[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 212 (Wednesday, November 2, 2011)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 68049-68051]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-28593]
[[Page 68047]]
Vol. 76
Wednesday,
No. 212
November 2, 2011
Part VI
The President
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Memorandum of October 28, 2011--Making It Easier for America's Small
Businesses and America's Exporters to Access Government Services to
Help Them Grow and Hire
Presidential Documents
Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 212 / Wednesday, November 2, 2011 /
Presidential Documents
___________________________________________________________________
Title 3--
The President
[[Page 68049]]
Memorandum of October 28, 2011
Making It Easier for America's Small Businesses
and America's Exporters to Access Government Services
to Help Them Grow and Hire
Memorandum for the Heads of Executive Departments and
Agencies
As I outlined in my State of the Union address to the
Congress on January 25, 2011, winning the future in the
global economy will require a Government that wisely
allocates its scarce resources to maximize efficiency
and effectiveness so that it can best support American
competitiveness, innovation, and job growth. If we are
to thrive in the global economy, and make America the
best place on Earth to do business, we need to equip
our Government with the tools necessary to support
innovation and job growth in the 21st century.
Accordingly, we must make it easier for businesses to
access the full range of Government programs and
services without having to waste effort navigating
their way through the Federal bureaucracy. At the same
time, we must further streamline and coordinate Federal
programs to reduce costs and provide customer-oriented
service.
Businesses looking for assistance from the Federal
Government should feel like they are interacting with
one entity, rather than a number of separate, albeit
linked, components. This means adopting a ``No Wrong
Door'' policy that uses technology to quickly connect
businesses to the services and information relevant to
them, regardless of which agency's website, call
center, or office they go to for help.
In addition, a business's interactions with the Federal
Government should be individualized and efficient. If
the private sector can allow consumers to customize
interactions so that they receive only the information
they want, in the form they want it, so can the Federal
Government.
Today, I am directing a first wave of changes focused
on both small businesses and businesses of all sizes
that want to begin or increase exporting (exporters),
because those businesses help drive economic growth and
have the most to gain from Federal assistance. We plan
to use the resulting improvements as a model for future
reforms so that, in time, all businesses and all
citizens receive the highest level of customer service
when they interact with the Federal Government.
Accordingly, I direct the following:
(1) All executive departments and agencies
(agencies) shall work with a Steering Committee co-
chaired by the Federal Chief Information Officer,
Assistant to the President and Chief Technology
Officer, and Chief Performance Officer (the Co-Chairs)
to carry out the directives in this memorandum within
90 days of the date of this memorandum, unless a
provision of this memorandum expressly states
otherwise. The Steering Committee shall include senior
policy and technical representatives, appointed by the
heads of their respective agencies, from the
Departments of State, Defense, Agriculture, Commerce,
and Veterans Affairs, the Small Business Administration
(SBA), the General Services Administration (GSA), the
Export-Import Bank,
[[Page 68050]]
and other agencies designated by the Co-Chairs. The Co-
Chairs and representatives from the Department of
Commerce and SBA shall serve as the Executive Committee
of the Steering Committee, which shall coordinate the
strategy, design, development, launch, and operation of
BusinessUSA, a common, open, online platform and web
service with dedicated resources that will, as a first
step, disseminate core information regarding the
Federal Government's programs and services relevant to
small businesses and exporters.
(2) Agencies shall work with the Steering Committee
to develop and launch an introductory version of
BusinessUSA. BusinessUSA shall be designed, tested, and
built with the active feedback of U.S. businesses and
relevant online communities. To the extent appropriate,
practicable, and permitted by law, the BusinessUSA
platform shall integrate related State and local
government services as well as those of private sector
partners.
(3) Agencies shall make information regarding their
small business and export programs and services
accessible through BusinessUSA. To accomplish this in a
uniform fashion, the Steering Committee shall develop a
common set of standards for content available through
BusinessUSA, which shall identify the types of programs
and services to be included initially on BusinessUSA
and a structure for organizing and presenting such
information. These standards shall be used by all
agencies in the creation, presentation, and delivery of
information regarding their programs and services, to
the extent practicable and permitted by law.
(4) Agencies shall also work with the Steering
Committee to develop new content for BusinessUSA that
synthesizes information available across agencies to
better serve small businesses and exporters. Among
other things, agencies shall work together to aggregate
on the BusinessUSA platform statistical, demographic,
and other raw Government datasets of particular
interest to small businesses and exporters, making
Government data more easily accessible and spurring
innovative uses of the data through business-oriented
web or mobile applications.
(5) Agencies shall integrate BusinessUSA, including
ready access to the BusinessUSA website, into their
current websites, call centers, and field offices to
ensure that small businesses and exporters have access
to the wide range of Government programs and services
at each entry point into the Federal Government. During
the year following the date of this memorandum,
agencies shall work with GSA and the Office of
Management and Budget to enhance the centralized call
center for responding to public questions about Federal
programs and services (1-800-FED-INFO) to add expertise
with Government programs and services for small
businesses and exporters.
(6) (a) Nothing in this memorandum shall be
construed to impair or otherwise affect:
(i) authority granted by law or Executive Order to an agency, or the head
thereof; or
(ii) functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget
relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.
(b) BusinessUSA shall be operated by a single hosting agency under the
Executive Committee's coordination. To the extent permitted by law,
agencies shall reimburse the hosting agency for the cost of establishing,
maintaining, and operating BusinessUSA.
(c) This memorandum shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and
subject to the availability of appropriations.
(d) This memorandum is not intended to, and does not, create any right or
benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any
party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities,
its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.
[[Page 68051]]
(7) The Director of the Office of Management and
Budget is authorized and directed to publish this
memorandum in the Federal Register.
(Presidential Sig.)
THE WHITE HOUSE,
Washington, October 28, 2011.
[FR Doc. 2011-28593
Filed 11-1-11; 11:15 am]
Billing code 3110-01-P