Ex-Y2K czar says Bush should put management on front burner

The Bush administration should replicate the Clinton administration's National Partnership for Reinventing Government, the former Clinton administration Y2K czar told members of the National Academy of Public Administration Monday. John Koskinen, who now serves as deputy mayor and city administrator for the District of Columbia, was the keynote speaker at "Is Government Manageable? Executive Organization and Management in the 21st Century," a conference sponsored by NAPA. "I think the greatest success of NPR was elevating to the highest level the issue of management reform," Koskinen said. In 1993, the Clinton administration launched the National Performance Review (NPR), an interagency task force of federal employees focused on ways to make the government work better and cost less. In 1997, the organization changed its name to the National Partnership for Reinventing Government. The vast majority of the improvements recommended by NPR were moving in the right direction, Koskinen said, though the organization had a hard time getting everyone to see the big picture. "It took 100 years to get here; it's not going to turn around in 18 to 24 months," he said. Koskinen offered several ideas for revitalizing troubled government organizations, including more effective use of the 1993 Government Performance and Results Act, which requires agencies to write strategic plans with specific goals, prepare annual performance plans and report on their success in meeting their goals. "They develop a consensus on what the goals and priorities ought to be and figure out how to get there," Koskinen said. "Ultimately, you need leadership that cares and provides a vision. If it doesn't come from the top, it's not going to come." But the most important part of any revitalization effort is the employees, Koskinen said. "People are rarely the problem," Koskinen said. "You cannot succeed if you turn into the enemy the very people you need to get the job done." Employees are the best source for discovering what is wrong with the system, Koskinen said, as they are on the front lines every day. "They may not have all the answers, but they can certainly define where all the problems are," he said.