Book Description

This publication reports on progress 1 year into the Clinton Administration's "Reinventing Government" initiative, a long-term effort at significantly revamping the federal government's operations. A preliminary chapter notes the culture change involved in the reinvention process. Individual chapters then report progress for each of the four principles underlying the initiative. These are: putting customers first, empowering employees to get results, cutting red tape, and cutting back to basics. A final chapter identifies continuing challenges in the reinvention process. Appendices detail the status of major recommendations by agency and those affecting governmental systems, summarize savings to date, and list presidential and congressional actions taken to date. As an example, in reporting on the status of 12 recommendations for the Department of Education, the report notes such achievements as: implementation of a comprehensive planning process to improve department-wide programs and internal management; reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act; implementation of a new direct student loan program that will save taxpayers about $4.3 billion 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 plans and to use performance measurement in implementing department policy; and identification and elimination of 64 cumbersome, ineffective rules by a"Low Hanging Apples Team." (JB)