THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
Accompanying Report of the
National Performance Review
Office of the Vice President
Washington, DC
September 1993
Executive Summary 1
Recommendations and Actions
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
GSA01: Separate Policymaking From Service Delivery and Make the General Services Administration a Fully Competitive, Revenue-Based Organization 5
Recommendations From Other NPR Accompanying Reports That Affect GSA 15 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Agency Reinvention Activities 17
Summary of Fiscal Impact 19
Appendices
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Implementation Categories
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Each action is followed by a number in parentheses that indicates the
necessary avenue for effective implementation. Appendix A organizes
all actions according to these categories.
(1) Agency heads can do themselves
(2) President, Executive Office of the President, or Office of Management and Budget can do
(3) Requires legislative action
(4) Good idea, but will require additional work, or may be better suited for future action
Abbreviations
^^^^^^^^^^^^^
DOD Department of Defense
DOJ Department of Justice
FPRS Federal Property Resources Service
FSS Federal Supply Service
GAO General Accounting Office
GM&A General Management and Administration
GSA General Services Administration
HHS Department of Health and Human Services
HUD Department of Housing and Urban Development
IRM Information Resources Management
IRMS Information Resources Management Service
NCR National Capital Region
NPR National Performance Review
OMB Office of Management and Budget
PBS Public Buildings Service
RTC Resolution Trust Corporation
USDA U.S. Department of Agriculture
The General Services Administration (GSA) is not a large organization. With a direct budget of $210 million a year and about 19,500 full-time employees, it's a far cry from the Health and Human Services and Defense Departments, with their multi-billion dollar budgets and huge payrolls. Nevertheless, GSA controls or influences about $45 billion in agency purchases.
But GSA, established in 1949 out of recommendations from the first Hoover Commission, suffers from fundamental flaws in its operation, from the contradictory nature of its tasks to the monopoly it enjoys over services provided to federal agencies. In this report, the National Performance Review (NPR) outlines a series of dramatic changes that the Clinton administration, in general, and GSA's administrator, in particular, will make in GSA's roles and operations. It also describes nine reinvention laboratories that GSA established at Vice President Gore's request.
GSA's administrator will better separate the agency's policymaking activities from its delivery of services, thus reducing confusion within GSA over its different roles and improving performance in both areas. Through changes in regulations, legislation, and administrative actions, the administrator also will free agencies to purchase services outside GSA, while GSA will create competitive enterprises with which to compete for business. Once the agency is competitive, the administrator will consider such options as providing one-stop shopping, reducing overhead, streamlining the organization, and improving the management of telecommunications all to improve its effectiveness and customer service.
In addition, the administrator plans to suspend GSA's acquisition of net new office space and courthouses, and push aggressive lease negotiations for existing and new leases. With an ad hoc committee of the President's Management Council that he will convene, GSA's administrator will develop recommendations on how to cut procurement spending 5-10 percent a year without cutting products or services. Finally, the Office of Management and Budget's director will transfer activities unrelated to GSA's central mission, such as transportation audits, to other agencies.
As for GSA's reinvention laboratories, regionwide laboratories in Philadelphia and Denver have blanket authority to waive GSA rules and regulations, while employees seek fresh ways to accomplish their work. An interagency fleet consolidation lab hopes to quickly bring together the fleets of the Army, Air Force, Coast Guard, and Energy Department, representing more than 4,000 vehicles. In another lab, volunteers, communities, and environmental and energy concerns have developed a telecommuting center for federal employees.
Through its automatic data processing support services lab, GSA hopes to test new ways to give federal customers the support of private sector information technology. A commercial products acquisition lab will reduce procurement paperwork for customer agencies and centralize billing. A local telecommunications lab is designed to demonopolize local telecommunications services in Kansas City, Missouri.
With its governmentwide electronic mail lab, the GSA will help provide a common directory and a "Help Desk" to answer user questions. An office products regional commodity center will provide new ways to give the federal community office supplies, paper, and packaging products. Finally, a time and attendance lab will replace manual time card procedures with an electronic input system.
GSA is responsible for acquiring, storing, distributing, and disposing of personal property and supplies, and for acquiring, managing, and disposing of real property. The Department of Defense (DOD) has similar responsibilities for defense-related activities. Over the years, GSA, DOD, and other agencies have further divided responsibilities for various supply management functions, and other civilian agencies have also received authority to acquire, manage, and dispose of real property.
GSA is organized into four major service organizations and a headquarters that includes the office of general management and administration (GM&A), the Inspector General, and the Office of FTS2000 (which until recently was part of the Information Resources Management Service). GM&A comprises the Office of the Administrator; the Associate Administrator for Acquisition Policy; the Board of Contract Appeals; and the normal complement of staff offices. The four services (each of which conducts operations and develops and enforces governmentwide policy) and their areas of responsibility are:
---the Federal Supply Service (FSS), which is responsible for federal supply management;
---the Public Buildings Service (PBS), which is responsible for general purpose space to house the federal government;
---the Federal Property Resources Service (FPRS), which is responsible for real property disposal; and
---the Information Resources Management Service (IRMS), which is responsible for information processing and telecommunications.
Geographically, GSA is organized into a central office headquartered in Washington, D.C., and 10 regions, including the National Capital Region (NCR).(2) The regions are responsible for providing services to federal agencies and (in most cases) enforcing policies developed by the central office. The regional headquarters' offices are in Washington, DC; New York; Philadelphia; Atlanta; Chicago; Kansas City; Fort Worth; Denver; San Francisco; and Auburn, WA. GSA fulltime employment (FTE) for the central office and regions totalled 19,502 in fiscal year 1993.
In fiscal year 1994, GSA plans to obligate about $11 billion, of which only $210 million (two percent) is from direct appropriations. GSA's fiscal year 1994 budget request allocates resources as follows:
While GSA's direct budget of $210 million is relatively small, GSA directly controls or indirectly influences agency spending--through multiple awards schedules, building rental costs, telecommunications, and information resources--of about $45 billion.(5) Quite a difference.
FSS PBS FPRS IRMS FTS2000 GM&A IG Other Total
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Central
Office 838 459 72 1,076 265 873 412 29 4,024
NCR 3 2,241 0 227 0 124 0 39 2,634
New
York 363 878 23 0 0 82 0 21 1,367
Phili. 706 859 0 154 0 72 0 18 1,809
Atlanta 572 805 24 199 0 67 0 43 1,710
Chicago 188 1,097 0 0 0 63 0 0 1,348
Kansas
City 310 619 0 0 0 456 0 40 1,425
Fort
Worth 729 836 16 220 0 387 0 71 2,259
Denver 0 434 0 0 0 14 0 0 448
San
Fran. 863 865 26 178 0 88 0 35 2,055
Auburn 0 412 0 0 0 11 0 0 423 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Total
4,572 9,505 161 2,054 265 2,237 412 296 19,502
Total Direct
Obligations Appropriations
FTE ($in Millions) ($ in Millions)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Federal Supply Service 4,520 2,860 68
Public Buildings Service 9,435 6,462 7
Federal Property
Resources Service 162 21 18
Information Resources
Management Service 2,063 911 46
FTS2000 245 503 0
Management &
Administration 2,243 182 31
Inspector General 418 36 35
Other 295 51 5 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Total 19,381 11,026 210
The overwhelming majority of GSA's expenses are paid by its customers through reimbursable and revolving funds. GSA has arranged its financial structure so that most of its staff functions (the Office of the Administrator, the finance and budget offices, and the General Counsel, for example) are largely reimbursed by the various services; that overhead is in turn charged to GSA's customers. The concept of cross-charging or inter-divisional charging has its basis in attempting to provide business units or divisions with as close to their own Profit and Loss (P&L) statements and balance sheets as possible.(6) The idea is that this will drive them to optimize their profitability.
GSA Profit and Loss Summary
(Dollars in Thousands)
1994 1995 1996 1997 1998
Revenue
(revolving
funds) 9,404,443 9,591,690 10,010,794 10,474,270 10,896,184
General
Supply
Fund
(GSF) 2,791,978 2,793,313 2,861,992 2,932,122 3,004,824
Telecomm/ADP
(IT Fund) 1,255,585 1,294,480 1,320,111 1,344,897 1,360,758
Federal
Buildings
Fund 4,831,155 5,318,981 5,653,775 5,962,335 6,345,686
Carryover
plus
rescission
(PBS) 525,725 184,916 184,916 184,916 184,916
Cost of
Goods &
Services
Sold 5,555,974 5,995,213 6,298,076 6,574,366 6,834,584
General
Supply
Fund 2,141,434 2,142,458 2,196,019 2,250,919 2,307,192
Telecomm/ADP
Costs 1,110,000 1,138,860 1,167,332 1,196,515 1,226,428
Federal
Buildings
Fund 2,304,540 2,713,895 2,934,725 3,126,932 3,300,964
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Gross
Margin 3,848,469 3,596,477 3,712,718 3,849,904 4,061,600
1994 1995 1996 1997 1998
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Personnel
Salaries/
Benefits 930,449 935,175 954,742 976,529 1,003,724
Less
Internal
Reimb.
Salaries (106,654) (105,719) (109,277) (114,631) (122,138)
Depreciation 208,908 211,418 215,028 219,754 224,598
Other PBS 1,689,927 1,935,630 2,065,957 2,061,498 2,201,756
Other,
GSF/IT
Fund 227,218 233,660 237,118 240,307 251,521
Other Policy/
Regulatory
(Approp ) 88,581 88,850 83,148 81,636 74,572
Subtotal,
Operating
Expenses 3,038,429 3,299,014 3,446,716 3,465,093 3,634,033
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Net Profit/
(Loss) 810,040 297,463 266,002 384,811 427,567
Less Reserve
to RCP
(Supply/
Vehicles) 113,219 108,000 110,700 113,467 116,305
From Reserve
for Use
(IT Fund) (11,672) (7,677) (19,817) (13,999) (36,280)
Buildings
Reserve for
Future Use 184,916 184,916 184,916 184,916 184,916
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Profit/
(Loss) 523,577 12,224 (9,797) 100,427 162,626
Available for
New
Construction (733,773) (224,832) (200,021) (312,352) (372,583)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Deficit/
(Shortfall) (210,196) (212,608) (209,818) (211,925) (209,957)
Budget
Authority
(approp) 210,196 212,608 209,818 211,925 209,957
Although cross-charging is widely practiced in private business, even the most sophisticated companies can and have been burned by the process. This usually occurs when the cross-charging (usually known as allocations) becomes so complex that the origins of the costs (or expenses) become lost. This, combined with the fact that in most cases those charged the costs have little or no authority over them, leaves large elements of cost uncontrolled. In one recent example at a major corporation, allocations became so complex that not only operating management but also top management lost control.
If this can happen in private business where real profits and losses are at stake and cash must come from profits or private capital markets, then it is clear that cross-charging can cause serious loss of control in government--no matter how well intentioned the managers are.
In GSA's case, cross-charging is especially troublesome because the prices GSA charges its customer agencies are not subject to the market disciplines resulting from competition. The "excess margins'' are used for two purposes: (1) to cover GSA's operating expenses, and (2) to build up reserves--in the case of the Public Buildings Service, to build up a Federal Buildings Fund with a current balance of $4.5 billion.
Since most of GSA's customer "revenues'' are not now subject to competition, there is a classic case of inelastic prices, with little incentive to reduce costs.
Recently, GSA has taken steps to provide its customers some freedom of choice and authority to make management decisions. GSA has:
---instituted a building delegation program transferring management responsibility for single-tenant buildings to the agency occupying the building;
---made it easier for agencies to buy supplies from sources other than the Federal Supply Schedules;
---encouraged the establishment of cooperative administrative support units to simplify the use of common administrative support services;
---implemented the use of a purchase card that allows simplified procurement of supplies; and
---delegated authority to agencies to procure information technology products and services.
In managing FTS2000, GSA recognized the value of customer input by establishing an Interagency Management Council, composed of agencies using FTS2000, to provide advice on management and technical issues. A number of other organizations have been created to elicit customer input on GSA services, such as the Public Buildings Service's Real Property Executives Advisory Committee and four Federal Supply Service Interagency Committees-- on Travel Management, Transportation and Traffic Management, Supply Management, and Aircraft Policy.
As a central management agency, GSA plays a unique part in other agencies' reinvention efforts. GSA took an early leadership role to help other agencies unfetter their reinvention laboratories by providing a list of personnel designated to assist in clarifying and waiving GSA regulations. GSA also gave other agencies the authority to waive Federal Acquisition Regulations for the reinvention labs. These actions underscore GSA's active support for the reinvention process throughout government.
GSA has established nine reinvention laboratories of its own. They are:
---regionwide laboratories in Philadelphia and Denver,
---interagency fleet consolidation,
---telecommuting,
---ADP support services,
---commercial products acquisition,
---local telecommunications,
---governmentwide electronic mail,
---office products regional commodity center, and
---time and attendance.
As long as policymaking and operational responsibilities are combined within the same organization, there will be a tendency for operational demands to supersede strategic policy considerations. Requiring service delivery organizations to oversee and enforce agency compliance with policies and regulations also interferes with service delivery and the development of good customer relations.
State and foreign governments have found that the most effective way to resolve the conflict between policymaking and day-today operations is to separate the two functions.(8) GAO has emphasized that, especially in a decentralized environment, it is critical that policies be sensible and flexible and that they be accompanied by consistent and knowledgeable guidance.(9) This suggests that GSA should separate its policymaking functions from its service delivery organizations and reorient oversight and enforcement to concentrate on providing advice and results-oriented evaluations. GSA should also serve as a clearinghouse for information on the various services it provides, providing a central database to encourage the exchange of information and reduce duplication of effort.
Unfortunately, policy organizations often lose sight of the full impact their policies have on the field organizations that actually perform the work of the government. One way to mitigate this problem would be to establish personnel policies ensuring that people serving in policy organizations have had prior field experience and that they return to field activities from policy assignments. Another solution would be to develop policies and oversight processes in collaboration with affected federal agencies and field activities.
2. Monopolistic Service Delivery. A basic tenet of the National Performance Review is that agency heads and line managers are intelligent, honest people capable of making good decisions on how to allocate resources to best accomplish their missions. The existing system of overly complex and detailed laws, rules, and regulations, combined with centralized controls and decisionmaking, interferes with a manager's ability to exercise initiative and balance resources to fulfill agency needs. To correct this problem, and to better hold managers accountable for mission accomplishment, full authority and responsibility for all the resources needed and used must clearly and unambiguously rest with the manager.
Present management policies often require managers to use a single source (whether in their own agency or in a central management agency such as GSA) to obtain needed resources. Such policies usually allow a third party to control the resources a manager uses, to usurp management resource decisions, or to control an agency management process. These policies improperly dilute the authority and responsibility of the line manager (and in many cases, the agency head), thereby spreading accountability for mission accomplishment among people not responsible for results. This significantly weakens the ability of oversight agents (including the President and Congress) to evaluate responsibility for program successes and failures, and contributes to a misplaced emphasis on monitoring the use of inputs rather than on results.
Examples of controls GSA exercises over other agencies include:
---the Public Buildings Service monopoly over the price, amount, location, and quality of agency space;
---mandatory use requirements in the Federal Supply Schedules;
---controls over disposition of personal and real property exercised by both the Federal Supply Service and the Federal Property Resources Service;
---the requirement for the Information Resources Management Service to review and approve agency automatic data processing (ADP) acquisitions; and
---the mandatory requirements for agencies to use FTS2000 for long distance telecommunications service or IRMS contracts for local phone service.
GSA has made some recent improvements in its service operations. However, it must now recognize that the system of centralized controls and monopolistic services does not allow agencies to meet today's challenges and opportunities. It is not enough that GSA try to become a better monopoly; true change will not occur until agencies are free to choose where and how they spend their money. GSA must become a fully competitive source for agency business and further reinvent itself according to the principles that serve as the basis for the National Performance Review, especially:
---empowering employees (and, in GSA's case, customers);
---delegating authority and responsibility;
---replacing regulations with incentives; and
---exposing federal operations to competition.
Many of the recommendations in the NPR Accompanying Report Reinventing Support Services directly affect GSA's organization and operations. Those recommendations, when implemented, will help improve GSA's service delivery, free GSA's customers, and transform GSA into a competitive service organization. For GSA to have the management freedom it needs to become competitive, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) must revise its policies and allow GSA-- along with other federal agencies that provide competitive, fully reimbursable services--to be free from full-time equivalent (FTE) personnel controls.(10) OMB must also revise other budgetary restrictions (such as scoring rules) that interfere with good decisionmaking.(11) This will help GSA optimize its ability to compete. Management success and accountability would then be determined by GSA's customers, not by arbitrary controls.
There may be occasions where the interests of the government--in terms of meeting agency mission requirements at reduced overall costs--may be better served by agencies working together or using a common service, rather than acting independently. In those instances where agencies agree that the preferred course of action is for GSA to act as a mandatory service, the service should be managed like a regulated utility, with a board of overseers comprising customer agencies who would oversee GSA's policies, rates, operations, and service delivery for that service.(12)
3. Functional Transfers. Over time GSA has become responsible for providing administrative support for activities that might more properly be assigned to other agencies. Two of these are:
---Indian Trust Accounting Office--This office provides accounting services related to the adjudication of Indian Tribal claims against the government. Its activities are directed by the Department of Justice (DOJ), which is the exclusive user of the services.
---Transportation audits--GSA is required to conduct post-payment audits of all transportation bills submitted to the government.(13) Recoveries from overcharges are used to pay audit costs. Any excess receipts are returned to the Treasury, which results in agencies losing use of funds that would otherwise be available for agency programs. GSA has demonstrated that the technology now exists to audit transportation bills prior to payment. By reviewing bills before payment, erroneous payments will be avoided and funds will remain available to the agency conducting the audit. Agencies using the transportation services, rather than GSA, should conduct the prepayment audits and gain the associated benefits.
In fiscal year 1995, 65 people and about $5 million would be shifted from GSA if the activities discussed above were transferred to other agencies.
4. Acquisition of New Real Property, Supplies, and Services. GSA plans to spend about $800 million a year in the next five years acquiring new federal office space and courthouses. At the same time, federal employment will be reduced by at least 252,000; the Resolution Trust Corporation (RTC) continues to sell property at 10 cents to 50 cents on the dollar; private office vacancy rates are running in the 10-25 percent range; one NPR issue paper would make significant changes in the ways agencies demand, and GSA supplies, real property assets; another set of recommendations would examine the mission, size, structure, and locations of Department of Housing and Urban Development, Health and Human Services, and Agriculture field offices; and federal courthouses continue to be built to overly expensive, inefficient design standards.(14) All of these factors suggest that it may be wise to reconsider the scope of GSA's current building acquisition program.
Similarly, the changes that are occurring in the federal workforce, agency organizations, and government procurement systems suggest that there may be opportunities to achieve efficiencies in acquiring goods and services--that is, the government should be able to reduce procurement costs while still buying the goods and services that it needs.(15)
By April 1994, the GSA administrator should clearly separate governmentwide policy and oversight functions from the GSA service delivery organizations (FSS, PBS, FPRS, IRMS, and FTS2000). This would:
GSA should always develop policy guidance in consultation with other federal agencies. That guidance should be in the form of flexible broad guidelines, rather than rigid rules. GSA should refocus its oversight and enforcement activities to emphasize leadership and results-oriented evaluations. To ensure that the flexibility and authority being granted by GSA to the agencies is passed on to line managers, GSA's evaluations of other agencies should include a review of the restrictions imposed by those agencies on their line managers.
By April 1994, the GSA administrator should establish personnel policies to ensure that employees assigned to policy organizations have prior field experience (whether in GSA or in other agencies) and that they return to field assignments after service in the policy organizations.
The GSA administrator and the OMB director should ensure that all of GSA's governmentwide policy and oversight functions are fully funded by direct appropriations and are not underwritten by charges to GSA customers. GSA and OMB should work together to establish staffing and funding levels that would allow GSA to fulfill its policymaking and oversight responsibilities.
2. Allow agencies to choose whether to purchase GSA services, and fund GSA service delivery from customer revenues.(1)
The GSA administrator should transfer authority, revise regulations, and develop legislation so that GSA's customers--whether they use real property, communications services, supplies, computers, or disposal services--have the freedom to choose where they do business.
GSA should create competitive enterprises to compete as service providers to other federal agencies.16 Federal agencies will be required to procure services from a single source only if there is a demonstrable advantage to the government as a whole. If agencies and GSA agree that monopoly service would both meet agency mission requirements and be more beneficial to the government, the GSA operation providing the service must be guided by a board of overseers comprising GSA customers using the service. The board of overseers would approve policies, oversee operations, evaluate service delivery, and set rates (including overhead charges).
All GSA service operations should be fully paid for through customer revenues. The GSA administrator should ensure that there are no cross-subsidies between different accounts within or between the services.
3. Transfer activities not related to GSA's central mission to other agencies.(2,3)
---Indian Trust Accounting Office. By October 1995, the OMB director should transfer this office to the Department of Justice (DOJ).
---Transportation audits. By October 1993, the OMB director should submit legislation eliminating the requirement for post-payment audits. Until Congress passes that legislation, the GSA administrator should further encourage agencies to conduct prepayment audits by increasing its delegations.
4. Suspend acquisition of net new office space and courthouses.(1)
The GSA administrator should place an immediate hold on GSA's acquisition (whether by construction, purchase, or lease) of net new office space, reduce and rescope new courthouse construction, and begin aggressive lease negotiations for both existing and new leases. These actions will enable GSA to save at least $450 million per year over the next 5 years.
5. Reduce procurement spending.(1)
The GSA administrator should convene an ad hoc committee of the President's Management Council to develop specific recommendations to reduce procurement spending 5 to 10 percent per year from current levels without reducing products or services. The committee should provide its recommendations to the Vice President by December 1994.
6. Improve GSA service delivery.(4)
As GSA is made a fully reimbursable, competitive organization and as the recommendations contained in the NPR Accompanying Reports Reinventing Support Services and Reinventing Federal Procurement are implemented, the GSA administrator should consider the following opportunities to improve effectiveness and customer service:
---Implement one-stop shopping. Ensure customer requirements are met simply and quickly by establishing account executives to provide a single face to the customer and act as facilitators with other GSA offices.
---Reduce overhead. Examine the distribution of personnel between staff offices and line operations (in both the central office and the regions) and between headquarters and field activities. Additional opportunities may exist to put more people to work directly serving agency customers.
---Streamline the organization. Determine whether some functions performed at the central office might be eliminated or transferred to one of the regions, whether the number of regions should be reduced, and whether the present organization best serves its agency customers.
---Improve telecommunications management. Return FTS2000 to IRMS as soon as practical. FTS2000 was separated from IRMS to focus greater management attention on telecommunications. However, the management problems appear to have been resolved and long distance telecommunications services in the Office of FTS2000 and the information technology services in IRMS are increasingly interconnected. The two offices should be reunited organizationally.
Reinventing Support Services, SUP01: Authorize the Executive Branch to Establish a Printing Policy that Will Eliminate the Current Printing Monopoly; SUP03: Improve Distribution Systems to Reduce Costly Inventories; SUP04: Streamline and Improve Contracting Strategies for the Multiple Award Schedule Program; SUP05: Expand Authority and Eliminate Congressional Control over Federal Vehicle Fleet Management; SUP06: Give Agencies Authority and Incentives for Personal Property Management and Disposal; and SUP08: Give Customers Choices and Create Real Property Enterprises that Promote Sound Real Property Asset Management.
Reinventing Federal Procurement,
PROC08: Reform Information Technology Procurements.
Transforming Organizational Structures, ORG06: Identify and Change Legislative Barriers to CrossOrganizational Cooperation.
Mission-Driven, Results-Oriented Budgeting, BGT04: Eliminate Employment Ceilings and Floors By Managing Within Budgets.
Improving Financial Management,
FM06: "Franchise" Internal Services; and FM12: Manage Fixed Asset
Investments for the Long Term.
The following recommendations from other issue papers would have a significant organizational or resource impact on GSA.
SUP01: Authorize the executive branch to establish a printing policy that will eliminate the current printing monopoly.
The recommendations in this issue paper would grant GSA authority to establish executive branch printing policy.
SUP03: Improve distribution systems to reduce costly inventories. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ This issue paper requires that GSA (and other agencies) maintain depots only when there is an overriding national security interest or an economic advantage over commercial alternatives.
SUP04: Streamline and improve contracting strategies for the Multiple
Award Schedule program.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
This issue paper contains a number of recommendations that would,
among other things, eliminate mandatory requirements for the Multiple
Award Schedule program and change synopsis and order limitations for
information technology procurements.
SUP05: Expand agency authority and incentives for personal property
management and disposal.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
This issue paper would give agencies the authority to dispose of
agency-owned vehicles and remove GSA as the monopoly service
provider.
SUP06: Eliminate the monopoly that will devolve personal property
management authorities.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
This issue paper would allow agencies to dispose of their own excess
or surplus property and use GSA's disposal services as a matter of
choice, rather than a mandatory requirement.
SUP08: Give customers choices and create real property enterprises
that promote sound asset management.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Among other things, the recommendations in this issue paper would
make substantial changes in GSA's Public Buildings Service by
granting agencies the authority to choose their sources of real
property services, creating competitive real property enterprises and
centers of expertise within GSA, and improving GSA's management of
the government's real property assets.
PROC08: Reform Information Technology (IT) procurements. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ The recommendations in this issue paper would significantly increase the delegation of ADP procurement authority and waive GSA-mandated requirements and alternatives analyses for small dollar commercial automatic data processing acquisitions.
President Clinton's creation of the National Performance Review as a means to reinvent government presented a unique opportunity for GSA to further its efforts to increase innovation and excellence and to deliver more responsive, cost-effective service to its customers. On March 15, 1993, GSA formed a Performance Review Council, comprising representatives from GSA business areas and regions, to address Vice President Gore's priorities for reinventing government. The Council began with an agencywide call for ideas to make GSA more effective and to save taxpayers money.
Many of these ideas were woven into an "Agenda for Action,'' which represents GSA's initial planning efforts to capture the spirit of entrepreneurial governance. It identifies opportunities for GSA leadership to respond to information age challenges in the workforce and workplace and identifies systemic problems--involving governmentwide rules, regulations, and systems--that must be solved to create a government that works better and costs less.
When, on April 9, Vice President Gore asked GSA to establish an agency reinvention team and designate reinvention laboratories, GSA acted quickly to do so. The laboratories are described below.
Regionwide Laboratories: Philadelphia and Denver. These reinvention laboratories are designed for regionwide implementation, encompassing all activities within the region. They encourage employees to take a fresh look at the ways they accomplish their work, with an eye toward removing any impediments placed on them. The regions have been given blanket authority to waive GSA rules or regulations.
Interagency Fleet Consolidation Lab.
This reinvention laboratory is designed to rapidly consolidate Army,
Air Force, Coast Guard, and Department of Energy fleets, consisting
of over 4,000 vehicles, into the GSA's Interagency Fleet Management
System (IFMS), resulting in savings to taxpayers of over $1 million
annually. In addition, it will avoid repeating lengthy cost/benefit
studies that consistently have demonstrated these consolidations are
substantially beneficial to everyone.
Telecommuting Lab.
The lab brings together volunteers, communities, environmental and
energy concerns, and intergovernmental cooperation to aid federal
employees traveling long distances between home and Washington, D.C.
Automatic Data Processing Support Services Lab. This reinvention laboratory is designed to test three new ways of providing federal customers with private sector information technology (IT) support. The first will move GSA to a support role, allowing customer agencies to deal more directly with vendors; the second will expand IT support services to interested state and local governments; the third will give customers greater choice by making multiple vendors available for the same services.
Commercial Products Acquisition Lab.
This reinvention laboratory is designed to provide an electronic
ordering and billing interface among agencies, GSA, and vendors for
certain high-demand commercial products. It will reduce procurement
paperwork for customer agencies, centralize billing for all parties,
and enhance GSA's inventory control.
Local Telecommunications Lab.
This reinvention laboratory is designed to demonopolize local
telecommunications services in Kansas City, Missouri, and allow open
competition for dial tone services, including provisions for expanded
optional support, such as cable management and video services.
Governmentwide Electronic Mail Lab.
This reinvention laboratory is designed to establish governmentwide
electronic mail between certain federal agencies, including a common
directory and a "Help Desk'' to respond to user questions.
Office Products Regional Commodity Center. This reinvention laboratory is designed to establish new ways of providing office supplies, paper, and packaging products to the federal community. The lab will test fundamental changes to contracting and will implement statistical process control techniques to isolate supplier problems before manufacturing begins. Customer agencies will benefit by greater on-time delivery of high-quality, low-cost products.
Time and Attendance Lab.
This reinvention laboratory is designed to replace manual time card
procedures with an efficient and secure electronic input system. This
will reduce labor-intensive paperwork and save time for federal
employees.
Fiscal Year 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 Total
Budget
Authority -450.0 -450.0 -450.0 -450.0 -450.0 -2,250.0
Outlays -78.0 -251.0 -554.0 -690.0 -677.0 -2,250.0
FTE 0 0 0 0 0 0
Note: These savings are in addition to those shown in Appendix B of Red Tape to Results: Creating a Government That Works Better and Costs Less, Report of the National Performance Review.
Summary of Actions by Implementation Category
(1) Agency heads can do themselves
GSA01.1 Separate policymaking and oversight from service delivery and fund policymaking from direct appropriations.
GSA01.2 Allow agencies to choose whether to purchase GSA services, and fund GSA service delivery from customer revenues.
GSA01.4 Suspend acquisition of net new office space and courthouses.
GSA01.5 Reduce procurement spending.
(2) President, Executive Office of the President, or Office of Management and Budget can do
GSA01.3a Transfer the Indian Trust Accounting Office to the Department of Justice.
(3) Requires legislative action
GSA01.3b Transfer responsibility for transportation audits to agencies.
(4) Good idea, but will require additional work, or may be better suited for future action
GSA01.6 Improve GSA service delivery.
Accompanying Reports of the National Performance Review
Governmental Systems Abbr. ******************** ****
Changing Internal Culture
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Creating Quality Leadership and Management QUAL
Streamlining Management Control SMC
Transforming Organizational Structures ORG
Improving Customer Service ICS
Reinventing Processes and Systems
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Mission-Driven, Results-Oriented Budgeting BGT
Improving Financial Management FM
Reinventing Human Resource Management HRM
Reinventing Federal Procurement PROC
Reinventing Support Services SUP
Reengineering Through Information Technology IT
Rethinking Program Design DES
Restructuring the Federal Role
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Strengthening the Partnership in
Intergovernmental Service Delivery FSL
Reinventing Environmental Management ENV
Improving Regulatory Systems REG
Agencies and Departments Abbr. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^ Agency for International Development AID Department of Agriculture USDA Department of Commerce DOC Department of Defense DOD Department of Education ED Department of Energy DOE Environmental Protection Agency EPA Executive Office of the President EOP Federal Emergency Management Agency FEMA General Services Administration GSA Department of Health and Human Services HHS Department of Housing and Urban Development HUD Intelligence Community INTEL Department of the Interior DOI Department of Justice DOJ Department of Labor DOL National Aeronautics and Space Administration NASA
National Science Foundation/Office of Science and Technology Policy NSF
Office of Personnel Management OPM
Small Business Administration SBA
Department of State/ U.S. Information Agency DOS
Department of Transportation DOT
Department of the Treasury/
Resolution Trust Corporation TRE
Department of Veterans Affairs DVA