The multiple functions of formal aids to decision making in public agencies

Examines how the value to a decision-maker of formal, quantitative decision aids changes as the setting shifts from the program level to senior executives and, ultimately, to external groups to which the decision-maker is accountable. Examples drawn from the use of research and development project selection models in the US Department of Energy are used to illustrate the various meanings that `use' of such models can have in a public agency, and how a public agency's accountability to the office of management and budget and the Congress affects the ways its program managers use formal project selection models. A discussion is presented of how changes in the administration in power and differences in the technical competence among agency oversight groups might affect the use of formal decision aids.