Description: Tags: CFOsRemarks
Description: Tags: CFOsRemarks
Description: Tags: CFOsRemarks
First of all, let me say I am deeply honored to have been chosen by President Bush to be
the Chief Financial Officer of the U.S. Department of Education. I am equally honored
to be a part of the Senior Leadership team at the Department of Education that is working
with Secretary Paige, you and your colleagues around the country to implement HR 1, the
No Child Left Behind Act. I believe this is the most important piece of education reform
Most Americans do not know that the Department of Education, which has the smallest
number of employees of any Cabinet agency, has the third largest discretionary budget,
behind only the Departments of Defense and Health and Human Services (our
discretionary budget for FY 04 is $55.1 billion and $57 billion requested for FY 05). We
are also one of the largest banks in the world, with a student loan portfolio of over $270
• Leadership in education;
• Grants to support state and local reforms to strengthen teaching and learning and
prepare students for citizenship, employment in a changing economy, and lifelong
learning;
• Monitoring and enforcement of civil rights for recipients of federal education funds;
and
To support these activities, the Department administers a budget that consists of $1.2
contractor support to augment the workforce. The Department uses 1.6 contractor staff
for every employee. A growing number of these contractors will come from small and
You ladies and gentlemen have joined us at this conference from communities around the
country, and I know that each of you plays some level of leadership in the parts of the
I therefore want to ask you to support the No Child Left Behind Act because it’s good for
In any discussion of public education in the U.S., there are several issues on which I
First, African Americans, Hispanics and other under privileged youngsters score
significantly lower on math and reading assessment tools than do their peers in the general
population. Now this is not to say that some of these youngsters don’t score at the very
Second, if we look at the performance of our 12th graders on math and science assessment
tools, our kids - all of our kids not just minorities - score lower on math and science
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assessment tools than do their peers in the other western industrialized countries. Indeed,
If we look at the performance of our high school graduates, far too many of these kids are
not: 1) prepared for meaningful employment, 2) are not prepared to enter a college
academic program, 3) may be reading at an 8th grade level and 4) are not even prepared to
And finally, if we look at the cost of public education, adjusted for inflation, we have a
cost curve that is increasing at 35 or 40 percent and a performance curve based on NAEP
National report cards show that, despite the fact we’ve spent trillions of state, federal and
• 7 out of 10 inner-city and rural fourth graders who can’t read at the most basic
level (70%)
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We will close the achievement gap by implementing HR1 with its four pillars of
This law will help provide the well-trained work force that you and the country need to
As you may know, the number and size of bundled contracts within the executive branch
had reached record levels during the last administration. Although contract bundling can
serve a useful purpose, the effect of this increase in contract bundling over the past ten
years cannot be underestimated. Not only are substantially fewer small businesses
receiving federal contracts, but the federal government is suffering from a reduced
supplier base. American small businesses bring innovation, creativity, competition and
lower costs to the federal table. When these businesses are excluded from federal
On March 19, 2002, the President unveiled a Small Business Agenda that proposed
several substantive steps toward creating a dynamic environment where small businesses
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and entrepreneurs can flourish. The plan included new tax incentives, health care
options, and a reduction in regulatory barriers. And for those small businesses seeking to
do business with the federal government, the President announced several proposals to
the President called upon the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to prepare a
In late March 2002, the Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP), within OMB,
This group met on many occasions during the summer and early fall of 2002.
OMB and the interagency working group sought significant public comment. On May 6,
2002, OMB issued a notice in the Federal Register requesting public comments and
received 27 public comments on contract bundling and issues related to the access of
small businesses to federal contracting opportunities. On June 14, 2002, OMB held a
public meeting where interested parties were given an opportunity to express their views.
Comments received from the public, both in writing and at the public meeting, were
bundling:
3. Require contract bundling reviews for task and delivery orders under multiple
subcontracting plans;
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strategies for unbundling contracts and report quarterly to OMB through the President’s
About one year ago, consistent with the action plan OMB required each Executive
Branch agency to implement, the Department’s Chief Operating Officer at the time,
initiative. Secretary Paige, Bill Hansen (during his tenure), and I wanted very aggressive
I believe I am somewhat uniquely qualified to lead this initiative because for most of the
past 28 years, I have been an entrepreneur and small businessman, and I am a graduate of
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the SBA 8(a) program, and spent many years as a consultant under SBA’s 7(J) program. I
also once had a contract to investigate “sham” minority businesses, so I can fully
This conference is one of our many actions to comply with the President’s directive.