[Budget of the U.S. Government]
[IV. Improving Performance in a Balanced Budget World]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]
IV. IMPROVING PERFORMANCE IN A BALANCED BUDGET WORLD
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We still have work to do, for while the era of big Government is over, the era of big challenges is not.
Achieving educational excellence, finishing welfare reform and our campaign for safe streets, helping families
to succeed at home and at work, balancing the budget, keeping America strong and prosperous, reforming campaign
finance and modernizing Government operations so that, together, we can meet the challenges and seize the
opportunities of this remarkable time.
President Clinton
December 11, 1996
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The President's challenge is an awesome one--literally, how to do
more with less, and how to do it better.
But it is the challenge that we face, shaped by the fiscal and
political realities of our times. The President has worked hard to
reduce the deficit, and he wants to work with Congress to finish the job
and balance the budget by 2002--a goal that is widely shared in Congress
and across the Nation. Consequently, departments and agencies no longer
can count on more funding each year. For the foreseeable future, their
resources will be constrained, perhaps severely so.
And yet, the Federal Government has a legitimate role to play in
fulfilling the President's goals. Over the last four years, the
President has used Federal resources and the power of his office to
begin achieving educational excellence, expanding opportunity, cleaning
up the environment, investing in promising research, ending welfare as
we know it, protecting health care and pensions, making the tax system
fairer, and keeping America strong. The public wants further progress on
these and other issues and, with limited resources, the Federal
Government must be able to respond effectively.
Led by Vice President Gore's National Performance Review, the
Administration promised to create a Government that ``works better and
costs less.'' And we have made a good start. We are saving money,
cutting the work force, eliminating needless regulations and improving
the ones we need, streamlining bureaucracies, cutting red tape, and
finding numerous ways to better serve Government's ``customers''--the
American people.
Costs Less
The Administration has:
Saved over $100 billion, largely through a series of
management reforms.
Cut the Federal work force by over 250,000 employees,\1\
creating the smallest work force in 30 years and, as a share
of total civilian employment, the smallest since 1931.
Thirteen of the 14 Cabinet Departments have cut their
permanent work forces between 1993 and 1996; the Justice
Department is growing because of the Administration's expanded
war on crime and drugs.
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\1\ As of September 1996.
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Eliminated over 200 programs and projects--major programs
like the Bureau of Mines, and smaller special-interest or
narrowly-focused activities like wool and mohair subsidies and
the Tea-Tasters Board.
Closed nearly 2,000 obsolete field offices.
Negotiated better deals for Government purchases. The
Government now pays $3.62 for a three-pound commercial
overnight delivery, compared to the $27 retail rate, and as
little as two-cents-a-minute
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for long-distance calls, compared
to the 16-cents-a-minute retail rate.
Works Better
Departments and agencies are:
Eliminating 16,000 pages of regulations and dramatically
simplifying 31,000.\2\
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\2\ As of December 31, 1996, agencies had eliminated, or proposed for
elimination, 87 percent of the 16,000; they had improved, or proposed
for improvement, 78 percent of the 31,000.
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Improving customer service. Spurred by the President's
challenge to be the ``best in the business,'' over 200
agencies have committed to meet over 3,000 customer service
standards. The Social Security Administration was rated first
in a 1995 independent survey of selected public and private 1-
800 services. Agencies including the Postal Service, Veterans
Affairs Department (VA), and the Bureau of Engraving and
Printing have surveyed over a million customers in the past
year to learn how they can improve services.
Using emerging technologies, particularly the Internet and
its World Wide Web, to make Government information readily
accessible and easier to find. The White House expanded its
home page (www.whitehouse.gov) to provide access to commonly
requested services. For example, citizens can get passport
applications, their earnings records from the Social Security
Administration, or student loan applications. The Commerce
Department's ``FedWorld'' system connects users to hundreds of
agency resources and information--from Federal job
opportunities, to automobile emission system repair
instructions, to information on starting a small business.
Users downloaded over 250,000 tax forms and instruction
booklets from the IRS' home page during the 1996 tax season.
Creating ``one-stop shops,'' such as the new U.S. General
Stores, which give the public walk-in access to services
across a wide range of agencies while cutting agency overhead
costs. Similarly, the National Performance Review and the
General Services Administration are working with phone
companies across the country to convert Federal listings by
agency to listings according to services, such as Food Stamps
or AIDS information. Over 18 million Americans will get such
listings this year.
Launching pilot projects to shift regulatory enforcement
approaches from adversarial relationships to partnerships. In
the Maine 200 partnership program, in which both companies and
workers look for hazards, workman's compensation claims have
dropped 40 percent.
Cutting ``red tape'' and paperwork. The President and
Congress strengthened the Paperwork Reduction Act,
establishing goals for agencies to cut by 25 percent, by 1998,
the hours that the public spends filling out Government forms
and paperwork.
A Toolkit of Strategies and Techniques
The Administration is proud of its accomplishments, but our work is
not done. As we move forward, the challenge will only get harder.
Spurred by the Vice President, the Administration has identified many
ways for agencies to improve their performance and cut costs. Some of
these tools focus on eliminating obsolete processes; others focus on
improving the ones we have. Because agencies and programs operate in
such different ways, not all of these tools, techniques, and strategies
apply to each agency and department. But every agency and program can
benefit from a number of them.
Based on what we have learned over the past four years, we plan to
employ the following seven tools, as shown in Table IV-1.
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Table IV-1. STRATEGIES TO IMPROVE PERFORMANCE AND REDUCE COSTS
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1........................... Restructure Agencies
2........................... Improve Effectiveness of the Federal Workplace
3........................... Reform Federal Purchasing Practices
4........................... Expand Competition to Improve Services and Reduce Costs
5........................... Follow the Best Private Sector Practices in Using Information Technology
6........................... Improve Credit Program Performance
7........................... Improve Business Management Practices
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1. Restructure Agencies
A smaller Government is not an end in itself. We want to change the
way it operates. In place of highly-centralized, inflexible
organizations that focused on inputs, the Administration is creating
more flexible, decentralized management structures within agencies to
focus on results. Agencies are streamlining their work forces,
collapsing redundant layers, increasing spans of control, and creating
leaner headquarters. Many are closing small, inefficient field offices
while strengthening
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the services they provide to customers through increased electronic communications and systems. And some agencies are fundamentally changing the way they work with State and local governments and with the private sector by creating partnerships to focus on joint goals and the progress toward meeting them.
Create more efficient, performance-based organizations
(PBOs): PBOs, which the President has labeled a priority for
his second term, are discrete units of a department that
commit to clear management objectives, measurable goals,
customer service standards, and specific targets for improved
performance (see Table IV-2). Once designated, they would have
greater personnel and procurement flexibilities and a
competitively-hired CEO, who would sign an annual performance
agreement with the Secretary and have a share of his or her
pay depend on the organization's performance. The British, who
have extensive experience with this concept, have found that
such agencies have improved performance and cut administrative
costs.
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Table IV-2. PROPOSED PERFORMANCE-BASED ORGANIZATIONS
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Department or Agency Function
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Commerce.............................................................. Technical information dissemination (National Technical Information Service)
Commerce.............................................................. Intellectual property rights (Patent and Trademark Office)
Commerce.............................................................. Seafood inspection
Defense............................................................... Defense Commissary Agency
Housing and Urban Development......................................... Mortgage insurance services (GNMA)
Housing and Urban Development......................................... Mortgage insurance services (FHA)
Transportation........................................................ St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation
Treasury.............................................................. United States Mint
Office of Personnel Management........................................ Retirement benefit services
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Consolidate intergovernmental funding streams into
Performance Partnerships: Performance Partnership grants with
larger, more flexible funding pools can replace small
categorical grants, improving financial incentives, rewarding
results, eliminating overlapping authorities, and cutting
Federal overhead, micro-management, and paperwork. States or
Tribes can now combine up to 15 separate Environmental
Protection Agency funding streams across water, air, hazardous
waste, and similar programs to improve environmental outcomes.
Agriculture Department (USDA) State Directors can combine
funding for 18 programs into three funding streams
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for rural housing, utilities and business or cooperative services.
Accelerate implementation of existing streamlining plans: The
President and Congress are ahead of schedule on plans to cut
272,900 Federal positions, or 12 percent of the work force, by
the end of this decade (see Chart IV-1). As Chart IV-2 shows,
agencies are working hard to implement their streamlining
plans--designed to cut overhead, eliminate vertical layers and
redundant structures, particularly in headquarters operations,
and increase spans of control.
Eliminate excess field offices: Several agencies, including
the Departments of Agriculture, Transportation, and the
Treasury, and the Small Business Administration, have
developed proposals to streamline their field office
structures, while improving operations and customer service.
Over 890,000 Federal employees work in almost 30,000 separate
field offices that vary greatly in size. Although the average
field office houses 30 employees, over 11,000 offices house
five or fewer.
2. Improve Effectiveness of the Federal Workplace
What was true in 1993 remains true today. The main agents for change
are Federal employees themselves. With a quarter of a million fewer of
them than in 1993, we are asking those who remain to do more with less.
They are working harder and smarter each and every day, and our efforts
to reinvent Government would be nowhere near as successful were it not
for their enthusiastic leadership and support. We must, however,
continue to downsize and restructure, if only because of the limited
resources that a balanced budget will offer. As with the previous
personnel cuts, the Administration plans to closely manage and target
further downsizing. Agencies need to avoid workplace
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disruptions and employee disputes and, when they occur, resolve them quickly and fairly. Employees and managers need to plan and work together for common goals. In addition, the President proposes a 2.8 percent pay raise for both
civilian employees and the military. \3\
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\3\ Once again, the Administration will consult employee organizations
and others before recommending how to allocate the civilian pay raise
between locality pay and a national schedule adjustment.
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Increase the number and effectiveness of labor-management
partnerships: The Administration plans to add to the more than
850 labor-management partnerships already in place to improve
relations between agencies and the unions representing their
employees. With these partnerships, the two sides work
together toward a common goal--providing the highest-quality
service at the lowest cost. The two sides cooperate to solve
problems, implement changes, and jointly resolve worksite
issues. Good partnerships breed good organizations, with an
energized work force focused on doing its job better and more
efficiently.
Use buyouts to adjust the size and skill mix of the work
force: A well-planned, well-executed buyout program can
minimize the need for involuntary layoffs by increasing
attrition in targeted occupations, organizations, or
locations. In response to changed conditions, missions, and
resources, private and public organizations have used buyouts
to make needed adjustments in the composition of the work
force. Generally, they are less costly than formal reductions-
in-force and are always less disruptive to workers--to those
who elect to leave and those who remain.
Replace formal grievance procedures with Alternative Dispute
Resolution (ADR): The early, voluntary use of ADR can quickly
resolve workplace disputes, eliminating the costs, delays, and
adverse effects on workplace morale of formal administrative
procedures or litigation. ADR encompasses various techniques
to resolve disputes and
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reach negotiated settlements and,
at the Federal level, ADR has resolved a wide range of workplace
disputes, including employee grievances and allegations of
discrimination. For example, a Postal Service alternative
mediation pilot program in Florida resolved 77 percent of
cases using ADR, and generally reached settlements within two
weeks of the offer of mediation services. ADR's expanded use
can produce quicker, better settlements and significant
savings.
3. Reform Federal Purchasing Practices
Prior to this Administration, efforts to make Government work better
and cost less were often hindered by the Government's unique acquisition
system. It was heavily rule-driven, leaving little leeway for Federal
managers and employees to exercise good business judgment and common
sense and providing too much incentive for wasteful and costly
litigation. With leadership from the National Performance Review, the
Administration issued an early call for fundamental reform and--with
strong bipartisan support that helped produce the 1994 Federal
Acquisition and Streamlining Act--is transforming the system into one
that operates much more like private sector acquisition. The
Administration seeks a Government acquisition system that performs like
those of our most successful companies and, to achieve it, is pursuing
important reforms.
Use performance-based service contracting (PBSC): The
Government spends over $100 billion a year for contracted
services. PBSC is a valuable tool that can not just save
money, but also better enable agencies to achieve their
missions. PBSC emphasizes what the Government wants from a
contractor in measurable, mission-related, results-oriented
terms, rather than prescribing how to do the work. PBSC also
cuts costs by moving the Government away from cost
reimbursement contracts, which are open-ended, to fixed price
contracts. An ongoing Government-wide pilot project already
has generated savings of 15 to 20 percent, and the agencies
involved have expressed more satisfaction with contractor
performance.
Use past performance in selecting contractors: Agencies have
realized, as have successful companies, that they need not
settle for mediocrity when they can get better overall value
from stronger performers. By paying more attention to a
contractor's past performance, agencies are beginning to do
business only with firms that provide quality performance in
exchange for taxpayers dollars. For example, a Navy
installation in Seattle reports that its use of past
performance has improved on-time delivery from 20 to over 70
percent and significantly reduced defects in the past 18
months.
Apply successful commercial buying strategies: Recent legal
and regulatory reforms are letting agencies more easily and
effectively use commercial purchasing practices. Many
agencies, for instance, are leveraging the Government's buying
power as a large customer of commercial products, often by
consolidating their orders. VA entered into a single national
contract for one of its pharmaceuticals, cutting its costs
from about $2.5 million a year to just $550,000. By
consolidating its requirements for lab testing services in the
Southeast region, the Army cut its bill in half. The Defense
Logistics Agency is using another approach--a ``prime vendor''
strategy in which customers order and receive products
directly from distributors--reducing the value of its
pharmaceutical inventories by nearly $85 million.
Streamline the buying process: The Administration is revising
the rules for source selection, letting contracting officials
more easily get the best deals while still allowing all
interested firms to participate. These changes will save the
Government the cost of fruitless negotiations with offerors
who are not leading contenders, and allow firms to focus
resources on situations in which they likely will be the most
competitive.
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4. Expand Competition to Improve Services and Reduce Costs
Competition spurs efficiency. Agencies that provide administrative
and other commercial or industrial products or services to ``captive
customers''--be they other agencies, or individuals or businesses--lack
the stimulus of competition to sharpen their performance and control
their costs. The Administration's effort to expand competition
encourages agencies to compete with one another, and with the private
sector, to provide common administrative support services. More
competition will bring new technologies, capital, management techniques,
and opportunity to Federal employees and their customers.
Accelerate and expand the use of competition: Agencies are
using competition to purchase support services from their own
employees, from ``franchise funds'' in other agencies, and
from the private sector. Competition allows agencies to focus
on their core mission requirements while giving them access to
the best service providers, both public and private, and it
encourages employees to organize themselves to cut costs and
meet performance standards. The Social Security
Administration, for example, recently chose to purchase
payroll services from the Interior Department at lower annual
operating costs. Through competition, the Defense Department
(DOD) is cutting costs without cutting service. Indeed,
experience here and abroad has shown that a greater use of
competition can cut costs by as much as 30 percent.
Spin off or privatize functions: Agencies are spinning off or
otherwise converting to the private sector a range of assets
and activities that the Government no longer needs to own or
perform, including the Alaska Power Administration, the
Interior Department's helium processing, the Naval Petroleum
Reserve known as Elk Hills, and, eventually, the U.S.
Enrichment Corporation. Similarly, VA relied on ``just in
time'' deliveries in buying medical supplies, eliminating its
internal warehousing system and saving about $100 million a
year. In a new, innovative approach, the Office of Personnel
Management converted its background investigation staff to an
Employee Stock Ownership corporation, saving money, protecting
jobs, and letting those former Government employees expand
services into State, local, and private markets.
5. Follow the Best Private Sector Practices in Using Information
Technology
Well-managed information technology should improve the Government's
productivity while cutting its costs. Table IV-3 at the end of this
chapter lists some of the most important investments in information
technology for which the President is proposing funding. To ensure the
maximum return on investment, agencies can now copy the successful
practices of private firms, due to their new authority under the 1996
Clinger-Cohen Act. These practices--reengineering, buying and managing
smart, integrating information--ensure that the technology provides
workable solutions to real problems at a reasonable cost.
Re-engineer before automating: Agencies can redesign how they
do business to ensure that automation cuts costs, improves
effectiveness, and uses commercial, off-the-shelf technology
as much as possible. The Census Bureau, for example, moved its
information to the World Wide Web to let researchers draw from
the vast stores of Census data. The Weather Service
restructured the duties of its forecasters, using advanced
workstations to increase their productivity, and the accuracy
and timeliness of weather forecasts. The warning time for
tornados has risen significantly, giving communities more time
to take appropriate precautions, such as moving children off
playgrounds.
Acquire systems in phases: By acquiring information
technology systems in pieces, rather than all at once,
agencies can reap immediate benefits while increasing the
chance of having an integrated, working system at the end. A
General Accounting Office (GAO) study found that buying
systems in phases was one of the most important strategies
followed by companies that have most successfully acquired new
information technology systems.
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Buy off-the-shelf: Agencies can reduce their risks of
problems by avoiding custom-designed components. The broad
range of information technology equipment, software, and
services now commercially available provides new opportunities
to use commercial, off-the-shelf technology, rather than
designing and building more-costly custom systems from the
ground up. Through contracts with the General Services
Administration (GSA), agencies can get standard commercial
software packages for financial systems.
Consolidate and out source: The Government can close over
half of its larger computer centers and eliminate duplicative
communications links. The National Aeronautics and Space
Administration cut its data center processing costs by 30
percent in its first year of consolidation, and expects to
save another 35 to 40 percent next year. GSA will close 11
data centers, outsourcing all of its data center requirements
to the private sector.
Monitor progress with performance-based management systems:
Agencies are establishing performance-based monitoring
systems, enabling managers to track whether major system
acquisitions are meeting expectations for costs, schedules,
and capabilities. The Federal Aviation Administration's Air
Traffic Modernization System is using performance measures
that are linked to design and procurement decisions.
Integrate information: By integrating their information,
agencies can stop duplicating each others' efforts while
making their critical information more accurate. Many agencies
collect information that other agencies use. Over 40 agencies,
for example, collect and use trade data for analysis and for
processing imports and exports. Those agencies are integrating
information about shippers, bills of lading, types of cargo,
exports, imports, and duties into a cohesive, coordinated
system. The new system will eliminate duplicative import
forms, speed cargo clearance, and improve our trade
statistics. Similarly, eight agencies administering programs
that deliver cash benefits to individuals are working together
to better coordinate program information across major Federal
benefit programs, in order to prevent overpayments and avoid
the costs of trying to recoup them after the fact.
6. Improve Credit Program Performance
To fulfill its stewardship responsibilities to taxpayers, the
Government must manage its cash and loan assets as wisely as possible.
Specifically, it must design and administer its loan programs prudently,
and provide incentives to ensure that it can collect its ``receivables''
(that is, the amounts owed) in a timely fashion. At the end of 1995,
contingent liabilities (that is, outstanding guaranteed loans) totaled
$737 billion, and non-tax receivables totaled $245 billion, of which $50
billion was delinquent. The 1996 Debt Collection Improvement Act gives
agencies a range of new tools to improve credit program performance.
Lower costs with improved loan servicing: The Debt Collection
Improvement Act lets agencies withhold Federal payments to
those who are delinquent on loans from the Federal Government,
refer delinquent accounts to a private collection agency or a
private attorney, or sell the ``account receivable'' to the
private sector. Agencies also can keep up to five percent of
any increase in their collections in 1997, compared to their
average annual collections in 1993-96, but they must use the
funds they keep to improve their credit management and debt
collection.
Obtain higher recoveries on delinquencies with enhanced
payment offset: Also under the Act, the Treasury Department
has begun to implement its new authority to intercept any
Federal payment to a delinquent individual or entity to offset
the delinquent amount. Through agency referrals of such debt
to the Treasury Department, the Government expects to recover
over $300 million in the next three years, which it will
credit to agency accounts.
Consolidate Government-wide debt collection: The Act enables
Treasury to designate agencies as Federal Debt Collection
Centers to compete for delinquent account referrals and, in
turn, be paid from recov-
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eries. By October 1997, Treasury will
designate up to five agencies to provide comprehensive account
maintenance and special collection services. For agencies with
decentralized account servicing operations or few loans, the
centers will offer a low-cost alternative to in-house
servicing.
Coordinate and expedite asset sales: The Act encourages
agencies to sell loan assets when the Federal Government will
benefit financially. In 1996, the Department of Housing and
Urban Development received over $300 million more by selling
collateralized loans than it would have--had it continued to
hold these delinquent loans in its portfolio. VA sells over $1
billion in collateralized loan assets each year. The Small
Business Administration will undertake loan sales in 1998.
7. Improve Business Management Practices
The Administration is trying to transform a Federal Government with
vestiges of early 20th Century thinking into one suited for the next
century, and seeking to provide financial accountability for Government
spending. An efficient, effective Government needs sound financial
management, reliable information, and, where appropriate, fees from
those who benefit from Government's business-like activities. The
Administration is taking a coordinated approach to electronic process
initiatives in order to re-engineer financial services; aggressively
implement electronic purchasing, payment, and funds transfer; and
improve the quality and timeliness of financial reporting.
Collect fees from the beneficiaries of Government's business-
like activities: The Federal Government provides services to
businesses and others in the private sector. The budget would
impose or raise fees on these recipients because, where
possible, those who benefit from the Government's business-
like activities should finance the services--not the general
taxpayer. Specifically, the budget proposes Federal Aviation
Administration fees to fund the air traffic control system;
Food and Drug Administration fees to finance the testing and
approval of new drugs; and Food Safety and Inspection Service
fees to fund the costs of meat and poultry inspection in
production plants.
Re-engineer travel policies and procedures: The Federal
Government spends over $7 billion a year for travel (almost $5
billion in the Defense Department). GAO found that DOD spends
an additional 30 percent of its direct travel costs to manage
its travel system, while the private sector spends about six
percent. DOD has begun implementing the recommendations of a
two-year study to streamline its travel management procedures.
GSA also has begun implementing the recommendations of a
similar study of civilian agency travel management policies
and practices. Both efforts likely will dramatically cut
travel administrative costs throughout the Government.
Use electronic means to improve purchasing and capture
financial data for easier accounting: Purchase cards and
electronic data interchange let buyers buy items cheaply and
conveniently, while they capture the needed financial data
from the buyers. USDA estimates that a paper purchase costs
$77 to process, while the same purchase by card costs $33;
USDA hopes to cut the card cost to $17 per transaction. At the
same time, information technology makes it easier for buyers
to learn about items for sale. The ``GSA Advantage'' World
Wide Web site lets Government employees browse through
thousands of product listings and order with the Government's
``IMPAC'' credit card, and agencies can order high-end
computer equipment and software through the Web page of NASA's
``Scientific and Engineering Workstation Procurement''
contract. The Administration wants to adopt ``smart card''
technology so that, ultimately, every employee will be able to
use one card for a wide range of purposes, including travel,
small purchases, and building access.
Phase-in electronic funds transfer: The Debt Collection
Improvement Act supports agencies' efforts to modernize their
payment processes by requiring the Federal Government, by
1999, to make payments
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to individuals and businesses by
electronic funds transfer, thereby eliminating the costs and
inconvenience of lost and stolen paper checks.
Accelerate implementation of Electronic Benefits Transfer
(EBT): EBT replaces multiple Federal and State paper-based
benefit delivery systems with a single card system, cutting
overhead costs by streamlining processes and replacing
multiple government delivery systems with the private banking
infrastructure. EBT also brings dignity, security, and access
to benefit recipients. Over half of the States will issue EBT
cards in 1997. The Administration's EBT Task Force has
estimated that Nation-wide implementation of EBT will save
$195 million a year by 1999.
Assure integrity of data (with audited financial statements):
Government managers need management and reporting systems that
produce reliable information. The basic set of Federal
accounting standards is now complete, and agencies are
improving the accuracy and reliability of their financial
information. Sixty percent of entities that prepared audited
financial statements for 1995 received unqualified opinions.
Agencies are also making those statements more timely by
completing and releasing them earlier.
Public Confidence in Government
The tools discussed above are designed to do more than let agencies
function better for their own sake. Ultimately, they are designed to
help agencies provide better, more effective services to the American
people.
Already, agencies are assessing what their programs actually
accomplish and what we must do to improve their performance. The
Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA)--the landmark legislation
that enjoyed broad bipartisan support in Congress before the President
signed it in 1993--makes agencies more accountable for, and focused on,
what their programs achieve. The law provides the Administration,
working with Congress, an unprecedented opportunity to give the American
people a comprehensive picture of what they are getting for their taxes.
GPRA requires all agencies to send strategic plans to Congress by
September 30, 1997 and make them available to the public. Each agency
will define its mission, and set out its long-term goals for fulfilling
it. Complementing the strategic plans, agencies also will create annual
performance plans, establishing performance targets for the year ahead.
Agencies will send the first of these performance plans, for 1999, to
Congress and make them available publicly in February 1998. Finally, at
year-end, GPRA requires agencies to compare actual performance against
target levels in the performance plan, and to feature the comparisons in
annual reports on performance to the President and Congress. Agencies
will complete the first of those reports, for 1999, by March 2000.
For the challenges ahead, agencies now have many of the tools they
need from not only GPRA but, as illustrated above, from the Federal
Acquisition and Streamlining Act, the Debt Collection Improvement Act,
the Clinger-Cohen Act, and the Paperwork Reduction Act. Others, however,
will require legislation. Working together, the Administration and
Congress can build on the groundwork they have laid. Working together,
we can help agencies improve the Federal Government's performance in a
balanced budget world.
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Table IV-3. PROGRAM PERFORMANCE BENEFITS FROM MAJOR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY INVESTMENTS
(Budget authority, in millions of dollars)
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1996 1997 1998
Program/Project Actual Estimate Proposed Program Performance Benefits
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Agriculture: Field Service Center 132 91 101 Allows ``one-stop service'' for farmers and
Initiative. producers.
Commerce: Advanced Weather 58 100 117 Improves the timeliness and accuracy of
Interactive Processing System. forecasts. Lowers the costs of generating
forecasts through reduced staffing
requirements.
Commerce: Census 2000.............. 6 20 67 Reduces errors, the number of temporary
employees needed, and publication costs.
Defense: Defense Messaging System.. 121 167 203 Provides timely, reliable, standardized, and
secure communications worldwide and in the
field.
Education: Direct Student Loan 85 135 172 Provides efficient and accurate servicing and
Servicing System. record keeping for direct student loans.
Education: National Student Loan 23 28 32 Identifies institutions with high default rates
Data System. for corrective action or elimination from
student loan programs. Prevents students with
previously defaulted student loans from
receiving additional aid.
Education: PELL Grant Systems...... 6 11 11 Distributes grant funds to institutions and
supports sound financial management.
Education: Guaranteed Student Loan 24 23 20 Makes payments and maintains records for
Data System. transactions between the Education Department,
guaranty agencies, and banks, as well as
improving debt collection of student loans.
Education: Student Aid Application 50 50 52 Assists institutions and students by providing
System. a standardized way to determine financial aid
eligibility.
Energy: Telecommunications -- 2 4 Lowers operating and maintenance costs and
Integrator Services contract. improves sharing of information by promoting
interoperability of telecommunications
systems.
Health and Human Services: Medicare 20 75 89 Simplifies and streamlines claims processing,
Transaction System. eligibility, and managed care information
systems while improving service to Medicare
customers.
Health and Human Services: National -- -- 30 Will help locate non-custodial parents who flee
Directory of New Hires. their home state to avoid making child support
payments.
Housing and Urban Development: 40 43 66 Provides better internal controls and oversight
Information Technology Investments. of Federal grants, verification of the
eligibility of recipients, timely and accurate
payment of funds, and oversight and servicing
of FHA mortgages.
Interior: Automated Land Management 51 42 33 Improves the quality of, and access to, land,
Records System. resources, and title information for public
land managers and the public.
Interior: American Indian Trust -- 13 17 Ensures that trust income is collected,
System. invested, and distributed accurately.
Justice: Integrated Automated 84 84 84 Allows the FBI to process routine
Fingerprinting Identification identification requests in 24 hours and urgent
System. requests in two hours.
Justice: National Criminal 62 39 -- Provides the criminal justice community Nation-
Information Center 2000. wide with immediate access to documented
information on criminals and criminal
activity.
Labor: ERISA Filing Acceptance -- 6 3 Increases the speed, accuracy, and integrity of
System. information that three agencies use to
safeguard private pensions.
State: Diplomatic and Consular 100 144 191 Improve delivery and management of information
Systems Modernization. required by diplomatic and consular officers
overseas to support the Nation's foreign
policy goals and ensure U.S. border security.
(Includes user fees and budget authority.)
[[Page 46]]
Transportation: FAA Air Traffic 1,368 1,233 1,306 Maintains and improves capability to promote
Control System Modernization. the safe, orderly, and expeditious flow of air
traffic
Treasury: Information Technology -- -- 500 Provides advanced funding for reengineering and
Investments. redesign of tax administration systems and
operations.
Treasury: Treasury Communications 46 115 118 Provides secure data transmission and
System. information services worldwide for Treasury
bureaus. (Funded through Treasury's working
capital fund, not annual appropriations.)
Treasury: Automated Commercial 15 15 15 Supports business process redesign, systems
Environment. architecture, development, and implementation
for systems to replace Customs' Automated
Commercial System.
Veterans Administration: Benefits 6 6 7 Ensures that benefits are delivered timely and
Payment System transition. establishes a modern information technology
infrastructure.
Veterans Administration: VA 430 450 456 Allows clinicians at VA hospitals and clinics
Clinical Workstation Information easy access to complete medical records.
System.
Environmental Protection Agency: 7 7 8 Helps to improve the environment by maintaining
Toxic Release Inventory System. data related to the release of certain toxic
chemical uses. The data is available to EPA
staff, State and local governments,
educational institutions, industry,
environmental and public interest groups, and
the general public.
National Aeronautics and Space 247 255 245 Archives, manages, and distributes earth
Administration: Earth Observing science data from NASA missions and provides
System Data Information System. spacecraft control and science data processing
for the earth-observing mission systems.
Social Security Administration 167 235 200 Funds national implementation of a new
(SSA): Automation Investment Fund. computing network of intelligent workstations
for SSA and the State Disability Determination
Services and related technological
enhancements, including electronic sharing of
information.
General Services Administration: 10 21 31 Beginning in 1998, will offer the Federal
Post-FTS 2000. Government low-cost, state-of-the-art,
integrated voice, data, video, and long-
distance telecommunications. (Cost numbers are
not budget authority, but agency contributions
to the Information Technology Fund for
expenses associated with the FTS 2000
Program.)
Nuclear Regulatory Commission: 1 2 2 Implements workprocess improvement review and
Agency Document Access and increases staff efficiency through improved
Management System. information access and elimination of
redundant data entry. Reduces maintenance
costs by replacing aging legacy hardware and
minimizing custom software.
Office of Personnel Management: -- -- -- Improves product accuracy, customer service,
Retirement System Modernization. and staff efficiency by reengineering current
paper-laden Federal employee retirement
processes.
Interagency: Simplified Tax and -- -- -- Reduces employers' tax and wage reporting
Wage Reporting System. burden.
Interagency: International Trade -- -- 6 Reduces burden on exports and imports, speeds
Data System. up shipments, and improves the quality of
trade statistics.
Data Center Consolidation.......... -- -- -56 Saves money by requiring all Federal agencies
to consolidate or co-locate their data
processing centers to fewer larger, more
efficient, and cost effective locations,
either within the Government or with a private
sector provider.
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Note: This report is required by the Information Technology Management Reform Act of 1996, 40 USC 1412(c)).