THE PRESIDENT'S PRIVATE SECTOR SURVEY ON COST CONTROL

September 28, 1982

The Honorable William D. Ford

U.S. House of Representatives
Committee on Post Office

and Civil Service

309 Cannon House Office Building Washington, D. C. 20515

Dear Mr. hairman:

As requested, enclosed is a copy of the Personnel Task Force
work plan. Also enclosed is the incomplete Boards/Commission-
Business Task Force work plan as it relates to the Post
Office.

As set forth in my letter of September 27, 1982, the legal issues raised by you and the recent GAO opinion have not been resolved due to the shortness of time available. Notwithstanding the legal reservations applicable to the requested documents, we are supplying this information in the spirit of cooperation and in an effort to see that the legitimate needs of the Committee are satisfied.

These materials are deliberative project management tools
and planning documents for use in conducting the President's
Private Sector Survey on Cost Control. They are working
documents containing indicated improvement opportunities.
Both documents are subject to further review and analysis,
and the issues, dollar estimates and conclusions presented
should in no way be construed as final. Because we feel
that you share the President's objectives to improve the
efficiency of government operations -- we hope and would
expect that you and other members of the Committee would
exercise the requisite care to protect the work plans from
unwarranted disclosure so as not to jeopardize the integrity
of the process.

Sincerely,

-

In response to your July 9, 1982, request, we have prepared the enclosed information on the President's Private Sector Survey on Cost Control.

The information covers organizational structure, participants' affiliations and responsibilities, the source of funding, White House and agency monitoring, and agency participation. We also collected information on the conflict-of-interest clearance process, legal authority and issues, the Survey's review and reporting process, and the advisory committee process. In this last area, our letter to you of September 21, 1982, expressed the opinion that the Survey's task forces are subject to the Federal Advisory Committee Act.

This information constitutes an interim report in response to your July 9 request. As described in our testimony at hearings held on September 15 and 21, the Survey has not provided all the data we have requested and has sought legal advice from the Department of Justice.

Because of their bulk, the documents referred to in the enclosed summary will be provided directly to your office.

Sincerely yours,

Clifford & Fould

Clifford I. Gould
Director

Enclosure

OBJECTIVE, SCOPE, AND METHODOLOGY

The objective of this paper is to describe the President's Private Sector Survey on Cost Control. We have collected and summarized information on the following

--general organizational structure,

--background on some participants including private affiliation and Survey responsibilities,

--source of funding,

--Federal agencies' involvement,

--White House oversight,

--legal authority for the Survey,

--conflict-of-interest clearance process,

--conformance to Federal advisory committee provisions, and

--task force review processes with specific information on the Personnel and Social Security Administration task forces.

We reviewed Federal laws and regulations on conflict of interest, advisory committees, and tax-exempt organizations. Survey officials provided some documents that generally described the Survey's authority, organization, and work process.

In addition, we collected information on companies that contributed resources to the Survey. For key Survey members, we compared corporate affiliations with Survey duties and responsibilities.

To identify their roles in the Survey, we interviewed officials from the Survey's Management Office and Foundation of the President's Private Sector Survey on Cost Control, the White House Counsel's Office, the Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel, the Department of Commerce's Offices of General Counsel and Information Management, the Office of Government Ethics, and the Survey's Personnel and Social Security Administration task forces. In addition, we conducted telephone interviews with Federal officials designated as agency contacts for the Survey.

Background on the President's Private
Sector Survey on Cost Control

On February 18, 1982, the President announced that he was establishing the Private Sector Survey on Cost Control. The President viewed the Survey as a way to control "runaway government spending" and charged the Survey with searching out waste and inefficiency in the Federal establishment."

President also said that the Survey would

The

--report directly to him,

--be results-oriented in deeply reviewing the executive

branch,

--provide an outside, objective view on management improvements and cost reductions,

--focus on eliminating red tape and duplication, identifying nonessential administrative activities and increasing management effectiveness, and

--rely on private sector experts who volunteer their services.

The President mentioned that he used a similar private sector effort while Governor of California, relying on private sector volunteers to identify administrative improvements. He noted that these volunteers made about 2,000 cost-saving recommendations.

On March 3, 1982, the President named Mr. J. Peter Grace as the Survey Chairman. Since then, many actions, involving many organizations, have been taken. Primary organizations that have assisted the Survey include:

--Office of the White House Counsel, Executive Office of the President: manages the clearance process and provides legal advice.

--Office of Legal Counsel, Department of Justice: provides legal advice to the Survey and interprets Federal laws' application to the Survey.

--Office of Government Ethics: provided an early informal advisory role on ethical considerations.

--Department of Commerce (DOC): serves as the administering Federal agency for the Survey's Executive Committee which is the officially designated advisory committee.

--Federal agencies: cooperate with the Survey's task forces to help them conduct reviews of Federal operations.

Executive Order 12369, dated June 30, 1982, authorized the Survey's Executive Committee and identified its functions and operations. Based on this executive order, two legal documents, a contract and charter, were signed on July 7, 1982, which further identified organizations in the Survey and described their duties.

Since the executive order--which authorizes the Survey's Executive Committee--provides for private sector funding to the "extent practicable and permitted by law," a nonprofit Foundation was created to support the Executive Committee.

The executive order also named DOC as the Federal agency to oversee and assist the Survey's Executive Committee. Because of their joint responsibilities, the Foundation and DOC signed a contract to engage in a joint project to support the Executive Committee. Under this agreement:

--The Secretary of Commerce agreed to

(1) cooperate with and assist the Foundation,

(2) be a liaison between the Foundation and Federal agencies, and

(3) coordinate with the General Services Administration to obtain surplus office furniture and equipment for the Foundation.

--The Foundation agreed to

(1) support the Committee by providing facilities and staff,

(2) select a liaison with the Federal official responsible for overseeing the Executive Committee and with other Federal personnel, and

(3) require its agents to sign a statement in which
they promise to avoid unauthorized disclosure
of information and establish other controls that
DOC prescribes to prevent such disclosure.

--Both parties agreed that the Foundation is an independent
entity that supports the Executive Committee, and there-
fore, is not (1) governed by Federal employment laws and
(2) accountable to DOC concerning finances.

--Upon termination of this agreement, the Foundation agreed to transmit to the Secretary of Commerce all data on the Foundation's work.