Archive

NATIONAL PARTNERSHIP FOR REINVENTING GOVERNMENT
(formerly NATIONAL PERFORMANCE REVIEW)
REINVENTION ROUNDTABLE
HELPING FEDERAL WORKERS
CREATE A GOVERNMENT
THAT WORKS BETTER AND COSTS LESS

ISSUE NO. 2, MAY 6, 1994

INSIDE THIS ISSUE.....

PRESIDENT CLINTON AND VICE PRESIDENT GORE
CELEBRATE SUCCESS WITH FEDERAL WORKERS

President Clinton and Vice President Gore celebrated the anniversary of the National Performance Review at the White House with federal workers who had cut red tape to improve government performance. At the March 3 ceremony, Roger Patterson, director of Interior's Bureau of

Reclamation in the mid-Pacific region, described cutting two and a half years and 13 steps from approvals to build fish-ladders over dams to create a new 8 step, six month process. The old process "..wasted a lot of time. It wasted a lot of money, and it wasted a lot of fish," said Patterson. President Clinton also met Joan Hyatt, an Occupational Health and Safety Administration inspector in Denver, who gave him the new streamlined OSHA field operations manual. She explained how reducing paperwork requirements at her office will allow her to spend more time protecting American workers at job sites.

The White House ceremony also featured GSA's new purchase card which will replace stacks of approval forms costing $50 each to process, as well as a new one page SBA loan application.

Promising continued government improvements, the President cited performance agreements he had signed the day before with five agency heads (HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros; Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt, Labor Secretary Robert Reich, Erskine Bowles of the Small Business Administration, and Roger Johnson of GSA). Secretary Cisneros gave the President a wallet-sized card that tells all HUD employees Department priorities for the coming period. These are the first agreements committing Cabinet departments to measurable goals.

At the White House, Vice President Gore promised to continue his efforts to reinvent the federal government and began a series of return visits to agencies the next week. He celebrated reinvention heroes at the Veteran's Administration on March 11, at the Departments of Treasury and Defense on March 28, and at the Commerce Department on April 6.

On April 12, the Vice President participated in the re-opening of the Santa Monica Freeway. There, he celebrated the work of the "I-10 Team" -- the partnership of federal, state, city, and private sector employees whose work helped open the freeway 74 days ahead of schedule. Jim Bednar, Chief of District Operations for the Department of Transportation, accepted the Vice President's "Hammer Award" for federal employees on the I-10 team.

AGENCIES EMBRACE PARTNERSHIPS - IRS HONORED

"We've forgotten how to fight" said Nancy Fisher, President of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) Chapter 67. She was talking with Vice President Gore during a March 28 Treasury Department ceremony honoring reinvention heroes. Vice President Gore lauded the service to taxpayers given by the Ogden Internal Revenue Service Center where Ms. Fisher is a tax examiner. Both Center Director Michael Bigelow and Ms. Fisher credited labor-management partnerships for good customer service. At the Ogden Center, management alerts the union to emerging issues which now get settled up front and informally. Individual employee grievances are avoided by talking through issues informally. "Forgotten how to fight" referred to unused formal grievance procedures. Ms. Fisher attributed Ogden's partnership success to perseverance, commitment, continued communication, and training.

Six months after President Clinton's Executive Order 12871 on labor-management partnerships, agencies, managers, and unions are learning by

"doing" partnership. "Partnership details will vary by workplace circumstances and preferences," said Bob Stone, Director of the National Performance Review. "Our principle is that cooperation and empowerment will make government work better."

Early partnerships successes include:

RESOURCES FOR STARTING PARTNERSHIPS

Help is available to new labor-management partnerships. A clearinghouse of resources is staffed by the Executive Secretariat of the National Partnership Council. Contact Megan DeLamar at (202) 606-1932 or Doug Walker at (202) 606-1479.

Federal experts offering training and facilitation are:

Partners reported here will also talk with others:

INTEREST-BASED BARGAINING?
GETTING TO "YES" IS THE PRIMER

Interest-based bargaining, developed by the Harvard Negotiation Project, focuses on problems not people, and interests instead of positions. Basic reading includes "Getting to Yes" by Roger Fisher and William Ury and "Getting Past No" by William Ury. More materials are listed in "Federal Labor-Management Cooperation: A Guide to Resources." (Contact Andrew Wasilisin, OPM, (202) 606-1987.)

THE PARTNERSHIP VISION

The entrepreneurial spirit will be found everywhere because the systems will have changed so that all employees have a true sense of ownership and share in the decisions that affect the organization's products and services. Management's role will shift from an emphasis on protecting its authority to promoting empowerment at the lowest practicable levels. The union's role will shift from a reactive posture to proactive employee representation in support of agency mission accomplishment and workplace effectiveness. National Partnership Council "Report to the President" 1/31/94

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STATUS REPORT ON IMPLEMENTATION
ACTION HAS BEGUN ON 80% OF NPR RECOMMENDATIONS
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PRESIDENT SIGNS BUYOUT BILL

The President's buyout bill was passed by Congress March 24 and signed by President Clinton into law March 31. This ended months of intense Administration effort to get an important tool to streamline government. Federal agencies may now offer up to $25,000 to employees who resign or retire early through March 1995. Agencies are expected to target the bonuses to areas of overstaffing.

Other NPR progress is tallied in the Administration's March 3, 1994, six month follow- up to "From Red Tape to Results". NPR reported progress underway on eighty percent of NPR's 384 recommendations, including legislation, presidential directives, and agency initiatives.

FY 1995 BUDGET IMPLEMENTS NPR; 60 BILLS PENDING

The President's 1995 budget contains 155 NPR proposals and another 38 appear in separate agency budget documents. Proposed and realized savings from all proposals including downsizing, procurement reform, and agency-specific actions total $12.5 billion for FY 94 and FY 95. (The NPR report estimated $12.6 billion for this period.) A Congressional reinventing government caucus and networks of mainstream Democrats, House freshmen, and the Federal Government Services Task Force are cooperating on various Administration NPR initiatives. Seventy bills related to reinventing government have been introduced -- 14 have become law.

The three biggest NPR items currently pending include:

PRESIDENT ISSUES ADDITIONAL DIRECTIVES

The President has issued 21 directives to implement NPR recommendations. New since the last "Reinvention Roundtable" are: Memorandum on Environmental Justice (February 11, 1994), Executive Order "Energy Efficiency and Water Conservation at Federal Facilities" (March 8, 1994)), Executive Order "Coordinating Geographical Data Acquisition and Access: the National Spacial Data Infrastructure" (April 11, 1994), and Memorandum on Environmentally and Economically Beneficial Practices on Federally Landscaped Grounds (April 26, 1994).

REINVENTION COUNCILS LEAD CHANGE

Activity by new reinvention councils charged with implementing NPR's key cross-government recommendations includes:

AGENCIES FIND EARLY SUCCESS

The NPR's March 3 status report contains 5 pages highlighting agency reinvention. Some successes are mentioned below, others are highlighted elsewhere in the newsletter:

GOVERNMENT WORKERS WIN ACCOLADES FROM THE VICE
PRESIDENT FOR REINVENTION ACTIVITIES

VETERAN GETS GREAT HELP AT NYC VA

"Something very good is happening in the Veteran's Administration," said Vietnam veteran Leonard Davis in complimenting the staff of the New York City VA Regional Office. Davis and representatives from the Manhattan VA benefits office were guests at a ceremony in Washington on March 11 where the Vice President honored the staff as reinvention heroes for transforming a complex claims processing system. Center Director, Joe Thompson, described how the old system angered veterans and sapped the strength of employees. Case manager Kelly Chicko told the Vice President about her pride in helping veteran customers under the new prototype system that substitutes team case management for an anonymous assembly-line where claims got lost as they moved among 17 specialists. Davis described how his counselor, Terese Aprile, gives him fast, accurate help and sees that someone else can answer his questions if she is away.

AT TREASURY: AMERICAN AIRLINES SAYS CUSTOMS IS CUSTOMER-FRIENDLY

When Vice President Gore honored Lynn Gordon, District Director of Customs in Miami, at the Treasury Department on March 28, American Airlines echoed his praise. Art Torno, Managing Director of AA's bustling Miami hub, praised Lynn Gordon's work with the Miami trade community and the new processes that have resulted there. Customs now clears passengers in less than 10 minutes, air cargo in 4 hours, and containerized cargo in less than 24 hours. Miami Customs provides about 50 free seminars a year to help the trade community comply with laws and regulations. The new focus on voluntary compliance rather than enforcement has actually increased interdiction of drugs and other illegal products.

The Vice President also honored customer service and employee empowerment at the Ogden Utah IRS Center. A new PC-based correspondence system allows tax examiners to check outgoing correspondence for accuracy and clarity of information. It replaces a mainframe system that produced too many anonymous nonsensical letters that only confused and angered customers. Because examiners now sign their own names, taxpayers know who to call about correspondence they receive.

AT DEFENSE: WE'RE NOT THE SAME PEOPLE WE WERE SIX MONTHS AGO

"We're not the same people we were six months ago," said Wilett Bunton thanking Vice President Gore during his March 29 visit to the Department of Defense for the empowerment created by Gore's reinvention initiative. Ms. Bunton had told the Vice President last August of her frustrations with DOD's travel system. Her complaints set another member of the audience, Air Force Captain Rod Berk, to work. Now at the Vice President's second Pentagon visit, Bunton joined the Vice President as he recognized Berk and his colleague, Joan Dimond, director of the Washington Headquarters Service Travel Office, for a new travel system designed by Berk. The new automated system will save the Department of Defense $1 billion over the next five years.

At DOD, the Vice President presented a second award to the "Real Food Team" comprised of Major General James Klugh (Ret.), Jeff Jones, and Sherry McNeil who have simplified DOD food buying. Like the famous ashtray, requirements for military foodstuffs were so detailed as to preclude use of cheaper, better commercial products. Now DOD can buy the same food as most Americans.

COMMERCE HELPS U.S. FIRMS COMPETE; STREAMLINES COLLECTION OF VITAL STATISTICS

The Commerce Department, the Small Business Administration, the Export-Import Bank, and the Agency for International Development have created new Export Assistance Centers, designed to coordinate the government's assistance to businesses seeking to take advantage of markets oversees. On April 6, the Vice President, accompanied by Senator Paul Sarbanes (D-MD), long an advocate of government assistance in promoting U.S. exports, presented a "Hammer" award to the new Baltimore Center for its efforts to better serve its business customers.

At the Commerce Department ceremony, employee Joann Burns, who collects employment statistics needed for reports on the state of the American workforce, was also recognized for her role in using new information technology to gather the data she needs. Joann proudly held up her new laptop computer which she carries across her district in New Jersey to gather the information that is immediately transmitted to mainframe computers in Suitland, Maryland.

VICE PRESIDENT GIVES REINVENTION HEROES REWARDS, VISITS AND LETTERS

Heroes of reinvention featured on page 4 received "Hammer Awards" from the Vice President during his agency visits. The award is a shadow-box frame containing an inexpensive hammer festooned with red-white-and-blue ribbons and a note of thanks from the Vice President for "building a government that works better and costs less." Other reinventors have received good-for-you letters like the one shown on this page, and the Vice President's speeches are full of reinvention success stories. For example, at DOD, the Vice President also praised the pharmacies of the Air Combat Command, Army Surgeon General Lanoue for customer service at the Army's Health Services Command, and General Tony McPeak for reducing regulations in the Air Force.

NPR is delighted to hear about and arrange recognition for reinvention successes in government. Send your success stories to the National Performance Review, Attention: Roddy Moscoso or electronically via Internet email to: success.stories@npr.gsa.gov.

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PERFORMANCE AGREEMENTS LINK PRESIDENT TO AGENCIES
AND FEDERAL WORKERS
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Since March, President Clinton has signed performance agreements with six top officials of his administration: his secretaries of Housing and Urban Development, Interior, Labor, Veterans Affairs, and the administrators of the General Services Administration, and the Small Business Administration. Agreements are expected to include all 14 cabinet secretaries and the heads of seven more small agencies.

The agreements lay out what the President and agency heads agree are the management priorities for the departments and agencies that they lead. For example, Secretary Reich's agreement set four goals:

The chief executives are, in turn, using the agreements within their departments with their assistant secretaries and other officials to strengthen management across the Executive Branch. SBA is using Administrator Erskine Bowles' agreement to guide the preparation of their strategic plan and as the basis of subsidiary agreements with their 68 District Officers. The Secretary of Interior is also developing agreements with his agency heads.

But the bottom line is about communicating the goals of the President and Secretary to all federal workers. HUD, for example, has put the agreement in the hands of every employee and has a vest pocket version for its senior managers. As Chief Operating Officer Tom Glynn of the Department of Labor said, "the real test is whether you can ask any front line employee what the Secretary's top goals are and get the right answer."

Although performance agreements are widely used in the private sector and in some public sector institutions, they have never been used on this scale before in the federal government. They are intended to accelerate implementation of the Government Performance and Results Act which calls for the federal government to become more accountable for results.

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STRATEGIES FOR WORKING BETTER AND COSTING LESS
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FRANCHISING SAVES FOR SOME, MAKES MONEY FOR OTHERS

"You don't have to do it all yourself. Focus on what you do best." The NPR found these maxims apply to government organizations as well as to individuals and businesses, and it has suggested that more agencies copy those who have already abandoned costly in-house services in favor of getting support services from other agencies. For example, more than 50 agencies now receive help with information services from the Federal Systems Integration and Management Center (FEDSIM). Since 1972 FEDSIM has helped other agencies acquire, integrate, manage and use information systems and technology. FEDSIM has supported the FBI's Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System, the Army Reserve Component Automation System, and the IRS Tax System Modernization Program.

This kind of cross-servicing encouraged in NPR's recommendations on franchising is applicable to facility management, finance, budget, personnel, training, procurement and payroll. These and other franchising opportunities are being promoted by an interagency Franchise Planning Committee. The Committee is developing a directory of organizations offering services on a reimbursable basis. The directory contact is Phil LaBonte at (202) 273-4665. For more on franchising, contact Mike Serlin at NPR: (202) 632-0150.

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY HELPS CUSTOMS, FDA BETTER SERVE CUSTOMERS

"This is the way that government ought to work," said an enthusiastic import/export broker in Seattle about a one-stop automated cargo processing system jointly implemented by Customs and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Brokers used to complete piles of manual paperwork for many federal agencies, among them: Customs, FDA, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and FAA. Most of the information on the forms was redundant, and cargo processing took two or three days. There were sometimes longer, costlier delays.

Now, with computerized data entry and screening, most cargo is cleared in only two or three hours. Agencies and brokers can also identify the status and location of all merchandise. Furthermore, knowing what's in the shipments lets FDA inspect just 30% of cargoes; most cargo can be precleared before reaching the port.

The Seattle Port's efficiency and good customer service is causing brokers to divert cargo from other Pacific ports there. Customs and FDA want to replicate the Seattle success in all 46 import/export districts. Implementation has already begun in 18, with Miami, one of the country's busiest ports, next in line.

AGENCIES URGED TO SIMPLIFY BUDGET DEVELOPMENT

FY 1996 is here -- at least in most federal budget offices where the 1996 budget formulation process is beginning. The NPR urges federal agencies to eliminate steps in their internal FY 1996 budget processes. Many 1996 budget decisions are already set by the spending limits in OBRA 1993 and/or the policy decisions in the President's FY 1995 budget. Agencies, therefore, should be able to reduce paper and staff hours spent on alternative budgets.

An example of what can be done is the Department of Labor's new budget process. For FY 1995, DOL dropped the traditional multi-paged program memoranda with alternative funding levels for each activity. Instead, the Department's agencies submitted short decision memos only when requesting significant changes from FY 94 levels. For information on "bud lite," contact Jane McNeil or Brad Leonard at the NPR Budget Desk (202)632- 0150 or Jim McMullen, Director, Office of the Budget, Department of Labor, (202) 219-6888.

TWENTY WORKERS OR MORE PER SUPERVISOR AT BUREAU OF RECLAMATION

Supervisory/worker ratios will reach 1:20 and higher as three major components of the Bureau of Reclamation reduce management layers following intensive self study. Commissioner Daniel Beard began a Bureau-wide self-examination in May 1993 and in November released "Blueprint for Reform" that calls for shifting authority to the lowest practical level in the organization. Changes are being implemented at the Bureau's Technical Center in Denver which has evolved from a headquarters organization to a technical service organization. Eliminating Denver's oversight role and placing more authority in area offices are expected to increase efficiency. The new organizational structures were drawn up only after work processes were examined in an open process that used customer and frontline employee input. Approvals of fish ladders, reported on page 1, is one example of a Reclamation process that has been radically changed. In Denver, in- house training in Covey's "7 Habits" and exposure to other new management ideas at Denver's Executive Forum helped prepare staff to redesign work to better meet client needs. "People jumped in and did what was necessary to get the job done," observed Larry Von Thun, whose own position is being eliminated. Although acting to minimize layoffs, Reclamation is likely to face a reduction in force as it streamlines.

NETRESULTS - PROMOTING CHANGE BY LINKING FEDERAL WORKERS

NPR's NetResults continues to draw federal workers to teams working for reinvention in areas such as customer service, performance measurement, budget reform, grants administration, and financial management. Besides topic networks, NetResults is also planning on electronic "Town Hall" in which workers in all parts of government can participate. Although a grass-roots change effort, NetResults has the support from top government officials. For example, both Alice Rivlin, Deputy Director of OMB and Chair of the President's Management Council, and Lorraine Green, Deputy Director of OPM, endorse NetResults.

To get information on NetResults and to learn how to get NPR documents, send a blank Internet e-mail message to netresults@ace.esusda.gov and the information will be returned automatically. To keep abreast of town hall developments, watch NPR gopher locations.

WHY NPR DIFFERS FROM PAST EFFORTS

When Herbert Hoover finished, he returned to Stanford University. When Peter Grace finished, he returned to private industry in New York City. When Vice President Gore finished, he had to go back to his office, twenty feet from mine, and get back to work. President Bill Clinton, March 3, 1994

FEDERAL QUALITY INSTITUTE TAKES LEAD IN REINVENTION TRAINING

NPR's recommendations endorsed quality management and called for quality management training for all employees; the Vice President frequently talks about the "quality" principles of customer service and employee empowerment. The Federal Quality Institute, created in 1988 and housed in OPM to spread quality management in the federal government, has been a natural partner in the reinvention movement. Under the leadership of Director Michele Hunt, FQI is developing training programs and materials to integrate and teach the principles of quality management, reinvention, and the Government Performance and Results Act. FQI will train agency leaders and other federal trainers throughout the government and support agencies as they train their workforce in reinvention principles.

FQI's information center is available to anyone in government and offers a starting place to access training resources, materials, and practitioners with experience to share. Call Jeff Manthos at

(202) 376-3753 for ideas on how to meet your learning needs.

INSPECTORS GENERAL ADOPT NEW VISION

The Inspectors General (IG s) have adopted a new statement of principles: "We are agents of positive change striving for continuous improvement in our agencies management and program operations and in our own offices." The new vision statement was developed after discussions with NPR, congressional staff and outside government experts. The NPR recommended that the IG s work towards improving management and not simply look for mistakes.

IMPROVING FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT AND OTHER NPR DOCUMENTS

NPR published "Improving Financial Management" on March 29 and "Reinventing Environmental Management" on April 15. These reports, the Vice President s March 29 speech "The New Job of the Federal Executive," and Issue 1 of "Reinvention Roundtable" are, like all NPR documents, available through Internet. Send a blank e-mail message to netresults@ace.esusda.gov to receive instructions in response.

UNCLE SAM WANTS YOU: JOIN OUR DISTRIBUTION NETWORK

Please copy or share this newsletter to help NPR reach all federal workers. NPR uses various mailing lists but is able to reach only a small portion of the workforce ourselves. ASCII files that can be sent by e-mail are available from Internet. For instructions, send a message to: almanac@ace.esusda.gov with the following message: send npr-roundtable catalog.

REINVENTION ROUNDTABLE

Produced by Staff of the National Performance Review
750 17th Street, NW
Suite 200
Washington, D.C. 20006

Editors:
Abigail Nichols
Roddy Moscoso

THE NEW JOB OF THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE
VICE PRESIDENT AL GORE OUTLINES HIS VISION

On March 29, 1994, Vice President Gore gave the inaugural address of the Marver H. Bernstein Symposium on Government Reform at Georgetown University. "The New Job of the Federal Executive" describes the Vice President's vision for the role of government executives in a reinvented government.

The Vice President detailed seven changes necessary for federal managers to create a work environment that fosters reinvention, and he offered a challenge to executives to make this goal a reality. By contrasting the "old" and "new" ways that executives must operate to be successful, the Vice President illustrated the task ahead, stressing the need to move:

  1. From central control of developing agency policy and mission statements to involving all employees in developing a clear vision and shared sense of mission;
  2. From having employees work within rigid organizational boundaries to helping staff cross these boundaries to work effectively with other organizations;
  3. From restricting discretion with burdensome regulations to true employee empowerment;
  4. From protecting and seeking to enlarge program budgets and control to serving customer needs;
  5. From communicating only one level up and one level down to communicating throughout every part of the organization;
  6. From telling employees what executives need to asking employees what they need to get the job done; and
  7. From measuring inputs to measuring outputs and performance.
Copies of the Vice President's speech are available through the Internet or from the NPR.

The Vice President's Challenge

To create work environments that: Navigation Bar For NPR site Back To The NPR Main Page Search the NPR Site NPR Initiatives Links to Other Reinvention Web Sites Reinvention Tools Frequently Asked Questions NPR Speeches NPR News Releases