Federal Agency Publishes 847-Page Plan to Become Leaner, Requests 200 Additional Staff to Read It

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Department of Administrative Modernization (DAM) made history this week with the release of its Strategic Efficiency and Agility Vision Document (SEAVD): A Comprehensive Framework for Transformative Operational Realignment in the Context of 21st Century Governance Challenges — a 847-page blueprint for becoming the kind of nimble, streamlined, and responsive agency that could not, under any plausible circumstances, have produced an 847-page document.

The report, which took six years to research, draft, review, re-draft, send back for further review, re-scope, re-staff, and finally format into a PDF that crashes most standard government computers, was unveiled at a press conference attended by 34 senior officials, two deputy undersecretaries, and a man in the back who had wandered in from a different event and stayed for the pastries.

"Today marks a turning point," said DAM Secretary Richard Hollowell, speaking from behind a podium flanked by two large banners reading AGILITY and MODERNIZATION in fonts that appeared to have been last updated in 2009. "For too long, this department has been encumbered by layers of process, redundant oversight structures, and a culture of procedural accumulation. That ends now. Beginning with Phase One of our eleven-phase implementation roadmap."

Six Years in the Making, Which Is Itself Addressed on Page 312

The report's production history is, in the words of one internal reviewer, "a document in its own right."

Work began in 2019 under the auspices of the DAM Efficiency Task Force, which was later subsumed by the DAM Operational Reform Working Group, which was later reorganized into the DAM Strategic Modernization Steering Committee, which was later placed under the joint oversight of the DAM Transformation Office and the DAM Office of Transformation Oversight, which are different offices.

Three separate drafts were completed and then set aside after changes in senior leadership. One draft — the so-called "Cascade Version" — was described by a former working group member as "extremely good" but was ultimately rejected because it recommended eliminating a division whose director was on the review committee.

The final document weighs approximately 2.3 pounds when printed. The department's printing budget for fiscal year 2025 has been revised upward.

Page 312 of the report acknowledges that the production timeline "exceeded initial projections" and attributes this to "the inherent complexity of transformational change processes operating within legacy institutional frameworks." Page 313 recommends establishing a new working group to examine why transformation processes take so long.

The Core Recommendation: More People to Oversee the Fewer People

Among the report's 214 formal recommendations — which range from "adopt cloud-based document management" (Recommendation 7) to "explore the feasibility of exploring flexible work arrangements" (Recommendation 189) — the centerpiece is the establishment of a new Office of Streamlining Oversight (OSO), to be staffed by approximately 200 new full-time employees.

The OSO will be responsible for monitoring the department's progress in reducing its overall headcount by 15 percent over five years.

When a reporter asked Secretary Hollowell to explain the logic of hiring 200 people to oversee the reduction of staff, the Secretary nodded slowly, as though he had anticipated a question of this nature and had prepared an answer that would not, ultimately, resolve the tension.

"Accountability requires infrastructure," he said. "You cannot simply reduce. You must reduce accountably. That requires people. Dedicated people. With the right competencies."

Deputy Secretary for Internal Transformation Compliance Linda Yaeger added that the 200 new hires should be understood as an "investment in the architecture of reduction" and that comparing them directly to the staff reductions they were overseeing was "a category error that the report addresses in Appendix F."

Appendix F is 67 pages long.

Senior Officials Grow Progressively More Abstract Under Questioning

At a follow-up briefing, senior department officials were asked a series of questions about implementation timelines, budget implications, and measurable outcomes. Their responses charted a steady course away from anything resembling a concrete answer.

Asked when the department expected to see its first measurable efficiency gains, Assistant Secretary for Modernization Delivery Thomas Creel said: "The honest answer is that 'gains' are a downstream function of upstream alignment, and we're still in the upstream phase. But the upstream phase is going extremely well."

Asked how the department would define success, Deputy Director of Strategic Agility Compliance Monica Feldt said: "Success, in this context, is less a destination than a directional orientation. We are oriented correctly. That is the success."

Asked whether anyone in the department had read the full 847 pages, a spokesperson for the Secretary said that "all relevant stakeholders had been briefed on the sections pertinent to their functional areas" and that the report should be understood as "a living document that rewards selective engagement."

Independent Expert Panel Delivers Assessment

An independent panel convened to review the SEAVD released its own assessment Thursday, described in a press release as "rigorous, independent, and affirming."

The panel's 43-page summary concluded that the report represented "a bold first step toward identifying the conditions under which a framework for change might eventually be scoped, resourced, and positioned for phased consideration by the appropriate oversight bodies."

Panel chair Dr. Everett Baines, a senior fellow at the Center for Governmental Operational Excellence (an organization that has itself produced 14 reports on federal efficiency since 2011, none of which have been implemented), called the SEAVD "the most serious attempt this department has made to appear serious about reform."

He then presented the panel's invoice, which was $220,000, and noted that a follow-up review could be commissioned for an additional fee.

What Happens Next

Phase One of the eleven-phase implementation plan begins in Q4 and consists primarily of "stakeholder orientation sessions" and the procurement of new office furniture for the incoming OSO staff.

Phase Two, which involves the actual identification of inefficiencies, is scheduled for 2027.

Phase Eleven, which is labeled "Sustained Transformation and Legacy Consolidation," has no assigned date. A footnote on page 831 describes it as "aspirational."

Secretary Hollowell closed the press conference by reminding attendees that transformation "doesn't happen overnight" and that the department was "firmly committed to the journey."

The 847-page report is available on the department's website, where it has been downloaded 34 times. Twelve of those downloads were by department staff checking that the upload had worked correctly.

The Office of Streamlining Oversight is expected to begin hiring in Q1. Applications will require completion of Form DAM-2209-B, available upon request from the Office of Form Availability, which is currently understaffed.