[1] The initiative aimed to streamline processes, cut bureaucracy (with a focus on overhead costs beyond issues addressable by statute), and implement innovative solutions.
NPR is recognized as a success and had a lasting impact according to government officials who worked on or were influenced by it under the Bill Clinton and George W. Bush administrations.
[5][6] Toward the end of Clinton's first term, NPR's task evolved from "review and recommend" to "support agencies in their reinventing goals", reflected in the change of the senior advisor from Elaine Kamarck to Morley Winograd.
[3] Around this time the name change occurred to reflect more engagement with relevant public institutions such as student loans, the IRS, and emergency preparedness.
Two decades of low productivity growth and stagnant wages, persistent unemployment and underemployment, years of huge government and declining investment in our future, exploding health care costs, and lack of coverage for millions of Americans, legions of poor children, education and job training opportunities inadequate to the demands of this tough global economy.
"[10] The objectives of the NPR were to "create a clear sense of mission; delegate authority and responsibility; replace regulations with incentives; develop budget-based outcomes; and measure [our] success by customer satisfaction.
"[9] Clinton's proposal consisted of four components, detailing the shift from:[10] Gore presented the National Performance Review on September 7, 1993.
Gore cited the long-term goal to "change the very culture of the federal government," and designated "optimism" and "effective communication" as the keys to success.
The U.S. Department of Commerce "streamlin[ed] the internal grants process" in order to reduce the amount of paperwork involved in applications for financial assistance.
The report recommended that HUD eliminate their annual budget reviews and work with Congress to change rent rules that would increase incentives for people to leave public housing as soon as they find jobs.
[20] Concerning foreign military sales, NPR was unable to resolve whether the federal government's "customer" was nations purchasing arms and technologies or the American taxpayer.
[21] Clinton constructed a proposal to decentralize the human resource function by eliminating the United States Office of Personnel Management (OPM).
The dean of the School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland, Donald Kettl noted the problem of the shrinking government, stating "The reduction didn’t happen in a way that matched workforce needs because they used a strategy for downsizing to hit a target".
Stone worked closely with OPM to gain support for a buyout program that offered payments up to 50,000 to persuade employees to leave.
"[24] In this case, lowest level refers to interagency committees; however, management duties would be assigned to "the politically appointed leadership in the departments and agencies".