Public policy assessment is, by definition, applied social research: it seeks a balance between the methodological and technical rigor of a social investigation and the pragmatism and flexibility needed by a tool supporting the decision-making process. The government functions (health, education, safety, management, environment, sanitation, housing, etc) are instances of public policy operationalizations. The goal of this investigation is to assess the performance of the budgetary execution per government functions of the States and the Federal District, in 2013, with the use of the Principal Component Analysis (PCA), in order to develop an index and establish a performance ranking. The administrative efficiency is the criterion used to assess the performance of the States and the Federal District. The empirical-analytical (archival/empiricist – database) research method was used. The data about the government functions were extracted from the website of the National Treasury Bureau (STN). Twenty-six government functions, as variables of the budgetary execution, were included in the assessment. The results revealed, based on the General Performance Index (IGD) created by the Principal Component Analysis (PCA), that the State of Acre, the Federal District and the Amapá obtained the first positions in the performance ranking of the budgetary execution per government functions in 2013. The States of Ceará, Rio Grande do Sul and Maranhão exhibited the worst performances. The functions health, energy, administration, judiciary, social security, agrarian organization, sport and entertainment and environmental management were considered the main variables.