Detailed Information on the
National Agricultural Statistics Service Assessment

Expand and improve the functionality of the NASS data labs to provide better access to data.

Review, analyze and improve the NASS statistical program and data services.

Review, analyze and improve the NASS statistical program and data services.

Evaluate the results of the Census of Agriculture independent study and develop plans for addressing the panel's recommendations.

Collecting data on customer satisfaction to show the extent to which NASS is achieving its long term goals.

NASS should continue to hold annual data user meetings to solicit input on program quality and usefulness.

Develop efficiency improvements, such as the increased use of the internet.

Conducting an independent evaluation of the Census of Agriculture Program.

Conducting an independent evaluation of the Agricultural Resource Management Survey (ARMS) program.

Measure: The American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) score for providing timely, accurate, and useful statistical products and services.

Explanation:This quality measure is a nationally recognized indicator of customer evaluations of the quality of services provided to the public used by private and public institutions. Customers surveyed include data users, stakeholders, cooperators, and policymakers.

Measure: Percent of total national U.S. agricultural production covered annually by official USDA statistics

Explanation:This coverage measure provides an indication of the expansion (or contraction) of NASS statistical programs from year to year based on total farm cash receipts calculated by the Economic Research Service (ERS). The census of agriculture accounts for all commodities and sales, therefore cash receipts are 100 percent every 5 years when the census is conducted.

Measure: The relevance of the report content of NASS products and services as measured by the American Customer Satisfaction Index score

Explanation:This relevance measure tracks content and usefulness of NASS data products and services

Measure: Timeliness: Percent of time official reports are released on the date and time pre-specified to data users.

Explanation:This timeliness measure tracks timeliness of official USDA statistical reports. The threshold value for meeting this performance target is 99.5%.

Measure: Accuracy: Percent of key survey estimates meeting statistical precision targets.

Explanation:This accuracy measure tracks the precision of statistical estimates computed from surveys of farmers, ranchers, and agribusinesses. The prescision of these estimates directly affects the quality of official USDA agricultural estimates. Targets are re-evaluated every 5 years coinciding with the census of agriculture cycle and other commodity program reviews normally completed during the census cycle.

Measure: Usefulness: The ease of use, frequency and timely delivery of NASS products and services as measured by the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI)

Explanation:This measure is a component of the ACSI for tracking improvements in report distribution specifically looking at user accessibility, frequency, and timeliness of delivery of data products and services. This component is key to making the greatest impact of the long term measure of quality, the overall ACSI score.

Measure: Increase in the annual survey development and data collection costs per sample unit compared to the annual rate of inflation as measured by the ECI is less than one

Explanation:This efficiency indicator measures NASS annual costs for survey development and data collection activities compared to the annual rate of inflation as measured by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Employment Cost Index (ECI) for Private Industry. The annual percent change in NASS survey costs from the previous to current year is compared to the annual percentage change in the ECI.

Is the program purpose clear?

Explanation: NASS's Agricultural Statistics Program is responsible for collecting, processing, analyzing and disseminating statistical information on agricultural production, structure, economics and environmental impacts. This program includes the Census of Agriculture. Current national, State, and county information is used by public and private decision-makers, including USDA and Congress, to make sound, well-informed, and effective policy, production and marketing decisions. Informed decisions and policies, in turn, promote and contribute to a strong, sustainable U.S. farm economy.

Evidence: NASS's Mission Statement: To provide timely, accurate, and useful statistics in service to U. S. agriculture. Program authorization: ' The Act of May 15, 1862, establishing the Department of Agriculture and within it an 'agricultural and statistics bureau' ' 18 U.S.C. 1902 ' 18 U.S.C. 2072 ' 7 U.S.C. 411a ' Cotton Acreage Law of 1912 ' Agricultural and Marketing Act of 1946 ' Census of Agriculture Act of 1997, Public Law 105-113

Does the program address a specific and existing problem, interest or need?

Explanation: NASS programs address the need of the agricultural sector for clear and objective statistical data for information and decision making. These data are in the interest of public good -- essential to develop agricultural policy -- and are not available from the private sector due to market failure in providing unbiased information. Congress mandates the use of NASS statistics in numerous programs and payment calculations. Critical market-sensitive data are used by the commodity and agricultural markets to operate efficiently, providing a fair and equitable environment for price discovery in the marketplace. Further, the necessity of protecting respondent confidentiality and ensuring the impartiality of official agricultural statistics and universal accessibility at predetermined and publicized dates and times are addressed by having the Federal Government produce these statistics.

Evidence: Program authorization: (See Section 1.1)' USDA, REE, and NASS Strategic Plans: www.usda.gov/ocfo www.reeusda.gov/ree/strategic_plan.htm (NASS site to be determined)' Utilization by Chicago Board of Trade: www.cbot.com ' Examples of authorizing legislation requiring specific statistics:' Dairy products - www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/7/1637b.html' Census of Agricuture - www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/7/2204g.html' Cotton statistics - www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/7/476.html' Peanuts - www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/7/951.htm

Is the program designed so that it is not redundant or duplicative of any other Federal, state, local or private effort?

Explanation: NASS is the only organization that produces agricultural data nationwide. Alternative data sources do not provide the breadth or depth of the NASS program. NASS is in a unique position to serve the information needs of both Federal and state programs. Through Cooperative Agreements and Memoranda of Understanding, the NASS field offices serve jointly as the Federal field office and the State government agricultural statistical office, thus reducing redundancy and duplicative efforts. NASS also provides statistics to the public through 'trust fund' agreements with private producer organizations when Federal funding is inadequate. NASS enters into agreements with many Federal agencies to provide data collection and statistical services related to agriculture. This rich tradition of cooperation has served U.S. agriculture well; these collaborations generate a great deal of information at minimal cost, lighten the burden on survey respondents by preventing duplication of effort and maintaining consistency.

Evidence: 125 Memoranda of Understanding and 43 cooperative agreements signed between NASS and other Federal, state or private organizations. Annual statistical bulletins produced cooperatively between NASS and the State Department of Agriculture.

Is the program design free of major flaws that would limit the program's effectiveness or efficiency?

Explanation: NASS provides statistical information to improve program knowledge and decision making. It has no discretion in this activity. Within these limitations, NASS's surveys are designed to optimize sampling efficiency and quality by appropriately utilizing statistical methodologies such as probability sampling, multiple frame methodology, integrated surveys and objective yield measurements. NASS has a data collection infrastructure using skilled statisticians and a trained corps of enumerators to implement these complex statistical methodologies. NASS's procedures and statistical standards are well documented for internal use and external review. NASS's methodology is continually vetted by the broader statistical community through methodology conferences, the Federal Committee on Statistical Methodology, and the Interagency Council on Statistical Policy. The Secretary of Agriculture's Advisory Committee on Agriculture Statistics reviews the NASS program annually to help maintain its relevance and timeliness.

Evidence: NASS Policy Standards Memoranda' NASS Information Quality Guidelines: www.usda.gov/nass/nassinfo/infoguide.htm' Guide to the Sample Survey and Census Programs of NASS: www.usda.gov/nass/nassinfo/surveyprograms/index.htm' NASS Administrative and Estimation Manuals' Departmental Regulation 1042-130, Establishing the Secretary's Advisory Committee on Agricultural Statistics: www.usda.gov/directives/files/dr/DR1042-130.htm ' Departmental Regulation 1042-42, Establishing responsibilities and procedures for the operation of the Agricultural Statistics Board

Is the program effectively targeted, so that resources will reach intended beneficiaries and/or otherwise address the program's purpose directly?

Explanation: NASS's Program is targeted to provide timely, accurate and useful agricultural statistics to both public and private sectors that include farmers, ranchers, producers, agribusinesses, agriculture industry, universities, Congress, and Federal, State and local governments. NASS provides equal access to information to all data users. Tight security measures are enforced to ensure that no one has early access to market sensitive information. NASS provides all releases on the web instantaneously, but also provides paper and fax releases per customer preference. NASS publishes more than 400 national reports annually, covering over 120 crop and 45 livestock items, complemented by more than 8,000 additional State reports. The Secretary's Advisory Committee on Agriculture Statistics reviews the NASS program on an annual basis and provides recommendations regarding program coverage (about 95 percent of the total U.S. agricultural production annually). NASS holds annual data user meetings to solicit input on program quality and usefulness.

Evidence: NASS Release Calendar ' http://www.usda.gov/nass/pubs/rptscal.htm ' Departmental Regulation 1042-130, Establishing the Secretary's Advisory Committee on Agricultural Statistics: http://www.usda.gov/directives/files/dr/DR1042-130.htm ' NASS Data User Forum: http://www.usda.gov/nass/events/forum/forum102003.htm ' NASS Web Site: http://www.usda.gov/nass/ ' NASS Customer Service Hotline: 1-800-727-9540 or e-mail NASS Customer Service at nass@nass.usda.gov.

Does the program have a limited number of specific long-term performance measures that focus on outcomes and meaningfully reflect the purpose of the program?

Explanation: NASS's five strategic goals align with USDA & REE mission area strategic goals and provide a guide to ensure the NASS agricultural statistics program and products promote results and accountability in accomplishing its mission. Of the seven performance measures used to track the program's progress, three are long-term outcome measures. The first one focuses on the quality of the program using customer satisfaction to independently evaluate the program's progress in providing timely, accurate, and useful agricultural statistics to U. S. agriculture. The second measure provides an indication of program coverage from year to year. The third measure tracks the relevance of the program.

Evidence: USDA Strategic Plan 2002-2007; Research, Economics, Education Strategic Plan 2003-2008; NASS Strategic Plan 2003-2008 and GPRA reports.

Does the program have ambitious targets and timeframes for its long-term measures?

Explanation: The two long term measures associated with the ACSI have ambitious targets. Specifically, the measures provide targets above average levels achieved by both the public and private sectors. The baseline ACSI score was even with the ACSI score for private sector services and nearly 3 points higher than the Federal government index. The targets established by NASS exceed the expected increases for both the private and public sectors for this index. Relevance is specifically measured within the ACSI and is a key component of our success. The third long term measure highlights the breadth of agricultural data that is provided in the NASS program. No other organization provides this level of information. It is essential for NASS to maintain the program at current levels so data are available for informed decision making. Increased data collection costs and unfunded pay raises all contribute to the challenge of maintaining the current program level and thus make increasing the overall program very ambitious.

Evidence: NASS Strategic Plan 2003-2008; GPRA reports.

Does the program have a limited number of specific annual performance measures that can demonstrate progress toward achieving the program's long-term goals?

Explanation: The agricultural statistics program includes four specific annual performance measures (1 outcome measures, 2 output measures and an efficiency measure) used for the PART assessment. The outcome indicator measures customer satisfaction for ease of access and use of data and data products as measured by the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). The output measures track the program's performance of the timeliness of reports (percent of time official reports are released on the date and time pre-specified to data users), improving the accuracy of reports (percent of key survey point estimates meeting target coefficients of variation). The efficiency measure provides information on how efficiently the agency performs in developing and preparing surveys and collecting data as compared to the annual inflation rate. All of the annual performance measures contribute to the long term outcome measures to demonstrate progress as measured by the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) based on responses from its data users.

Evidence: NASS Strategic Plan 2003-2008; GPRA reports.

Does the program have baselines and ambitious targets for its annual measures?

Explanation: NASS updates and reviews its performance measures annually to provide accountability toward achieving ambitious goals. NASS has established baselines and, for most of the measures, higher targets have been set in the future years. However, for those measures where annual targets change annually, the agency is adjusting to anticipated changes in the scope of the annual program. For annual measures where targets are level, the program is already performing at a peak level or levels are being maintained in spite of anticipated declines making these targets as ambitious as targets showing long-term increases. Budget initiatives are linked to some of these measures to improve and enhance NASS' agricultural statistics program.

Evidence: 2003-2008 NASS Strategic Plan, GPRA reports

Do all partners (including grantees, sub-grantees, contractors, cost-sharing partners, and other government partners) commit to and work toward the annual and/or long-term goals of the program?

Explanation: NASS conducts Data User Meetings, partners with other USDA and Federal agencies, participates in industry trade shows, and State Directors contribute to NASS outreach efforts at the local level. This provides updates on pending changes in the agricultural statistics program and seeks input from data users and customers. The Advisory Committee on Agriculture Statistics, an independent advisory board consisting of 25 agricultural representatives, meet annually to prepare recommendations regarding the types of agricultural statistics needed by farm and ranch organizations, the agriculture industry, and Federal, state and local governments to make well-informed decisions about agriculture. NASS also has Memoranda of Understanding and cooperative agreements with other USDA agencies, State Departments of Agriculture, land grant colleges and universities, and a variety of cooperators who demonstrate their commitment to partnering with NASS in conducting a large number of specialty surveys.

Evidence: In 2003, NASS had a total of 125 memoranda of understanding and 43 cooperative agreements with other USDA and Federal agencies, State Departments of Agriculture, land grant colleges and universities, and other cooperators. In 2003, reimbursable work included 148 special surveys covering such varied issues as customer service, farm safety and health, pesticide use, county estimates, nursery / horticulture, farm finance, and specialty crops. 2003 USDA Data User's Forum 2002 USDA Data User's Forum 2004 Advisory Committee on Agriculture Statistics 2003 Advisory Committee on Agriculture Statistics

Are independent evaluations of sufficient scope and quality conducted on a regular basis or as needed to support program improvements and evaluate effectiveness and relevance to the problem, interest, or need?

Explanation: An independent, external evaluation, similar to those most recently conducted by AAEA, is periodically completed on the quality and scope of the NASS program. The next evaluation will be completed after the 2002 Census of Agriculture. This will be based on a comprehensive internal program review completed by NASS staff after each census cycle. Recommended annual program changes are presented for further review at the USDA Data User Meetings and to the independent Advisory Committee on Agriculture Statistics. Recommendations of independent outside sources have shown effectiveness of the Agricultural Statistics Program and have been used to improve data services and products.

Evidence: 2002 and 2003 USDA Data User Meetings 2002 and 2003 Advisory Committee on Agriculture Statistics ACSI Historical independent evaluations include -- American Agricultural Economics Association (AAEA) Task Force Review, June 1998; AAEA Task Force Report, February 1997; USDA Economics and Statistics Review Panel, June 1985; Report of Statistical Reporting Service (SRS) Review by AAEA, October, 1984; The Census-USDA Data System: Relationships and Opportunities by Kenneth Farrell, Food and Agricultural Policy Progam, and Gaylord Worden, Census Bureau, October 1982; Agency Review by Outside Experts Report by the Center of Survey Statistics, Research Triangle Institute, September 1984; Outside Review of ESCS Statistics Progams by Research Triangle Institute, 1979.

Are Budget requests explicitly tied to accomplishment of the annual and long-term performance goals, and are the resource needs presented in a complete and transparent manner in the program's budget?

Explanation: The NASS budget-planning processes are closely integrated to performance-planning. Annual and long-term performance targets are carefully considered during the budget formulation and execution. The explanatory notes developed during the budget process are designed to highlight the impact of requested funds on the NASS annual and long-term performance measures. Additionally, performance measures from both the strategic plan and annual performance plan are monitored to determine the maximum benefit from appropriated funding towards meeting the pre-established goals. The NASS budget requests are dependent upon the review and approval of the USDAs Budget and Performance Integration (BPI) Board. This provides a secondary executive review to ensure alignment of funding and performance with the Department's strategic goals.

Evidence: FY 2004 President's Budget - NASS Explanatory Notes FY 2005 President's Budget - NASS Explanatory Notes FY 2003 - FY 2008 NASS Strategic Plan GPRA Documents

Has the program taken meaningful steps to correct its strategic planning deficiencies?

Explanation: NASS reviews and updates its strategic plan periodically. Ambitious performance measures are reviewed annually involving senior staff and other NASS employees, as well as, input received from data users, customers, and the independent Advisory Committee on Agriculture Statistics. The normal review begins at the beginning of the fiscal year with its annual USDA Data Users meeting and about mid-fiscal year with the Advisory Committee. Recommendations from the Data Users Meetings and the Advisory Committee meetings are made public after each meeting and addressed internally through strategic program evaluation and subsequent implementation, if applicable.

Evidence: 2000-2005 Strategic Plan, 2003-2008 Strategic Plan, GPRA Reports. Examples: 1. Performance measures indicated continued erosion of small farm operators covered in the Census of Agriculture Methodology was researched and adopted to more completely represent all farms without increasing costs. 2. A performance measure indicated a decline in the number of precision level targets being met in major survey estimators. Budget shortfalls were identified and addressed through the appropriations process.

Does the agency regularly collect timely and credible performance information, including information from key program partners, and use it to manage the program and improve performance?

Explanation: NASS regularly collects and monitors performance information for managing performance on the timeliness of releases and accuracy of agricultural statistics. The Secretary of the Agricultural Statistics Board (ASB) tracks the timeliness of the scheduled releases on a daily basis. Releases include root mean square error information to track and provide accuracy of agricultural data released to data users. Internally, the Agency's Resource Management Council, Program Planning Council, and the Senior Executive Team meet on a regular basis to review performance information, modify and/or implement new program changes, and manage allocation of limited program resources. This effort improves performance, responds to feedback from data user and stakeholders needs, and continually pushes the agency to meet program goals. Quarterly reviews are conducted by senior NASS management with our National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA) partners to monitor performance for its data collection contract work.

Evidence: Performance measures are defined in the GPRA reports, as well as annual budget requests. NASS has 125 memorandums of understanding and 43 cooperative agreements with outside partners.

Are Federal managers and program partners (including grantees, sub-grantees, contractors, cost-sharing partners, and other government partners) held accountable for cost, schedule and performance results?

Explanation: Annual performance plans for managers include goals and measures that are linked to the NASS strategic goals. Annual performance evaluations are conducted with our NASDA data collection partners to ensure work quality, timeliness and efficiency. All managers including contractors, and those involved in managing memorandums of understanding (MOU's) and cooperative agreements, are held accountable for contributing to and achieving the level of performance coinciding with NASS strategic efforts with regard to cost, schedule, and outcome for providing timely, accurate, and usable agricultural statistics.

Evidence: Every employee's (including all managers) performance plan include attainable goals and projects linked to accomplishing the mission of the agency. These plans are developed with their supervisor and senior management and progress reviews are done mid-year and at the end of the rating year. All data collection partners have a performance evaluation linked to achieving the mission goals of the Agency. The annual Administrator's Awards for Excellence program recognizes outstanding performance of employees who performed at an extremely high level throughout the year. Employee awards are also given immediate recognition during the year as goals and projects are successfully completed. NASS has 125 memorandums of understanding and 43 cooperative agreements with outside partners.

Are funds (Federal and partners') obligated in a timely manner and spent for the intended purpose?

Explanation: NASS obligates funds in a timely and appropriate manner using the National Finance Center's (NFC) Financial Foundation Information System (FFIS). NASS carry-over funds are limited to the census of agriculture account. All obligations are consistent and aligned with the budget request. Unobligated balances at the end of the fiscal years are generally less than one-tenth of one percent of the annual appropriated agency budget.

Evidence: Monthly and quarterly FFIS obligation reports. NASS clean audits.

Does the program have procedures (e.g. competitive sourcing/cost comparisons, IT improvements, appropriate incentives) to measure and achieve efficiencies and cost effectiveness in program execution?

Explanation: NASS has timeliness and quality measures while maintaining its high level of customer service in providing agricultural statistics with declining or relatively flat budgets after absorbing inflation costs. NASS has efficiency measures that demonstrate cost effectiveness by comparing overall processing and data collection costs to less than the annual rate of inflation. NASS contracted the census of agriculture questionnaire preparation and data capture operations for the last two censuses eliminating the need to hire temporary federal positions. All of the NASS annual data collection survey work is outsourced. The contractors must adhere to same timeliness and quality goals for NASS to accomplish its mission.

Evidence: Congressional budget submissions, GPRA reports, annual performance plans, and strategic plans. About 20 percent of NASS's annual budget appropriations are spent on outsourcing activities for data collection work. During the peak workload in the census cycle outsourcing increases.

Does the program collaborate and coordinate effectively with related programs?

Explanation: NASS collaborates extensively with other Federal statistical agencies, including the Economic Research Service, Farm Service Agency, Natural Resources Conservation Service, and the Bureau of the Census. NASS also has a extensive Federal-State Cooperative Program that shares resources (people, space and funds) in order to provide statistical data to both partners more efficiently. Both the Federal and State collaborations lead to meaningful actions in management by providing necessary statistics to make informed decisions. These collabortive efforts also maximize resource allocation by removing the duplicative activities which would occur through independent, uncoordinated efforts.

Evidence: MOU's with over 50 Federal and State partners are on file in NASS. A few recent examples are: 1. NASS collaborates with the Natural Resources Conservation Service to provide data used to assess the environmental benefits of the conservation programs included in the 2002 Farm Bill. 2. NASS collaborates with FSA to provide price data necessary to administer farm programs identified in the 2002 Farm Bill. 3. NASS collaborates with RMA to ensure necessary data is available to develop and administer many of the insurance programs available to producers.

Does the program use strong financial management practices?

Explanation: NASS's strong financial management practices has resulted in clean financial audits each year. NASDA, our contracting partner for most data collection activities, maintains an independent financial audit program providing an independent clean audit report for data collection costs.

Evidence: NASS financial audit reports.

Has the program taken meaningful steps to address its management deficiencies?

Explanation: NASS routinely conducts organizational climate surveys to assess organizational and management proficiencies and deficiencies. NASS assessment teams are formed to provided recommendations to senior managers on ways to improve identified deficiencies and also to provide continued support to areas of excellence. NASS conducts five year rotational Human Resources Management Evaluation (HRME) program to measure and improve the management effectiveness of all its field offices and headquarter branches. NASS provides 80 hours of project management and leadership training to all journeymen level statisticians. As these employees advance in their careers, scheduled leadership, management and executive training opportunities are continually provided. NASS also contracts with the USDA Graduate School to conduct leadership effectiveness inventory of its supervisors and managers. Employees take additional training, based on needs assessments, to improve their skills and training. Comments: Provide examples of deficiencies and how they were corrected. If there are none, give this answer a "na" and reweigh the other questions in this section.

Evidence: Employee training records, NASS Organizational Climate Survey for 1988, 1994, 1997, 1999, and 2001. Assessment team reports and scorecards identify deficiencies and actions necessary for improvement. An example of a deficiency was the identified need by employees for increased technical training. Management quickly acted by reinforcing the need for all employees to have an updated Individual Development Plan identifying training needs. Front-line supervisors were instructed to review these IDPs with employees periodically throughout the year and provide training opportunities when appropriate. The The 2002 OPM Federal Human Capital Survey (FHCS) analysis published in 'Best Places to Work' can be found at www.bestplacestowork.org. The Best Places to Work Index for NASS was 66.8, placing the NASS index score in the top tier of high performing organizations.

Has the program demonstrated adequate progress in achieving its long-term performance goals?

Explanation: The program has two long term outcome measures associated with the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), one which measure customer satisfaction for timeliness, accuracy, and usability of agricultural statistics and the second measuring the relevance of the data. In 2001, the ASCI was conducted to develop a baseline rating of 72. This rating was comparable to customer satisfaction ratings received by private industry and 3 points higher than the average Federal government. The ASCI is being conducted in FY 2004 to measure the current level of customer satisfaction and identify where NASS should focus on making program improvements.

Evidence: 2003-2008 Strategic Plan and GPRA reports.

Does the program (including program partners) achieve its annual performance goals?

Explanation: NASS has consistently reported through the annual GPRA reporting process that it has met its program goals and has successfully met or exceeded most of its annual performance targets, historically averaging, about 78 percent of the time. Of the four annual measures included in the PART, the timeliness of reports measure has one of the longest performance history and the annual accuracy measure using target coefficients of variation was also integrated in a previously funded budget initiative. Our newest measures for customer satisfaction and efficiency measures have shorter performance histories. All measures used in the PART are integral to monitoring our level of success in providing timely, accurate and useful statistics in meeting the public need. The agency received a "small extent" since it was unable to show progress related to current targets.

Evidence: GPRA reports

Does the program demonstrate improved efficiencies or cost effectiveness in achieving program goals each year?

Explanation: NASS has consistently collected, compiled and released agricultural statistics and expanded the availability of electronic products and services with the base funding focusing on resources aligned with its core program. Funding initiatives have focused on improving the quality of its core program that has eroded over time due to unfunded pay and inflation costs. In meeting customer data needs, the number of new products and services have averaged 14 new products per year since 1999 with a high of 20 in 2003. Additionally, the number of regular scheduled reports expanded from 419 in 1999 to a high of 508 reports in 2002, an increase of 21 percent. This was all accomplished while staffing resources at the same time shrank by 3 percent demonstrating an efficient use of appropriated resources in serving the public need.

Evidence: NASS budget documents, 2003-2008 Strategic Plan, and GPRA reports. An example of the efficiency achieved in NASS is the comparison of FTEs compared to the amount of work conducted. In FY 2004, there was a total of 1,086 permanent full-time employees in NASS, compared to 1,114 in the FY 1999. This reduction was achieved while increasing the number of surveys conducted through appropriations and congressional mandates, opening of a State Statistical Office in Puerto Rico, and absorbing nearly 9 percent of the NASS budget in unfunded pay costs. This 5 year period also included NASS's first full cycle for the Census of Agriculture and its associated follow-on surveys. All of the increased work was accomplished with less staff through efficiencies gained in methodology and technology, such as increased electronic data capture and data analysis procedures.

Does the performance of this program compare favorably to other programs, including government, private, etc., with similar purpose and goals?

Explanation: NASS customer satisfaction is comparable to private industry and 3 points higher than the average Federal government ratings. In 2002, the OPM Federal Human Capital Survey, the Best Places to Work Index NASS scored 66.8, placing NASS in the top tier of high performing organizations, scoring above the 80th percentile benchmark scores out of 189 organizations surveyed by OPM.

Evidence: The Federal Consulting Group administers and complies the American Customer Satisfaction Index which can be found at www.fcg.gov/. 2001 American Customer Satisfaction Survey conducted by the Federal Consulting Group. 2002 OPM Federal Human Capital Survey, the Best Places to Work Index.

Do independent evaluations of sufficient scope and quality indicate that the program is effective and achieving results?

Explanation: An independent, external evaluation, similar to those most recently conducted by AAEA, will be completed on the Agricultural Statistics Program after the 2002 Census of Agriculture. This will be based on a comprehensive internal program review completed by NASS staff after each census cycle. Recommended annual program changes are presented for further review at the USDA Data User Meetings and to the independent Advisory Committee on Agriculture Statistics. Recommendations of independent outside sources have shown effectiveness of the Agricultural Statistics Program and have been used to improve data services and products.

Evidence: NASS has annual and periodic assessments of program products and services that are reviewed by the Advisory Committee on Agricultural Statistics and presented at the annual Data User Meetings. Recent independently published research provides evidence of program effectiveness: "Understanding USDA Corn and Soybean Production Estimates", (AgMAS Project Reseach Report, University of Illinois, Ocitber 2003, this recent academic evaluation cites the following: "Overall, the forecasting performance of the USDA in 2003 relative to the private market was quite strong, particularly for early season corn and soybean production forecasts in August and September. Furthermore, despite many claims to the contrary, the August, September, October and November 2003 USDA corn and soybean forecasts generally were within or near historical ranges in terms of magnitude of changes, forecast errors, market surprises and price reactions. Other positive reactions were made by the Advisory Committte on Agrcuktural Statistics (February 17-18, 2004), the Data Users Meeting (October 20, 2003) and Data Task Force (February) 1997. Periodic assessment of program products and services are annually reviewed by the Advisory Committee on Agriculture Statistics and presented at the annual USDA Data User Meetings. Recent independently published research provides evidence of program effectiveness--"Understanding USDA Corn and Soybean Production Forecasts: An Overview of Methods, Perfromance and Market Impacts", October 2003. Historical independent evaluations include -- American Agricultural Economics Association (AAEA) Task Force Review, June 1998; AAEA Task Force Report, February 1997; USDA Economics and Statistics Review Panel, June 1985; Report of Statistical Reporting Service (SRS) Review by AAEA, October, 1984; The Census-USDA Data System: Relationships and Opportunities by Kenneth Farrell, Food and Agricultural Policy Progam, and Gaylord Worden, Census Bureau, October 1982; Agency Review by Outside Experts Report by the Center of Survey Statistics, Research Triangle Institute, September 1984; Outside Review of ESCS Statistics Progams by Research Triangle Institute, 1979.