I 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2188 

To require government-wide application of continuous process improvement 

methods to reduce waste and improve the effectiveness of the Federal 

Government, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 15, 2011 

Mr. LATHAM (for himself and Mr. BURGESS) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform 

A BILL 

To require government-wide application of continuous process 

improvement methods to reduce waste and improve the 

effectiveness of the Federal Government, and for other 

purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘LESS Government 

5 Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS; POLICY. 

7 (a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) Nearly 100 major United States corpora2 tions, and many government entities around the 

3 world, have reduced waste in their operations and 

4 improved the quality of the goods and services they 

5 provide by implementing a continuous process im6 provement methodology known as lean six sigma. 

7 (2) Use of this methodology has resulted in av8 erage cost reductions greater than 25 percent while 

9 also improving the quality of goods and services. 

10 (3) The piloted use of lean six sigma within the 

11 Department of Defense and several other depart12 ments and agencies has demonstrated that it can 

13 successfully be applied across the Federal Govern14 ment. 

15 (4) Continuous process improvement is essential 

16 for Federal agencies to be successful in setting and 

17 meeting performance goals and is a key component 

18 that is missing from current statutory requirements 

19 for performance improvement efforts. 

20 (5) Clear direction and authority from Congress 

21 is needed to ensure this innovative management 

22 process from the private sector is applied across the 

23 Federal Government to achieve waste reduction and 

24 optimal efficiency. 


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1 (b) CONGRESSIONAL STATEMENT OF POLICY.—It 

2 shall be the policy of the United States— 

3 (1) to reduce waste and improve the effective4 ness of the Federal Government through the use of 

5 continuous process improvement methods; 

6 (2) to require each Federal agency to imple7 ment the necessary capabilities to fully institu8 tionalize such methods within such agency to reduce 

9 waste while maintaining or improving the level of 

10 services provided by the Federal Government; and 

11 (3) to return savings from such methods to the 

12 United States Treasury to reduce the deficit. 

13 SEC. 3. CONTINUOUS PROCESS IMPROVEMENT. 

14 (a) CONTINUOUS PROCESS IMPROVEMENT DE15 FINED.—Section 1101 of title 31, United States Code, is 

16 amended by adding at the end the following new para17 graph: 

18 ‘‘(3) ‘continuous process improvement’ means a 

19 management methodology (commonly referred to as 

20 lean six sigma) that combines tools to improve proc21 ess speed, reduce waste, and incorporate require22 ments with data driven project analysis to provide 

23 products and services with improved quality at lower 

24 cost.’’. 


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1 (b) AGENCY PERFORMANCE REPORTING.—Sub2 section (c) of section 1116 of such title is amended— 

3 (1) in paragraph (6)(E), by striking ‘‘; and’’; 

4 (2) in paragraph (7), by striking the period and 

5 inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

6 (3) by inserting at the end the following new 

7 paragraph: 

8 ‘‘(8) describe the implementation of continuous 

9 process improvement, including information on each 

10 of the following: 

11 ‘‘(A) The extent to which employees have 

12 received continuous process improvement train13 ing appropriate to the position of such em14 ployee, and its relation to the deployment goals 

15 in a typical application of continuous process 

16 improvement. 

17 ‘‘(B) A description of the application of 

18 continuous process improvement in cost-reduc19 tion projects, including any performance or 

20 quality improvements and cost savings realized 

21 as a result of such application. 

22 ‘‘(C) A comparison of the implementation 

23 results to the goal of a 25 percent cost reduc24 tion per project.’’. 


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1 (c) IMPLEMENTATION RESULTS.—Subsection (c) of 

2 section 1122 of such title is amended— 

3 (1) in paragraph (8), by striking ‘‘; and’’; 

4 (2) in paragraph (9), by striking the period and 

5 inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

6 (3) by adding at the end the following new 

7 paragraph: 

8 ‘‘(10) a description of the results of the govern9 ment-wide implementation of continuous process im10 provement.’’. 

11 (d) CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER REQUIREMENT.— 

12 Subsection (b) of section 1123 of such title is amended— 

13 (1) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘; and’’; 

14 (2) in paragraph (4), by striking the period and 

15 inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

16 (3) by inserting at the end the following new 

17 paragraph: 

18 ‘‘(5) implement continuous process improve19 ment within the agency.’’. 

20 (e) PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENT OFFICER RE21 QUIREMENT.—Paragraph (2) of section 1124(a) of such 

22 title is amended— 

23 (1) in subparagraph (E), by striking ‘‘; and’’; 

24 (2) in subparagraph (F), by striking the period 

25 and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 


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1 (3) by inserting at the end the following new 

2 subparagraph: 

3 ‘‘(G) advise and assist the head of the 

4 agency and the Chief Operating Officer on im5 plementing the continuous process improvement 

6 within the agency.’’. 

7 (f) PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENT COUNCIL.—Sub8 section (b) of section 1124 of such title is amended— 

9 (1) in paragraph (1)— 

10 (A) by redesignating subparagraphs (C) 

11 and (D) as (D) and (E), respectively; and 

12 (B) by inserting after subparagraph (B), 

13 the following new subparagraph: 

14 ‘‘(C) an appropriate expert designated by 

15 the Director of the Office of Management and 

16 Budget pursuant to paragraph (4);’’; and 

17 (2) by adding at the end the following new 

18 paragraph: 

19 ‘‘(4) DESIGNATION OF EXPERT ON CONTINUOUS

20 PROCESS IMPROVEMENT.—The Director of the Of21 fice of Management and Budget shall appoint a 

22 highly-qualified expert on continuous process im23 provement to serve as a member of the Performance 

24 Improvement Council to advise on the implementaVerDate Mar 15 2010 03:30 Jun 18, 2011 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2188.IH H2188

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1 tion of continuous process improvement across agen2 cies.’’. 

3 SEC. 4. CENTER OF EXCELLENCE FOR CONTINUOUS PROC4 ESS IMPROVEMENT. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 11 of title 31, United 

6 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol7 lowing new section: 

8 ‘‘§ 1126. Center of Excellence for continuous process 

9 improvement 

10 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the Office of 

11 Management and Budget shall designate a center of excel12 lence for continuous process improvement training, from 

13 within the Department of Defense. 

14 ‘‘(b) FUNCTIONS.—The Director shall ensure that 

15 the center designated under subsection (a) provides agen16 cies with a common set of approaches to training and de17 ployment of continuous process improvement.’’. 

18 (b) DESIGNATION.—The Director of the Office of 

19 Management and Budget shall designate the center of ex20 cellence required under section 1126(a) of title 31, United 

21 States Code, as added by subsection (a), not later than 

22 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act. 

23 (c) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.— 

24 The table of contents for chapter 11 of title 31, United 


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1 States Code, is amended by inserting after the item relat2 ing to section 1125 the following new item: 

‘‘1126. Center of excellence for continuous process improvement.’’. 

3 SEC. 5. PREPARATION AND SUBMISSION OF APPROPRIA4 TIONS REQUESTS TO THE PRESIDENT. 

5 Paragraph (1) of section 1108(b) of title 31, United 

6 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol7 lowing: ‘‘The head of each agency shall include informa8 tion on the results of cost-reduction projects using contin9 uous process improvement in each relevant appropriation 

10 request for the agency, and an explanation of how any 

11 savings from such implementation have impacted the 

12 agency’s request.’’. 

13 SEC. 6. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

14 Except as otherwise expressly provided under this 

15 Act, this Act and the amendments made by this Act shall 

16 take effect 6 months after the date of the enactment of 

17 this Act. 

Æ 


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