title: White House scraps some agency paperwork rules in push for efficiency
text: WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House has eliminated nearly 60 requirements for agencies to submit paperwork that it has deemed out of date or unnecessary in a bid to begin making the federal government operate more efficiently, U.S. budget director Mick Mulvaney said on Thursday. The Office of Management and Budget, which Mulvaney heads, has directed agencies to come up with plans to streamline their operations. As a part of this push, the budget office reviewed 253 of its guidance and policy documents and found that 59 were no longer needed. President Donald Trump has pledged to reorganize the federal government and to do away with onerous rules and policies that slow down administration priorities and increase the cost of governing. Some of the paperwork that the budget office deemed unnecessary included old requirements for submitting plans for Y2K, the effort to get computer systems up to date for the year 2000. Another scrapped requirement was that agencies develop 10 to 15 page business plans for contracts over $50 million. Under a new process, agencies will use a three-page template. The White House has directed agencies outside of OMB to conduct reviews of their own paperwork obligations to see what can be removed. Mulvaney also said the White House would begin assessing the various government reports to Congress that are required by statutes to develop a list of those that lawmakers should consider rescinding. 