Why, How, Who, and WhatNIFA and Outcomes

Bob MacDonald, DirectorPlanning, Accountability, and Reporting Staff

Office of the Director

October 13, 2010

Topics

• Federal Budget Situation – Why your reports are important

• How NIFA uses your reported outcomes and to whom we send them

• What - NIFA’s reporting tools for Extension• Advertisement – Building Consensus on

National Outcomes and Indicators Workshop

Federal Budget Situation

Why your reports are important

Source: Government Accountability Office

2007 GAO Report – Pre-Recession

Source: Congressional Budget Office as published in The Washington Post 4/27/2010

Source: Congressional Budget Office as published in The Washington Post 4/27/2010

How NIFA uses your reported outcomes and to whom we send them

How NIFA uses reported outcomes

• Budget– Secretary (Agency Estimates – June)– White House (Department Estimates –

September)– Congress (President’s Budget – February)

How NIFA uses reported outcomes

• Budget– Past performance by goal and objective– Proposed increases

• Past performance (if existing budget line)• Future expected results if receive proposed increase

How NIFA uses reported outcomes

• USDA Performance Annual Report– Examples of Research, Education, and

Extension have high visibility (see handout for what NIFA sent forward this year)

• Portfolio planning and assessment– NIFA and OMB

What - NIFA’s reporting tools for Extension

Plan of Work

• Required by law – AREERA, 1998• Used by NIFA for

– National Program Leadership– Liaison Program– Reporting Outcomes

• Newsletter

Review of Plan of WorkThe 2008 Farm Bill (H.R. 6124) states that “The

Secretary shall work with university partners in extension and research to review and identify measures to streamline the submission, reporting under, and implementation of plan of work requirements, … In carrying out the review and formulating and compiling the recommendations, the Secretary shall consult with the land-grant institutions.”

Panel – University Members

• Bill Brown, U TN• Nancy Franz, Va Tech• Karen Hinton, U NV• Steve Loring – NMSU• Deb Segla – U AK• Mary Jane Willis - Rutgers

• Charlene Herrick – U ME• Marshall Martin – Purdue• Ellen Taylor Powell – U WI• Oscar Udoh – Southern• Jose Ulises Toledo –

WVSU

Panel – NIFA Members

• Ellen Danus - OEP• Marty Draper – PAS• Gary Jensen – PAS• Bart Hewitt - OPA• John Mingee - ISTM

Findings

1. The current POW and Reporting process appears to be meeting Congressional and OMB needs and is a vast improvement over the previous, burdensome process.

2. The panel found places within the current reporting system where data no longer needs to be collected.

Findings

3. Through this review process, the panel expects to enhance the quality and usefulness of information collection and lessen the reporting burden.

4. OPA and NPLs should continue to provide Institutions feedback including useful comments about the Plan of Work and Annual Reports.

Findings

• Eight specific recommendations and nine other recommendations are contained in the report

• Full report was emailed to the POW Newsletter list and is on the NIFA Grant and Project Reporting web page (www.nifa.usda.gov/reporting) under News

The Leadership Management Dashboard (LMD) 3.0

Two types exist for two different audiences:o NPL - National Program Leaders at NIFA (internal facing)

o Partner – NIFA partners (external facing)

The data in LMD currently draws from 3 sources:o Current Research Information System (CRIS)o AREERA State Plan of Work (POW) Information System o Cooperative Research, Education, and Extension

Management System (C-REEMS)

How Can I Get Access?

Go to http://www.reeis.usda.gov

Building Consensus on National Outcomes and Indicators Workshop

Building Consensus on National Outcomes and Indicators Workshop

• Purpose - To develop one or two regional/national outcomes and indicators for each of the five NIFA priorities

• Scheduled for February 21 - 24, 2011 in New Orleans at the Wyndham Riverfront Hotel

Workshop Participants• 55 Land-Grant Participants needed

– 25 Research, 25 Extension• One Research, One Extension from each Region on each of the

Five NIFA Priority Area Teams• Directors/Associate/Assistant Directors• State Program Leaders

– Five Evaluation Specialists (one on each team)

• Five Facilitators (One for each team)• Ten NPLs – NIFA (2 per Team)• Two Office of Planning and Accountability Staff