OMB renews push to decrease paperwork burden

The Office of Management and Budget is asking agencies to identify three initiatives to reduce the paperwork burden on the public.In a to the executives of the 26 largest agencies and the Federal Acquisition Regulation Council, OMB director Joshua B. Bolten said agencies must reduce the number of hours it takes citizens and businesses to provide departments with information by 1 percent. The administration is focusing on agencies that ask citizens for at least 10 million hours of information each year, the bulletin noted.Under the Paperwork Reduction Act, agencies must get OMB approval for all information collection activities. The administration must report agency violations to Congress annually.Bolten said OMB wants initiatives that:“Our goal this year … is to eliminate all existing violations of the PRA as soon as possible,” Bolten said in the memo issued Friday.OMB also wants agencies to submit proposed timelines for reducing their paperwork burdens, identify hurdles to completing the changes, set measurable objectives to achieve reduction goals and issue concise descriptions of the programs which agencies plan to revamp.