| Title | Effective Administrative Restructuring: Lessons from the NIH Experience |
| ShortDescription | For many years, the federal government has undergone significant administrative restructuring. The pace of this effort has accelerated recently and the number of reforms being simultaneously pursued has multiplied. By Fall 2003, the National Institute of Health (NIH) had become responsible for such a vast number of administrative reforms that the agency requested the National Academy of Public Administration's advice and assistance in restructuring. The resulting report includes knowledge acquired during this experience. |
| LongDescription | Much of the federal government's recently increased administrative restructuring activity is driven by The President's Management Agenda. Individual departments and agencies have devised their own responses to the five general themes set forth in this agenda. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, where the National Institute of Health (NIH) is located, has specifically emphasized consolidating administrative functions and using automation to reduce the number of staff offices, as well as the size of the government workforce responsible for these functions. By Fall 2003, NIH had become responsible for so many administrative reforms that the agency requested the National Academy of Public Administration's (NAPA) advice and assistance in restructuring. NAPA had previously assisted NIH with benchmarking and analysis in one function. This new assignment was all encompassing, including significant reforms in acquisition, budget, equal employment opportunity, facilities, finance, grants, human resources, and information technology. NAPA convened a special panel of experts to respond to this formidable request. It soon became clear to the Panel on Administrative Restructuring at NIH (which began work in January 2004) that its experience with NIH was creating practices that could substantially benefit other federal agencies. NIH amended the original contract to enable NAPA to prepare this report as a by-product of its primary technical assistance responsibilities. The lessons reported in this volume are based primarily on the Panel's work with NIH from January 2004 through July 2005. The NIH experience is extensively documented in the report's appendices. |
| SourceAuthor | Bruce McDowell, Project Director |
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| Organization | National Academy of Public Administration |
| ContactAddress | Washington, DC |
| ContactEmail | bmcdowell@napawash.org |
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| Website |
http://www.napawash.org/_images/NIH_FULL_Report.pdf
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