Excerpts from the book:

Al Gore (1993): Creating a Govermnet That Works Better and Costs Less / The Report of the National Performance Review, Plume Books, New York

The National Performance Review (NPR) was born on March 13th, 1993.

The REGO (reinventing government) exercise is a breathtaking effort to improve efficiency and effectiveness of government.

David Osborne and Ted Gaebler¹s book "Reinventing Government: How the Entrepreneurial Spirit is Transforming the Public Sector" became the NPR-bible:

   1. We believe deeply in government,

   2. We believe that civilised society cannot function effectively without effective government,

   3. We believe that the people who work in government are not the problem, the systems in which they work are the             problem,

   4. We believe that neither traditional liberalism nor traditional conservatism has much relevance to the problems our             governments face today.

Osborne-Gaebler-Gore-Clinton¹s approach:

   1. Measure results,

   2. Put the customer in the driver¹s seat,

   3. Introduce competition and a market orientation,

   4. Decentralize.

Some suggestions:

   1. Increase the span of control from one manager for every seven employees to one manager for every fifteen employees.

   2. Phase out the 10.000-page Federal Personnel Manual.

   3. Simplify procurement procedures to make purchases of less than $ 100.000.

   4. Insist that all agencies survey customers, measure customer satisfaction, and establish service standards equal to the         best in business, develop and use measurable performance objectives.

   5. Abolish time sheets and time cards.

   6. Scrap 140.000 management jobs ("checkers checking checkers").

   7. Focus the General Accounting Office on results rather than processes.

Times change. The government mostly does not. In 1932, there was one Department of Agriculture employee for every 1.000 farm residents. Now that ratio is one employee to 16 farm residents.

900 procurement laws and 6.000 pages of Federal Acquisitions Regulations, and an average of 23 signatures on a government purchase order; created a caste of 50.000 procurement staffers.

"Our twin missions are to make government work better and cost less. The NPR can reduce the federal deficit further." Al Gore, 1993

A team of experienced federal employees from all corners of the government, lead by Al Gore, Vice-President, examined both agencies, and cross-cutting systems, such s budgeting, procurement and personnel.

The President also asked all cabinet members to create Reinvention Teams to lead transformations at their departments and Reinvention Laboratories, to begin experimenting with new ways of doing business. Citizens from all across America and hundreds of organizations have been heard in more than 30.000 letters and phone calls.

The NPR focused primarily on how the government should work, not on what it should do.

The federal government is filled with good people trapped in bad systemsŠInnovation by its nature, requires deviation. Unfortunately, faced with so many controls, many employees have simply given upŠIn the name of controlling waste, we have created paralyzing inefficiency.

From the 1930s through the 1960s large, top-down centralized bureaucracies have been built, after hierarchical principles. Many of them are monopolies with few incentives to innovate or improve. Success offers few rewards, failure few penalties.

"We know all about government¹s problems, but little about possible solutionsŠWe looked for organizations that produced results, satisfied customers and increased productivity. We looked for organizations that constantly learned, innovated and improved. We looked for effective, entrepreneurial public organizations. And we found them." Al Gore.

Throughout the developed world, the needs of information-age societies were colliding with the limits of industrial-era governments.

Successful cases have four common characteristics, composed of totally 20 steps. They fit together much like the pieces of a puzzle: if one is missing, the others lose their power.

   1. Cutting Red Tape: from accountability to follow rules to accountability for achieving results

   2. Putting Customers First: insisting on internal and external customer satisfaction

   3. Empowering Employees to Get Results: Cultural transformation by decentralizing authority.

   4. Cutting Back to Basics: Producing better for less. Finding ways to make government work better and cost less:               reengineering.

A transformation of the habits, culture and performance of all federal organizations is aimed.

"Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what you want to achieve, and they will surprise you with their ingenuity."

                                                                                        General George S.Patton, 1944

Six steps to pare down the systems of over-control and micro-management in government:

   1. Streamline the budget process,

   2. Decentralize personnel policy,

   3. Streamline procurement,

   4. Reorient inspectors general, from punishing to guidance,

   5. Eliminate thousands of other regulations,

   6. Deregulate state and local governments.

"We must move quickly, because the bureaucracy, by its nature resists changeŠBut the changes we propose will produce their own momentum to overcome bureaucratic resistance." Al Gore, 1993

Four steps to empower customers, break federal monopolies, and provide incentives for federal employees to better serve their customers:

   1. All customers will have a voice, and every voice will be heard.

   2. Agencies will compete for their customers¹ business.

   3. Where competition is infeasible, the government monopolies will be turned into more businesslike enterprises.

   4. Some federal functions will be shifted from old-style bureaucracies to market mechanisms.

Federal Government¹s executive branch includes 14 cabinet departments, 135 agencies and hundreds of boards and commissions. They employ more than 2.1 million civilians (excluding 800.000 in the postal service) and 1.9 million members by the military, spent $ 1.5 trillion a year, and directly or indirectly account for one third of US national economy.

Changing culture is a lot harder than changing rules and regulations.

Six steps how to change culture:

   1. Give decision making power to those who do the work,

   2. Hold every organization and individual accountable for clearly understood, feasible outcomes,

   3. Give employees better tools for the job (training, IT, etc.)

   4. Make federal offices a better place to work,

   5. Labor and management must forge a new partnership.

   6. Offer top-down support for bottom-up decision-making.

To shut down programs, the underlying culture of the government must be changed.

Four steps to eliminate unnecessary programs:

   1. Eliminate programs which are obsolete, duplicative, serve special and not national interests,

   2. Collect more (fees, debts etc.)

   3. Invest in greater productivity,

   4. Reengineer government activities, making full use of computer systems and telecommunications.

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