Performance-Based Organizations: Issues for the Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation Proposal.

摘要

Congress and the administration have introduced various approaches in recent years to make federal agencies more results oriented and federal managers more accountable for results. One approach proposed by the administration is the performance-based organization (PBO) concept, inspired by the Next Steps program that the British government introduced in the late 1980s. As directed by the House conference report on fiscal year 1997 appropriations for the Department of Transportation (DOT) and Related Agencies dated September 16, 1996, this report (1) compares the characteristics of the Next Steps program and the PBO concept and (2) describes the changes and effects the PBO concept potentially could have on the Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation (SLSDC). We examined how PBO status would potentially affect SLSDC's financing mechanism, management structure, accountability for performance, including safety and regional economic impact, and congressional oversight.