The National Performance Review

In 1993, in an effort to address the common perception that the federal bureaucracy was "out of control" and incapable of being reformed, President Clinton appointed Vice President Gore to lead the National Performance Review (NPR) task force. Gore and his group spent six months combing through the operations of the federal bureaucracy to uncover evidence of waste and inefficiency. Their initial report included tales of unneeded "red tape," over-regulation, and absurd bureaucratic procedures.

Under the banner of "reinventing government," the NPR made recommendations promoting the idea that government should be run along the same lines as private business, with an emphasis on improving "customer satisfaction." Also encouraged were the adoption of decentralized management practices, a reduction in paperwork and other formal procedures, and efforts to foster and reward employee initiative. Simply put, the NPR promised to "make government work better, cost less, and get results Americans cared about."

During his first term in office, Bill Clinton told the nation that "the era of big government is over." By the time Clinton and Gore left office in early 2001, this long-running reform effort (later named the National Program for Reinventing Government) claimed to have accomplished the following:

• Reduced the size of the federal civilian workforce by over 400,000 positions, bringing about the smallest number of federal employees since the Eisenhower Administration
• Cut 640,000 pages of internal agency rules
• Saved taxpayers more than $136 billion
• Implemented more than 4000 "customer service" standards