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Appendix E

History of the
National Partnership for Reinventing Government
High Impact Agencies

Vice President Gore's reinvention goal was to restore Americans' trust in government. This required the complete transformation of how agencies work in order to get results Americans care about. This next step in the National Performance Review was the hardest -- to create customer-oriented, performance-based, results-driven agencies where the public can see the difference. Over the second Clinton-Gore Administration, NPR fostered the reinvention of entire agencies, starting with those that have the most interaction with the public and business, such as the Internal Revenue Service, the National Park Service, and the Social Security Administration.

Vice President Gore personally challenged the leaders of these “High Impact Agencies” to commit to a small handful of significant, concrete, measurable goals that can be achieved over the next three years. About 1.4 million of the federal government's 1.9 million civilian employees work in these 32 agencies. When the Vice President met with the heads of these agencies in late 1997, he told them: “You should focus your efforts in three areas: partnerships, the use of information technology, and customer service. . . Yours are the agencies that shape the public's opinion of government and can redeem the promise of self-government. Public cynicism about government is a cancer on democracy. Reinvention isn't just about fixing processes, it's about redefining priorities and focusing on the things that matter.”

NPR worked in partnership with these agencies to help them transform themselves entirely to focus on customers and getting results that matter to Americans. This process built on agencies' strategic and annual performance plans produced as a result of the Government Performance and Results Act as well as ongoing quality improvement efforts.

The high-impact performance goals for each of these agencies were published on these agencies' and NPR's web sites. The Vice President asked the heads of these agencies to encourage the public to comment on these goals and periodically report publicly on their progress toward them. As a result, these commitments evolved over time to reflect their listening to their customers. By late 2000, over 95 percent of these goals had been met or were scheduled to be met in early 2001.

HIGH IMPACT AGENCIES

Agriculture
1. Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
2. Food Safety and Inspection Service
3. Food and Consumer Service
4. Forest Service

Commerce
5. Bureau of the Census
6. U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service/ITA
7. Patent and Trademark Office
8. National Weather Service

Defense
9. Acquisition Reform

Education
10. Student Financial Assistance
11. Environmental Protection Agency
12. Federal Emergency Management Agency
13. General Services Administration

Health and Human Services
14. Food and Drug Administration
15. Administration for Children and Families
16. Health Care Financing Administration

Interior
17. National Park Service
18. Bureau of Land Management

Justice
19. Immigration and Naturalization Services

Labor
20. Occupational Safety and Health Administration
21. National Aeronautics and Space Administration
22. Office of Personnel Management
23. Small Business Administration
24. Social Security Administration

State
25. Bureau of Consular Affairs

Transportation
26. Federal Aviation Administration

Treasury
27. Customs Service
28. Internal Revenue Service
29. Office of Domestic Finance/Financial Management Service
30. U.S. Postal Service

Veterans Affairs
31. Veterans Health Administration
32. Veterans Benefits Administration