Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
Jobs
and
Balancing
The
Budget
Through
Modern
Effective
Government
Using
Lean
6
Sigma:
A
NEWT
2012
project
DRAFT
By
Newt
Gingrich
August
17,
2011
PROPOSITION
There
are
a
number
of
sophisticated
management
tools
which
create
more
productive,
more
effective
patterns
of
work.
Applying
Lean
Six
Sigma
across
the
federal
government
would
save
billions
of
dollars.
Some
people
estimate
it
could
save
$500
billion
a
year
or
$5
trillion
over
a
ten
year
period.
By
comparison
the
"super
committee"
is
merely
trying
to
save
$1.5
trillion.
Even
more
important
than
savings,
a
properly
focused
lean
6
sigma
effort
could
reorient
government
to
act
in
ways
that
improve
the
economy,
lead
to
job
creation,
and
make
America
much
more
competitive
in
the
world
market.
The
economic
growth
and
job
creation
from
a
more
effective,
jobs
oriented
government
could
generate
new
resources
both
for
the
American
people
and
for
government
that
would
dwarf
the
direct
savings
from
leaner
more
efficient
government
(see
the
21st
century
Food
and
Drug
Administration
example
below).
The
third
positive
outcome
will
be
from
analysis
that
takes
into
account
the
cost
the
federal
government
imposes
on
the
rest
of
America
including
state
and
local
governments.
In
many
cases
the
savings
of
smarter
government
will
be
much
bigger
for
the
rest
of
America
than
the
direct
savings
from
cutting
federal
costs
(the
regulatory
costs
of
Dodd-Frank
and
Sarbanes- Oxley
would
be
two
good
examples
of
enormous
private
sector
savings
from
deregulation).
ACTION STEPS Strong America Now, founded by Mike George, has more than 20,000 petition signers in Iowa alone. It had a very strong presence at Ames on August 13. It was the passion and dedication of Strong America Now volunteers which convinced us Americans were ready for serious, complicated, sophisticated reforms. Applying Lean Six Sigma to government would be the biggest change since the civil service reform movement of the 1880s. Every aspect of modern bureaucratic government would be challenged and changed to implement this new model. Imposing a change this big requires a number of action steps. 1. Educational materials and activities We need a lot of different materials in a number of languages. We must make the ideas easy to understand. We need citizen-leaders willing to: talk on talk radio write letters to the editor brief local editorial writers and reporters Write on blogs and brief bloggers Organize volunteers to buy local ads Speak to civic and business clubs Speak to political meetings of both parties (we want Democrats as well as Republicans implementing lean six sigma) Helping find businesses which are using lean 6 sigma and which are willing to show elected officials, their staffs, candidates and news media how powerful new thinking is in the real world Talking to elected officials at school board, city and county government and state government about implementing lean six sigma (as we enforce the tenth amendment and return power and responsibility to state and
local government and to citizens we have to modernize government at those levels). Go to town hall meetings and to member offices so federal Congressmen and Senators and their staffs (including committee staffs). Develop testimony for congressional hearings (all 117 committees and subcommittees in Congress should hold hearings on applying lean 6 sigma to their jurisdictions). Develop training programs for the executive branch. 2. Evolving a better system We need practitioners, consultants and academics willing to work together to build a systematic understanding of a government and society focused lean 6 sigma system. We need a network of people who have actually applied lean six sigma in government who can be both eye-witnesses and mentors. We should canvass the congress, both Members and staff, to see how many already have experience with lean six sigma and want to work to develop the new system and culture. Since Congressman Tom Latham has introduced a lean six sigma bill we should work to get cosponsors for it. We need case studies of past success. We need academics and consultants to monitor the new implementations and build lessons learned. This is a ten year or more process of evolving an entirely new method and pattern if government which will require a new culture in congress and a new culture in the executive branch. Developing that will work much better if people are studying it and offering midcourse corrections as we learn. We need a model bill to replace the civil service laws which have trapped the government into rigidity, inefficiency and ineffectiveness.
We need a bill to provide for $1 a year consultants and managers on the World War 2 model. It would be literally illegal today to mobilize the American people and the talent of American entrepreneurs and executives the way we did in World War Two. We need a model bill to cut through the time consuming regulatory processes. In the age of the internet we should be able to develop ideas and publish them online and have rapid response, analysis and decision in a timeline much closer to modern business. 3. SMART GOVERNMENT NOW: The September Opportunity The concept of a 12 person "super committee" to find $1.5 trillion in savings is inherently wrong. There are 535 house and senate members. The other 523 should be involved. There are 117 committees and subcommittees with experienced members and staff. All should be engaged in fundamental rethinking. The $1.5 trillion goal is too small. The Obama deficits are project to add over $9 trillion in new debt. The goal of modernization should be a balanced budget and then surpluses to pay down the debt. We need ideas and suggestions for every subcommittee and committee. We should encourage every American with experience in lean six sigma to make their recommendations for hearings and projects for all 117 of the committees and subcommittees. 4. Coordination and implementation This is an enormous project. It is far beyond the ability of the Newt 2012 team to coordinate and implement without a lot of help. 5. A 21st Century Food and Drug Administration as a model. The current culture and structure of the FDA is adversarial, arms length,
slow, and expensive. It kills continuous improvement because every change costs so much to get approved. It kills small innovations and small startups because it is too expensive and takes too much time. The cost of FDA procedures in time and money is driving American science out of the country. More and more breakthroughs in American laboratories will become products in China, India, Singapore, Japan, or Europe and then be exported to the United States. We will lose hundreds of thousands of jobs and hundreds of billions of dollars. Since health will be the biggest market in the world the potential jobs and sales for the leading health country is enormous. A 21st century FDA would have as its mission being in the laboratory as new science was developed and accelerating its delivery to the patient and the market. A 21st century FDA would measure its success by how many new American products were approved and how much America led the world in introducing new health solutions. This requires a profound change in structure, systems and culture from the current FDA. This should be an early project of the SMART GOVERNMENT NOW effort and should lead to extensive House and Senate hearings this fall. It is one of the most important jog creating reforms government could undertake.