OMB Circular A‑11

OMB Circular A‑11
Title	OMB Circular A‑11
Subject	Budgetary guidance
Issued by	Office of Management and Budget
First issued	1940s
Jurisdiction	United States
Purpose	Preparation, submission, and execution of the federal budget

OMB Circular A‑11 is a comprehensive instruction issued by the Office of Management and Budget to executive branch departments and agencies for preparing, justifying, submitting, and executing the federal budget to the President of the United States and the United States Congress. It interfaces with statutory frameworks such as the Budget and Accounting Act of 1921, the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, and the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010 while coordinating technical rules used across Department of the Treasury, Government Accountability Office, and program agencies like the Department of Defense and the Department of Health and Human Services.

Overview and Purpose

The circular serves as the primary operational manual for formulating the President of the United States's budget proposals and for ensuring consistency between agency submissions and the Office of Management and Budget's policy priorities, fiscal rules, and scoring conventions used by the Congressional Budget Office. It prescribes procedures for items including baseline projections, trust funds treatment, program integrity, capital planning, performance measurement aligned with frameworks like the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993, and crosscutting requirements tied to Office of Inspector General audits and Chief Financial Officers Act of 1990 obligations.

Historical Development

A‑11 traces origins to budget practices emerging after the Budget and Accounting Act of 1921 and evolved through administrative reforms during the administrations of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, and Dwight D. Eisenhower. Subsequent iterations reflected legislative milestones such as the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, reforms after the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Balanced Budget Act, and adaptations following the Budget Enforcement Act of 1990. Major agency and executive changes during the administrations of Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Donald J. Trump prompted substantive and stylistic updates to align budget guidance with shifting priorities like defense spending and healthcare reform initiatives exemplified by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

Structure and Key Contents

The circular is organized into numbered parts and exhibits covering budget formulation, apportionment, capital planning, and performance requirements used by agencies such as the Department of Education, Department of Homeland Security, and National Aeronautics and Space Administration. It contains guidance on baseline estimation methodologies, inflation indexing assumptions, and instructions for program and project budget exhibits that interface with systems like the Financial Management Service and the Federal Procurement Data System. Annexes address trust funds accounting, user fees, credit reform stemming from the Federal Credit Reform Act of 1990, and analytic requirements for cost-benefit analysis used in regulatory reviews under the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs.

Role in Federal Budget Process

A‑11 operationalizes the President of the United States's annual budget submission to the United States Congress by directing agencies on timetable, format, and supporting materials that feed into the House Committee on the Budget, Senate Committee on the Budget, and the Congressional Budget Office scoring process. It coordinates with the Treasury Department's cash-management practices and informs execution phases involving the Office of Personnel Management for staffing assumptions and the Department of Labor for employment statistics used in baseline projections. The circular also interfaces with appropriations subcommittees such as the House Appropriations Committee and the Senate Appropriations Committee by standardizing data for hearings and scored amendments.

Revisions and Notable Editions

Notable editions responded to crises and legislative changes: post-1974 editions adjusted to the Congressional Budget Act of 1974; early-1990s revisions implemented Federal Credit Reform Act of 1990 standards; editions after 2008 incorporated measures related to the Troubled Asset Relief Program and American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009; and later updates reflected guidance during the administrations of Barack Obama and Donald J. Trump addressing modernization, transparency, and metrics. Incremental updates have implemented requirements from the Improper Payments Information Act of 2002 and the Digital Accountability and Transparency Act of 2014.

Implementation and Compliance

Agencies implement the circular through internal budget offices, working with Chief Financial Officers and Budget Directors within departments like the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Environmental Protection Agency. Compliance is monitored via routine reviews by the Office of Management and Budget budget examiners, audits by the Government Accountability Office, and oversight from congressional committees including the House Oversight Committee. Noncompliance can affect apportionment decisions under the Anti-Deficiency Act and lead to congressional inquiries or Inspector General investigations.

Criticisms and Impact on Policy-making

Critics in think tanks such as the Brookings Institution, the Heritage Foundation, and the Cato Institute have argued that the circular's technical conventions—baseline rules, scoring windows, and emergency designations—shape substantive policy choices and can institutionalize short-term budgeting incentives criticized by scholars at Harvard University, Princeton University, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Others in advocacy groups like Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington and policy shops such as the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities contend that guidance on program integrity and discretionary caps influences legislative bargaining in the United States Congress and affects outcomes in high-profile debates over defense authorization, entitlement reform, and tax policy.

Category:United States federal budgeting