{"id":22577,"date":"2018-07-18T19:40:36","date_gmt":"2018-07-18T19:40:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/uncategorized\/2018\/07\/18\/the-top-4-proposals-in-the-federal-reorganization-lineup\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T04:48:58","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T04:48:58","slug":"the-top-4-proposals-in-the-federal-reorganization-lineup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/management\/2018\/07\/18\/the-top-4-proposals-in-the-federal-reorganization-lineup\/","title":{"rendered":"The top 4 proposals in the federal reorganization lineup"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The government reorganization plan released by the Trump administration<\/a> in June included 34 proposals to change the functions and authorities of various government agencies. However, according to Deputy Director for Management at the Office of Management and Budget Margaret Weichert, who spoke July 18 before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, four of those items will most likely see the earliest movement forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Three of those four proposals \u2014 which include transferring background investigations to the Department of Defense, improving the cyber workforce, improving customer experience and establishing a Government Effectiveness Advanced Research Center \u2014 were already underway prior to the release of the reorganization plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 2017 National Defense Authorization Act moved 70 percent of background investigations from the Office of Personnel Management to DoD, OPM has been pursuing an initiative <\/a>to define the critical needs of the cyber workforce since January 2017, and the President\u2019s Management Agenda prioritized the customer experience<\/a> in agency modernization efforts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition, according to Weichert, a request for information on the GEAR Center, which would create an innovation-seeking partnership between government researchers, academics, nonprofits and private industry, will be released in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere are, you know, a range of other really important topics that require deep consideration by Congress, and those need to \u2014 as you all have noted \u2014 they need to follow a process that allows appropriate deliberation,\u201d said Weichert.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In total, Weichert said that there were about 10 to 12 proposals in the reorganization plan that probably wouldn\u2019t need congressional approval, but that the administration would be evaluating the details of such proposals through the end of the summer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Democratic members of the committee, however, bemoaned the lack of supporting data for the reorganization plan\u2019s proposals, accusing the administration of stonewalling attempts to get at the rationale behind the proposals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn fact, what has been frustrating is we have repeatedly asked OMB about the data, about any cost benefit analyses that might exist, about the over 100,000 in public comments, timeliness and authorities. Just a simple question: tell us what you think you need in terms of legislation, tell us what you think you can do without legislation. We\u2019re getting stonewalled. I mean, there has been an outright refusal to answer many of these questions,\u201d said Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat is not the way to get this started. If you want a willing partner \u2014 and I want to be one \u2014 then you\u2019ve got to give me the information you\u2019ve got. And if we\u2019re not getting the information you\u2019ve got, then this is not serious. It\u2019s just not serious.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t