Performance Budgeting

2 OMB Requirements—The Framework

If the preceding chapter has convinced you that performance budgeting is worth doing and worth doing well, not to worry: You have a lot of guidance to fall back on to help you implement it. OMB publishes its “Budget Bible” annually in the summer, in the form of OMB Circular A-11.¹

OMB Circular A-11 guides federal agencies in all aspects of their budget formulation and execution processes. The circular’s performance budgeting requirements are mandatory for federal executive branch agencies. Those in state or local governments would do well to use Circular A-11 as a resource to guide them, too. While not presented in step-by-step, “cookbook” precision and detail, Circular A-11 lays out a common-sense framework that ...