Executive order on training awaited

President Clinton is expected to sign an executive order advancing the use

of technology in training programs to create a better-trained federal workforce.

The anticipated mandates in the executive order will include the formation

of a new steering committee on federal learning technology, said E.B. Blanton

Jr., executive director of the interagency Presidential Task Force on Federal

Training Technology and an Office of Personnel Management official.

The new committee would comprise representatives from six agencies — OPM, the Labor, Defense and Commerce departments, the General Services Administration

and the Office of Management and Budget.

These agencies would create a road map for what they want to accomplish

in the future, Blanton said. Meanwhile, representatives from five other

agencies would sit on the steering committee on a rotating basis.

The committee also would set an agenda and write an annual report that

will be a "rallying point" for all agencies to move forward with a strategic

training agenda and future plans and goals, Blanton said. In addition, the

committee will help coordinate new training technology.

The now-disbanded task force was formed through an executive order signed

by President Clinton in 01/1999. In September, Clinton approved recommendations

submitted by the group.

Meanwhile, the Presidential Advisory Committee on Expanding Training

Opportunities — formed by that same 1999 executive order — is drafting a

broad report on advancing training programs nationwide. The report should

be finalized by the end of the month.