(Saigon Times Daily ngày 8-3-2004)
55. Comparative Performance Measurement
Governments are invariably constrained by limited resources. The
demand for goods and services always exceeds the capacity of the public
sector to finance them. Even after engaging in partnerships with the private
sector and eliciting the participation of non-profit and community based
organizations, government resources are still insufficient to meet the needs
of its citizens.
The most common way governments close this fiscal gap is by
increasing revenue, either by raising taxes and user charges now, or by
borrowing and then later raising taxes and user charges to finance debt
repayment.
An alternative way to close the fiscal gap is to increase expenditure
efficiency and expenditure effectiveness. If the government can get more
value for its money by lowering costs (efficiency) and improving results
(effectiveness), then it can use the same level of resources to provide more
or better quality goods and services. Politically, this is often preferable to
increasing taxes and user charges.
A useful tool in improving expenditure efficiency and effectiveness is
"comparative performance measurement/' or "CPM." Cost data by
themselves do not tell us very much, but comparisons of cost data over
several years, or between many jurisdictions, turn these numbers into very
useful information to evaluate the government's expenditure performance.
CPM is done on a routine basis in the United States, where local
governments have established and regularly publish expenditure and
performance standards for various public goods and services. Any local
government can thus compare its performance with other local
