The GPRA Modernization Act established some important changes and builds on lessons agencies have learned in setting goals and reporting performance. It also places emphasis on setting priorities, cross-organizational collaboration to achieve shared goals, and the use and analysis of goals and measures to improve outcomes of federally funded programs.

SAMHSA GPRA Tools

As part of this federal mandate, all SAMHSA programs must collect and report performance data. The Funding Opportunity Announcements (FOAs) describe the data collection and performance measurement process. SAMHSA collects data on key output and outcome measures to monitor and manage grantee performance, improve the quality of services provided, and inform evaluation reports.

Data collected through SPARS are used to monitor the progress of SAMHSA’s discretionary grants, serve as a decision-making tool on funding, and improve the quality of services provided through the programs. SPARS provides real-time performance monitoring of SAMHSA’s discretionary grant portfolio and allows SAMHSA to provide timely, accurate information to stakeholders and Congress. They system includes data entry, data validation and verification, data management, data utilization, data analysis support, and automated reporting.

Client-level data are collected from grantees including demographics, ICD10 diagnostic categories, substance use and abuse, mental health and physical health functioning, and other key variables.

SAMHSA will continue to implement the 21st Century Cures Act and make any necessary changes to improve the performance metrics used and to evaluate effectiveness of SAMHSA programs including updating client level data collection tools and modernizing the SPARS data collections system. Visit SPARS for more information about the SPARS GPRA data collection program.