Administrative Lean

RECENT PUBLICATIONS

Download the Starter Kit PDF, 75 pages, 818KB, About PDF	Download the Primer PDF, 55 pages, 1.22MB, About PDF
Lean in Air Permitting Guide: A Supplement to the Lean in Government Starter Kit (PDF, 28 pages, 368KB, About PDF)
Administrative Lean Fact Sheet (PDF, 2 pages, 302KB, About PDF)

Since 2003 public environmental agencies have dramatically improved agency permitting and administrative processes using Lean and Six Sigma process improvement methods. Within a few months of implementation, agencies have achieved impressive results, including:

Reducing lead times for permit reviews and other agency processes by more than 50 percent;
Decreasing the complexity and redundancy in administrative tasks, forms, and procedures;
Improving the quality of agency products and services; and
Making more time available for “mission critical” work.

All of this was done while improving staff morale and increasing the transparency of their processes to stakeholders, without sacrificing environmental protection goals or reducing value-added activities and time.

Agencies are targeting diverse processes such as air permitting, national pollutant discharge elimination system (NPDES) permitting, leaking underground storage tank (LUST) corrective action processes, agency magazine production and redesign, and pollution prevention planning processes.

EPA, in collaboration with the Environmental Council of States (ECOS), is working to support environmental agencies use of Lean and Six Sigma. This website contains information and resources to assist government agencies in using Lean to improve the efficiency of their processes and programs and to foster continuous improvement. Recent EPA/ECOS documents include The Lean in Government Starter Kit, Working Smart for Environmental Protection (PDF), and the Lean in Air Permitting Guide.

To learn more about Lean initiatives at EPA and other Federal Agencies, click here.

To learn more about Lean initiatives at state environmental agencies and EPA, click here.

For more information about EPA’s Administrative Lean initiative, contact Jamie Burnett by email (burnett.jamie@epa.gov) or by phone, (202) 566-2205.

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