Executive Order: Technology

      THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release
January 12, 1999


EXECUTIVE ORDER



USING TECHNOLOGY TO IMPROVE TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES
FOR FEDERAL GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES


        Advances in technology and increased skills needs are changing the
workplace at an ever increasing rate.   These advances can make Federal
employees more productive and pro-vide improved service to our customers,
the American taxpayers. We need to ensure that we continue to train
Federal employees to take full advantage of these technological advances
and to acquire the skills and learning needed to succeed in a changing
workplace.  A coordinated Federal effort is needed to provide flexible
training oppor-tunities to employees and to explore how Federal training
programs, initiatives, and policies can better support lifelong learning
through the use of learning technology.

        To help us meet these goals, I am creating a task force on Federal
training technology, directing Federal agencies to take certain steps to
enhance employees' training oppor-tunities through the use of training
technology, and an advisory com-mittee on the use of training technology,
which also will explore options for financing the training and
post-secondary education needed to upgrade skills and gain new knowledge.

        Therefore, by the authority vested in me as President by the
Constitution and the laws of the united States of America, including the
Federal Advisory Committee Act, as amended (5 U.S.C. App.), and in
furtherance of the purposes of Chapter 41 of title 5, united States Code,
the Government Employe'es Training Act of 1958 (Public Law 85-507), as
amended, and Executive Order 11348, "providing for the Further Training of
Government Employees," and in order to make effective use of technology to
improve training opportunities for Federal Government employees, it is
ordered as follows:

        Section 1. Establishment of the President's Task Force on Federal
Training Technology.   (a) The "President's Task Force on Federal Training
Technology" (Task Force) is established.  The Task Force shall provide
leadership regarding the effective use of technology in training and
education; make training opportunities an integral part of continuing
employment in the Federal Government; and facilitate the ongoing
coordina-tion of Federal activities concerning the use of technology in
training.  The Task Force shall consist of the heads of the following
depart-ments and agencies or their representatives:  the Departments of
State, the Treasury, Defense, Justice, Interior, Agriculture, Commerce,
Labor, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development,
Transportation, Energy, and Education; the Office,of Personnel Management,
General Services Administra-tion, Environmental Protection Agency,


National Aeronautics and Space and Administration, Small Business
Administration, and Social Security Adminis-tration; a representative from
the Small Agency Council; and representatives from other relevant agencies
and related Federal councils, as determined by the Chair and Vice Chair of
the Task Force.

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        (b)  Within 30 days of the date of this order, the head of each
agency or council shall designate a senior official to serve as a
representative to the Task Force. The represen-tative shall report
directly to the agency head or the President's Management Council member
on the agency's or council's activities under this order.

        (c)  The Director of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM)
shall be the Chair and the representative from the Department of Labor
shall be the Vice Chair of the Task Force.

        (d)   The Chair and Vice Chair shall appoint an Executive Director.

        (e)  The Task Force member agencies shall provide any required
staffing and funding, as appropriate.

        Sec. 2. Duties of the Task Force.   (a)  within 18 months of the date of
this order, the Task Force shall develop and recommend to the President,
through the Assistant to the Presi-dent for Economic Policy and the
Assistant to the President
for Science and Technology, a policy to make effective use of technology
to improve training opportunities for Federal Govern-ment employees.  The
policy should promote and integrate the effective use of training
technologies to create affordable and convenient training opportunities to
improve Federal employee performance.  The Task Force shall seek the views
of experts from industry, academia, and State and local governments as the
Task Force proceeds, as appropriate.  Specifically, the Task Force shall:

         (1) develop strategies to improve the efficiency and availability
of training opportunities for Federal Government employees;

        (2)  form partnerships among key Federal agencies, State and local
governments, businesses, universities, and other appropriate entities to
promote the development and use of high-quality training opportunities;

        (3)  analyze the use of technology in existing training programs
and policies of the Task Force member agencies to determine what changes,
modifications, and innovations may be necessary to advance training
opportunities;

        (4)  in consultation with the Department of Defense and the
National Institute of Standards and Technology, recommend standards for
training software and associated services purchased by Federal agencies
and contractors. These standards should be consistent with voluntary
industry consensus-based commercial standards. Agencies, where
appropriate, should use these standards in procure-ments to promote
reusable training component software and thereby reduce duplication in the


development of courseware;

        (5)  evaluate and, where appropriate, coordinate and collaborate
on, research and demonstration activities of Task Force member agencies
related to Federal training technology;

        (6)  identify and support cross-agency training areas that would
particularly benefit from new instructional technologies and facilitate
multiagency procurement and use of training materials, where appropriate;

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        (7)  in consultation with the General Services Administration, the
Office of Personnel Management, and the Office of Federal Procurement
Policy of the Office of Management and Budget (OFPP), promote existing and
new procurement vehicles that allow agencies to provide innovative
training opportunities for Federal employees;

        (8)  recommend changes that may be needed to existing procurement
laws to further the objectives of this order and forward the
recommendations to the Administrator of OFPP; and

         (b) develop options and recommendations for establishing a
Federal Individual Training Account for each Federal worker for training
relevant to his or her Federal employment. To the extent permitted by
law, such accounts may be established with the funds allocated to the
agency for employee training. Approval for training would be within the
discretion of the individual employee'S manager. Options and
recommendations shall be reported no later than 6 months from the date of
this order.

        Sec. 3. Duties of All Federal Agencies.   (a)   Each Federal agency shall,
to the extent permitted by law:

        (1)  include as part of its annual budget process a set of goals
to provide the highest quality and most efficient training opportunities
possible to its employees, and a set of performance measures of the
quality and availability of training opportunities possible to its
employees.  Such measures should be, where appropriate, based on outcomes
related to performance rather than time allocation;

        (2)  identify the resources necessary to achieve the
aforementioned goals and performance measures articulated in its annual
performance plan;

        (3)  and, where practicable, use the standards recommended by the
Task Force and published by the Office of Personnel Management for
purchasing training software and associated services; and

         (4) subject to the availability of appro-priations, post training
courses, information, and other learning opportunities on the Department
of Labor's America's Learning Exchange (ALX) , or other appropriate
information dissemination vehicles as determined by the Task Force, to
make information about Federal training courses, informa-tion, and other
learning opportunities widely available to Federal employees.


        (b)  Each Federal agency, to the extent permitted by law, is
encouraged to consider how savings achieved through the efficient use of
training technology can be reinvested in improved training for their
employees.

        Sec. 4. Duties of Specific Federal Agencies.   (a)  In light of the
Office of Personnel Management's responsibility for developing
Government-wide training policy, coordinating and managing training policy
programs, and providing technical assistance to Federal agencies, the
Office of Personnel Manage-ment or other appropriate agency as determined
by the Task Force shall:

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         (1) in consultation with the Task Force, the Department of
Defense, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the
Department of Labor, and other appropriate agencies as determined by OPM,
publish the standards for training software and associated services
recommended by the Task Force; and

        (2)  ensure that qualification standards for civil service
positions, where appropriate, reflect standard industry certification
practices.

        (b)  The Department of Labor or other appropriate agency as
determined by the Task Force shall, subject to the availability of
appropriations:

        (1)  establish a specialized database for Federal training within
the framework of the Department of Labor's ALX, or other appropriate
information dissemination vehicles determined by the Task Force, to make
information about Federal training courses, information, and other
learning opportunities widely available to Federal employees;

        (2)  establish and maintain a training technology website for
agencies to post training needs and to foster communication among the
agencies and between public and private sector organizations to identify
and meet common needs; and

        (3)  establish a staffed help desk and technology resource center
to support Federal agencies using training technology and to facilitate
the development of online training courses.

        (c) The Department of Defense or other appropriate agency as
determined by the Task Force shall:

        (1)  in consultation with the National Institute of Standards and
Technology, lead Federal participation in business and university
organizations charged with developing consensus standards for training
software and associated services and lead the Federal review of the
standards; and

         (2) provide guidance to Defense agencies and advise the civilian
agencies, as appropriate, on how best to use these standards for
large-scale development and implemen-tation of efficient and effective
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distributed learning technologies.

         (d) Each Executive department shall designate at least one
subject area of training that it will use to demonstrate opportunities in
technology-based training and assign an agency leader in the designated
area. Leaders in these training tech-nology experiments shall work
closely with other agencies with similar training interests.  Each
Executive department shall develop a plan for measuring and evaluating the
effectiveness, cost-effectiveness, and benefits to employees and the
agency for each designated subject area.

       Sec. 5.   Establishment of Advisory Committee on Expanding Training
Opportunities.

        The Advisory Committee on Expanding Training Opportunities
(Committee) is established. The Committee shall consist of not more that
20 members appointed by the President from outside the Federal Government,
including representatives of the research,

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education, labor, and training communities, information tech-nology
sector, and representatives from other critical sectors. The President
shall designate Co-Chairs from among the members of the Committee.

        Sec. 6.  Functions of the Advisory Committee. The Committee shall
provide the President, through the Assistant to the President for Economic
policy and the Assistant to the President for Science and Technology
(Assistants to the President), with:  (a)  an independent assessment of:

         (1) progress made by the Federal Government in its use and
integration of technology in training programs, particularly in the use of
voluntary industry consensus-based commercial standards for training
software and associated services;

        (2)  how Federal Government programs, initiatives, and policies
can encourage or accelerate training tech-nology to provide more
accessible, more timely, and more cost-effective training opportunities
for all Americans;

         (3) mechanisms for the Federal Government to encourage private
sector investment in the development of high-quality instructional
software and wider deployment and utilization of technology-mediated
instruction so that all Americans may take advantage of the opportunities
provided by learning technology; and

        (4)  the appropriate Federal Government role in research and
development for learning technologies and their applications in order to
develop high-quality training and education opportunities for all
Americans;

         (b) an analysis of options for helping adult Americans finance
the training and post-secondary education needed to upgrade skills and
gain new knowledge.  Options for financial mechanisms may include grants,
tax incentives, low-interest loans, or other vehicles to make training and
post-secondary education accessible to adults throughout their lifetimes;
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        (c)  advice on other issues regarding emerging technologies in
government training and financing training and post-secondary education
for adult Americans as specified by the Assistants to the President.

        Sec. 7. Administration of the Advisory Committee.   (a)  To the extent
permitted by law and subject to the availability of appropriations, the
Office of Personnel Management shall provide the financial and
administrative support for the Committee.

        (b)  The heads of Executive agencies shall, to the extent
permitted by law, provide to the Committee such information as it may
require for the purpose of carrying out its functions.

         (c) The Committee Co-Chairs may, from time to time, invite
experts to submit information to the Committee and may form subcommittees
or working groups within the Committee to review specific issues.

        (d)  Members of the Committee shall serve without compensation but
shall be allowed travel expenses, including per diem instead of
subsistence, as authorized by law for persons serving intermittently in
the Government service (5 u.s.c. 5701-5707).

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         (e) Notwithstanding any other Executive order, the functions of
the President under the Federal Advisory Committee Act, as amended, that
are applicable to the Committee, except that of reporting to the Congress,
shall be performed by the Office of Personnel Management in accordance
with guidelines that have been issued by the Administrator of General
Services.

        (f)  The Committee shall terminate 2 years from the date of this
order unless extended by the President prior to such date.

        Sec. 8.  Definitions.  (a)  As used in this order, the terms "agency,"
"employee," "Government," and "training" have the meaning given to those
terms, respectively, by section 4101 of title 5, United States Code.

         (b) The term "technology," means any equipment or interconnected
system or subsystem of equipment that is used in the automatic
acquisition, storage, manipulation, manage-ment, movement, control,
display, switching, interchange, transmission, or reception of data or
information, including computers, ancillary equipment, software, firmware
and similar procedures, services (including support services), and related
resources.   For purposes of the preceding sentence, equipment is used by
an Executive agency if the equipment is used by the Executive agency
directly or is used by a contractor under a contract with the Executive
agency that requires the use of such equipment. The term "technology"
does not include any equipment that is acquired by a Federal contractor
incidental to a Federal contract.

        Sec. 9. Judicial Review. This order does not create any enforceable
rights against the United States, its agencies, its officers, or any
(0'




 person.




                         WILLIAM J. CLINTON




 THE WHITE HOUSE,
     January 12, 1999.


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