PRESIDENT'S PRIVATE SECTOR SURVEY ON COST CONTROL REPORT ON THE OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE APPROVED BY THE SUBCOMMITTEE FOR THE PREFACE On June 30, 1982, President Reagan signed Executive Order 12369 formally establishing the President's Private Sector Survey on Cost Control (PPSSCC) in the Executive Branch of the Federal Government. An Executive Committee under the chairmanship of J. Peter Grace was established, consisting of 161 high-level private sector executives--mostly chairmen and chief executive officers--from many of the nation's leading corporations. Briefly stated, the President directed the PPSSCC to: O Identify opportunities for increased efficiency and Determine areas where managerial accountability can be enhanced and administrative controls improved. O Suggest short- and long-term managerial operating O O Specify areas where further study can be justified by potential savings. Provide information and data relating to governmental expenditures, indebtedness, and personnel management. The Executive Order also provided that "the Committee is to be funded, staffed and equipped . . . by the private sector without cost to the Federal Government." To implement this objective, the Foundation for the President's Private Sector Survey on Cost Control was established. It formed a Management Office which organized thirty-six "task forces," each co-chaired by two or more members of the Executive Committee, to do the "preliminary reports." Twenty-two of these task forces were assigned to study specific departments and agencies, and the remaining fourteen studied functions cutting across Government such as personnel, data processing and procurement. In addition to individual task force reports, the Survey Management Office has issued a series of reports on selected issues. Apart from the Executive Committee in its official capacity, none of the task force members had any authority to make recommendations to departments and agencies or to the President. A listing of the thirty-six task forces follows: Each of the 36 task forces prepared a draft report and, with a few exceptions, an appendix, supporting the recommendations contained in the task force report. Those appendices are on file at the Department of Commerce's Central Reference and Records Inspection Facility. It should be noted that recommendations relating to any one federal agency may be included not only in the appropriate agency task force report but also in the reports of the functional cross-cutting task forces. It is important to note that cost savings, revenue, and cash acceleration opportunities in this report may duplicate similar dollar opportunities reported in other task force reports. Thus, there may be instances of double counting of dollar opportunities between task force reports. These duplications will be nettedout in the Final Summary Report to the President. Additionally, dollar estimates in this report are based on reasonable and defensible assumptions, including standard three-year projections based on when first, second, and third year partial or full implementation will occur and not specific fiscal years. Accordingly, estimated savings or revenue opportunities are understandably of a "planning" quality and not of a "budget" quality. Therefore, the reader should guard against drawing conclusions or making dollar projections based on the disclosures contained only in this report. A glossary of terms used in categorizing PPSSCC-identified opportunities follows. Revenue Acceleration - sale of fixed asset for cash, O Cash Acceleration generally one-time improvement of the cashflow, generally by accelerating the cash inflows and/or decelerating the cash outflows. Generally ongoing, but may be a one-time occurrence. The standard three-year projections of cost savings and revenues include 10% inflation in Years 2 and 3. On revenue accelerations and cash accelerations, savings are claimed on the interest avoided which is estimated at 10%. These rates reflect generally prevailing rates at the time the Task Force reports were prepared and may be adjusted, as necessary, in the Final Summary Report to the President. In addition to identifying specific opportunities for cost control and improved efficiency, PPSSCC sought to identify the appropriate implementation authority for each recommendation. Because of the complexities of the appropriations process, as well as historical precedents, however, further data could result in a change in the PPSSCC-identified authority. |