North Dakota Receives National Distinguished Budget Award

The North Dakota Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has been awarded the Distinguished Budget Presentation Award for the 2025-27 biennium budget by the Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada (GFOA).

“We are proud of the dedicated OMB team for earning the GFOA budget award for the 17th consecutive budget cycle,” said OMB Director Joe Morrissette. “This recognition reflects our strong commitment to transparency, excellence and responsible financial stewardship for North Dakotans. It is made possible through close collaboration with agencies across state government and it demonstrates our success in producing a budget that serves as a clear policy document and a sound financial plan.”

Morrissette added that the achievement is even more remarkable considering North Dakota operates with the smallest state budget team in the country.

To receive the GFOA Distinguished Budget Presentation Award, an entity must be rated “proficient” in the following four categories: how well an entity’s budget serves as a policy document, a financial plan, an operations guide and a communications device, as well as 14 mandatory criteria within those categories. The GFOA also presented a Certificate of Recognition for Budget Presentation to OMB for its primary role in creating the budget document.

Each biennium, OMB prepares the governor’s recommended budget for the upcoming biennium, which is then presented to the Legislature for consideration in the budget process.