DOCUMENT RESUME ED 384 295 HE 028 408 AUTHOR Gore, Al TITLE Creating a Government That Works Better & CostsLess. Status Report. Report of the National Performance Review. INSTITUTION Office of the Vice President, Washington, DC. REPORT NO ISBN-0-16-045204-X PUB DATE Sep 94 NOTE 123p.; The twelve recommendations pertaining tothe U.S. Department of Education are reportedon pages 86-87. For related documents,see ED 379 992 and HE 028 407-409. AVAILABLE FROMU.S. Government Printing Office, Superintendent of Documents, Mail Stop: SSOP, Washington, DC 20402-9328. PUB TYPE Reports - Evaluative/Feasibility (142) EDRS PRICE MFOI/PC05 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS Cost Effectiveness; *Efficiency; Elementary Secondary Education; Eligibility; Federal Aid; *Federal Government; Federal Legislation; Federal Programs; Federal Regulation; Government Role; Higher Education; Information Dissemination; Institutional Administration; Institutional Evaluation; Organizational Change; Professional Development; Program Costs; Program Effectiveness; Program Evaluation; Program Termination; Public Agencies; Research Administration; Staff Development IDENTIFIERS ClintoAdministration; Debt Collection; *Department of Education; Elementary Secondary EducationAct; *National Performance Review ABSTRACT This publication reports onprogress 1 year into the Clinton Administration's "Reinventing Government"initiative, a long-term effort at significantly revamping the federalgovernment's opera'ons. A preliminary chapter notes the culture change involved in the reinvention process. Individual chaptersthen report progress for each of the four principles underlying the initiative.These are: putting vitomers first, empowering employeesto get results, cutting red tape, and cutting back to basics. A finalchapter identifies continuing challenges in the reinventionprocess. Appendices detail the status of major recommendations byagency and those affecting governmental systems, summarize savings to date,and list presidential and congressional actions takento date. As an example, in reporting on the status of 12 recommendationsfor the Department of Education, the report notes such achievementsas: implementation of a comprehensive planning process to improve department-wide programs and internal management; reauthorization of theElementary and Secondary Education Act; implementation ofa new direct student loan program that will save taxpayers about $4.3billion over the first 5 years, and $1 billion each year thereafter;significant progress in debt collection; implementation of a "one-stop shopping" approach for information dissemination and assistance;encouragement of employees to adopt individual development plansand to use performance measurement in implementing department policy;and identification and elimination of 64 cumbersome,ineffective rules by a "Low Hanging Apples Team." (JB) CREATINGA I. GOVERNMENT THAT XTO REPO STATUS 1994 SEPTEMBER, ( BEST COPY AVAILABLE \ () Ii _ U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION OPKe ot Educational Research and Improvement EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) tiAins document has been reproduced OS received from the person or organization originating 0 n Minor changes have been made to mprove reproduction quality Potnts ot weer or OpniOnS stated m docu most do not AeCeSSarrly represent OEM Postoon or 'witty CREATING A GOVERNMENT THATWORKS BETTER & COSTS LESS STATUS REPORT NATIONAL a11- REVIEW September 1994 I of the tS ()Hit Suprnutrndrnt01Do, \tail Slop SS( )1'. Washinyion 2413()2 ISBN 0-16-045204-X 4 NATIONAL CONTENTS =$' REVIEW INTRODUCTION 1 RESULTS OF REINVENTION 4 NOT SUITING ON A SHELF 7 WHAT'S AT SIAM: 9 CULTURE CHANGE: REINVENTING THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT ...11 CATAIYSTS ()I, REINVENTION 15 1N RECOVERY: FEDERAL. EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY 16 PUNCHING THE CLOCK NOT: DEPARTMENT OF LABOR 18 Pw)CESSES, AND PARTNERSHIPS: CUSTOMS SERVICE 20 CUSTOMERS ON TOP: DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING ANI) URBAN DEVELOPMENT 23 REINVENTION: A CONTINUOUS PROCESS 24 PROGRESS REPORT 27 CHAPTER ONE: PUTTING CUSTOMERS FIRST 29 CusTomER GOVERN:OEN"' CHANGES Its APPROACH SHTING CUSTONIER SERVICE STANDARDS 31 INFoRNtArioN Tct iNoLoGY: A HOST OF CUSTOMER BENEFITS 32 MAI'S, ANYONF> 33 PosTAL Dist I\TRY 34 CoNct.ustoN 36 CHAPTER Two: EMPOWERING EMPLOYEES TO GET RESUITS 37 Ii IL TRANSFORMATION OF FEDERAL WORK 38 NATR)NAI PARI NERstup Cot .N(11.: LAUNCHING A NEW ERA 01. COOPERATION 39 AccouNmilitirv: St IIFTIN( ; FROM INPUTS TO RESUEI WORKFOR( I 1.F.1 )U( 711()N 43 STATUS REPORT, SEPTEMBER 1994 (7,11ANGE. AI THE TOP 44 EN1PLOYNIENT RESTRICTIONS IN LEGISLATION 46 CoNcLusioN 47 CHAFFER THREE: CUTTING RED TAPE 49 EARNING THE MONIKER 50 PRocuREmENT REFoRm 51 PuTrING "SERvicEs" BACK INTO GSA 54 OMB: MORE COLLABORATION 54 OSHA: ONE FOOT IN FRONT OF TEM OTHER" 56 CRF.ATIVE APPROACHES TO ENVIRONMENTAL PRorEcrtoN 57 BRANDEIS' VISION: STATE AND LOCAL EXPERIMENTATION 59 CommuNrrY EmPowERmENT 61 RURAL DEVELOPMENT 62 CoNcLusioN 62 CHAPTER FOUR: CUTTING BACK TO BASICS 63 LEss BoRRowiNG, MORE REINVENTION 63 SLOWING THE RED INK 64 MAKING THE TOUGH CHOICES 65 ANOTHER TOOL FOR THE PRESIDENT 66 CAN DEFENSE AFFORD ITS HEALTH UNivERsrn? 66 CoNci USION 67 STILL TO Do: LOTS MORE 69 ENDNOTES 75 APPENDICES 81 A: STATUS 01: MAJOR RECOMMENDATIONS BY AGENCY 83 B: STATI'S OF MAJOR RECONIMENDATIONS AITE( :TING GOVERNMENTAL SYSTEMS 107 C: SI AIMARY 01: SAVINGS 'TO DATE 119 D: PREsIDENTIAL AND ( oNGRLssioNAI HoNs TAKEN TcI)AI 123 6 INTRODUCTION NATIONAL t=1 REVIEW INTRODUCTION REVIEW Len Davis, who left the Army in Joe Thompson, the office director, told Vice 1969 after his second tour of duty President Gore in March. "We stepped back in Vietnam, had never had much away from what we were doing and said, luck with the old Veterans you know, what are the difficulties that we Administration. have, and we narrowed it down to two Over the years, he lived in different parts things: The results of our efforts frequently of the country, but his experiences varied lit- frustrated if not angered our customers, and tle. Whether buying a house, seeking the processes that we used in the office to do medical care, or just awaiting his benefit business sucked the life out of our own em- check, he never dealt with the same person ployees. twice. Each time he called, or each time his "Other than that," he added with a smile, call was transferred among VA employees, "everything was going pretty good." he had to tell his story again. Employees visited VA hospitals and held Employees of what's now the Veterans focus groups with veterans who described Affairs Department were no happier. In try- ing to help veterans, each toiled in anonymity, performing a task in classic assembly-line fashion, little different from how each worker toiled in Henry Ford's car factory of the 1920s. One opened the mail; another distributed it; another took applica- tions from veterans. What nobody did was ensure that veterans received start-to-finish satisfaction. Then Davis moved to New York Gin', where the VA's regional office of 360 employees had launched a major effort to focus on its customers 1.2 million veter- ans in 31 New York State counties and revamp its operations accordingly. It was an eve- opening experience for managers and employees alike. "We started looking at what we were doing in the regional office with the Vice President Gore, right, listens to Army veteran Len Davis at intention of trying to make things better," NPR's first "hammer awards" ceremony in March 1994. 8 3 STATUS REPORT, SEPTEMBER 1994 their problems in dealing with the office. empowered employees, cut red tape, and re- The employees also visited such well- duced costs. regarded businesses as AT&T, IBM, and Metropolitan Life to learn how they satisfY their customers. They then met in small groups to design a new process from scratch. RESULTS OF REINVENTION In that process, small teams of employees each work with a small number of veterans from start to finish. One person serves as a The New York office of the Veterans contact point for a veteran, who no longer Affairs Department is not alone in reinvent- must tell his or her story again and again. ing itself. One year ago the Administration Overall, the New York office has greatly promised a government that "works better streamlined its operations, giving veterans and costs less." It is starting to deliver. better service in less time. It has reduced its Government is, indeed, "working better." backlog of pending cases by well over a Thanks to the President, Congress, executive third, cut the steps in claims processing from agencies, and federal workers at all levels, 25 to eight, shrunk the rime veterans must over 90 percent of NPR's proposals have wait to see a counselor from 30 minutes to moved forward implemented by three, and cut processing costs. executive order or agency action, proposed Veterans are happier. Reflecting on his in legislation, and so forth. Here's a snapshot first experience in New York, Davis said, of some other government-wide accomplish- ments: I got on the phone, they transferred ore ... to alady who turned out to be very The President issued 22 directives (see held to me... Therese Aprile. Therese Appendix D) and signed performance told me that shed bemycontact person, I agreements with five Cabinet could get back in touch with her; that secretaries and leaders of two other any questions I had, I could get to her, agencies. The directives implement and I thought, "Something strange and NPR recommendations on such different going on here," c cruse I'd never subjects as customer service,