§3505 Assignment of Tasks and Deadlines

Summary

The Director must set government-wide and agency goals to cut the paperwork and information-collection burden on the public. The government-wide targets are at least a 10% reduction for each of fiscal years 1996 and 1997, and 5% for each of fiscal years 1998, 1999, 2000, and 2001. Agencies must set yearly goals to reduce burdens as much as they can while also improving how they review and manage information and making federal programs more productive, efficient, and effective. The Director may run voluntary pilot projects with agencies and outside groups to test new ways to lower these burdens. For pilots, the Director can waive an agency’s internal rule (including rules that require collecting information) after consulting the agency head and notifying the public and Congress. Every agency head must keep a current list of the agency’s major information systems, including national security systems. That list must show how each system connects to other systems or networks. Agencies must update the list at least once a year, give it to the Comptroller General, and use it for planning, budgeting, security testing, records management, and related work. The Director will give guidance and oversee these requirements and will work with the General Services Administrator, the NIST Director, the Archivist, and the OPM Director to keep a government-wide information resources plan.