Article 39. Approach Outline for the Total Reform of the US Federal Government

A White Paper by Lawrence Rosier Principal Management Consultant  February 18, 2013

I read somewhere that if your going to eat an elephant you have to break it down into bite size pieces and that is exactly what the intention of this white paper is about.  This is an outline intended to build a frame work where others may hang their ideas.

The intent is to implement high level Government Reform Commissions to have oversight of the implementation of the reforms.  Each of the president’s cabinet departments should have a Reform Commission.  But to fully understand the responsibilities of each Reform Commission I recommend a pilot implementation be made in the Department of Defense.  This will allow lessons learned to make the remaining Departmental implementations operate more smoothly.

The Key Role of the Government Accounting Office
The GAO will Chair each Cabinet Departmental Reform Commission; this is necessary to provide the objectivity required for the implementation of the reforms.  Department personnel will be members of the Reform Commission.  Some Departmental officials may be on the commission in a rotating basis to focus  on key areas of the implementation.

The GAO will supply Budget Analysis personnel for the implementation of the author’s General Reform Model.  The GAO will be responsible for the storage of all data generated by low level Functional Lean Teams and collected by the Budget Analysts.  The data stored will be the basis for bottoms-up budget with the actual cost of every government function including the actual staffing required.

The Executive Office of Management & Budget and other government officials in need of budget data will have access to the budget data for budgeting purposes but the GAO will be responsible for maintaining and updating the data.

Congressional Oversight
Congress shall be updated on the progress of the Reform Implementations as required.
Department of Defense Pilot Implementation
The GAO will Chair the DOD Reform Commission at the Joints Chiefs of Staff level.  High level DOD personnel will be members of the Commission.   I recommend that the first area of implementation be in the US Army because of their emphasis on Lean Six Sigma.  Representatives of the US Army associated with the Lean Six Sigma should be members of the DOD Reform Commission.  Rotating membership should be provided for US Army organizations as key implementations are made in their areas.