OMB Reform and Reorganization Plan: Organizational Changes

Published: June 25, 2018

Last week the Trump Administration released its federal government reform and reorganization plan entitled “Delivering Government Solutions in the 21st Century: Reform Plan and Reorganization Recommendations.”

The plan is meant to restructure the federal government and its programs to better serve the nation by enhancing mission, service and stewardship. The recommendations promise to change government operations and move to 21st century capabilities through implementation of private sector organizational principles.

The plan promises the following benefits from reorganization efforts:

Refocusing structures around mission and customers
Enhancing management accountability
Prioritizing limited resources and eliminate unnecessary activities
Improving communications and coordination

The plan also highlights the following key drivers of reform:

Information technology modernization
Data, accountability, and transparency
People and the workforce of the future

In this blog, I’ve attempted to summarize the recommendations in the plan that would impact current organizational structures. For example, proposals to combine, consolidate or eliminate federal offices or programs.

The table below highlights reform plan proposals that effect the current federal organizational structure:

Current Organization	Program Affected	New Organization	Description	Dissolution of An Existing Organization/ Office?
Department of Education	Entire Department	Department of Education and the Workforce	Merge the Departments of Education and Labor into a single Cabinet agency.	Yes
Department of Labor	Entire Department	Department of Education and the Workforce	Merge the Departments of Education and Labor into a single Cabinet agency.	Yes
Department of Health and Human Services	Entire Department	Department of Health and Public Welfare	Rename HHS and add programs from other agencies.	No
Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Service	Non-commodity nutrition assistance programs	Department of Health and Public Welfare	Move non-commodity nutrition assistance programs currently in the Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service into the HHS.	Unknown
Army Corps of Engineers Civil Works	Entire Organization	Department of Transportation and Department of Interior	Move the Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) Civil Works out of the DOD to the DOT and Interior to consolidate and align the Corps’ civil works missions with these agencies.	Yes
Department of Agriculture, Food Safety and Inspection Service	Entire Organization	Department of Agriculture, Federal Food Safety Agency	Reorganize the Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service and the food safety functions of HHS’s Food and Drug Administration into a single agency within Agriculture that would cover virtually all the foods Americans eat.	Yes
Department of Health and Human Services, Food and Drug Administration	Food Safety Programs	Department of Agriculture, Federal Food Safety Agency	Reorganize the Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service and the food safety functions of HHS’s Food and Drug Administration into a single agency within Agriculture that would cover virtually all the foods Americans eat.	Unknown
Department of Agriculture	Rural Housing Loan Guarantee and Rental Assistance Programs	Department of Housing and Urban Development	Move Agriculture’s rural housing loan guarantee and rental assistance programs to the HUD, allowing both agencies to focus on their core missions.	Unknown
Department of Commerce, National Marine Fisheries Service	Entire Organization	Department of Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service	Merge the Commerce’s National Marine Fisheries Service into Interior’s Fish and Wildlife Service.	Yes
Department of Interior	Central Hazardous Materials Program	Environmental Protection Agency	Consolidate portions of Interior’s Central Hazardous Materials Program and USDA’s Hazardous Materials Management program into EPA’s Superfund program.	Unknown
Department of Agriculture	Hazardous Materials Management Program	Environmental Protection Agency	Consolidate portions of Interior’s Central Hazardous Materials Program and USDA’s Hazardous Materials Management program EPA’s Superfund program.	Unknown
Department of State, Bureau for Population, Refugees, and Migration	Humanitarian Assistance Programs	N/A	Optimize Department of State and U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) humanitarian assistance to eliminate duplication of efforts and fragmentation of decision-making.	Unknown
Agency for International Development, Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance and Office of Food for Peace	Humanitarian Assistance Programs	New bureau within USAID reporting to a new Associate Administrator for Relief, Resilience, and Response	Optimize Department of State and U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) humanitarian assistance to eliminate duplication of efforts and fragmentation of decision-making. As a first step, USAID is currently seeking to elevate the merged OFDA and FFP into a new Bureau.	Yes
Overseas Private Investment Corporation	Entire Organization	Development Finance Institution	Consolidate the government’s development finance tools, such as the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) and the Development Credit Authority (DCA) of USAID, into a new Development Finance Institution.	Yes
Agency for International Development, Development Credit Authority	Entire Organization	Development Finance Institution	Consolidate the government’s development finance tools, such as the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) and the Development Credit Authority (DCA) of USAID, into a new Development Finance Institution.	Yes
Agency for International Development	Entire Organization	Agency for International Development	Transform USAID through an extensive, agency-driven structural reorganization of headquarters bureaus and independent offices to better advance partner countries’ self-reliance, support U.S. national security, and ensure the effectiveness and efficiency of foreign assistance.	No
Office of Personnel Management	Policy Function	Executive Office of the President	Move the policy function of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) into the Executive Office of the President, and elevate its core strategic mission while devolving certain operational activities.	Unknown
Department of Defense	Perpetual care and operation of select military and veteran cemeteries	Department of Veterans Affairs, National Cemetery Administration	Transfer responsibility for perpetual care and operation of select military and veteran cemeteries located on DOD installations to the Veterans Affairs’ National Cemetery Administration.	Unknown
Department of Commerce, Census Bureau	Entire Organization	Unknown	Reorganize the U.S. Census Bureau, the Bureau of Economic Analysis, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics under Commerce to increase cost-effectiveness and improve data quality while simultaneously reducing respondent burden on businesses and the public.	Unknown
Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis	Entire Organization	Unknown	Reorganize the U.S. Census Bureau, the Bureau of Economic Analysis, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics under Commerce to increase cost-effectiveness and improve data quality while simultaneously reducing respondent burden on businesses and the public.	Unknown
Department of Commerce, Bureau of Labor Statistics	Entire Organization	Unknown	Reorganize the U.S. Census Bureau, the Bureau of Economic Analysis, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics under Commerce to increase cost-effectiveness and improve data quality while simultaneously reducing respondent burden on businesses and the public.	Unknown
Department of Energy	Applied Energy Programs	Department of Energy, Office of Energy Innovation	Consolidate the Department of Energy’s (DOE) applied energy programs into a new Office of Energy Innovation.	Unknown
Postal Service	Entire Organization	Unknown	Restructure the U.S. Postal System to return it to a sustainable business model or prepare it for future conversion from a government agency into a privately-held corporation.	No
Department of Transportation	Entire Organization	Unknown	Reorganize Transportation to better align the agency’s core missions and programmatic responsibilities, to include spinning off federal responsibility for operating air traffic control services. Changes would also include integrating into Transportation certain coastal and inland waterways commercial navigation activities and transportation security programs, and reassessing the structure and responsibilities of the Office of the Secretary.	Unknown
Department of Commerce	Federal economic assistance resources	Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Growth	Rethink how the Federal government can drive economic growth in concert with private-sector investments in communities across the nation by coordinating and consolidating federal economic assistance resources into a Bureau of Economic Growth at Commerce.	Unknown
Public Health Service Commissioned Corps	Entire Organization	Public Health Service Commissioned Corps	Transform the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps into a leaner and more efficient organization that is better prepared to respond to public health emergencies and provide vital health services, including by reducing the size of the Corps and building up a Reserve Corps for response in public health emergencies.	No
Various	Administration of graduate fellowships	National Science Foundation	Consolidate the administration of graduate fellowships for multiple federal agencies under the National Science Foundation in order to reduce the total cost of administering those fellowships.	Unknown
Various	Financial education and literacy programs	Unknown	Consolidate and streamline financial education and literacy programs currently operating across more than 20 Federal agencies to ensure effective allocation of federal financial literacy resources and avoid unneeded overlap and duplication. Requires the Department of the Treasury to develop recommendations.	Unknown
Departments of Labor, Energy, Commerce, Veterans Affairs, Agriculture, Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, the Interior, and the Environmental Protection Agency	Protective details at certain civilian Executive Branch agencies	U.S. Marshals Service	Consolidate protective details at certain civilian Executive Branch agencies under the U.S. Marshals Service in order to more effectively and efficiently monitor and respond to potential threats.	Unknown
Inter-American Foundation and U.S. African Development Foundation	Small Grants Functions	Agency for International Development	Consolidate the small grants functions, expertise, and grant-making from the Inter-American Foundation and U.S. African Development Foundation into USAID.	Unknown
None	Entire Organization	Government Effectiveness Advanced Research (GEAR) Center	Establish a Government Effectiveness Advanced Research (GEAR) Center as a public-private partnership to help the government respond to innovative technologies, business practices, and research findings that present opportunities to improve mission delivery, services to citizens, and stewardship of public resources.
Office of Personnel Management, National Background Investigations Bureau	Entire Organization	Department of Defense	Transfer the National Background Investigations Bureau from OPM to DOD.	Yes

OMB and agencies are tasked with working with Congress through the summer to prioritize and refine their reorganization proposals.

Federal contractors should keep close tabs on reform and reorganization efforts. Elimination and consolidation of offices and programs will likely lead to the potential termination of contracts and/or the consolidation of contracts. However on the flip side, agencies may need assistance with office moves, combining and consolidating IT environments and infrastructure, change management, etc.

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OMB Reform and Reorganization Plan: Organizational Changes

Last week the Trump Administration released its federal government reform and reorganization plan entitled “Delivering Government Solutions in the 21st Century: Reform Plan and Reorganization Recommendations.”