Executive Order 13048—Improving Administrative Management in the Executive Branch

Improvement of Government operations is a continuing process that benefits from interagency activities. One group dedicated to such activities is the President's Council on Management Improvement (PCMI), established by Executive Order 12479 in 1984, reestablished by Executive Order 12816 in 1992. In the intervening years, some activities of the PCMI have been assumed by the President's Management Council, the Chief Financial Officers Council, and the Chief Information Officers Council. These organizations are also focussed on improving agencies' use of quality management principles. Other functions have been assigned to individual agencies. Nonetheless, remaining administrative management matters deserve attention across agency lines.

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America and in order to improve agency administrative and management practices throughout the executive branch, I hereby direct the following:

Section 1. Interagency Council on Administrative Management.

(a) Purpose and Membership. An Interagency Council on Administrative Management ("Council") is established as an interagency coordination mechanism. The Council shall be composed of the Deputy Director for Management of the Office of Management and Budget, who shall serve as Chair, and one senior administrative management official from each of the following agencies:

1. Department of State; 2. Department of the Treasury; 3. Department of Defense; 4. Department of Justice; 5. Department of the Interior; 6. Department of Agriculture; 7. Department of Commerce; 8. Department of Labor; 9. Department of Health and Human Services; 10. Department of Housing and Urban Development; 11. Department of Transportation; 12. Department of Energy; 13. Department of Education; 14. Department of Veterans Affairs; 15. Environmental Protection Agency; 16. Federal Emergency Management Agency; 17. Central Intelligence Agency; 18. Small Business Administration; 19. Department of the Army; 20. Department of the Navy; 21. Department of the Air Force; 22. National Aeronautics and Space Administration; 23. Agency for International Development; 24. General Services Administration; 25. National Science Foundation; and 26. Office of Personnel Management.

Department and agency heads shall advise the Chair of their selections for membership on the Council. Council membership shall also include representatives of the Chief Financial Officers Council, the Chief Information Officers Council, the Federal Procurement Council, the Interagency Advisory Group of Federal Personnel Directors, and the Small Agency Council, as well as at-large members appointed by the Chair, as he deems appropriate. The Chair shall invite representatives of the Social Security Administration to participate in the Council's work, as appropriate. The Council shall select a Vice Chair from among the Council's membership.

(b) The Council shall plan, promote, and recommend improvements in Government administration and operations and provide advice to the Chair on matters pertaining to the administrative management of the Federal Government. The Council shall:

(1) explore opportunities for more effective use of Government resources;

(2) support activities and initiatives of the President's Management Council, the Chief Financial Officers Council, the Chief Information Officers Council, the Federal Procurement Council, and the Interagency Advisory Group of Federal Personnel Directors designed to develop, review, revise, and implement Governmentwide administrative management policies; and

(3) identify successful administrative management practices, including quality management practices, and assist in their Governmentwide dissemination and implementation.

Sec. 2. Responsibilities of the Chair. The Chair or, if the Chair chooses, the Vice Chair shall:

(1) convene meetings of the Council;

(2) preside at formal council meetings;

(3) establish committees or working groups of the Council, as necessary for efficient conduct of Council functions; and

(4) appoint, to the extent permitted by law and consistent with personnel practices, other full-time officers or employees of the Federal Government to the Council as at-large members for specific terms, not exceeding 2 years, to provide expertise to the Council.

Sec. 3. Responsibilities of Agency Heads. To the extent permitted by law, heads of departments or agencies represented on the Council shall provide their representatives with administrative support needed to support Council activities.

Sec. 4. Judicial Review. This order is for the internal management of the executive branch and does not create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable by a party against the United States, its agencies or instrumentalities, its officers or employees, or any other person.

Sec. 5. Revocation. Executive Order 12816 (creating the President's Council on Management Improvement), Executive Order 12552 (establishing the executive branch productivity improvement program) and Executive Order 12637 (revising the executive branch productivity improvement program) are revoked.

William J. Clinton

The White House,

June 10, 1997.

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 12:12 p.m., June 12, 1997]