That statute required agencies to obtain approval of the Bureau of the Budget (a direct predecessor of OMB) before imposing information collection burdens on the public.

However, large departments such as the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the Government Accountability Office (GAO) were exempted from the requirement,[6] and the statute neglected to include sanctions for agencies' noncompliance.

[8] Some agencies refused to submit requests for approval;[9] others sought and received alternative processes,[10] fragmenting the regulatory system and increasing the chance of duplicative and wasteful demands for information.

[13] The agency must ensure that forms include certain items, for instance: an explanation to its audience of the purposes of the information collection,[14] an estimate of the paperwork burden,[15] and whether response is voluntary.

[21] The process created by the Paperwork Reduction Act makes OIRA into a centralized clearinghouse for all government forms.