ROANOKE TIMES 

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, September 1, 1993                   TAG: 9309010306
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

GOVERNMENT OVERHAUL PLAN NEARLY READY

President Clinton's plan to "reinvent government" will offer early retirement, buyouts, transfers and retraining to thousands of federal workers who would no longer be needed in a streamlined, high-tech operation, officials said Tuesday.

The National Performance Review, headed by Vice President Al Gore under orders from Clinton, is designed to reshape the federal bureaucracy by consolidating operations, making government agencies compete with private firms and treating taxpayers like customers.

The White House believes the plan could reduce the 2.1 million-person non-postal federal work force by at least 100,000 before 1995, the goal Clinton set early this year. "It could exceed that number," said a senior White House official.

An administration official involved in drafting Gore's report said the number of federal employees affected may be closer to 200,000. It also was unclear how much money Gore expects to save with his plan, although early estimates projected $10 billion in savings over five years.

The details will be released Tuesday at a news conference with Gore, Clinton and the Cabinet. The president will go on the road for two days next week to promote the plan.

Clinton also will establish a "president's management council" to implement the recommendations, according to an administration budget official familiar with the report. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity.

The order will require each Cabinet secretary and agency head to name a chief operating officer, who then will sit on the council.

Gore will recommend overhauling the Civil Service system, which guides recruitment, hiring, job classification, promotion, pay and bonuses, officials said.

\ PERFORMANCE REVIEW\EXPECTED POINTS\ \ Allowing agencies to use private printers.\ \ Allowing agencies to recruit and test for job openings, a job now done by Office of Personnel Management.\ \ Merging the Drug Enforcement Administration into the FBI.\ \ Adopting a two-year budget cycle, instead of the current annual system.\ \ Converting the nation's air traffic control system into a government-owned corporation underwritten by user fees and run by a private board. The Federal Aviation Administration would retain responsibility for safety but would relinquish operational control.\ \ Creating a "president's management council" to review how to close or consolidate civilian federal facilities. The Agriculture Department, with more than 11,000 field offices across the country, "will lose a bundle," said a high-ranking White House official.\ \ Encouraging the IRS, the Social Security Administration and the Veterans Affairs Department to make their payments using electronic funds transfers, which are cheaper than standard checks.\ \ Pledging that tax refunds will be mailed by the IRS with 40 days, quicker if taxpayers file by computer. An early draft said the Social Security Administration would answer its phones more quickly.\ 


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