The Performance Management Division, Cabinet Secretariat was set up by the Government of India in January 2009.

[1] The Division was established with a view to assess the effectiveness of Government Departments in their mandated functions.

[5] In the Joint Session of Parliament held on 4 June 2009, the then President of India Pratibha Devisingh Patil had outlined 13 important measures to be initiated by the Government of India in the next hundred days.

This was followed by the approval of an outline of a Performance Monitoring and Evaluation System (PMES) for Government Departments by the Prime Minister on September 11, 2009.

A Results-Framework Document (RFD) is a PMES tool, documenting a record of understanding between a Minister representing the people's mandate, and the Secretary of a department responsible for implementing this mandate.