Comprehensive Plan for Reorganizing the Executive Branch
Signed March 13, 2017·Donald Trump·82 FR 13959
Source
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Plain-language summary
Directs the Director of the Office of Management and Budget to develop a plan for reorganizing the executive branch to improve efficiency, effectiveness, and accountability, including possibly eliminating or merging unnecessary agencies, components, or programs. Requires each agency head to submit a proposed reorganization plan to the Director within 180 days. Requires the Director to publish a Federal Register notice inviting public suggestions, consider them, and then submit a governmentwide reorganization plan to the President within 180 days after the public comment period closes, including recommendations for any legislative or administrative changes needed. Instructs the Director, in preparing the plan, to weigh factors such as whether functions belong at the federal, state, local, or private level, whether functions are redundant, whether costs are justified by public benefits, and the costs of eliminating or merging entities, and to consult with agency heads and outside experts. States it does not alter existing legal authorities and creates no enforceable rights.
Not written or reviewed by a person. Read the full order below for anything you intend to rely on.
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Claimed authority
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered
Quoted from the order as written. Many orders cite nothing more specific than “the Constitution and the laws”; this reproduces what the order claims, not an assessment of whether it holds.
Disposition
See: EO 13807, August 15, 2017
Compiled after the fact by the National Archives, so recent orders often have none yet. An empty disposition means no record, not no activity.
The order, in full
Executive Order 13781 of March 13, 2017
Comprehensive Plan for Reorganizing the Executive
Branch
By the authority vested in me as President by the
Constitution and the laws of the United States of
America, it is hereby ordered as follows:
Section 1. Purpose. This order is intended to improve
the efficiency, effectiveness, and accountability of
the executive branch by directing the Director of the
Office of Management and Budget (Director) to propose a
plan to reorganize governmental functions and eliminate
unnecessary agencies (as defined in section 551(1) of
title 5, United States Code), components of agencies,
and agency programs.
Sec. 2. Proposed Plan to Improve the Efficiency,
Effectiveness, and Accountability of Federal Agencies,
Including, as Appropriate, to Eliminate or Reorganize
Unnecessary or Redundant Federal Agencies. (a) Within
180 days of the date of this order, the head of each
agency shall submit to the Director a proposed plan to
reorganize the agency, if appropriate, in order to
improve the efficiency, effectiveness, and
accountability of that agency.
(b) The Director shall publish a notice in the
Federal Register inviting the public to suggest
improvements in the organization and functioning of the
executive branch and shall consider the suggestions
when formulating the proposed plan described in
subsection (c) of this section.
(c) Within 180 days after the closing date for the
submission of suggestions pursuant to subsection (b) of
this section, the Director shall submit to the
President a proposed plan to reorganize the executive
branch in order to improve the efficiency,
effectiveness, and accountability of agencies. The
proposed plan shall include, as appropriate,
recommendations to eliminate unnecessary agencies,
components of agencies, and agency programs, and to
merge functions. The proposed plan shall include
recommendations for any legislation or administrative
measures necessary to achieve the proposed
reorganization.
(d) In developing the proposed plan described in
subsection (c) of this section, the Director shall
consider, in addition to any other relevant factors:
(i) whether some or all of the functions of an agency, a component, or a
program are appropriate for the Federal Government or would be better left
to State or local governments or to the private sector through free
enterprise;
(ii) whether some or all of the functions of an agency, a component, or a
program are redundant, including with those of another agency, component,
or program;
(iii) whether certain administrative capabilities necessary for operating
an agency, a component, or a program are redundant with those of another
agency, component, or program;
(iv) whether the costs of continuing to operate an agency, a component, or
a program are justified by the public benefits it provides; and
(v) the costs of shutting down or merging agencies, components, or
programs, including the costs of addressing the equities of affected agency
staff.
(e) In developing the proposed plan described in
subsection (c) of this section, the Director shall
consult with the head of each agency and, consistent
with applicable law, with persons or entities outside
the Federal
Government with relevant expertise in organizational
structure and management.
Sec. 3. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order
shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:
(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or
the head thereof; or
(ii) the functions of the Director relating to budgetary, administrative,
or legislative proposals.
(b) This order shall be implemented consistent with
applicable law and subject to the availability of
appropriations.
(c) This order is not intended to, and does not,
create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural,
enforceable at law or in equity by any party against
the United States, its departments, agencies, or
entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any
other person.
(Presidential Sig.)
THE WHITE HOUSE,
March 13, 2017.Reproduced from the Federal Register plain-text record, signed March 13, 2017. Typesetting artifacts are removed; no wording is changed.