will complete a number of significant development, qualification, and production milestones. SLS will complete the second of two qualification tests of the five segment solid rocket motor, the successful completion of which will clear the boosters for flight. Production of core stage (hydrogen and oxygen tanks, intertank, and forward and engine sections) and interim cryogenic propulsion stage qualification hardware will be complete and ready for testing. SLS will also start production of flight hardware, including the launch vehicle stage adaptor and multipurpose crew vehicle stage adaptor. The four RS-25 core stage engines allocated for EM-1 will go through testing in preparation for integration into the EM-1 core and green run testing in FY 2018. Finally, SLS will complete the development of green run and EM-1 flight software. The Orion Program will complete its Critical Design Review and continue manufacturing and testing of the EM-1 flight vehicle. Manufacturing has already begun on the EM-1 Crew Module’s pressure vessel (the living space within Orion that provides life support for the crew). It will be delivered to the Kennedy Space Center in FY 2016, and then assembly of the Crew Module can begin. This will also be the first flight of the European Service Module, a milestone in the long human spaceflight partnership between NASA and the European Space Agency. The structural testing of the European Service Module will occur in this reporting period. In late FY 2017, the EM-1 Orion crew and service module assembly will undergo environmental testing at Glenn Research Center’s Plum Brook Station in Ohio. The Exploration Ground Systems program will conduct a Critical Design Review in early FY 2016 to assess the ability of the overall ground systems designs in meeting the mission requirements with acceptable risk and appropriate margins within the defined cost, schedule, and technical constraints. In FY 2016, the program will conduct its System Integration Review. These reviews will be the culmination of several system-level final design and implementation reviews. In late FY 2017, several components of Exploration Ground Systems plan to kick off their respective Operational Readiness Reviews. The system, including any enabling products, will be reviewed and a determination made if it is ready to be placed in an operational status. The kickoff will initiate a process to capture all applicable lessons-learned for organizational improvement and systems operations. All waivers and anomalies will have been in final evaluation and prepared for closure as appropriate. Systems hardware, software, personnel, and procedures will initiate a review to ensure they are in place to support operations. It is anticipated that some additional modifications of the mobile launcher will continue through FY 2017.  ","Achieve critical milestones in development of new systems for the human exploration of deep space. By September 30, 2017, NASA will have begun integration and testing of the Exploration Mission (EM)-1 Orion Crew Module (CM), including the first power-on of the vehicle; delivered all four EM-1 Space Launch System (SLS) Core Stage RS-25 engines to the Michoud Assembly Facility in preparation for integration into the Core Stage; and completed construction of Exploration Ground Systems (EGS) Pad B."," General Science, Space, and Technology",36272
"National Aeronautics and Space Administration",FY14-15,"Achieve critical milestones in development of new systems for the human exploration of deep space.","NASA is developing the nation’s first human deep-space exploration capability in the form of the Space Launch System (SLS) and the Orion crew vehicle. With the supporting Exploration Ground Systems (EGS), the SLS and Orion will carry humans farther into space than ever before, and are essential for exploration of deep space, including future human exploration of Mars. Human space exploration inspires the nation to seek knowledge through scientific discovery, advancing our understanding of the universe. As the foundation of the human exploration endeavor which will drive the Space Economy, these programs are fueling the creation of new industries, job growth, and the demand for a highly skilled workforce. NASA’s human exploration portfolio will be the initial catalyst for a better life on Earth, advancing American leadership in space, and creating a path for peace, diplomacy, and global cooperation.  NASA’s first flight of the SLS with the Orion crew vehicle, the EM-1, is currently targeted for launch in FY 2018. The EM-1 is the first flight of an uncrewed mission that will orbit the Moon and return safely to Earth. The EM-1 flight will exercise multiple systems and technical approaches in preparation for a crewed mission. To successfully achieve the goal of launching EM-1 in FY 2018, the SLS launch vehicle, Orion spacecraft and EGS programs will complete several significant design reviews as well as test flight and ground hardware and software prior to launch. The successful completion of these milestones, in conjunction with the final assembly and test of the launch vehicle and spacecraft hardware at the Kennedy Space Center launch site, will enable the successful launch of the EM-1 flight. By the end of FY 2015, all three programs-SLS, Orion and EGS-will have completed their individual Critical Design Reviews (CDRs), ensuring the whole exploration system progresses toward the EM-1 flight in FY 2018. The SLS program CDR is the culmination of the various SLS elements’ final design reviews and will be held by the end of FY 2015. The program CDR will assess the ability of the overall launch vehicle design to meet the mission requirements with acceptable risk and appropriate margins within the defined cost, schedule and technical constraints. Similar to the SLS, the Orion program CDR will be the culmination of several more detailed reviews. Critical flight data from the Exploration Flight Test-1 mission, the first Orion test flight to be launched in 2014, will provide information to finalize the design of the Orion spacecraft. Additionally, one of the final design reviews will focus on the Service Module, which will be developed for NASA by the European Space Agency (ESA). NASA is leveraging its strong international partnership with ESA-established in the development of the International Space Station (ISS). ESA will provide the European Service Module, a critical Orion element, in support of the first integrated test flight on the SLS launch vehicle, EM-1 in FY 2018. The Orion program CDR will assess the ability of the overall spacecraft design to meet the mission requirements with acceptable risk and appropriate margins within the defined cost, schedule and technical constraints. The Exploration Ground Systems program CDR will be the culmination of several system-level final design reviews. For example, the mobile launcher (ML), which will provide all of the necessary ground system connections and services to the SLS launch vehicle and Orion spacecraft, will complete structural modifications by the end of this goal. After the structural modifications are complete, additional modifications of the ML will continue through FY 2017. The EGS program CDR will assess the ability of the overall ground systems designs in meeting the mission requirements with acceptable risk and appropriate margins within the defined cost, schedule and technical constraints.","By September 30, 2015, NASA will complete the Space Launch System, Orion, and Exploration Ground Systems Critical Design Reviews (CDRs), allowing the programs to continue to progress toward Exploration Mission (EM)-1 and EM-2 missions."," General Science, Space, and Technology",1250
"National Aeronautics and Space Administration",FY16-17,"International Space Station research facilities","The continued operation and use of the International Space Station (ISS) is critical to achieving NASA’s and the Nation’s goals in conducting science, demonstrating technology, enabling a commercial market in low Earth orbit, and propelling human spaceflight into the solar system. The research occurring aboard the space station, which is the world’s only continuously-crewed orbiting, microgravity research and development laboratory, is helping NASA prepare to send astronauts into deep space and is providing tangible benefits to everyone on Earth. NASA’s goal is to increase utilization of the ISS for exploration related technology development; to foster commercial investment in space; and to conduct scientific research. As an operational and multi-disciplinary research laboratory, with research coming from a wide variety of sources, it is important to characterize how the laboratory is being used and progress toward maximizing utilization of the laboratory.","Increase the occupancy of the International Space Station’s (ISS’s) internal and external research facilities by adding new instruments and capabilities. By September 30, 2017, NASA will increase the occupancy of the ISS internal and external research facility sites with science and technology payload hardware to 75 percent.  "," General Science, Space, and Technology",36282
"National Aeronautics and Space Administration",FY14-15,"Increase utilization of the International Space Station’s internal and external research facilities.","The continued operation of the International Space Station (ISS) is critical to achieving NASA’s and the Nation’s goals in science, technology, and human spaceflight. The ISS is a world-renowned research and development laboratory performing multidisciplinary research in science and technology benefiting humanity and enabling exploration of the universe. The ISS is also proving to be a catalyst to the growing commercial space enterprise, and is a critical springboard for our future space exploration goals. NASA’s goal is to increase utilization of the ISS to conduct scientific research; for exploration related technology development; and to foster commercial investment in space.  As an operational and multi-disciplinary research laboratory, with research coming from a wide variety of sources, it is important to characterize how the laboratory is being used and progress toward maximizing utilization of the laboratory.    ","By September 30, 2015, NASA will increase the utilization of the International Space Station internal and external research facility sites with science and technology payload hardware to 70 percent.  "," General Science, Space, and Technology",1248
"National Aeronautics and Space Administration",FY16-17,"Commercial Crew Program","The Commercial Crew Program is helping facilitate the development of U.S. commercial crew space transportation capabilities with the goal of achieving safe, reliable, and cost-effective access to and from low Earth orbit and the International Space Station (ISS). Enabling a U.S. industry-based capability can facilitate development of a commercial market, providing new high-technology jobs and reducing the cost of human access to space. A successful commercial market will further open the frontier for space exploration. NASA will continue to work with The Boeing Company and Space Explorations Technologies Corporation to complete development and NASA certification for human space transportation systems capable of carrying people into orbit. Once certification is completed, NASA plans to use these systems to ferry astronauts to the ISS and return them safely to Earth.","Facilitate the development of and certify U.S. industry-based crew transportation systems while maintaining competition, returning International Space Station crew transportation to the United States. By September 30, 2017, the Commercial Crew Program (CCP), along with its industry partners, will make measurable technical and programmatic progress toward the certification of commercial crew transportation systems, including the completion of at least one Design Certification Review.  "," General Science, Space, and Technology",36292
"National Aeronautics and Space Administration",FY14-15,"Facilitate the development of and certify U.S. industry-based crew transportation systems while maintaining competition.","The Commercial Crew Program is helping facilitate the development of U.S. commercial crew space transportation capabilities with the goal of achieving safe, reliable, and cost effective access to and from low Earth orbit and the International Space Station (ISS). Enabling a U.S. industry-based capability can facilitate development of a commercial market, providing new high-technology jobs and reduce the cost of human access to space. A successful commercial market will further open the frontier for space exploration. NASA is focused on ensuring that the current phase of crew system development, the Commercial Crew integrated Capability, (CCiCap), is successful at maturing the system designs and completing initial testing. Under CCiCap, U.S. space industry partners are working to mature designs of their integrated crew transportation systems, including spacecraft, launch vehicle, ground and mission systems. In December 2012, NASA initiated the first phase of crew transportation systems certification by awarding three Certification Products Contracts (CPC). Under CPC, commercial partners are working with NASA to develop products that meet the agency's flight safety and performance requirements and specifications. This includes certification across all aspects of the integrated system, including the spacecraft, launch vehicle, and ground and mission operations. Integrated system verification plans, hazard reports, alternate standards and certification plans are being developed to ensure safe, crewed missions to and from the space station. The second phase of certification will begin after CPC, and will involve a full and open competition. The second phase of certification will involve final systems development, qualification and acceptance testing, orbital demonstration flights, and initial service flights of NASA crew to the International Space Station. By the end of FY 2015, measurable progress on this second phase of certification will be evidenced. Competition will be maintained.","By September 30, 2015, the Commercial Crew Program will complete the first phase of certification efforts with Commercial Crew Transportation partners, and will make measurable progress toward the second certification phase with industry partners while maintaining competition.  "," General Science, Space, and Technology",1246
"National Aeronautics and Space Administration",FY16-17,"James Webb Space Telescope","The James Webb Space Telescope (Webb) Program will produce an astronomical observatory capable of watching the universe light up after the Big Bang. It will revolutionize humankind's understanding of the Cosmos and our place in it. This observatory is key for meeting NASA's strategic objective to discover how the universe works, explore how it began and evolved, and search for life on planets around other stars. Webb is NASA's new telescope that will allow us to explore deeper into space and see things that even the Hubble Space Telescope cannot see. Webb's new technologies, such as those developed for the telescope backplane components, are critical to the mission's success. The Webb observatory has a deployable, segmented primary mirror made up of 18 hexagonal mirrors. When combined into a single structure, these computer-controlled mirrors will form a single, crisp image. To form these sharp images, the mirror segments must be firmly held by an extremely rigid and stable structure known as the primary mirror backplane. When the backplane is populated with the already completed mirror segments, and then joined to the Integrated Science Instrument Module (ISIM), Webb will have a completed telescope capable of creating images. Completion of OTIS, which integrates the Optical Telescope Element (OTE) and the ISIM, is a major step in the realization of the Webb mission. Keeping these items on schedule is vital to keeping Webb on track for its planned October 2018 launch. From now through FY 2017, ISIM will complete its testing, the Pathfinder structure and mirrors will reduce the risks associated with the full OTIS tests, and the OTIS test itself will occur. The OTIS test will verify that the system will deliver the required performance in terms of optical quality and sensitivity. Following the integration of the telescope and science instruments, the Webb program will embark on the next major integration and test portion of its schedule. In calendar year 2017, the spacecraft and sunshield will be integrated and tested. Finally, in fiscal year 2018, the complete integration of the observatory will occur, joining the OTIS and the spacecraft/sunshield in preparation for their launch in October.","Revolutionize humankind's understanding of the Cosmos and humanity’s place in it. By October 2018, NASA will launch the James Webb Space Telescope (Webb). To enable this launch date, NASA will complete the testing of the Webb Optical Telescope Element plus Integrated Science Instrument Module by September 30, 2017.  "," General Science, Space, and Technology",36302
"National Aeronautics and Space Administration",FY14-15,"Launch the James Webb Space Telescope.","The James Webb Space Telescope (Webb) Program will produce an astronomical observatory capable of watching the universe light up after the Big Bang. It will revolutionize humankind's understanding of the Cosmos and our place in it.  This observatory is key for meeting NASA's strategic objective to discover how the universe works, explore how it began and evolved, and search for life on planets around other stars. Webb is NASA's new telescope that will allow us to explore deeper into space and see things that even the Hubble Space Telescope cannot see. Webb's new technologies, like those developed for the backplane components, are critical to the mission's success. The Webb observatory has a deployable, segmented primary mirror made up of 18 hexagonal mirrors. When combined into a single structure, these computer-controlled mirrors will form a single crisp image.  To form these sharp images, the mirror segments must be firmly held by an extremely rigid and stable structure known as the primary mirror backplane.  This backplane can be thought of as a skeleton on which we hang the mirror segments. The backplane support structure attaches to the primary mirror backplane and holds the science instrument module.  The science instrument module contains the observatory's cameras and spectrographs.  The backplane support structure provides a rigid and thermally stable platform to guarantee that the science instruments and telescope mirror stay in perfect alignment. The construction of the primary mirror backplane and backplane support structure is the pacing item in the schedule for the telescope.  Keeping these items on schedule is vital to keeping Webb on track for its planned October 2018 launch.  From now through FY 2015, the parts of the backplane (center section, wings, backplane support fixture, and test equipment) will undergo their final phases of manufacturing and testing before being assembled into a single unit.  This single unit will be delivered to the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD.  Once the completed unit is available, NASA will place the 18 mirror segments into the backplane.  Following the completion of the telescope, the Webb program will embark on the next major integration and test portion of its schedule.  In 2016, the program will begin the integration of the telescope with the science instrument module (denoted as Optical Telescope plus Integrated Science instrument module: OTIS).  Also in 2016, the spacecraft will begin its integration steps.  In 2017, NASA will complete the OTIS testing.  The spacecraft and sunshield will be integrated and tested in 2017.  Finally, in 2018, the complete integration of the observatory will occur, joining the OTIS and the spacecraft in preparation for their launch in October.","By October 2018, NASA will launch the James Webb Space Telescope, the premier space-based observatory.   To enable this launch date, NASA will complete the James Webb Space Telescope primary mirror backplane and backplane support structures and deliver them to the Goddard Space Flight Center for integration with the mirror segments by September 30, 2015.  "," General Science, Space, and Technology",1242
"National Science Foundation",FY16-17,"Improve STEM graduate student preparedness","A strong global economy is reliant on the ability to capitalize on technical innovations that result from a skilled and agile STEM workforce. As a result, the Nation’s scientific workforce must evolve and mature to include more doctoral level researchers in positions outside of academia. These positions require comprehensive preparation in science at the graduate level, as well as proficiency in other critical skills. Surveys of graduate students analyzed in recent reports have demonstrated that graduate student training has not kept pace with STEM workforce needs beyond traditional roles in academia. In recent years there has been a shift in the job market for science and engineering doctorate holder that has resulted in more varied career choices. Scientists and engineers with doctorates are now more evenly split between the business sector (45%) and the education sector (46%) (Source: Survey of Earned Doctorates, National Science Foundation, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics 2013). Within the education sector, over 90 percent of doctorates are employed at 4-year institutions. However, Ph.D. training remains largely focused on preparation for the research component of academic careers with an emphasis on skills needed at research institutions. There is considerable value to traditional academic training, which can provide doctoral graduates with experience in critical thinking as well as oral and written communication The purpose of this Priority Goal is to provide opportunities for science and engineering doctoral students so they can acquire the knowledge, experience, and skills needed for highly productive careers, inside and outside of academe. Although investments in the Graduate Research Internship Program (GRIP) and Graduate Research Opportunities Worldwide (GROW) provide support across disciplines that help address this issue, a larger, agency-wide effort directed at the specific goal of determining effective approaches to increased graduate student preparedness is needed. The activities in this APG will be undertaken in coordination with NSF’s forthcoming strategic plan for investment in graduate students and graduate education. In addition, these approaches will be reported at the NSTC Committee on STEM Education’s Interagency Working Group on Graduate Education (co-chaired by NSF and NIH) as a possible model for consideration by other agencies. The activities in this APG will be undertaken in coordination with NSF’s forthcoming strategic framework for investment in graduate education. In addition, these approaches will be reported at the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) Committee on STEM Education’s Interagency Working Group on Graduate Education (co-chaired by NSF and NIH). The NSTC Committee on STEM notes that “tomorrow’s STEM workforce will need to include effective change makers and entrepreneurs in business, public service, civil society, and academia. Some universities are encouraging students to set and meet more ambitious goals for their research, education, and service; giving students greater autonomy earlier in their career; connecting students to real-world problems at a regional, national, and global level; and involving students in the design of university curricula, research initiatives, and collaborations with external partners.”  This APG will explore ways to partner with universities to identify and spread promising practices for achieving this vision.","Improve STEM graduate student preparedness for entering the workforce. By September 30, 2017, NSF will fund at least three summer institutes and 75 supplements to existing awards to provide STEM doctoral students with opportunities to expand their knowledge and skills to prepare for a range of careers."," Education, Training, Employment, and Social Services | General Science, Space, and Technology",40262
"National Science Foundation",FY14-15,"Ensure Public Access to Publications","Progress in science and technology, and the associated benefits for the American people, thrives in an environment of open communication.  Therefore, the National Science Foundation (NSF) seeks to enable increased access to the results of its investments in research.  NSF will do this by reducing barriers to communication of research results, while ensuring the integrity of the research record, protection of sensitive information, and consistency with existing law.  To this end and pursuant to the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) memorandum, Increasing Access to the Results of Federally Funded Scientific Research (February 22, 2013), NSF will articulate a strategy and develop plans that will require recipients of NSF funding to deposit a copy of their work in a public access repository.  Although some conditions of deposit are likely to vary, NSF expects to adhere to the OSTP recommended guideline for peer-reviewed journal publications that will delay free access to either the author’s final accepted version of the manuscript or the published version of record no longer than 12 months after date of initial publication.          ","Increase public access to NSF-funded peer-reviewed publications. By September 30, 2015, NSF-funded investigators will be able to deposit versions of their peer-reviewed articles in a repository that will make them available to the public."," General Science, Space, and Technology",1185
"National Science Foundation",FY16-17,"Invest strategically in public participation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics research (PPSR)","Problem/Opportunity: Scientists, mathematicians, and engineers have involved the public in their research efforts to solve challenging problems for centuries in a variety of fields. For example, daily precipitation data collected by volunteers throughout the US have been used to develop more accurate, fine-grained models that improve weather forecasting, agriculture, and disaster risk analyses. Water quality and wildlife monitoring projects allow communities to understand their local environments in systematic ways and allow them to compare their findings with those from other areas. These types of activities have been referred to in a variety of ways. For this Agency Priority Goal, ""Public Participation in Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics Research"" (PPSR) is used as an overarching term that includes citizen science, crowdsourcing research, and similar activities. PPSR has grown significantly in the past decade, in part due to new technological tools that facilitate interactions between scientists and participants. There are a number of economic, societal, and technological trends that are increasing the variety and value of what public participation in research can accomplish. These trends include: the democratization of the tools needed to design and make a variety of items; the Maker Movement; the emergence of online communities with shared interests in projects such as exploration of diverse fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) by members of the public; and crowdfunding platforms that allow teams to raise funding for their projects. New technological tools also have facilitated crowdsourcing research, a process in which open calls are made for voluntary contributions to STEM problem-solving. These calls are typically either to a non-specified group of individuals (""the crowd"") or to individuals with specific expertise, thus leveraging the skills and knowledge of many.  Without public participants and their contributions, some STEM research that addresses challenging problems would not be practical or even possible, e.g., projects mandating data collection from many geographical locations or over long periods of time or projects that require expertise for analysis of data as well as large sets of visual or numeric data. PPSR approaches hold promise to continue to address new research questions and contribute to ongoing STEM research. Moreover, citizen science and crowdsourcing research provide opportunities for the broadest possible participation in learning how STEM research is done and in engaging in it directly. Participants include individuals from urban, suburban and rural communities; diverse economic, geographic, racial, ethnic, gender, and linguistic groups; and individuals with a range of abilities and disabilities. The motivation for PPSR may be derived from community concerns or may be researcher-led. The level of public involvement varies from being contributory (e.g., collecting and recording data) to collaborative (e.g., analyzing samples and discussing results) to co-created (in which the public might be involved in all phases of the scientific process from defining the question for investigation, to experimenting, analyzing, and reporting). Thus, people with various interests and abilities are often able to participate and contribute productively. With the opportunity to reach more people and therefore collect and analyze data sets more extensively than possible through the efforts of scientists alone, PPSR may go beyond simply enhancing our ability to do traditional STEM research better. Citizen science and crowdsourcing science enable us to pursue entirely new avenues of research and development that can only be achieved through public-scientist collaborations. The different perspectives and habits of mind that public participants can bring to bear on the interpretation of data may also open new avenues of research and development. Over the past decade, NSF has funded hundreds of STEM research projects that rely on PPSR across a diverse array of fields.  The scope of PPSR is broad and encompasses geosciences and biological sciences, technology and engineering, social and behavioral sciences, education, computer and information sciences, and physical sciences. These projects collectively have created a strong foundation for future PPSR activities and have identified areas for potential improvement and expansion.  The next phase of NSF investments will expand beyond project-by-project approaches to explore underlying issues and areas for innovation.  In particular, this next phase could help identify: new research challenges that might be addressed using PPSR; new PPSR-enabling technology; social aspects of working with the public; effective PPSR program design; learning experience facilitated by PPSR; ways in which PPSR can broaden participation in STEM; and a myriad of data-related issues, including data quality and collection, data management, visualization, and data ownership models. This phase of investments should also prompt the broader community to tackle long-standing but unresolved STEM challenges and to open doors to new STEM research areas. To achieve this Agency Priority Goal NSF will use three specific mechanisms to fund proposals that explicitly include PPSR approaches:  Research Coordination Networks (RCNs), EArly-concept Grants for Exploratory Research (EAGERs), and supplements to existing awards. Research Coordination Networks support communication and coordination across disciplinary, organizational, institutional, and geographic boundaries, thus facilitating ongoing activities above the project level. EAGERs are designed as ""high risk-high payoff"" awards. These types of awards will likely push our collective understandings of how PPSR is leveraged to support scientific discovery and the public's engagement with research. Supplements to existing awards provide opportunities to (1) include PPSR approaches in projects that are appropriate for PPSR but haven't already incorporated PPSR approaches and (2) for other projects to deepen their use of PPSR approaches. This Agency Priority Goal also takes advantage of the Executive Branch's momentum in this area. For example, the White House honored Citizen Science Champions of Change and included citizen science projects and opportunities in its recent science fair. Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) rolled out a new toolkit for federal-sponsored PPSR projects on September 30, 2015 and issued a memo with actions for federal agencies with respect to PPSR. Among the public communities that NSF serves, this Agency Priority Goal is relevant and timely. It addresses the need for investments in PPSR as articulated in recent journals, such as Science; at conferences, such as the citizen science pre-conference workshop at AAAS in 2015; and by practitioner organizations, such as the Citizen Science Association. Relationship to agency strategic goals and objectives PPSR projects have both scientific value and educational value.  Thus, PPSR supports NSF Strategic Goal 1, Objective 1 (""Invest in fundamental research to ensure significant continuing advances across science, engineering, and education"") and NSF Strategic Goal 2, Objective 2 (""Build the capacity of the Nation to address societal challenges using a suite of formal, informal and broadly available STEM educational mechanisms""). Key barriers and challenges to its achievement 1. Coordinate cross-program and cross-directorate investments that enhance both an understanding of and ability to implement PPSR approaches. 2. Manage expectations among colleagues across the federal government and public sphere as PPSR is further developed to support their daily work. External factors OSTP and the Federal Community of Practice for Citizen Science and Crowdsourcing (FCPCSC) have directly contributed to development of this Agency Priority Goal.  In addition, activities by federal agencies and offices related to open innovation, citizen science, and crowdsourcing research will inform the state of the field with respect to challenges and opportunities in PPSR.","Build the capacity of the Nation to solve research challenges and improve learning by investing strategically in crowdsourcing and other forms of public participation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics research (PPSR). By September 30, 2017, NSF will implement mechanisms to expand and deepen the engagement of the public in research.  "," General Science, Space, and Technology",40232
"National Science Foundation",FY14-15,"Increase the Nation’s Data Science Capacity","Innovative information technologies are transforming the fabric of society, and data represent a transformative new currency for science, education, government, and commerce.  Data are everywhere; they are produced in rapidly increasing volume and variety by virtually all scientific, educational, governmental, societal and commercial enterprises. (For more information see “Dealing with Data,” Science Magazine, Volume 331, February 11, 2011.) Today we live in an era of data and information.  This era is enabled by modern experimental methods and observational studies; large-scale simulations; scientific instruments, such as telescopes and particle accelerators; Internet transactions, email, videos, images, and click streams; and the widespread deployment of sensors everywhere – in the environment, in our critical infrastructure, such as in bridges and smart grids, in our homes, and even on our clothing.  Every day, 2.5 quintillion bytes of data are generated – so much that 90 percent of the data in the world today has been created in the last two years alone (http://www-01.ibm.com/software/data/bigdata/). It is important to note that when we talk about big data it is not just the enormous volume of data that needs to be emphasized, but also the heterogeneity, velocity, and complexity that collectively create the science and engineering challenges we face today. In December 2010, the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) published a report to the President and Congress entitled: Designing a Digital Future: Federally Funded Research and Development in Networking and Information Technology. (http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/microsites/ostp/pcast-nitrd-report-2010.pdf) In that report, PCAST pointed to the research challenges involved in large-scale data management and analysis and the critical role of Networking and Information Technology (NIT) in moving from data to knowledge to action, underpinning the Nation’s future prosperity, health and security. Through long-term, sustained investments in foundational computing, communications and computational research, and the development and deployment of large-scale facilities and cyberinfrastructure, federal agency R&D investments over the past several decades have both helped generate this explosion of data as well as advance our ability to capture, store, analyze, and use these data for societal benefit.  More specifically, we have seen fundamental advances in machine learning, knowledge representation, natural language processing, information retrieval and integration, network analytics, computer vision, and data visualization, which together have enabled Big Data applications and systems that have the potential to transform all aspects of our lives. These investments are already starting to pay off, demonstrating the power of Big Data approaches across science, engineering, medicine, commerce, education, and national security, and laying the foundations for U.S. competitiveness for many decades to come.  But much more needs to be done, particularly in four areas: 1) basic research; 2) data infrastructure; 3) education and workforce development; and 4) community outreach. NSF can catalyze progress in these areas by developing programs to engage the research community, and by creating mechanisms to catalyze the development of people and infrastructure to address the challenges posed by this new flood of data. NSF will help increase the number of data scientists engaged in academic research, development, and implementation.  As defined in the 2005 NSB publication of Long-lived Digital Data Collections: Enabling Research and Education in the 21st Century defines data scientists as “the information and computer scientists, database and software programmers, disciplinary experts, curators, and expert annotators, librarians, archivists and others, who are crucial to the successful management of a digital data collection.” Using its ability to convene diverse sets of stakeholders, NSF will promote multi-stakeholder partnerships by supporting workshops and follow-on activities that bring together representatives of industry, academia, not-for-profit organizations, and other entities to address current and future big-data challenges.  NSF will also leverage existing programs, such as the NSF Research Traineeship (NRT) and the Graduate Research Fellowship (GRF) programs, and create new programs and tracks to current programs, as needed, to support the creation of more researchers and students competent in the deep analytical and technical skills required to address those challenges. NSF will develop strategies to build and sustain data infrastructure for the 21st century through CIF21. NSF will coordinate with other agencies through the National Science and Technology Council to achieve this goal.","Improve the Nation’s capacity in data science by investing in the development of human capital and infrastructure. By September 30th, 2015, implement mechanisms to support the training and workforce development of future data scientists; increase the number of multi-stakeholder partnerships to address the nation’s big-data challenges; and increase investments in current and future data infrastructure extending data –intensive science into more research communities."," Education, Training, Employment, and Social Services | General Science, Space, and Technology",1193
"National Science Foundation",FY14-15,"Optimize the Award Process to Level Workload","NSF typically awards half of its nearly 20,000 funded grant actions in the 4th quarter due to the fact that almost 75 percent of proposals and funding requests are recommended for award during the last half of the fiscal year.  This unbalanced award workload is largely a result of clustered proposal deadlines, as well as due to annual budget delays, uncertainties of final allocations, and program practice of making funding decisions late in the fiscal year.  Issuing such a high volume of awards in a compressed time period during the end of the fiscal year not only strains NSF’s workforce, and other resources such as IT business systems and space for conducting review panels, but also increases risk and places added stress on awardee capabilities coinciding with these peak workload periods. Adopting strategies that address calendar management, operating procedures, and potential IT improvements should result in improved efficiencies that mitigate the negative impacts of the current imbalanced award distribution for both NSF and the nation’s scientific research community, supporting NSF’s strategic goal to excel as a federal science agency.  Spreading proposal deadlines and leveling issuance of awards in a more balanced approach across the fiscal year would provide for more optimal utilization of limited resources to administer and manage research funding and therefore improve award compliance and overall stewardship of federal research dollars.  Realizing improved efficiency in the administration of federally sponsored scientific research would also help to further reduce administrative burden and enable research to be initiated and executed more efficiently across the research community. Implementation of this goal will require the full support of all program directorates and offices that make funding recommendations to NSF awarding divisions.  Implementation teams will be established in each program directorate and office to develop approaches that consider the full proposal cycle and are sensible for each program area (e.g., polar programs may need to time funding solicitation deadlines and subsequent recommendations in a manner that accommodates the logistical concerns associated with operating in an extreme weather environment).  NSF’s Office of Budget, Finance and Award Management (BFA) divisions will support the program directorates and offices in this effort by working with each of the implementation teams to suggest options for consideration, to foster pilot approaches, and to assist in the clearance process which impacts the release and timing of proposal solicitation deadlines.","Improve agency and awardee efficiency by leveling the award of grants across the fiscal year.  By September 30, 2015, meet targets to level distribution of awards across the fiscal year and subsequently improve awardee capacity to effectively manage research funding."," Management",1180
"Office of Personnel Management",FY16-17,"Human Resource Workforce Capability","The Federal human resources profession performs the vital role of supporting the recruitment, hiring and management of the Federal civilian workforce. The President’s Management Agenda and OPM Strategic Plan both rely critically on the ability of human resources professionals to keep abreast of innovations in talent management, evolving human resources policies, and new skills required for successful execution of Federal talent strategies.  Currently, investment in development for Federal HR professionals varies across agencies in approach, content, and quality.  To assure a leveling-up of HR professional development and support Government-wide HR reforms, OPM is partnering with the Chief Human Capital Officers Council to build a comprehensive curriculum of HR training and education to be delivered through the HR University (HRU).  The CHCO Council is using a Community Framework to develop an agreed approach to identifying required skills, assessing the current workforce competencies to identify gaps, and targeting the development of coursework toward high priority skills.   The HRU Curriculum will address all HR professional roles and technical specialty areas, and will consist of courses offered by OPM’s HR Solutions, as well as courses available from other Federal agencies.  The Community Framework also includes a credentialing strategy to be developed by the CHCO Council based on benchmarking of industry best practices.  A certification program will be built into the HRU Curriculum to support any future credentialing program. The highest risk to successful execution of this goal is agencies’ willingness to pay for courses offered by HR University.  Recovering the investment costs for the curriculum and HRU operations is critical to OPM’s Human Resources Solutions’ (HRS) sustainable delivery of HRU curricula and developmental resources.  To mitigate this risk, HRS is collaborating closely with the CHCO Council HR Skills Gaps Executive Steering Committee to build the curriculum.  Through a co-production method, HRS will ensure that courses being offered directly meet agencies’ perceived needs for HR skills development.","Close skills gaps in the Federal human resource workforce by developing and launching a Federal HR curriculum. By the end of FY 2016, build and launch curricula for staffing and classification.  Baseline HR professionals’ proficiency levels for the Staffing specialty area competencies, and set targets for improvement.  By the end of FY 2017, build and launch curricula for employee relations and labor relations; and design a certification program for existing HR University curricula."," General Government",43532
"Office of Personnel Management",FY16-17,"Cybersecurity Monitoring","OPM stores more Personally Identifiable Information (PII) and other sensitive records than almost any other Federal agency.  This is a tremendous trust placed in the agency by the millions of current and former Federal employees, and one that OPM must continually earn through constant vigilance. The prior breaches of OPM data make clear that cybersecurity must remain a priority for all agencies, but especially OPM.  As President Obama has said, “Both state and non-state actors are sending everything they’ve got at trying to breach these systems…And this problem is not going to go away.  It is going to accelerate.  And that means that we have to be as nimble, as aggressive, and as well-resourced as those who are trying to break into these systems.”  In a world of evolving threats, there is no such thing as “total cybersecurity.”  But the actions outlined by OPM, and continued collaboration with Federal partners, Congress, and outside experts, will ensure that OPM has the tools it needs to safeguard its systems and protect our nation’s citizens and the men and women that serve the Federal Government. This goal aligns with Administration cybersecurity priorities. The goal was established in coordination with OMB policies and guidance, to include the Cybersecurity Strategy and Implementation Plan (CSIP), the Fiscal Year 2015-2016 Guidance on Federal Information Security and Privacy Management Requirements, and the Cybersecurity CAP goal.","Continue enhancing the security of OPM's information systems by strengthening authentication and expanding the implementation of continuous monitoring. OPM will increase the use of multi-factor strong authentication in multiple ways.  While OPM enforces Personal Identity Verification (PIV) authentication for its internal users, OPM targets PIV usage for OPM services at 50 percent of Federal users by the end of FY 2016.  By the end of FY 2017, OPM will enforce multi-factor authentication for 100 percent of all PIV-enabled users and 80 percent of non-PIV-enabled users. OPM will increase its security posture by expanding the Information Security Continuous Monitoring (ISCM) capabilities throughout FY 2015.  Leveraging the Continuous Diagnostic and Mitigation (CDM) program, OPM will expand continuous diagnostic capabilities by increasing the network sensor capacity, automating sensor collections, and prioritizing risk alerts.  By the end of the second quarter of FY 2016, OPM will have acquired, implemented, and refined the four (4) CDM controls including vulnerability management, secure configuration management, hardware asset management, and software asset management.  These tools will increase OPM’s ability to identify and respond to security issues.  By the end of FY 2016, 95 percent of OPM’s assets will be visible in the CDM dashboard.  In FY 2017, OPM will use the benchmarking results to identify and prioritize the implementation of other ISCM controls. OPM will continue to pursue a number of additional actions as outlined in its Cybersecurity Monitoring goal."," General Government",43552
"Office of Personnel Management",FY16-17,"FEHB Plan Performance","To establish a consistent assessment system that includes objective performance standards, OPM has developed the FEHB Plan Performance Assessment. This assessment incorporates a discrete set of quantifiable measures to examine key aspects of health plan performance and a contract oversight evaluation by the contract officer. The FEHB Plan Performance Assessment will be linked to health plan profit. Quantifiable measures are grouped into three performance areas: Clinical Quality, Customer Services, and Resource Use (collectively termed QCR). The QCR measures consist of Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS) and Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS) measures. The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) oversees the set of HEDIS and CAHPS measures which is used nationwide to measure performance of health plans in various areas. OPM is using NCQA’s national or regional benchmarks in the FEHB Plan Performance Assessment.   To focus attention on priority issues, OPM has developed a hierarchy for the QCR measures. In assigning priority levels to measures, OPM considered whether the measure assessed health outcomes, supported specific OPM policy priorities, and was relevant to FEHB subpopulations with particular health needs. Improvement on these high priority measures will indicate improved quality and carrier focus on critical healthcare areas for the FEHB Program.   This assessment system directly supports Goal 9 of the 2014-2018 OPM Strategic Plan by requiring that FEHB health plans meet rigorous industry standards and higher levels of health plan accountability. These higher standards and increased accountability lead to higher quality health benefits available to federal employees, federal retirees, their families, and newly eligible populations. This new initiative is also closely aligned with the current Administration’s goal of health care system improvement and parallels other federal agency and private payer processes.","Improve health outcomes for the 8.2 million Federal employees, retirees, and their dependents enrolled in health plans participating in the Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) program. In 2016, FEHB plan performance will be assessed based on a common set of measures of clinical quality, customer service and appropriate resource use; this performance assessment will be used in the determination of plan profit margins.  While each plan will be assessed based on its performance, overall progress for the FEHB program will be measured by an increase in the number of FEHB plans at or above the 50th percentile of the relevant national, commercial benchmark  year-on-year as measured by FEHB plan scored values on the designated high priority indicators used continuously during the evaluation period.  These high priority measures include: risk adjusted all cause readmissions, timeliness of prenatal care and blood pressure control."," General Government",43492
"Office of Personnel Management",FY16-17,"Background Investigations Case Processing Timeliness and Quality","In alignment with OPM FY 2014-2018 Strategic Plan Goal 8.0, OPM provides personnel background investigative services to determine individuals’ suitability for Federal civilian, military, and contract employment and eligibility for access to classified national security information. OPM performs these background investigations for Federal agencies on a fee-for-service basis and conducts more than 95 percent of all background investigations for the Federal Government.  The timeliness provisions of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 and the Director of National Intelligence continue to be a key focus of the background investigations program.  OPM will continue efforts to complete the fastest 90 percent of all initial national security investigations initial within an average of 40 days, and the fastest 90 percent of all initial Top Secret investigations within an average of 80 days, and the fastest 90 percent of all initial Secret/Confidential investigations within an average of 40 days, as required by the Director of National Intelligence.  However, when the agency decided in FY 2014 not to renew the terms of one of its key investigative contractors, OPM’s Federal Investigative Services was challenged to continue to provide high-quality background investigations in a timely manner to its Federal agency customers with far fewer and less experienced contractor resources.  In 2015, in light of increasing cybersecurity threats, including the compromise of information housed at OPM, the interagency Suitability and Security Clearance Performance Accountability Council (PAC) conducted a 90-Day Suitability and Security review to re-examine reforms to the Federal background investigations process, assess additional enhancements to further secure information networks and systems, and determine improvements that could be made to the way the Government conducts background investigations for suitability, security and credentialing. As a result of that review, a new Federal entity, the National Background Investigations Bureau (NBIB), would be established to create a more secure and effective Federal background investigations infrastructure. On October 1, 2016, the NBIB began operation with the critical mission to deliver efficient and effective background investigations to safeguard the integrity and trustworthiness of the Federal workforce.  OPM stood up the NBIB without interruption to the crucially important investigative services OPM is tasked with providing.   The NBIB will strengthen current and future investigative delivery, enhances stakeholder engagement, facilitates innovation, and engages both the Federal and private sectors in providing feedback, setting priorities, and ensuring continuous improvement. Some of the highlights of the NBIB include (1) an interagency detailee program to enable NBIB ready access to national security expertise from across Government and to expand ongoing interagency participation in the NBIB decision making process and operational activities, (2) a Business Transformation Directorate to increase the use of data, analytics, technology and innovative solutions to improve the quality and timeliness of processes, and (3) improvements to OPM’s existing customer service with expanded functions.  In September 2016, OPM named Charles S. Phalen, Jr. as the Director of the NBIB.  In addition, the NBIB will be accountable to the PAC and the NBIB’s customer agencies for providing continuous improvements to the investigative process.  The PAC and the Performance Improvement Council will also develop, implement, and continuously re-evaluate and revise outcome-based metrics that measure the effectiveness of the entire vetting processes, including investigations.  By the end of calendar year 2016, mechanisms and measures for continuous improvements to the investigative process will be identified and incorporated into subsequent APG updates.  ","Increase investigative capacity and implement additional process improvements with the aim of meeting the timeliness standards set by the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 for background investigations while maintaining investigative quality.  Throughout FY 2016, OPM will improve production output in response to the increasing workload demands of its customers, while reducing the larger than normal inventory of cases created during the transition from one of its investigative contractors.   OPM will accomplish this while maintaining its target of 99 percent or more of all OPM investigations adjudicated as “quality complete” for investigations closed."," General Government",42542
"Office of Personnel Management",FY14-15,"PG2 Improve the Oversight and Quality of Background Investigation Processing","Beginning in FY 2013, the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) further challenged the background investigations process by revising the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act timeliness metrics to establish a separate standard for Top Secret investigations.   As a result, the DNI shifted greater management focus on the manpower intensive workload, necessitating the creation of revised workload management tools and rules to measure and manage workload by case type. While OPM has made significant progress on timeliness since 2004, the agency has maintained its primary focus on delivering top quality products to agencies. OPM will work with its executive branch reform partners to develop and implement Executive Branch quality standards, with a measurement tool designed for universal application during both the investigative and adjudicative processes. OPM will focus on implementing these additional initiatives while maintaining timeliness objectives.  OPM will satisfy all national security standards, deliver quality products, and achieve Congressional and DNI mandated timeliness goals. OPM is sensitive to the fiscal environment and the need for customer agencies (i.e., the employing or sponsoring agencies) to have more insight into the costs of background investigations. To this end, OPM will continue conducting business efficiency studies and maturing its cost allocation model to provide more detailed cost data and to optimize the value of OPM’s investigative products to agency adjudicators, which in turn translates into better value to taxpayers.","Ensure that investigations achieve quality standards, while maintaining timeliness goals of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004. Throughout FY 2014 and 2015, OPM will target 99 percent or more of all OPM investigations adjudicated as “quality complete” by agencies receiving closed investigations."," General Government",410
"Office of Personnel Management",FY16-17,"Retirement Services Case Processing","The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is responsible for the administration of the Federal Retirement Program covering more than 2.7 million active employees and nearly 2.6 million annuitants. This responsibility is shared with agency partners who counsel their employees and administer the initial retirement application process, and submit the employee’s application, with all supporting documentation, to OPM’s Retirement Services.   OPM remains committed to improving all areas of retirement case related production by refining and implementing Lean Six Sigma process improvement activities, providing needed training and development, and diverting resources to areas needing concentrated efforts. In order to make comprehensive improvements to retirement claims processing, OPM will continue to focus on the following four pillars: People; Productivity and Process Improvement; Partnerships with Agencies; and Partial, Progressive IT Improvements.   Reducing Federal retirement case processing supports OPM’s Strategic Goal 7 - ensuring that Federal retirees receive timely, appropriate, transparent, seamless, and accurate retirement benefits. This Agency Priority Goal is aligned with Strategy 7.03 - advancing the 21st Century customer-focused retirement processing system for claims adjudication in a timely and accurate manner.   One challenge that OPM faces is the unexpected surges in normal retirement and phase retirement applications. When agencies make Voluntary Early Retirement Authority (VERA) and Voluntary Separation Incentive Program (VSIP) offers, OPM may see a significant increase in retirement applications. OPM works closely with agencies to understand upcoming retirement offers; however, surges in retirement applications can occur outside of OPM’s control and predictions.   OPM must also continue to address the accuracy and completeness of claims received. To do this, OPM conducts agency audits and provides follow up training to identify and address barriers to timely processing. A high level snap shot of this information is posted to the OPM website on a monthly basis, and a detailed report is provided to the CHCOs for each agency. When the retirement claim submissions are accurate and complete, processing is much faster. However, when data elements are missing, OPM must request the documentation necessary to process the request—a significant time and labor burden which contributes to OPM’s inability to quickly process its current or new inventory.   Another challenge that the agency faces is the diversity of cases OPM receives, which often leads to complex claims adjudication. Court-ordered benefits claims, as an example, typically involve legal documentation from multiple attorneys. Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) and Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) may seem simple, with OPM's responsibility simply to multiply the high-three average salary by a percentage based upon years of service. The reality is that both CSRS and FERS are extraordinarily complicated structures with a multitude of complex provisions that apply under various circumstances.","Reduce Federal retirement case processing time by making comprehensive improvements and moving toward electronic processing of all retirement applications. In FY 2016, process 90 percent of cases in 60 days or less (as of March 2015, 81.6 percent of cases were processed in 60 days or less).  Support the 90/60 goal by: increasing the percentage of complete cases received from agencies to 90 percent or greater; continuing to develop capabilities to receive electronic retirement applications; and building a court-ordered benefit case reporting mechanism to capture inventory and timeliness of court-ordered cases by the first quarter of FY 2016. Establish baseline data for timeliness by the end of FY 2016."," General Government",42912
"Office of Personnel Management",FY14-15,"PG1 Retirement claims processing improvements","The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is responsible for the administration of the Federal Retirement Program covering over 2.7 million active employees and nearly 2.6 million annuitants. This responsibility is shared with agency partners who counsel their employees and administer the initial retirement application process, and submit the employee’s application, with all supporting documentation, to OPM’s Retirement Services.   OPM remains committed to improving all areas of retirement case related production by refining and implementing Lean Six Sigma activities, providing needed training and development, and diverting resources to areas needing concentrated efforts. In order to make comprehensive improvements to retirement claims processing, OPM will continue to focus on the following four pillars: People; Productivity and Process Improvement; Partnerships with Agencies; and Partial, Progressive IT Improvements.  ","Reduce Federal retirement processing time by making comprehensive improvements and move toward electronic processing of all retirement applications. Starting July 1, 2014, process 90 percent of cases in 60 days or less. By the end of FY 2015, increase the use of services on-line by 25 percent (from a baseline of 367,000 annuitants), and increase the percentage of complete cases received from agencies to 95 percent or greater (from a baseline of 89 percent) with the long term goal of 100 percent of cases received as complete.In addition, by FY 2015, OPM will develop capabilities to receive electronic retirement applications."," General Government",408
"Office of Personnel Management",FY14-15,"PG3 FEHB Accountability","OPM is continuing to focus on ways to optimize pharmacy practices to ensure the safe and clinically effective use of prescription medications while managing drug costs.  We continue to monitor carrier performance in several areas of pharmacy benefits management, including overall pharmacy and specialty drug trends as well as generic dispensing rates.  We will collect updated data on these measures of pharmacy performance.  Most health plans offer programs such as step therapy, medication therapy management programs, and expanded use of prior authorization for selected drugs.  Implementing programs of this type and using tiered drug formularies are positively correlated with better performance on overall and specialty drug trends and generic dispensing rates.  We will negotiate with FEHB carriers plan to add and expand on these types of drug management programs that control costs and improve quality and patient outcomes. OPM is implementing an FEHB Health Plan Performance Assessment project to measure and reward all FEHB plan performance (experience-rated and community-rated) through the use of common, objective, and quantifiable performance measures by the 2016 plan year.  This will be a new approach to our assessment of the annual performance of health plans contracted under the program.  The performance assessment framework will include a discrete set of qualitative and quantifiable performance measures that will be used to assess key aspects of performance.  That overall assessment will then be linked to health plan profit factors.  There are four primary categories of health plan performance to be assessed:  clinical quality, customer service, resource use, and contract oversight. Industry standards state that, in private employer plans, as much as 10 percent of health claim benefits paid are incurred by family members who are not eligible for coverage.  The FEHB Program provides approximately 23 billion dollars in benefits annually for those covered under Self and Family enrollments. This may translate to approximately 23 million dollars for each percent paid in error. Under current FEHB procedures, agencies and the FEHB carriers both have responsibility for family member eligibility determinations. However, there is no evidence that family member eligibility is systematically verified at the time of the initial enrollment, when enrollment is changed during Open Season or upon experiencing a Qualifying Life Event (QLE) (although some agencies do require documentation for QLE changes) or at any time during the employee’s period of coverage.  With the advent of electronic enrollment systems, enrollees can make certain FEHB enrollment changes without submitting any proof to their agency benefit officers. The extent of ineligible family members covered under FEHB Self and Family enrollments is currently unknown. In addition, presently there is no centralized FEHB enrollment system to maintain a database of eligible enrollees and family members. Enrollment systems that currently exist do not require the input of family member dependent information. Thus, there is no centralized database of the FEHB enrollments and consequently, no mechanism to determine who is receiving benefits under any one Self and Family enrollment.","Improve the efficiency of the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program and affordability of coverage offered to employees. By September 30, 2015, Reduce the rate of growth in per capita spending through a range of activities, including improved data analytics, enhanced accountability measures, and programmatic improvements."," General Government",406
"Office of Personnel Management",FY14-15,"PG4 Closing the Skills Gap for the HR Workforce","In response to the critical need for ensuring that the Federal Government possesses the Human Capital required to meet 21st Century mission-related challenges, the Administration designated closing skills gaps as a 2012-2013 Cross-Agency Priority Goal. The initiative is being implemented in two phases, described below. OPM has designated closing Human Resources Skills Gaps, one of several focus areas under this initiative, as a 2014-2015 OPM Priority Goal. Phase I created a Government-wide strategic workforce planning method through which agencies and the Chief Human Capital Officers Council (CHCOC) could identify occupations and competencies where staffing gaps could jeopardize the ability of the Government or specific agencies to accomplish their missions.  Agencies and the CHCOC used this common method to identify occupations and competencies for skills gaps closure.  Based on this analysis, the CHCOC identified six mission critical occupational groups and seven competencies, requiring government-wide focus.  The six occupational groups are Cybersecurity, Acquisition, Economist, Human Resources, Auditor and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics).  The seven competencies are strategic thinking, problem solving, data analysis, influencing/negotiating, grants management, grants management compliance, and grants financial management.  Successful skills gaps closure is critically dependent on a strong HR workforce who can provide strategies, programs and tools that help occupational leaders design and implement skills gaps closure efforts.  For this reason, OPM designated HR Skills Gaps as an Agency Priority Goal. In Phase II, OPM has designated a sub-goal leader for each of the six occupational groups to assist OPM in identifying potential pilot projects through which effective skill gaps strategies could be explored in order to design a comprehensive skills gap closure strategy.  OPM’s Associate Director for Employee Services has served as the sub-goal leader for HR Skills Gaps Closure.  He chairs the CHCOC HR Skills Gaps Working Group, which meets monthly to set the direction for skills gap closure, provides research and design support, and makes recommendations to the CHCOC.","Professionalize the government-wide HR workforce by implementing a comprehensive HR certification program through HR University, which will greatly aid in achieving the long term goal of improving the quality of HR services government-wide, including measurable improvements in manager satisfaction with the quality of new hires. By end of FY 2015, more than 95 percent of Federal HR professionals (GS-201s/203s) will have registered for HR University. By the end of FY 2015, each HR Technical Area (Employee Relations, Staffing, Compensation, etc.) will have developed its curriculum for the Technical Specialist Role, as a step towards future HR Certification professional recognition."," General Government",468
"Office of Personnel Management",FY14-15,"PG5 Promote Diversity and Inclusion","OPM is responsible for the Government-wide Diversity and Inclusion effort focused on developing, driving, and monitoring strategies and initiatives designed to create a more diverse and inclusive Federal workforce.  Executive Order 13583, “Establishing a Coordinated Government-wide Initiative to Promote Diversity and Inclusion in the Federal Workforce,” challenged the Federal Government with leading by example and attaining a diverse, qualified workforce that enables employees to contribute to their full potential.  Similarly, Executive Order 13548, “Increasing Federal Employment of Individuals with Disabilities,” requires agencies to improve their efforts to employ Federal workers with disabilities and targeted disabilities through increased recruitment, hiring, and retention of these individuals. In FY 2012, OPM issued the Government-wide Diversity and Inclusion Strategic Plan to provide direction to fifty-seven participating departments and agencies under the two subject Executive Orders.  The three primary goals in the Plan included: Workforce Diversity. Recruit from a diverse, qualified group of potential applicants to secure a high-performing workforce drawn from all segments of American society; Workplace Inclusion. Cultivate a culture that encourages collaboration, flexibility, and fairness to enable individuals to contribute to their full potential and further retention; and Sustainability. Develop structures and strategies to equip leaders with the ability to manage diversity, be accountable, measure results, refine approaches on the basis of such data, and institutionalize a culture of inclusion. In support of the Diversity goal, OPM seeks to improve applicant flow reporting to enable human resources staff and hiring managers to determine whether recruitment efforts have been successful in drawing from all segments of society and to aid in developing future recruitment strategy.  Applicant flow data has historically been collected on the basis of race, national origin, and sex, and beginning in 2014, it will be collected on the basis of disability.  Historically, the data has been analyzed in an aggregate format; however, through the use of business intelligence tools, applicant flow data for individual hiring actions will be available for review at the hiring manager level after a vacancy has closed, creating incentive for increased hiring manager involvement in the recruitment process and greater opportunity for planning future recruitment efforts. To further understand how to create an inclusive work environment where employees are fully engaged and productive, OPM and the Department of Veterans Affairs conducted factor analysis on the Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey and found that twenty questions cluster into five areas or behaviors (i.e., fair, open, cooperative, supportive, and empowering) that create inclusive work environments.   Based on these five areas, OPM developed the “New IQ” (Inclusion Quotient) techniques and training to assist managers and supervisors in practicing behaviors that foster inclusion, an antecedent to employee engagement.  OPM will also continue to focus on the life cycle of the Federal employee to ensure that the Federal workforce is able to hire and develop the best talent from all segments of society, with a focus on internal Diversity and Inclusion efforts to ensure that we serve as a model agency.  Internal efforts will focus on the implementation of a data-driven, habit formation strategy that leverages first-line managers and supervisors to foster inclusion and engagement in the OPM workplace.","OPM will support diversity and inclusion by aligning OPM business intelligence tools to help decision makers, like hiring managers and supervisors, analyze key workforce data including applicant flow, attrition/retention, and inclusion indicators. In so doing, decision makers can develop better outreach and recruitment methods; determine what factors contribute to the retention of a talented workforce; experience cost savings through decreased attrition; and create an inclusive work environment that empowers employees to contribute to their full potential. By September 30, 2015, 95 percent of OPM and 25 percent of government-wide hiring actions will occur following human resource and/or hiring manager’s use of a tool that reveals applicant flow data from prior recruitment efforts.  This tool will assist human resource and/or hiring managers in planning their strategic recruitment efforts, resulting in measurable improvements in the recruitment and outreach to underrepresented communities and manager satisfaction with the quality of new hires."," General Government",1029
"Small Business Administration",FY16-17,"Strengthen and expand the network of lenders offering SBA products","Providing access to capital has been one of the SBA’s critical strategies in meeting its objective to drive business formation, job growth, and economic expansion particularly in underserved markets since the Agency’s creation in 1953. By providing loan guarantees to reduce lenders’ loss exposure, the SBA provides an important credit lifeline to small businesses, especially startup businesses and businesses owned by women, minorities, veterans and other underserved groups that often cannot easily obtain credit in the  conventional market.  SBA loan programs are necessary to ensure that small businesses are not only surviving but also leading the way toward US economic expansion and growth. The 7(a) Loan program is the federal government’s primary small business loan program, assisting small businesses to obtain financing when they do not qualify for or otherwise have access to traditional credit.  The SBA guarantees a portion of each loan (typically 50 to 90%) that participating lenders make by using the adjusted credit standards of the 7(a) loan program. SBA's FY 2014-2015 Priority Goal to increase new and returning 7(a) lenders has reduced the decline from FY 2012 to FY 2014.  SBA will continue to support small business access to capital by increasing the number of lenders participating in the flagship 7(a) loan program (including the Community Advantage pilot program). Lender participation is essential to growth in the quantity of loans approved and small businesses assisted. Attaining a high volume of lender participation will create a consistent pipeline of SBA loans to small businesses. This Priority Goal directly supports SBA’s Strategic Objective 1.1 – Expand access to capital through SBA’s extensive lending network.  Access to capital is critical to the long-term success of America’s small businesses.  The top priority at the SBA is to get lending flowing to small businesses. Key barriers and challenges: Economic Trends; micro- and macro-economic that impact whether banks want to provide SBA-backed loans such as: Lender may not have the technology in  place to support migration to SBA systems Some industries may have a high default rate and a risk that would not allow a lender to underwrite a SBA backed loan Lender located in an area where some industries are effected by geographic factors that would make a risk (for example, Northeast Area has a big fishing industry that depends on weather, availability of product, regulations, etc.)  Bank mergers impact the number of lending partners providing 7(a) loan Program awareness of SBA products and services and a shrinking workforce in field offices which provide training","By September 30, 2017, expand access to capital for small businesses by increasing the number of lenders in SBA's 7(a) loan program from 2,244 (FY 2014) to 2,500."," Commerce and Housing Credit | Community and Regional Development",36342
"Small Business Administration",FY14-15,"Increase Active Lender Participation","Providing access to capital has been one of the SBA’s critical strategies in meeting its objective to drive business formation, job growth and economic expansion particularly in underserved markets since the agency was created in 1953. By providing loan guarantees to reduce lenders’ loss exposure, the SBA provides an important credit lifeline to small businesses, especially startup businesses and businesses owned by women, minorities, veterans and other underserved groups who often cannot easily obtain credit in the  conventional market.  In the current economic conditions, SBA loan programs become even more crucial for ensuring that small businesses are not only surviving but also leading the way toward economic recovery and growth, as they have done time-and-time again throughout U.S. history. SBA will increase small business access to capital by increasing the number of new or returning lenders in the fiscal year for the flagship 7(a) program (including the Community Advantage pilot program). New and returning lenders are a major component of SBA’s lending portfolio and are essential to growth in the quantity of loans approved and small businesses assisted. Each new or returning lender will expand SBA’s footprint and increase small business access to capital. Attaining a high volume of new and returning lenders from one fiscal year to the next will create a consistent pipeline of SBA loans into the hands of small business. There are barriers and challenges to the SBA in achieving its priority goals: Economic Trends; micro and macro Issues within the Finance Industry as a whole Shrinking workforce in field offices which provide training Recent cases from the OIG reviewing SBA lenders underwriting criteria have triggered a more cautious approach from some lenders with some loan guaranty types","Expand access to capital by adding 325 new and returning lenders to SBA’s flagship 7(a) program each fiscal year in FY2014-2015."," Commerce and Housing Credit",418
"Small Business Administration",FY16-17,"Maximize small business participation in government contracting","When a small business is awarded a government contract, the small business is often able to quickly create jobs and spur economic growth.  The government agency often has a “direct line” to the CEO, helping ensure that products and services are meeting or exceeding expectations and serving America’s taxpayers.  Also, underserved communities – including women, minorities, veterans and others – often have extreme difficulty in accessing federal contracting opportunities as market gaps remain.  SBA’s unique contracting programs provide a path to business growth for these populations. Congress has mandated that small businesses receive 23% of federal government prime contracting dollars, including 5% of prime and subcontracts to Small Disadvantage Businesses; 5% of prime and subcontracts to Women-Owned Small Businesses; 3% of prime and subcontracts to HUBZone Small Businesses; and 3% of prime and subcontracts to Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Businesses. Meeting and exceeding the federal government’s small business procurement goals continues to be an Administration priority.  Federal contracting with small businesses is a win-win.  Small businesses get the revenue they need to grow their businesses and create jobs, and the federal government gets the opportunity to work with some of America’s most innovative and nimble small businesses, often times with a direct line to the CEO. This Priority Goal directly supports SBA’s strategic objectives: Strategic Objective 1.2 – Ensure federal contracting goals are met or exceeded by collaborating across the federal government to expand opportunities for small businesses and strengthen the integrity of the federal contracting certification process and data. Strategic Objective 2.1 – Ensure inclusive entrepreneurship by expanding access and opportunity to small businesses and entrepreneurs in communities where market gaps remain Small businesses are agile, innovative and affordable partners for the federal government.  Through small business contracting, the federal government acts as a catalyst for small business growth, innovation, and supports the national economic security of the nation. Congress designated SBA as the agency responsible for overseeing small business contracting across the federal government.  The SBA takes this responsibility seriously as the strongest voice for small business across the Administration. Key barriers and challenges: The unpredictable and changing budget climate is a challenge for small businesses, and SBA is working hard to create an environment where small businesses can be successful in the federal procurement marketplace.  The instability and ambiguity caused by Continuing Resolutions make it difficult to agency acquisition staff to plan effectively for small business utilization. Entering the federal supply chain can often be a lengthy and arduous process for many small businesses. The Administration and SBA continue to increase efforts and collaboration to provide more opportunities for small businesses to compete for and win federal contracts. Strategic Sourcing, Bundling, and Contracting Consolidation continue to be major concerns for small business opportunity and expansion.  While the government strives to balance affordability with opportunity, SBA engages with agencies to continue to promote broader competitive opportunities to ensure the health of the small business industrial base is not adversely affected due to strategic sourcing or consolidating requirements and to protect small business from contract bundling. SBA must continue to implement effective and efficient strategies to monitor the agencies’ progress, support small businesses interested in working with the government, and improve the data quality agencies use to manage their contracting activities.","Through September 30, 2017, maximize small business participation in federal prime contracting to meet the statutory goal of 23%, ensure targets for subgoals are met, and reduce participation by ineligible firms."," Community and Regional Development",36362
"Small Business Administration",FY14-15,"Maximize Small Business participation in government contracting","Congress has mandated that small businesses receive 23% of federal government prime contracting dollars, including 5% of prime and subcontracts to Small Disadvantage Businesses; 5% of prime and subcontracts to Women-Owned Small Businesses; 3% of prime and subcontracts to HUBZone Small Businesses; and 3% of prime and subcontracts to Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Businesses Meeting and exceeding the federal government’s small business procurement goals continues to be an Administration priority.  Federal contracting with small businesses is a win-win.  Small businesses get the revenue they need to grow their businesses and create jobs, and the federal government gets the opportunity to work with some of America’s most innovative and nimble small businesses, often times with a direct line to the CEO. In FY 2012, the federal government made real progress toward the 23 percent goal, with 22.25 percent or $89.9 billion in federal contracting dollars going to small businesses compared to 21.65 percent in FY 2011, with significant impact in key areas: For the first time, more agencies than ever before met or surpassed all of their prime contracting goals. Also, for the first time, the federal government exceeded the goal for service disabled veterans. The federal government had the highest percentage of contracts going to Small Disadvantage Businesses to date. As a result of a government wide focus on increasing small business contracting opportunities, during President Obama’s first term (FY2009 - FY2012) the federal government awarded $376.2 billion in federal contracting dollars to small businesses.  This is a $48.1 billion increase over the four preceding years even as we have seen reduced spending overall. Also, since President Obama took office, the SBA has supported more than $132.61 billion in Federal government contracting dollars to small disadvantaged businesses. This represents a 36.6 percent increase when compared to the prior Administration. Under the Bush Administration’s first term, $97.10 billion in federal government contracting dollars were awarded to small disadvantaged businesses. Although we have seen marked success over the last few years, we know more must be done.  Many challenges exist for small businesses seeking to enter the federal procurement marketplace. The unpredictable and changing budget climate is a challenge for small businesses, and SBA is working hard to create an environment where small businesses can be successful in the federal procurement marketplace. The instability and ambiguity caused by Continuing Resolutions make it difficult to agency acquisition staff to plan effectively for small business utilization. Entering the federal supply chain can often be a lengthy and arduous process for many small businesses. SBA’s GCBD unit must implement effective and efficient strategies to monitor the agencies’ progress to goal, support small businesses interested in working with the government and encourage agencies to improve data quality when reporting their contracting activities.  SBA will increase its efforts to collaborate with and hold federal agencies accountable to achieving their goals.","Maximize small business participation in federal government contracting to meet the statutory goals and reduce participation by ineligible firms."," Commerce and Housing Credit",416
"Small Business Administration",FY16-17,"Grow the number of 8(a)-certified disadvantaged small businesses","The 8(a) Program is an essential instrument for helping socially and economically disadvantaged entrepreneurs gain access to the economic mainstream of American society. The program helps thousands of aspiring entrepreneurs to gain a foothold in government contracting. 8(a) firms are also provided with business development assistance and can participate in the Mentor Protégé Program to build their competitive and institutional know-how to participate in competitive acquisitions. A few years ago, the 8(a) Program boasted over 9,000 certified 8(a) participants, but has declined to less than 4,700 due to the administratively burdensome application process.  Though the regulatory guidance provides the SBA approximately 90 days to process a complete application, several firms have endured delays that extend anywhere from 6 months to several years.  Further, the SBA rate of approval for applicants that complete the application process is exceptionally low, under 50%.  While over 2,000 applicants apply each year, the SBA rejects most applications as incomplete or missing documentation.  Historically, only 25% of the applicants or about 500-600 applicants per year get through the burdensome process for a final decision from the Associate Administrator of the Office of 8(a) Business Development.  The SBA’s low rate of approval has led to an industry of third party firms that charge socially and economically disadvantaged applicants anywhere from $5,000 to $75,000 to prepare the application and respond to the SBA processors.  Some of these firms are taking advantage of applicants; and regardless of the amount paid, there is no guarantee of approval because the SBA approval rate is consistently less than 50%. This Priority Goal is designed to grow the 8(a) Program by improving customer service for the 8(a) applicants and reduce the unnecessary administrative burdens on applicant firms.  Growth of the program will open opportunities for socially and economically disadvantaged entrepreneurs to gain a foothold in government contracting. The mission of the Office of Business Development is to execute activities authorized under Sections 8(a) and 7(j) of the Small Business Act to provide business development assistance to firms that are owned and controlled by economically and socially disadvantaged individuals. The office fulfills its mission by certifying the eligibility of prospective 8(a) business development firm participants and managing a national program that provides marketing, managerial, technical, and procurement assistance to help eligible businesses achieve their full competitive potential. The SBA will continue to work collaboratively with community development partners, credit unions, minority associations and others to tailor programs to meet their needs and ensure that SBA’s programs remain accessible to underserved communities. This Priority Goal directly supports SBA’s strategic objectives: Strategic Objective 1.2 – Ensure federal contracting goals are met or exceeded by collaborating across the federal government to expand opportunities for small businesses and strengthen the integrity of the federal contracting certification process and data. Strategic Objective 2.1 – Ensure inclusive entrepreneurship by expanding access and opportunity to small businesses and entrepreneurs in communities where market gaps remain Strategic Objective 3.3 – Mitigate risk to taxpayers and improve oversight across SBA programs The goals address the ongoing decline in number of 8(a) small businesses.  Through 8(a) sole source and competitive contracting opportunities, the federal government acts as a catalyst for small business growth, innovation, job creation, and supports the national economic security of the nation. When a small business gets a government contract, the small business is often able to quickly create jobs and spur economic growth.  The government agency often has a “direct line” to the CEO, helping ensure that products and services are meeting or exceeding expectations and serving America’s taxpayers. Key barriers and challenges: Many challenges exist for growing the 8(a) program and increasing the total number of application approvals for 8(a) firms. However, the SBA is committed to make smart, bold, and customer focused changes to make the 8(a) program accessible to all firms that meet the eligibility requirements of the program.  Consistent measurement of progress and monitoring of implementation of new and streamlined procedures will be key to avoid reverting to historical trends of rejecting 50% of more of the completed applications.  Challenges include: Uncertainty whether competitors will respond favorably to the necessary regulatory changes that will be posted in the Federal Register to remove longstanding but unnecessary burdens on firms.  Some examples are ‘wet signatures’ and a mandatory waiting period of 12 months to reapply after being declined by the SBA regardless of the reason for the decline. Potential for low employee engagement or desire for the status quo within the Office of Business Development. The staff assigned to process applications work remotely from the SBA Headquarters in Washington DC and have been trained in current processes that have proven burdensome. Office of Field Operation’s Business Opportunity Specialists (BOS) who conduct the day-to-day marketing to 8(a) applicants and provide business development for 8(a) certified firms.  The BOS are assigned other priorities leaving minimal time for 8(a) business development.  The decline in access to business development creates an increase in the number of firms that are terminated each year because they do not stay connected to the SBA and do not meet program requirements for annual reviews. The SBA programs that contribute to this Agency Priority Goal are: Size Standards, Mentor-Protégé, 8(a) Business Development, 7(j) Technical Assistance.","By September 30, 2017, support more disadvantaged small businesses by increasing the number of approved 8(a)-certification applications by 5% each fiscal year, FY 2016 and FY 2017."," Commerce and Housing Credit | Community and Regional Development",100031
"Small Business Administration",FY14-15,"Increase the Disaster Loan Application Return Rate","The FY13 baseline number for Disaster Loan Application Return Rate was 24%, so the goal for FY14 is to achieve 29% and 34% in FY15.  Increasing the application return rate will improve the delivery of the Disaster Loan Program. The primary opportunity being addressed is that a higher application return rate should result in a greater number of disaster survivors that will apply for disaster loan assistance and receive much needed Federal disaster assistance. SBA’s plan to increase the application return rate also ensures that SBA's disaster assistance resources for businesses, non-profit organizations, homeowners, and renters can be deployed quickly, effectively and efficiently in order to preserve jobs and help return small businesses to operation. SBA’s plan to increase the application return rate will indirectly make the Disaster Loan Program more efficient by: 1) saving costs on mailing application packets to 100% of disaster survivors referred to SBA; and 2) freeing up resources dedicated to preparing and mailing application packets that can be utilized in other critical areas of the application screening process that directly impact processing times.","Increase the return rate for disaster survivor applications by 10 percent points from 24% to 34% return rate by September 30, 2015."," Community and Regional Development",414
"Small Business Administration",FY14-15,"Expand the base of lenders for small business exporters","The priority goal is directly tied to the objective of both the National Export Initiative (NEI) and the Export Promotion Cabinet (EPC) to expand SME access to trade financing, which has been identified as a gap issue for smaller exporters.  Increasing access to export financing, combined with trade counseling and training, will contribute to the enhanced ability of current and future U.S. small business exporters to succeed in the global marketplace and supports the cross-agency goal of doubling U.S. exports.  There are barriers and challenges to the SBA in achieving its priority goals: From a marketing perspective, communicating and disseminating trade financing information to lenders and small business exporters could provide challenging given current, and anticipated, budget constraints on staffing. Inter-agency collaboration and joint initiatives can be challenging to manage, given the differing regulations and performance metrics of individual agencies, which might reduce the commitment of other agencies to help support this priority. Unique, and sometimes additional, Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) requirements for core export loans vs. other 7(a) loan products can confuse lenders and may require the creation of “Lender Training Manuals,” more extensive lender training, and Office of Capital Access support in implementing needed SOP revisions. In terms of operations, a reduced travel budget could greatly restrict the ability of field staff to deliver the necessary training to lenders and businesses that would expand the use of SBA loan programs for exporters, given that SBA's specialized trade finance specialists cover multiple states. The banking sector could receive another “financial shock,” forcing it to tighten lending requirements to small businesses and/or Basel III capital requirements could limit lending capacity.*  U.S. export growth could slow, reducing demand for trade financing, as a result of slow overseas economic growth and/or a strengthening of the U.S. dollar, making U.S. exports less competitive.   Trade financing historically has been perceived by many lenders, especially community banks, as being too complex to be incorporated into their suite of financial products. Working with other federal agencies, SBA will help reduce the complexity of USG trade financing and export marketing programs and highlight the growing importance of exports to the U.S. economy, thereby encouraging more lenders to offer comprehensive business solutions to their export customers.  In addition, SBA will leverage its outreach by working with state, federal, and other resource partners in order to promote customized trade financing options to the small business exporting community.","Expand small business access to export financing by increasing the number of lenders providing export financing solutions from 430 to 555 and the number of small business exporters receiving financing through SBA loan programs from 1,346 to 1,480 by FY2015."," Commerce and Housing Credit",1196
"Social Security Administration",FY16-17,"Improve customer service and convenience by increasing online transactions","As the number of customers signing up for my Social Security and using eServices grows, and as the public's service expectations evolve, we have an opportunity and responsibility to offer the public a broader range of services via the Internet. We will prioritize our work efforts to ensure that our customers can access essential Social Security services whenever they want; wherever they want. We will improve options for online customers by providing additional online services and improving existing services. These services allow our agency to provide essential information and services around the clock to those members of the public who prefer to conduct business online, allowing our frontline employees to spend more time with customers who need more personal assistance. This will provide an overall higher quality of service to our customers and moves us closer to our goal of a superior customer experience. We are committed to providing secure and easy to use online services. In FY 2014, customers conducted almost 71 million transactions online, a 42.5 percent increase over FY 2010, when customers conducted almost 13.5 million transactions online. Developing online services for a population with a variety of experiences and comfort levels with technology presents a unique challenge. We solicit input using a variety of methods prior to developing our services. Usability testing, focus groups, and advocacy discussions are common tools we use to engage our external stakeholders. We also consult with our employees when developing online services. Once we implement new online services, we continue to engage the public by soliciting their feedback using online customer satisfaction surveys that are applied across the Federal and private sectors to measure public satisfaction with various website features. In addition to online feedback, we also use internal survey mechanisms  to improve our online services. These tools provide us with standard, statistical measurements of public satisafction, and we use this information to guide decision-making for future improvements. Important influencing factors for this goal are information security and ease of use.  Executive Order (EO) 13681, Improving the Security of Consumer Financial Transactions, has established requirements that will increase security but may have an adverse impact on ease of use.  As of July 2, 2015, OMB had not published guidance for the EO, but implementation of a second factor, regardless of the guidance, will require additional steps in both the registration process and for each login.  The additional complexity might reduce usage","Improve customer service and convenience by increasing the volume of online transactions by 25 million each year. An increase of 25 million represents a 35 percent increase over FY 2014 volume (most recent full year data). This increase will result in a total of 112 million online transactions in FY 2016 and 137 million in FY 2017."," Social Security",37302
"Social Security Administration",FY16-17,"Improve Supplemental Security Income payment accuracy","The Social Security Administration manages the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program.  SSI is a needs-based program that provides a monthly benefit to people who have low income and few resources, and who are age 65 or older, blind, or disabled.  Adults and children (i.e. an individual under the age of 18 or an individual under age 22 who regularly attends a qualifying school and is not married nor head of a home) can receive benefits based on disability or blindness.    	The SSI program is complex, in part, because we determine an individual's eligibility on a monthly basis.  An individual must meet all factors of eligibility each month to receive SSI benefits.  Factors of eligibility include, but are not limited to, having low income and few resources.    	A person is not eligible for benefits if his or her countable resources are worth more than $2,000.  Married persons who live in the same household are not eligible if their countable resources are worth more than $3,000.  In general, we count as resources items that individuals can change to cash and use for their support and maintenance, such as property, stocks, U.S. savings bonds, and money in bank accounts.  Generally, we do not count as resources such items as the home in which a person lives, one vehicle for transportation, burial plots for an individual or the immediate family, household goods, and personal property.    	If a person is eligible for SSI, we calculate the payment based on a legal definition of income and living situation (arrangement).  Income can be in-kind or cash.  In-kind income is not cash, but is food, shelter, or an item that a person can use to get one of these items (e.g. a third party pays for the person's food or shelter).  Some types of cash income include wages, net earnings from self-employment, Social Security benefits, pensions, and unemployment compensation.    	In addition, an individual's eligibility for SSI and payment amount may change if he or she moves into a different living arrangement - whether a person lives alone, lives with others, or lives in a medical facility or other institution.  When a change occurs, we decide whether the individual is eligible for SSI.  If eligible for SSI, we calculate the payment.  For example, when a person moves into a nursing home and is eligible for SSI, we may reduce the person's payment to $30 per month.  Also, when an individual moves from his or her own home into the home of another person and the person gives food or shelter to the individual, we decide whether the change affects the individual's eligibility for SSI.  If eligible for SSI, we may lower the individual's payment because the individual is receiving in-kind income.    	In general, we calculate an eligible person's payment based upon income received two months (e.g. January) before the month of payment (e.g. March).  Since an individual's circumstances may change from month to month, paying the correct amount at the right time is problematic.  Therefore, we are working to increase our ability to pay benefits correctly by making the program simpler and using more data and technology.  While our main goal is to prevent paying individuals more SSI payments than they are due (overpayments), we are also committed to avoid paying people less money than they are due (underpayments).    	We must decide eligibility monthly and calculate payment monthly based upon several factors, such as income and living arrangements.  Mostly, we depend on an individual to report changes that may affect eligibility or payment.  Without a person's timely reporting, we have difficulty getting information about changes and correcting benefits quickly if necessary, which causes us to release some improper payments.  Additionally, if an individual reports changes timely (i.e. no later than 10 days after the end of the month in which the change occurred), the agency must give written notice of how the change affects his or her benefit before we make any changes.  The written notice must give the person the right to appeal our decision.  The notice and appeal process delay our ability to correct payments timely.    	Generally, we pay SSI on the first day of the month.  We decide eligibility about the third week of a month (e.g. February) for the next month (March).  If a person is eligible for SSI, we calculate payment based upon income the person received two months (e.g. January) before the month of payment (e.g. March).  Since we use information that we have before the first day of the month to decide eligibility and payment for the month, any changes that may occur during the month can affect the benefit due, which can result in an overpayment or underpayment.  Therefore, the program's rules for deciding eligibility and payment may cause us to issue benefits incorrectly.","Improve the integrity of the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program by ensuring that 95 percent of our payments are free of overpayment."," Social Security",37322
"Social Security Administration",FY16-17,"Reduce the Disability Hearings Pending","More than one million people are waiting for a hearing decision from an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) on their requests for disability benefits.   Many of those cases are pending because the Office of Disability Adjudication and Review (ODAR) does not currently have the resources in place to complete them in a timely manner.  Pending requests for hearings have risen for three consecutive years due to recession-related filings and our inability to hire sufficient ALJs.  Resolving this public service crisis is one of the Social Security Administration's highest priorities. Although we constantly explore process efficiencies to improve our capacity and performance, only ALJs can hear and decide cases.  We expect that with increased ALJ and support staff hiring in ODAR, we will begin reducing the pending requests for hearings before the end of calendar year 2016.  Our first priority area in reducing the pending is focusing on completing our oldest pending cases first and we must do so without sacrificing the quality of our hearing decisions. Historically our Aged Case Initiatives have proved highly effective in reducing our pending and eliminating our oldest cases first.  Clearing our aged cases is vitally important to the Agency, to the Acting Commissioner, and most importantly, to the American people.  It is both a business imperative and a moral imperative to serve these members of the public who have waited the longest by providing timely, quality disability hearing decisions.","By the end of fiscal year (FY) 2017, we will improve customer service in the hearings process by reducing the wait time for a hearing decision. In FY 2016, we will decide 99% of cases that begin the fiscal year at 430 days old or older (our 252,000 oldest cases). 25% decided by Q1 50% decided by Q2 75% decided by Q3 99% decided by Q4 In FY 2017, we will decide 99% of cases that begin the fiscal year at 365 days old or older."," Social Security",37342
"Social Security Administration",FY16-17,"Increase customer satisfaction with our services","Customer relationships with Social Security span a lifetime and are supported by access to accurate, real-time, and secure information and services.  Our vision is that enabled by technology and our employees, our customers have real-time access and customer engagement when and where they need us. Customer choice of where and how they receive service is important. Wage earners, retirees, survivors, and individuals with disabilities and their loved ones come to our agency seeking immediate assistance, care, and help. Other customers, including employers, businesses, non-profits, advocates, oversight groups and other stakeholders, also require our attention and support.    	We have a long history of exemplary customer service with high customer satisfaction ratings.  In surveys and anecdotally through social media and other forums, many of our customers have praised the service we provide.  Our goal is to achieve even greater success in customer service and satisfaction through innovative online self-service options.    	The strategies and milestones in this plan are designed to ensure our customers are highly satisfied, and that we solicit and incorporate feedback from our customers to improve customer satisfaction.","Increase customer satisfaction with our services by: 1. For the eight agency services included in the ForeSee eGovernment Satisfaction Index, ensuring that our customers continue to rate our internet services above the excellent threshold (over 80 points) on average, with a FY 2016 average of at least 84.5 and a FY 2017 average of at least 85. 2. Ensuring that our customers rate our office and telephone services as Excellent, Very Good, or Good (E/VG/G), with a FY 2016 target of 80%, and a FY 2017 target of 80%."," Social Security",37362
"Social Security Administration",FY14-15,"Improve access to our services by increasing the number of customers who complete their business with us online.","Online services are vital to good public service. The Internet provides the public with the ability to conduct Social Security business at their convenience and at their own pace, without the need to travel to a field office or wait to meet with one of our representatives. In addition to being convenient, increased use of online services benefits the public and SSA by reducing the average time our employees spend processing claims, freeing them to handle workloads that are more complicated. Over the last few years, we implemented several new, secure and easy-to-use online services, which allow us to handle the surge of benefit applications better. Our goal is to continue increasing the variety of online services we offer, including the ability to apply for a range of benefits, access information instantly, and update records. We are committed to making our online services secure and easy to use. In FY 2013, customers submitted more than 2.5 million retirement and disability applications online, an 80 percent increase over FY 2009, when customers submitted 1.4 million claims online. Developing online services for a population with a variety of experiences and comfort levels with technology presents a unique challenge. We solicit stakeholder input using a variety of methods prior to developing our services. Usability testing, focus groups, and advocacy discussions are common tools we use to engage our external stakeholders. We also consult with our employees when developing online services. Once we implement new online services, we continue to engage the public by soliciting their feedback using the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). Federal and private sectors use ACSI surveys to measure public satisfaction with various website features. In addition to the ACSI feedback, we also use internal survey mechanisms to improve our online services. These tools provide us with standard, statistical measurements of public satisfaction, and we use this information to guide decision-making for future improvements.","In FY 2014, customers processed over 70.7 million transactions online. In FYs 2014 and 2015, we will increase the number of online transactions by 10 percent over each respective prior fiscal year. This equates to 77.8 million online transactions in FY 2015."," Social Security",1084
"Social Security Administration",FY14-15,"Reduce the improper payment rate made under the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program.","SSI is a means-tested program designed to provide a monthly payment to aged, blind, or disabled people with limited income and resources. Adults, as well as children, can receive payments based on disability or blindness. SSI payments are calculated using a statutory definition where payment levels for beneficiaries can change from month-to–month, which may result in an improper payment. Two factors used to determine an individual's monthly benefit are income and living arrangements. Income can be in cash or in-kind, and is usually anything that a person receives that can be used to obtain food or shelter. Cash income includes wages, Social Security and other pensions, and unemployment compensation. In-kind income is food and shelter or something someone can use to obtain those items. Individuals' SSI benefit amounts also may change if they move in to a different “living arrangement”—whether a person lives alone or with others, or resides in a medical facility or other institution. For instance, when an individual moves into a nursing home, the person’s monthly payment may be reduced to as little as $30 per month. If the person moves from his or her own household into the household of another person, and that person provides food or shelter, the payment also may be reduced. An individual’s resources also affect eligibility for the SSI program. An individual is not eligible for benefits if his or her countable resources exceed $2,000, and couples are not eligible if their countable resources exceed $3,000. In general, SSA counts as resources items individuals can convert to cash and use for their support and maintenance, such as bank accounts, stocks, and bonds. The design of the SSI program requires that SSA adjust benefit payments to account for these factors. SSA explains to SSI recipients that they must report these changes to us when they occur. Absent their timely reporting, it is difficult to obtain information about these changes in a prompt fashion, resulting in some erroneous payments. Additionally, even if individuals report in a timely manner, SSA is required to first provide written notification of how the change affects their benefit amounts and provide due process protections. This process delays adjusting payments to the correct amount. Furthermore, SSA generally makes SSI payments on the first day of the month for eligibility in that month. Even if the payment is correct when paid, any changes that may occur during the month can affect the payment due, which can result in an overpayment or underpayment. Thus, the program requirements themselves sometimes cause erroneous payments. SSA’s SSI improper payment accuracy reflects the complex nature of the SSI program. SSA is working on improving administration of the SSI program, focusing on how technology can make the agency more efficient. SSA is currently offering telephone wage reporting and a smart-phone application for reporting wages and is expanding our use of those technologies.  SSA is also working on expanded use of Lexis-Nexis to verify real property, and numerous other projects designed to improve our service and ensure the integrity of our payments.","Reduce the improper payment rate made under the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program. By September 30, 2015*, we will reduce the improper payment rate made under the SSI program to no more than 6.2% of all payments made under the SSI program (i.e. overpayments and underpayments). *Because of the difficulties in evaluating payment accuracy, there is a 7-month lag in obtaining end–of-year data.  We will not have FY 2014 data available until April 2015.  FY 2015 data will be available in April 2016."," Social Security",1086
"Social Security Administration",FY14-15,"Expand the use of video hearings.  We will deliver a world-class customer experience by expanding the use of video technology to hold hearings.","Social Security pays disability benefits to people who cannot work because they have a medical condition expected to last at least one year or result in death.  When we receive a claim for disability benefits, we consider all the information concerning a case before we make an eligibility decision.  When we make a decision, we send a letter explaining our decision. If you do not agree with our decision, you can appeal, asking us to look at your case again.  The reconsideration is the first level of our appeals process and involves a complete review of the claim by someone who did not take part in the original decision.  If you disagree with the reconsideration decision, you may ask for a hearing. An Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) who had no part in the original decision or the reconsideration of the case conducts a hearing.  Though the vast majority of hearings held are disability related, ALJs also hold hearings for non-disability related issues such as retirement. We hold hearings either in-person at one of our 169 hearings offices or by using video teleconferencing equipment at many more locations.  Those locations include: Other hearing offices; Permanent remote sites, which are leased spaces, usually in government buildings, in parts of the country some distance from hearing offices with large geographical service areas; Claimant-only video sites, which are typically located in Social Security field offices some distance from hearing offices with large geographical service areas;and Our National Hearing Centers (NHC), which are special hearing offices located around the country where we hold only video hearings. As part of our Representative Video Project, claimants may also attend a hearing at their representative’s office if that representative owns and uses video equipment approved by Social Security. A video hearing allows hearing participants to see and hear each other through large color television screens or desktop video units.  The ALJ remains in the hearing office.  The ALJ can see and speak with all hearing participants and vice versa through Social Security’s secure network.  As with in-person hearings, we only record audio at video hearings. The greatest benefit of video is that it allows us to assist offices that have more work than they can complete.  Being able to move work from an office that has a significant backlog to one that does not helps us provide effective service to all claimants.  The economic downturn did not affect all of our hearing offices equally.  Due to regional differences in the economy, some hearing offices saw their workloads soar while others did not.  Rather than only build new offices in our hardest-hit areas, and hiring and moving staff at great expense, Social Security’s response was to leverage our developing video hearing technology.  Because of video, we can electronically move the work to an ALJ ready to hear and decide the case. Though we had been using video on a very limited basis since FY 2005, our breakthrough came with the introduction of the NHCs, which hold only video hearings and can therefore provide relief to any hearing office throughout the country.  Beginning in FY 2008, we began opening this new kind of office. We also accelerated the placement of video units in hearing offices.  Between FY 2008 and FY 2013, we placed 1,032 video units in the hearing operation, with more than 960 of those going to traditional hearing offices.  This aggressive expansion allowed hearing offices to provide assistance to one another and to hold hearings in far-flung permanent remote sites within a hearing office’s own service area.  In this way, offices in California and Florida can assist offices in the Midwest and vice-versa, depending on the changing needs of our offices.  In FY 2013, traditional hearing offices held approximately 23 percent of all hearings by video. We have incrementally increased the percentage of hearings we hold by video from 20 percent in FY 2010 and FY 2011, to 23 percent in FY 2012 and now to 26 percent (179,308 hearings) in FY 2013.  Much of this growth came from increasing our video footprint, achieved by equipping more and more of our hearing offices and remote hearing sites with video equipment each successive year.  We are aiming to hold 28 percent of hearings by video in FY 2014 and 30 percent in FY 2015. Though we are nearing the saturation point for video equipment placement, we believe further video hearing expansion is possible, and that we can still greatly improve customer service. We can hold more video hearings by improving the quality, marketing, and deployment of video units and by publishing a final regulation that puts time limits on a claimant’s right to decline a video hearing. Further expansion of video hearings positions Social Security for maximum flexibility in responding to changing customer needs.  Video lets us electronically move work rather than build “brick and mortar” offices whose useful lifespan may be limited.","Increase video hearings.  By September 30, 2015, increase the percentage of hearings we hold by video from 26 percent in FY 2013 to 30 percent."," Social Security",1088
"Social Security Administration",FY14-15,"Provide the public with access to personalized information by increasing the number of established my Social Security accounts.","Based on the most recent economic assumptions, we believe the demand for Social Security services will continue to remain at high levels. While operating in an environment of constrained resources, delivering high quality services that provide customers with the information and level of service they expect is an important aspect of our service delivery strategy. The Internet provides the public with the ability to conduct Social Security business at their convenience and at their own pace, without the need to travel to a field office or wait to meet with one of our representatives. In addition to being convenient, increased use of online services benefits the public and SSA by reducing the average time our employees spend processing claims, freeing them to handle workloads that are more complicated.   To facilitate these efforts, we recently implemented a new platform called my Social Security. After completing the secure registration process either online or by visiting one of our field offices, customers can obtain an online version of their Social Security Statement, which provides workers a convenient way to verify the accuracy of earnings posted to their Social Security records and to receive benefit estimates based on those earnings. Individuals who receive benefits can perform additional functions, such as checking their Social Security benefits, obtaining a benefit verification letter, and changing their address or direct deposit information. These services demonstrate our commitment to providing the American people with a secure, user-friendly way to conduct business with Social Security.    ","Increase the number of my Social Security accounts.  In Fiscal Years 2014 and 2015, increase the number of customers who sign up for my Social Security by 15 percent over each respective prior fiscal year."," Social Security",1368