The proposed realignment of federal agencies announced by the Obama administration would be more extensive than first announced last Friday, affecting the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Institute of Standards and Technology among other agencies, according to a report today by Federal Computer Week.
Office of Management and Budget’s Jeffrey Zients, who earlier today was named OMB acting director, told reporters during a briefing Jan. 13, that there would be a second phase of the proposed reorganization. In the initial announcement, the White House proposed a realignment that called for merging six trade agencies into a new, cabinet-level agency to promote export and business development.
But the White House also has its eyes on consolidating other agencies in a more sweeping effort that would significantly impact the Commerce Department, according to the FCW report.
Under the proposal, NOAA–which is said to comprise more than half of the Commerce Department’s budget and includes the National Weather Service-would be moved into the Interior Department, Zients told reporters.
Five other Commerce agencies, including the NIST, the Census Bureau, and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, along with the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Bureau of Economic Analysis would also be moved into the new department, according to Zients.
The new department would be organized around four pillars, Zients said to reporters:
- Small business and economic development
- Trade and investment
- Technology and innovation
- Economic statistics
The White House had announced on Friday that it planned to roll up the Small Business Administration, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, the Export-Import Bank, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation and the Trade Development Agency into a new agency aimed at making it easier for businesses to develop their export businesses.
Zients, in a memo to agency heads Jan. 13, also plans to work with 11 departments and agencies to identify programs–and a senior accountability official to review them–in order to gain greater visibility of how programs are aligned with agency goals.
That proposal to move NOAA quickly sparked opposition from the National Weather Service Employees Union, is expected to come under significant resistance, according to an article in the Washington Post’s Federal Eye.