§ 901. Purpose

§ 901. Purpose

(a) The Congress declares that it is the policy of the United States—

(1) to promote the better execution of the laws, the more effective management of the executive branch and of its agencies and functions, and the expeditious administration of the public business;

(2) to reduce expenditures and promote economy to the fullest extent consistent with the efficient operation of the Government;

(3) to increase the efficiency of the operations of the Government to the fullest extent practicable;

(4) to group, coordinate, and consolidate agencies and functions of the Government, as nearly as may be, according to major purposes;

(5) to reduce the number of agencies by consolidating those having similar functions under a single head, and to abolish such agencies or functions thereof as may not be necessary for the efficient conduct of the Government; and

(6) to eliminate overlapping and duplication of effort.

(b) Congress declares that the public interest demands the carrying out of the purposes of subsection (a) of this section and that the purposes may be accomplished in great measure by proceeding under this chapter, and can be accomplished more speedily thereby than by the enactment of specific legislation.

(c) It is the intent of Congress that the President should provide appropriate means for broad citizen advice and participation in restructuring and reorganizing the executive branch.

(d) The President shall from time to time examine the organization of all agencies and shall determine what changes in such organization are necessary to carry out any policy set forth in subsection (a) of this section.

(Pub. L. 89–554, Sept. 6, 1966, 80 Stat. 394; Pub. L. 92–179, § 1, Dec. 10, 1971, 85 Stat. 574; Pub. L. 95–17, § 2, Apr. 6, 1977, 91 Stat. 29.)

In subsection (a), the words “from time to time examine” are substituted for “examine and from time to time reexamine” since the initial examination has been executed. The words “of the Government” following “agencies” are omitted as unnecessary in view of the definition of “agency” in section 902. In subsection (a)(1), the words “of the Government” following “executive branch” are omitted as unnecessary and to conform to the style of this title.

Standard changes are made to conform with the definitions applicable and the style of this title as outlined in the preface to the report.

Historical and Revision Notes
Derivation	U.S. Code	Revised Statutes andStatutes at Large
	5 U.S.C. 133z.	June 20, 1949, ch. 226, § 2, 63 Stat. 203.

Editorial Notes

Codification

Section 901(c) of former Title 5, Executive Departments and Government Officers and Employees, was transferred to section 60e–2(a) of Title 2, The Congress.

Amendments

1977—Subsecs. (a) to (d). Pub. L. 95–17 reenacted subsecs. (a) and (b) without change, added subsec. (c), and redesignated former subsec. (c) as (d).

1971—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 92–179, § 1(a), substituted “The Congress declares that it is the policy of the United States” for “The President shall from time to time examine the organization of all agencies and shall determine what changes therein are necessary to accomplish the following purposes” preceding par. (1).

Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 92–179, § 1(b), added subsec. (c) consisting of provisions formerly set out preceding par. (1) of subsec. (a).

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Short Title of 1984 Amendment

Pub. L. 98–614, § 1, Nov. 8, 1984, 98 Stat. 3192, provided: “That this Act [amending sections 903 to 906 and 908 to 912 of this title] may be cited as the ‘Reorganization Act Amendments of 1984’.”

Short Title of 1977 Amendment

Pub. L. 95–17, § 1, Apr. 6, 1977, 91 Stat. 29, provided: “That this Act [amending this chapter] may be cited as the ‘Reorganization Act of 1977’.”

National Commission on Executive Organization

Pub. L. 100–527, § 17, Oct. 25, 1988, 102 Stat. 2645, directed President, within 30 days after Mar. 15, 1989, to make a determination as to whether the national interest would be served by establishment of a National Commission on Executive Organization to review structural organization of executive branch of Federal Government, and stated that if President failed to transmit to Congress notification of his intent to establish such Commission section would cease to be effective 30 days after Mar. 15, 1989. [President did not transmit such notification to Congress and thus section ceased to be effective 30 days after Mar. 15, 1989.]

Executive Documents

Ex. Ord. No. 6166. Reorganization of Executive Agencies Generally

Ex. Ord. No. 6166, June 10, 1933, provided:

§ 1. Procurement

The function of determination of policies and methods of procurement, warehousing, and distribution of property, facilities, structures, improvements, machinery, equipment, stores, and supplies exercised by an agency is transferred to a Procurement Division in the Treasury Department, at the head of which shall be a Director of Procurement.

The Office of the Supervising Architect of the Treasury Department is transferred to the Procurement Division, except that the buildings of the Treasury Department shall be administered by the Treasury Department and the administration of post-office buildings is transferred to the Post Office Department. The General Supply Committee of the Treasury Department is abolished.

In respect of any kind of procurement, warehousing, or distribution for any agency the Procurement Division may, with the approval of the President, (a) undertake the performance of such procurement, warehousing, or distribution itself, or (b) permit such agency to perform such procurement, warehousing, or distribution, or (c) entrust such performance to some other agency, or (d) avail itself in part of any of these recourses, according as it may deem desirable in the interest of economy and efficiency. When the Procurement Division has prescribed the manner of procurement, warehousing, or distribution of any thing, no agency shall thereafter procure, warehouse, or distribute such thing in any manner other than so prescribed.

The execution of work now performed by the Corps of Engineers of the Army shall remain with said corps, subject to the responsibilities herein vested in the Procurement Division.

The Procurement Division shall also have control of all property, facilities, structures, machinery, equipment, stores, and supplies not necessary to the work of any agency; may have custody thereof or entrust custody to any other agency; and shall furnish the same to agencies as need therefor may arise.

The Fuel Yards of the Bureau of Mines of the Department of Commerce are transferred to the Procurement Office. (As amended by Ex. Ord. No. 6623 of Mar. 1, 1934.)

Amendment of Section by Ex. Ord. No. 6623

Ex. Ord. No. 6623, Mar. 1, 1934, revoked a final paragraph of section 1 of Ex. Ord. No. 6166, which provided for the abolition of the Federal Employment Stabilization Board and the transfer of its functions to the Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works. Said Ex. Ord. No. 6623 also provided in part as follows:

“It is further ordered that the said Federal Employment Stabilization Board be, and it is hereby, abolished.

“There is hereby established in the Department of Commerce an office to be known as the ‘Federal Employment Stabilization Office,’ and there are hereby transferred to such office the functions of the Federal Employment Stabilization Board, together with its Director and other personnel, and records, supplies, equipment, and property of every kind.

“The unexpended balances of appropriations and/or allotments of appropriations of the Federal Employment Stabilization Board are hereby transferred to the Federal Employment Stabilization Office, Department of Commerce.”

Effective Date

The effective date of Ex. Ord. No. 6166, § 1, as provided for in section 22, post, was extended to Dec. 31, 1933, by Ex. Ord. No. 6224, of July 27, 1933, and the effective date of the last paragraph, subsequently revoked by Ex. Ord. No. 6623, was deferred by Ex. Ord. No. 6624 of Mar. 1, 1934, until such revocation could become effective.

[Subsequent to the effective date of Ex. Ord. No. 6166, § 1, certain functions affected thereby were again transferred as follows: The Public Buildings Branch of the Procurement Division was transferred to Public Buildings Administration within the Federal Works Administration by 1939 Reorg. Plan No. 1, §§ 301, 303, 4 Fed. Reg. 2729; 53 Stat. 1426, 1427; the Federal Employment Stabilization Office, created by Ex. Ord. No. 6166, § 1, as amended by Ex. Ord. No. 6624, was abolished by 1939 Reorg. Plan No. 1, § 4, 4 Fed. Reg. 2727, 53 Stat. 1423, and its functions transferred to the Executive Office of the President.]

Supersedure of Pars. 1, 3, and 5

Section 602(b) of act June 30, 1949, ch. 288, title VI, 63 Stat. 401, eff. July 1, 1949, as renumbered from title V, section 502(b) of said act June 30, 1949 by act Sept. 5, 1950, ch. 849, §§ 6(a), (b), 7(e), 64 Stat. 583, provided that: “The provisions of the first, third, and fifth paragraphs of section 1 of Executive Order Numbered 6166 of June 10, 1933 [this Ex. Ord.], are hereby superseded, insofar as they relate to any function now administered by the Bureau of Federal Supply except functions with respect to standard contract forms.”

§ 2. National Parks, Buildings, and Reservations

All functions of administration of public buildings, reservations, national parks, national monuments, and national cemeteries are consolidated in the National Park Service in the Department of the Interior, at the head of which shall be a Director of the National Park Service; except that where deemed desirable there may be excluded from this provision any public building or reservation which is chiefly employed as a facility in the work of a particular agency. This transfer and consolidation of functions shall include, among others, those of the former National Park Service of the Department of the Interior and the following National Cemeteries and Parks of the War Department which are located within the continental limits of the United States:

National Military Parks

Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, Georgia and Tennessee.

Fort Donelson National Military Park, Tennessee.

Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania County Battle Fields Memorial, Virginia.

Gettysburg National Military Park, Pennsylvania.

Guilford Courthouse National Military Park, North Carolina.

Kings Mountain National Military Park, South Carolina.

Moores Creek National Military Park, North Carolina.

Petersburg National Military Park, Virginia.

Shiloh National Military Park, Tennessee.

Stones River National Military Park, Tennessee.

Vicksburg National Military Park, Mississippi.

National Parks

Abraham Lincoln National Park, Kentucky.

Fort McHenry National Park, Maryland.

Battlefield Sites

Antietam Battlefield, Maryland.

Appomattox, Virginia.

Brices Cross Roads, Mississippi.

Chalmette Monument and Grounds, Louisiana.

Cowpens, South Carolina.

Fort Necessity, Wharton County, Pennsylvania.

Kenesaw Mountain, Georgia.

Monocacy, Maryland.

Tupelo, Mississippi.

White Plains, New York.

National Monuments

Big Hole Battlefield, Beaverhead County, Montana.

Cabrillo Monument, Fort Rosecrans, California.

Castle Pinckney, Charleston, South Carolina.

Father Millet Cross, Fort Niagara, New York.

Fort Marion, St. Augustine, Florida.

Fort Matanzas, Florida.

Fort Pulaski, Georgia.

Meriwether Lewis, Hardin County, Tennessee.

Mound City Group, Chillicothe, Ohio.

Statue of Liberty, Fort Wood, New York.

Miscellaneous Memorials

Camp Blount Tablets, Lincoln County, Tennessee.

Kill Devil Hill Monument, Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.

New Echota Marker, Georgia.

Lee Mansion, Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia.

National Cemeteries

Custer Battlefield, National Cemetery in the State of Montana.

Battleground, District of Columbia.

Antietam (Sharpsburg), Maryland.

Vicksburg, Mississippi.

Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Fort Donelson (Dover), Tennessee.

Shiloh (Pittsburg Landing), Tennessee.

Stones River (Murfreesboro), Tennessee.

Fredericksburg, Virginia.

Poplar Grove (Petersburg), Virginia.

Yorktown, Virginia.

National cemeteries located in insular possessions under the jurisdiction of the War Department shall be administered by the Bureau of Insular Affairs of the War Department.

The functions of the following agencies are transferred to the National Park Service of the Department of the Interior, and the agencies are abolished:

Arlington Memorial Bridge Commission

Public Buildings Commission

Public Buildings and Public Parks of the National Capital

National Memorial Commission

Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway Commission

Expenditures by the Federal Government for the purposes of the Commission of Fine Arts, the George Rogers Clark Sesquicentennial Commission, and the Rushmore National Commission shall be administered by the Department of the Interior. (As amended by Ex. Ord. No. 6228 of July 28, 1933; Ex. Ord. No. 6614 of Feb. 26, 1934; Ex. Ord. No. 8428 of June 3, 1940, 5 F.R. 2132; and act Mar. 2, 1934. ch. 39, § 1, 48 Stat. 389.)

Amendments

The enumeration of the National Cemeteries and Parks of the War Department which were transferred to the Department of the Interior was added by Ex. Ord. No. 6228, § 1, of July 28, 1933, and Ex. Ord. No. 8428 of June 3, 1940.

A provision of this section transferring the administration of national cemeteries located in foreign countries to the State Department was revoked by Ex. Ord. No. 6614 of Feb. 26, 1934.

Effective Date

See section 22 of this Ex. Ord. The transfer of national cemeteries located in the insular possessions to the Bureau of Insular Affairs, as provided in this section, was postponed until further order by Ex. Ord. No. 6228, § 3, of July 28, 1933.

§ 3. Investigations

All functions now exercised by the Bureau of Prohibition of the Department of Justice with respect to the granting of permits under the national prohibition laws are transferred to the Division of Internal Revenue in the Treasury Department.

All functions now exercised by the Bureau of Prohibition with respect to investigations and all the functions now performed by the Bureau of Investigation of the Department of Justice are transferred to and consolidated in a Division of Investigation in the Department of Justice, at the head of which shall be a Director of Investigation.

All other functions now performed by the Bureau of Prohibition are transferred to such divisions in the Department of Justice as in the judgment of the Attorney General may be desirable.

§ 4. Disbursement

[Section, as amended by Ex. Ord. No. 6728, May 29, 1934; 1940 Reorg. Plan No. III, § 1(a)(1), eff. June 30, 1940, 5 F.R. 2107, 54 Stat. 1231; and 1940 Reorg. Plan No. IV, §§ 3, 4, eff. June 30, 1940, 5 F.R. 2421, 54 Stat. 1234, which provided that the function of disbursement of moneys of the United States exercised by any agency [except United States marshals; the Post Office Department; the Postmaster General; the Board of Trustees of the Postal Savings System; and those disbursement functions of the War Department, Navy Department (including the Marine Corps), and the Panama Canal, not pertaining to departmental salaries in the District of Columbia] were transferred to the [Fiscal Service of the] Treasury Department and, together with the Office of Disbursing Clerk of that department, was consolidated in a Division of Disbursement, at the head of which was a Chief Disbursing Officer, that the Division of Disbursement of the Treasury Department was authorized to establish local offices, or to delegate the exercise of its functions locally to officers or employees of other agencies, according as the interests of efficiency and economy might require, that the Division of Disbursement would disburse moneys only upon the certification of persons by law duly authorized to incur obligations upon behalf of the United States and that the function of accountability for improper certification would be transferred to such persons, and no disbursing officer would be held accountable therefor, was repealed and reenacted as section 3321 of Title 31, Money and Finance, by Pub. L. 97–258, Sept. 13, 1982, 96 Stat. 877, the first section of which enacted Title 31.]

Amendments

The bracketed provisions in the first sentence of section 4 of Ex. Ord. No. 6166 reflect the changes effected by 1940 Reorg. Plan No. IV, §§ 3, 4, eff. June 30, 1940, 5 F.R. 2421, 54 Stat. 1234, 1235, Ex. Ord. No. 6728, and 1940 Reorg. Plan No. III, § 1(a)(1), 5 F.R. 2107, 54 Stat. 1231, respectively.

Effective Date