Executive Order 12837—Deficit Control and Productivity Improvement in the Administration of the Federal Government

By the authority vested in my as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including the Budget and Accounting Act of 1921, as amended (31 U.S.C. 1101 et seq.), and section 301 of title 3, United States Code, and in order to assist in the control of the Federal deficit and improve the administrative productivity of the Federal Government, it is hereby ordered as follows: Section 1. All executive departments and agencies shall include a separate category for "administrative expenses" when submitting their appropriation requests to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for fiscal years 1994 through 1997. The Director of OMB (Director), in consultation with the agencies, shall establish and revise as necessary a definition of administrative expenses for the agencies. All questions regarding the definition of administrative expenses shall be resolved by the Director. Sec. 2. The purpose of this order is to achieve real reductions in the administrative costs of Federal agencies. In order to accomplish that goal, agencies shall submit budgets that reflect the following reductions from the fiscal year 1993 baseline: (a) For fiscal year 1994, all agencies shall submit budget requests that reflect no less than a 3 percent reduction in administrative expenses from the amount made available for fiscal year 1993 adjusted for inflation; (b) For fiscal year 1995, all agencies shall submit budget requests that reflect no less than a 6 percent reduction in administrative expenses from the amounts made available for fiscal year 1993 adjusted for inflation; (c) For fiscal year 1996, all agencies shall submit budget requests that reflect no less than a 9 percent reduction in administrative expenses from the amounts made available for fiscal year 1993 adjusted for inflation; (d) For fiscal year 1997, all agencies shall submit budget requests that reflect no less than a 14 percent reduction in administrative expenses from the amounts made available for fiscal year 1993 adjusted for inflation. Sec. 3. The Director shall review agency requests for administrative expenses. The Director shall ensure that all agency requests or such expenses are reduced in accordance with section 2. To the extent that any agency fails to comply with the mandates of section 2, the Director is authorized to reduce the request for administrative expenses in that agency’s budget to achieve the appropriate reduction. Sec. 4 All independent regulatory commissions and agencies are requested to comply with the provisions of this order. William J. Clinton THE WHITE HOUSE, February 10, 1993.