the business of the Department. Just as few businesses can turn a profit by allowing their employees to purchase anything they want to do any project they want, the Department also cannot operate efficiently with hardware and software systems purchased on an "impulse purchase" basis and installed without an overall plan. All facets of capital planning are taken into consideration just as they would be in private industry. The Act assigns the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) responsibility for improving the acquisition, use, and disposal of information technology by the federal government. The Director should aim to improve the productivity, efficiency, and effectiveness of federal programs, including through dissemination of public information and the reduction of information collection burdens on the public. The Act supplements the information resources management (IRM) policies contained in the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) by establishing a comprehensive approach to improving the acquisition and management of agency information systems through work process redesign, and by linking planning and investment strategies to the budget process. History The "Information Technology Management Reform Act" of 1996 was later renamed "Clinger-Cohen Act" for its co-sponsors, Rep. William Clinger, R-PA., and Senator William Cohen, R-ME. To provide agencies with guidance on implementing the Clinger–Cohen Act, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in April 2000 distributed an "OMB Circular A-130" about the management of Federal Information Resources. This circular incorporated some other memoranda: M–96–20, "Implementation of the Information Technology Management Reform Act of 1996" M–97–02, "Funding Information Systems Investments" M–97–16, "Information Technology Architecture", as well as new material including; M-15-14 "Management and Oversight of Federal Information Technology" Clinger-Cohen Act topics National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1996 This "Information Technology Management Reform Act" was part of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1996, which is organized in five divisions: (1) Division A — Department of Defense Authorizations. (2) Division B — Military Construction Authorizations. (3) Division C — Department of Energy National Security Authorizations and Other Authorizations. (4) Division D — Federal Acquisition Reform. (5) Division E — Information Technology Management This public law was intended to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 1996 for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy, to prescribe personnel strengths for such fiscal year for the Armed Forces, to reform acquisition laws and information technology management of