1. Charge the Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations with responsibility to improve intergovernmental service delivery. (Reinvent the Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations (ACIR) and charge it with responsibility for continuous improvement in federal, state, and local partnership and intergovernmental service delivery.) (2) ACIR has a relevant charter, a framework for true intergovernmental collaboration, and the potential for continuous improvement and performance measurement of the intergovernmental partnership. The institution does not need to be abandoned; it should be reinvented to provide an ongoing vehicle for bipartisan intergovernmental policy debate and research. Its mission needs to be more clearly focused on performance measurement, long-term improvements in intergovernmental grantmaking and regulation, and assessing intergovernmental fiscal impact. The President should work closely with the Speaker of the House, the Vice President, and representatives of the organizations that have traditionally nominated the membership (National Governors' Association, National League of Cities, etc.) to collaborate in identifying a slate of candidates for the next full-year term (FY 1994) who are unequivocally committed to service delivery improvement and management reform. Citizen members should be drawn from both the private and private non-profit sectors. Elected and appointed members should be officials with a demonstrated commitment to innovation and cost-effective delivery of public services. Congressional members should have a demonstrated interest in government performance and accountability, as well as a commitment to legislative reform and modernization. A strong staff with extensive federal and/or state and local experience should be recruited and should-- from inception--work very closely with the Cabinet- level Enterprise Board (discussed earlier) on issues of mutual interest. A reinvented ACIR could become the honest broker among and between competing and sometimes conflicting state and local interest, and competing or uncoordinated federal executive and legislative agencies. Its primary approach should be one of facilitation, supported by high caliber research and policy analysis as well as broad executive and legislative outreach. In the next five years, a reinvented ACIR should design broader solutions to the grant proliferation problem and--in cooperation with strong existing bodies like the National Academy of Public Administration--accumulate evidence of best practices in the public sector and ensure their dissemination to policymakers and managers alike. Finally, ACIR should be encouraged to establish task forces and provide opportunities for a wide range of federal, state, and local elected and appointed officials to offer policy advice, service delivery ideas, and participate directly in the activities of the Commission.
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