Department of Defense Performance Management
Pursuant to Title 31 U.S. Code § 1124 the Department of Defense (DoD) is authorized to designate a senior executive to serve as the Department’s Performance Improvement Officer (PIO). In this role, the PIO advises and assists the Deputy Secretary of Defense (DepSecDef) in her role as Chief Operating Officer (COO) to ensure that the mission and goals of the Department are achieved through strategic and performance planning, measurement and analysis, regular assessment of progress, and use of performance information to improve the results achieved. The PIO also serves as the senior official for Defense Reform.
GAO-IG Act
Public Law 115-414, the “Good Accounting Obligation in Government Act” (GAO-IG Act), requires that all Federal agencies include, as part of their annual budget justification submission to Congress, a report listing all public Government Accountability Office (GAO) recommendations designated by GAO as “open” or “unimplemented,” and all public DoD Office of Inspector General (OIG) recommendations designated by DoD OIG as “open” for a period of not less than one year preceding the date on which the annual budget justification is submitted.
Click here to view the most recent Department of Defense response to the GAO-IG Act.
GPRAMA
The PIO is responsible for the development of the Defense Department's Strategic Management Plan (SMP), Annual Performance Plan (APP), and Annual Performance Report (APR), pursuant to the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) of 1993 and the GPRA Modernization Act (GPRAMA) of 2010. The Plan and associated Report are both submitted as part of DoD's annual Congressional Justification/President's Budget request.
The SMP articulates the Secretary of Defense’s strategic priorities, consistent with the 2022 National Defense Strategy (NDS), with an emphasis on building enduring advantages, and addressing institutional management priorities aimed at improving the management of DoD. It provides a strategic framework for describing general, and long-term actions the Department will take to realize strategic priorities, how we are investing in accelerating implementation, and how DoD plans to address challenges and risks that may hinder achieving results.
The SMP is published annually to stress the Department’s commitment to strategic planning and performance management through the publication of an Annual Performance Plan (APP) and Annual Performance Report (APR).
Annual Performance Plan (APP) FY2025
The APP complements the SMP’s longer-term strategic framework outlook by articulating operational performance goals, measures, and targets for the upcoming fiscal year.
Annual Performance Report (APR) FY2023
The APR consolidates prior year’s performance results across key DoD Components and communicates overall implementation progress against the SMP.
Per title 10, United States Code, section 125a, the Secretary of Defense is required to take such action as is necessary to reform the Department of Defense to improve the efficacy and efficiency of the Department, and to improve the ability of the Department to prioritize among and assess the costs and benefits of covered elements of reform. Stepping away from a narrow focus on "Defense Reform," the DoD Performance Improvement Framework (PIF) takes a comprehensive approach spanning the continuum of change for improving the Department' s capabilities, organizations, and management processes, including initiatives that range from incremental improvements of existing programs to dramatic and transformational changes in how a mission or management function is delivered. The DoD PIF provides a consistent methodology to define, identify, track and report on existing and planned opportunities for performance improvement across the Department, with particular emphasis on initiatives that contribute to implementation of the NDS and the SMP.