NEXT STEPS IN THE PRESIDENT'S REPORTING BURDEN REDUCTION PROGRAM

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80M00165A002100060010-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 10
• Document Creation Date: December 15, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 18, 2004
• Sequence Number: 10
• Publication Date: November 15, 1977
• Content Type: MF

EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRF-56{ EN
OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET
NOV 15 1977
MEMORANDUM FOR THE HEADS OF EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS AND
ESTABLISHMENTS
SUBJECT: Next Ste in the President's Re ortin
Burden Re uction Program
The President has made a major commitment to reducing
the burden of paperwork and red tape on the American
people. As we discussed with you at the Cabinet meeting
on October 12, 1977, he expects that key agency policy
officials will work with the Office of Management and
Budget in implementing his program. Not only must we
move forward on Phase II of the Administration's paperwork
reduction program, but we need to take steps to implement
the Paperwork Commission's recommendations and carry out
the President's initiatives to streamline grant-in--aid
administration.
Therefore, I would appreciate your personal attention to
the following matters:
. Status of paperwork reduction. Please provide by
November 22, 1977, a report of your agency's achievements
in reducing the public reporting burden using the
attached format. I would also appreciate your personal
appraisal of the progress made by your agency toward
the goals you set out in your letter to the Director
in March 1977. Finally, we need you to identify the
policy official accountable to you for carrying out the
President's paperwork reduction program. Numerous
changes have occurred since you last provided us
this information.
. New approaches to paperwork reduction. A paper
outlining revised policies for the control of paper-
work is attached. We are scheduling a. meeting with
department and agency representatives on November 29, 1977
to discuss this strategy.
Approved For Release 2004/03/11 : CIA-RDP80M00165AO02100060010-5
 Approved For Rele 2004/03/11: CIA-RDP80M00165A0000060010-5
if you have any specific questions before the meeting,.
please call either Wayne Granquist (395?3423) or
Stan Morris (395-6176).
Thank you for your cooperation.
es T. McIntyre, %Tr.
Acting Director
Approved For Release 2004/03/11 : CIA-RDP80M00165AO02100060010-5
 Approved For Relea'3e 2004/03/11 : CIA-RDP80M00165A00M0060010-5
PRESIDENT'S REPORTING BURDEN REDUCTION PROGRAM
Accomplishments as of September 30, 1977
Number of Reporting Hour
Reports Burden
Repetitive reports in use,
1/31/77
Change in usage of reports
and other corrections
(+ or -) 1/
Add:
New reports added during
period 2/
Less:
Reports eliminated during
period 3/
Reductions in burden of
reports continued in
use 4/
Repetitive reports in use,
9/30/77
increases or decreases in reporting burden resulting from changed
usage of report or other corrections should be listed as an
attachment to this, report. Listings of increases and decreases
should be reported separately. Each listing should contain the
OMB number, report title, and change in reporting hour burden.
2/ New reports introduced into use are to be listed as an attachment
to the report. The.listing should include OMB number, title of
report, and reporting hour burden.
Approved For Release 2004/03/11 : CIA-RDP80M00165AO02100060010-5
 Approved For Release 2204/03/11: CIA-RDP80M00165A002100060010-5
3/ Reports eliminated are to be listed as an attachment to the
report. The listing should include OMB number, title of
report, number of reporting hours.
4/ Reductions in burden of reports continued in use are to be
listed as an attachment to the.report. Include only reductions
in burden resulting from actions taken to decrease burden.
Reductions in burden from decline in usage or from new
calculations of time required to complete a report are to be
included in "Change in usage of reports and other corrections."`
The listing should include OMB number, title of report, and
amount of decrease.
Approved For Release 2004/03/11 : CIA-RDP80M00165A002100060010-5
 Ap PIMSEF II ele 28 DE S W'59 A6QMWRAM
The overall goal of the President's Paperwork Reduction
Program is to eliminate unnecessary paperwork burdens on
the public while obtaining, in the least burdensome way,
the data necessary for effective program management.
The strategy for carrying out this goal is fourfold:
1. Each department or agency head must be responsible
for the paperwork impact of the agency's programs.
2. Public involvement in identifying existing or
potentially unnecessary or confusing paperwork
demands must be increased.
3. Duplicative and overlapping data requirements must
be reduced through increased agency coordination.
4. Agency and OMB resources should be directed toward
identifying and then solving major problems.
Proposals for implementing this strategy include:
I. Implementation of the Federal Reports Act
A. Goals and Ceilings. The head of each department or
agency will establish FY 1978 goals for reducing
the agency's burden of public reporting, as measured
in reporting hours.
Ceilings on the number of reports and on the hours of
reporting burden will be established for each depart!"-
re
?`
--A ,.o. it haar3 will rem :"
ent
a ~
h d
J _ 4
.
ep
or agency. Ea`
progress toward the achievement of the agency's '
quarterly to OMB. The first report, covering the
quarter ending December 31, 1977, will be due on
January 15, 1978.
Ceilings will be communicated to departments and
agencies together with guidelines for implement:nq
the President's program by December 15, 1977.
Recognizing that goals and ceilings are cruua*
instruments based upon imperfect reporting fiea
an interagency task force will be established t.
consider alternative administrative tools to
Approved For Release 2004/03/11 : CIA-RDP80M00165A002100060010-5
 Approved For Rel se 2004/03/11 : CIA-RDP80M00165A0W'100060010-5
discipline the growth of public reporting. The
task force will report its findings and recommendations
by March 31, 1978.
B. Decentralization of Clearance Responsibilities
Departments and agencies will be given new responsi-
bilities in the clearance of proposed reports. The
purpose of decentralization will be (1) to assure that
the head of each department and agency is responsible
for appraising the agency's need for information relative
to the agency's burden reduction goals and.(2) to
concentrate OMB attention on critical reporting burden
problems and the practical utility of information already
collected by the-Federal Government.
OMB, in coordination with departments and agencies,
will develop agency guidelines for reviewing requests
for clearance to collect information from the public.
These guidelines will contain specific provisions
concerning public participation in the review process.
All proposed reports will continue to be forwarded to
OMB. This will assure that there is a single inventory
of all reports under the Federal Reports Act. However,
except in unusual cases, it is the intent of OMB to
accept the review made by the department or agency
under the procedural guidelines for all requests below
specified threshold criteria.
Threshold criteria will be specified. Consideration
is being given to (a) using the number of responses,
(b) the number of hours of reporting burden, (c) the
time required by a respondent to complete a report, or
(d) a combination of these measures.
OMB's role will be to review agency compliance with
the agreed upon procedural guidelines.
C. Lead Agencies
In order to assure greater coordination of government-
wide information collection activities, OMB intends to
assign clearance requests to lead agencies for review.
Where multiple agencies collect data based on the legal
authority of a central enforcement agency, the lead
agency may be delegated responsibility for overall
clearance review and for maintaining a central inventory
of all relevant reports.
Approved For Release 2004/03/11 : CIA-RDP80M00165AO02100060010-5
 Approved For Releate2004/03/11 : CIA-RDP80M00165A002480060010-5
For example, the Justice Department, which is
responsible for the enforcement of Title VI of
the Civil Rights Act, would review all Title VI
compliance reports, regardless of originating agency.
The reports would be assigned a Justice/OMB
clearance number. No separate reporting require-
ments under Title VI would be approved by OMB.
b
Similarly, under this model all reports relating
to enforcement of equal employment'opportunity would
be reviewed by the Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission.
II. Paperwork Commission Recommendations
A. Schedule for Respondinq to Recommendations
OMB is responsible for reporting to the President
and the Congress at least semi-annually on the-status of
recommendations of the Commission on Federal Paperwork.
The first report is due in March 1978. Each depart-
ment and agency will receive a listing (or listings)
of those recommendations which apply to it. The
department or agency will be asked to submit a
proposed schedule for responding to the listed
recommendations. The responses will be forwarded
to 0MB after they have been approved by the depart-
ment or agency head. In addition, a status. report
will be filed with OMB as part of the quarterly
progress report on reporting burden reduction.
B: Departments and agencies will make every effort to
respond positively to each CFP recommendation. If
this is not possible, departments and agencies will
seek alternative means to secure the objectives of
the CFP recommendations.
C. 0MB will analyze agency responses to CFP recommenda-
tions and may consult with individual agencies
before formulating the statutorily required semi-
annual report to Congress and the President.
III. Grant-in-Aid Reporting
Particular attention will be paid to grant-in-aid
application and reporting requirmeents in FY 1979.
As outlined in the Presidential directive of
September 9, 1977, all departments and agencies are
Approved For-Release 2004/03/11: CIA-RDP80M00165A002100060010-5
 Approved For ReWse 2004/03/11: CIA-RDP80M00165A072100060010-5
responsible for (a) the timely distribution of
reporting forms; (b) the active solicitation of comments
on proposed new application and reporting forms from
users and other interested parties; (c) the elimination
of duplicative requests for information; (d) the use
of standard OMB application and financial reporting
forms (States and local governments must comply with
Circular No. A-102 while all non-profit institutions
must comply with Circular No. A-110); (e) the
establishment of cooperative data collection programs
with State and local governments; (f) the elimination
of multiple signatures from the State or local chief
executive officer on a single reporting or application
submission; (g) the elimination of more than one
original and two copies of any application, financial
or performance report; and (h) the establishment of new
phase-in procedures for revised regulations.
Agencies will be asked to review existing procedures
and make appropriate modifications to implement the
President's directive. To assure the performance of
this special review, all existing clearances of
grant-in-aid reporting requirements will expire
June 30, 1978 unless specifically rejustified in
this review.
IV. Executive Branch Reports to Congress
In addition to reducing the public reporting burden,
the President has asked that we reduce the number of
recurring reports the Executive Branch is required
to send to Congress. OMB will prepare instructions
for agency use in reviewing existing reporting require-
ments. The purpose of the review will be to develop
recommendations for the elimination, consolidation, or
other modifications of existing reports. Agencies
will be asked to work closely with the GAO which
is purs'iing a similar objective with each individual
Congressional committee.
V. Reducing Paperwork Burdens Associated with Regulations
OMB has recently circulated a draft Executive Order for
improving regulatory practices. The purpose of the
Order is to prescribe common-sense management principles
for agency regulatory procedures, increase public partici-
pation in the development of regulations and assure
adequate consideration of the consequences of new
Approved For Release 2004/03/11 : CIA-RDP80M00165AO02100060010-5
 Approved For Ruse 2004/03/11 : CIA-RDP80M00165A'r
02100060010-5 5
regulations before they are issued. In particular,
the Order will require agencies to assess and minimize shou regulatory paperwork burdens. This requirement should be
taken into account as agencies develop
burden reduction goals andtrevisnew e internal agency
procedures to comply with e
Approved For Release 2004/03/11 : CIA-RDP80M00165AO02100060010-5
 Approved For Release 2004/03/1-404 CIA-RDP80M00165A00210006~
SEIMr.)tF; Ni 3LL CHECK CLASSIFICATION TOP AND BOTTOM
UNCLASSIFIED CONFIDENTIAL SECRET
OFFICIAL ROUTING SLIP
TO
NAME AND ADDRESS
DATE
INITIALS
Z
3
4
6
ACTION
DIRECT REPLY
PREPARE REPLY
APPROVAL
DISPATCH
RECOMMENDATION
COMMENT
FILE
RETURN
CONCURRENCE
INFORMATION
SIGNATURE
Rt marks:
ER
DATE
P
A*
k4
F DENTIAL
r
SECR
----
- 7-16 71r0. 237 Use previous editions (40)