U.S. Geological Survey
Government Performance Results Act (GPRA)
Strategic Plan
Vision -- "The USGS is a world leader in the natural sciences through our scientific
excellence and responsiveness to society's needs."
Mission -- "The USGS serves the Nation by providing reliable scientific information to:
describe and understand the Earth; minimize loss of life and property from natural
disasters; manage water, biological, energy and mineral resources; and enhance and
protect our quality of life."
Relationship to Departmental Goals
The U.S. Geological Survey has two GPRA Program Activities -- Hazards
and Environment & Natural Resources. Each Program Activity has a Mission Goal and an
associated Long-term Goal. The Mission and Long-term Goals directly support the Department of
the Interior Goal # 4, "Provide Science for a Changing World." As such, USGS science
contributes to all of the Department of the Interior (DOI) goals by focusing on the provision of
scientific information to support these efforts.
Department of the Interior goals
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GPRA strategic plan
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Under the Hazards GPRA Program Activity or mission goal, USGS provides science for a changing world in response to present and anticipated needs, focusing efforts to predict & monitor hazardous events in near-real and real-time and to conduct risk assessments to mitigate loss.
- Within this mission context, our long-term goal is to ensure the continued transfer of hazards-related data, risk assessments, and disaster scenarious needed by our customers before, during, and after natural disasters, and by 2005, increase the delivery of real-time hazards information by adding telemetry to 600 streamgages (thus reducing the time it takes to provide flood information at these sites from 6 to 8 weeks to 4 hours) and installing 140 improved earthquake sensors (thus reducing delivery time of information on potentially damaging earthquakes from 40 to 20 minutes) to minimize loss of life and property.
Under the Environment and Natural Resources GPRA Program Activity or mission goal, USGS provides science for a changing world in response to present and anticipated needs to expand our understanding of environmental and natural resource issues on regional, national, and global scales and enhance predictive/forecast modeling capabilities.
- Within this mission context, our long-term goal is to ensure the continued availability of long-term environmental and natural resource information and systematic analysis and investigations needed by customers, and by 2005, develop 20 new decision support systems and predictive tools for informed decisionmaking about natural systems.
Adjustments to the Strategic Plan
During FY 1998 the Strategic Plan was refocused. The USGS Vision and Mission statements
remain similar. Minor wording changes and the addition of a strategic direction highlight the shift
in the new plans' focus toward more customer-involvement. Further, a substantial reduction in the
number of goals and performance measures has been achieved through aggregation in the new
strategic and annual plans.
This interim adjustment to the 1997 Strategic Plan was guided by ongoing stakeholder meetings
and workshops as well as intervening program evaluations such as the National Academy of Public
Administration's review and report titled Geographic Information for the 21st Century ‹ Building
a Strategy for the Nation published January 1998. USGS review policy has the goal of conducting
an independent peer review of ongoing programs every 5 years, combined with more frequent
independent internal program management reviews. The review schedule has been updated in the
revised Strategic Plan. These evaluations will continue to provide the USGS learning and growth
opportunities to continue to refine strategy, implementation, and the quality and relevance of our
scientific programs. A comparison of the old and refocused Strategic Plan is provided below.
| Old Strategic Plan | Refocused Strategic Plan |
Vision
The U.S. Geological Survey is an earth science
organization that is recognized worldwide as
scientifically credible, objective, and
demonstrably relevant to society's needs. | Vision
The USGS is a world leader in the natural sciences through
our scientific excellence and responsiveness to society's
needs.
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Mission
The U.S. Geological Survey provides the Nation
with reliable, impartial information to describe
and understand the Earth. This information is
used to:
- minimize loss of life and property from
natural disasters;
- manage water, biological, energy, and
mineral resources;
- enhance and protect the quality of life;
and
- contribute to wise economic and
physical development.
| Mission
The USGS serves the Nation by providing reliable scientific
information to:
- describe and understand the Earth;
- minimize loss of life and property from natural
disasters;
- manage water, biological, energy and mineral
resources; and
- enhance and protect our quality of life.
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Strategic Direction
The USGS will combine and enhance our diverse programs,
capabilities, and talents with increased customer involvement
to strengthen our science leadership and contribution to the
resolution of complex issues. |
Financial Management and Performance Reporting
The USGS is committed to ensuring the integrity of its financial data, operate in an efficient and effective manner, and provide quality data to our customers and constituents. These are the same objectives as the financial managers in the Department of the Interior. Accordingly, USGS has endorsed the Department's financial management strategic goals and adopted them as our own. These goals, the criteria used to measure our performance, our recent performance, and our target goals are shown below.
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Last updated July 6, 1999