-001 - I Administrator's Update svEFA Number 5 September 24,1993 National Performance Review The Vice President's Reinventing Govern- ment report, released last week, contains a number of government-wide recommendations that will have an extremely positive impact on employees at EPA and other federal agencies. As with our internal National Performance Review (NPR) effort, the Reinventing Government recommendations recognize that federal systems., not federal employees, are at the center of inefficiency in the federal government. Copies of the report have been distributed to AAs, RAs, Office Directors, and EPA NPR team leaders and are available in all 28 headquarters and regional libraries — I encourage all of you to review it. Some of the key concepts in the report include: • Empowering Employees - The Reinventing Government report recognizes that government must take its lead from the private sector, restructuring to empower federal employees and encourage innova- tion, creativity and responsibility. Recommended steps to empower employees include decentralizing decision-making, creating new incentives and awards for innovation, diversifying employee training opportunities, and modernizing information technol- ogy. • Putting Customers First - The report places a high priority on orienting federal agencies to treat taxpay- ers as customers. Recommendations include increas- ing the use of voluntary customer surveys and introducing elements of competition in the federal government by eliminating monopolies held by GSA and other agencies. Of particular importance to EPA, the report also recommends the establishment of cross-agency ecosystem management projects. • Cutting Red Tape - The red tape recommenda- tions are designed to free federal employees from cumbersome restrictions so they can do their jobs better and enjoy them more. Specific recommenda- tions include streamlining the procurement process by shifting from rigid rules to guiding principles, re- orienting Inspector General offices to increase their focus on helping managers better evaluate their management control systems, decentralizing and deregulating personnel policies, and streamlining the budget process., • Cutting Back to Basics - The final section of the report focuses on cost-saving measures the govern- ment can take that reduce useless expenditures and improve revenue collection. Recommendations in this section range from specific items, such as increased utilization of electronic reporting and communication, to general measures such as giving the President more flexibility to cut items from spending bills. EPA's NPR Implementation Steering Committee met for the first time September 10 to discuss an implementation strategy for both the government-wide and internal EPA recommenda- tions. I look forward to an implementation process that will put our best NPR ideas into practice. Continued on back Printed on Recycled Paper ------- Personnel Moves I want to let everyone know about a personnel shift in my office. Kathy Aterno will be leaving the Chief of Staff post in order to devote herself full time to a number of significant man- agement issues facing our Agency, including environmental justice. Starting in November 1993, Kathy will become Deputy Assistant Administrator for Management and Administration in OARM where she will continue her work on environmen- tal justice and will play a major role in manage- ment matters throughout the Agency. I have asked Mike Vandenbergh to move from his current position as Associate Deputy Administrator to the Chief of Staff slot starting Monday (9/27). National Service On Tuesday, the President signed the National Service Act National Service will create a corps of thousands of people working in and for their communities to earn money for college — a "domestic peace corps." Because environmental protection and management is one of four focus areas for the program, National Service will further our mission at EPA, providing concrete benefits for the environment, and equipping a new genera- tion with the skills and perspectives of environ- mental protection. I have asked Helga Butler on my staff to put together an EPA Working Group on National Service. The Working Group met for the first time yesterday (9/23) to begin developing a National Service program for EPA. I encourage anyone who has thoughts about meaningful ways EPA can involve young people in the National Service program through community-based environmental protection activities to contact Helga. You can leave a message on her voice mail at (202) 260- 4179. ------- |