The Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA), enacted in 1993, requires federal agencies to establish standards measuring their performance and effectiveness. Enacted during the first year of the Clinton Administration, it could loosely be viewed as part of the Administration's larger "Reinventing Government" initiative. The law requires federal agencies to develop strategic plans describing their overall goals and objectives, annual performance plans containing quantifiable measures of their progress, and performance reports describing their success in meeting those standards and measures. Strategic plans were submitted to Congress and OMB on September 30, 1997, and are required to be updated at least once every three years. Performance plans are currently being released (following the submission of the President's budget to Congress on February 2, 1998). Many, but not all, performance plans have been released already, and the rest are expected to be released very soon. Performance reports will be released annually, starting in March, 2000. Each of these plans and reports are to be shared with Congress, which is expected to use the materials to help guide budgetary decisions. OMB Director Franklin Raines has said that the reports will be used to judge the performance of individual federal employees, and implied at an October 27, 1997 congressional hearing that such information will have a direct impact on hiring, firing, and promotion decisions. Text of the GPRA law. Basic Information about GPRA