    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1998, Book I)]
    [April 21, 1998]
    [Page 597]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Memorandum on Streamlining the Granting of Waivers
    April 21, 1998

    Memorandum for the Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies

    Subject: Streamlining the Granting of Waivers

        Five years ago, the Vice President
    asked you to create reinvention laboratories in your departments and
    agencies and to streamline the granting of waivers of internal agency
    rules within them so the laboratories could more effectively promote
    innovation. These waivers--delegations of authority to deviate from
    existing internal agency policies and procedures--are often sought by
    front-line employees who are trying to make their operations work
    better, cost less, and get results that Americans care about. The Vice
    President and I emphasized such measures in the Blair House Papers last
    year, when we encouraged you to delegate more power to front-line
    employees to unlock the enormous potential of the Federal workforce.
        Your departments and agencies have responded, and Federal employees
    have used waivers to facilitate innovation and provide excellent
    customer service. For example, the Coast Guard marine safety programs
    have increased managerial flexibility for field commanders to waive
    unnecessary requirements that had previously accounted for over one-half
    million work hours annually. The Department of Agriculture's Animal
    Plant Health Inspection Service's Tort Claims Adjudication Team used a
    waiver to reduce the processing time for tort claims of less than $2,500
    from 51 days to 8.
        Based on these experiences, I am directing you, where you determine
    that it is appropriate, to adopt some of the best practices developed by
    agencies. These best practices include the following characteristics:
        1. Waiver requests are acted upon within 30 days or less. After 30
    days, the originating entity within the agency can assume approval and
    implement the requested waiver.
        2. Those officials having authority to grant or change internal
    agency rules can approve waiver requests, but only the head of an agency
    can deny a waiver request.
        3. Officials who have the authority to grant waivers are encouraged
    to identify potential waiver opportunities and extend waivers to their
    own agencies.
        The Vice President's team at the National Partnership for
    Reinventing Government (NPR) is ready to assist you in developing a
    waiver process based upon lessons learned and best practices from
    agencies that have experience with waivers. Some of you already have
    this type of waiver process in place for reinvention laboratories. I
    direct you to take every opportunity to extend this process throughout
    your agency.
        You should report to the Vice President on actions taken to
    implement this memorandum by July 1, 1998.
        This memorandum does not apply to waiver requests by grant program
    recipients nor does it apply to the granting of waivers to statutory
    requirements or practices required by law. It applies to those internal
    agency rules not codified in the Code of Federal Regulations.

                                                          William J. Clinton