I 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5064 

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 

JULY 10, 2014 

Mr. LATHAM (for himself, Mr. CUELLAR, Mr. COLLINS of New York, Mr. 

HALL, Mr. WILSON of South Carolina, Mr. BURGESS, and Mr. RICE of 

South Carolina) 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 ‘‘Lean and Responsive 

5 Government 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, countless small businesses, and many govern3 ment entities around the world have reduced waste 

4 in their operations and improved the quality of the 

5 goods and services they provide by implementing 

6 continuous process improvement methodologies, 

7 most commonly lean six sigma. 

8 (2) Use of this methodology has resulted in av9 erage cost reductions greater than 25 percent while 

10 also improving the quality of goods and services. 

11 (3) The use of continuous process improvement 

12 lean six sigma within the Department of Defense 

13 and several other departments and agencies has 

14 demonstrated that it can successfully be applied 

15 across the Federal Government. 

16 (4) Continuous process improvement is essential 

17 for Federal agencies to be successful in setting and 

18 meeting performance goals and is a key component 

19 that is missing from current statutory requirements 

20 for performance improvement efforts. 

21 (5) Clear direction and authority from Congress 

22 is needed to ensure this innovative management 

23 process from the private sector is applied across the 

24 Federal Government to achieve waste reduction and 

25 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) that the savings from such methods may be 

12 used to justify agency funding requests. 

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 and inserting a semicolon; 

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

6 inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

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

8 paragraph: 

9 ‘‘(8) describe the implementation of continuous 

10 process improvement, including information on each 

11 of the following: 

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

13 received continuous process improvement train14 ing appropriate to the position of such em15 ployee, and its relation to the deployment goals 

16 in a typical application of continuous process 

17 improvement. 

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

19 continuous process improvement in cost-reduc20 tion projects, including any performance or 

21 quality improvements and cost savings realized 

22 as a result of such application.’’. 

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

24 section 1122 of such title is amended— 


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

2 inserting a semicolon; 

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

4 inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

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

6 paragraph: 

7 ‘‘(10) a description of the results of the govern8 ment-wide implementation of continuous process im9 provement.’’. 

10 (d) CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER REQUIREMENT.— 

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

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

13 inserting a semicolon; 

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 and inserting a semicolon; 


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

2 and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

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

4 subparagraph: 

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

6 agency and the Chief Operating Officer on im7 plementing the continuous process improvement 

8 within the agency.’’. 

9 (f) PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENT COUNCIL.—Sub10 section (b) of section 1124 of such title is amended— 

11 (1) in paragraph (1)— 

12 (A) by redesignating subparagraphs (C) 

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

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

15 the following new subparagraph: 

16 ‘‘(C) an appropriate expert designated by 

17 the Director of the Office of Management and 

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

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

20 paragraph: 

21 ‘‘(4) DESIGNATION OF EXPERT ON CONTINUOUS

22 PROCESS IMPROVEMENT.—The Director of the Of23 fice of Management and Budget shall appoint a 

24 highly-qualified expert on continuous process im25 provement to serve as a member of the Performance 


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1 Improvement Council to advise on the implementa2 tion of continuous process improvement across agen3 cies.’’. 

4 SEC. 4. CENTER OF EXCELLENCE FOR CONTINUOUS PROC5 ESS IMPROVEMENT. 

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

7 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol8 lowing new section: 

9 ‘‘§ 1126. Center of excellence for continuous process 

10 improvement 

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

12 Management and Budget shall designate a center of excel13 lence for continuous process improvement training, from 

14 within the Department of Defense. 

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

16 the center designated under subsection (a) provides agen17 cies with a common set of approaches to training and de18 ployment of continuous process improvement.’’. 

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

20 Management and Budget shall designate the center of ex21 cellence required under section 1126(a) of title 31, United 

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

23 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act. 

24 (c) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.— 

25 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 continuous process improvement 

9 projects in each relevant appropriation request for the 

10 agency. The head of an agency may submit a proposal on 

11 alternate uses of the funds that have not been used as 

12 a result of continuous process improvement projects.’’. 

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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