Howard Shelanski, administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, has said retrospective reviews of existing regulations have resulted in cost savings of approximately $37 billion over five years.

Shelanki wrote in a White House blog post published Wednesday President Barack Obama launched the retrospective review program in 2011 in an effort to revise and remove duplicative regulations and reduce regulatory burden for businesses as well as state and local governments.

Agencies have also completed at least 800 retrospective review initiatives that include the Labor Department’s efforts to revise its existing sex discrimination guidelines for employees of government contractors and subcontractors, he said.

Shelanski also cited that agencies have eliminated from the books over 70 regulatory provisions, a move that is expected to result in $270 million in savings over five years.

The White House predicts a final rule issued by the Transportation Department to generate approximately $8.9 billion in savings and reduce more than 40 million hours in paperwork over five years, he added.

Shelanski said DOT’s final rule seeks to revoke a requirement for drivers of commercial motor vehicles to submit reports of vehicle inspections despite the lack of any vehicle deficiencies.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office has found there is limited use of public-private partnerships in the management and disposal of underutilized government real property.

GAO said Tuesday General Services Administration officials stated GSA reviews public-private partnerships on a case-by-case basis and partnerships are considered for fewer than 10 cases every year.

Those officials also told GAO that GSA needs more expertise and organizational experience to negotiate public-private partnerships.

GAO noted GSA’s partnership practices include long-term agreements for a private party to manage a piece of property through a certain period of time and swap exchanges in which a developer gains the federal property title in exchange for construction or renovation services.

GSA also engages in negotiated sales where the property recipient may be obligated to complete requirements or activities as a condition of the sale, GAO said.

Stakeholders told GAO partnerships could help agencies obtain support services and facilities without issuing funds.

Auditors noted partnerships may not address challenges such as costs associated with property value assessments and environmental remediation expenses.

GAO’s high-risk list includes federal real property management due to issues agencies face with property management such as the disposal of unneeded property.

The Office of Management and Budget is looking for an information technology professional to support OMB’s category management efforts for approximately $50 billion in annual IT investments across the government.

The chosen candidate will work with the General Services Administration as well as agency senior acquisition and IT officials to implement category management for IT products and services, according to a USAJobs notice posted Monday.

The ITCM specialist will also help to implement the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act with the goal to reduce duplicative purchases through a reform of software license acquisition and management processes.

The position has a term of two years, with potential extension of up to four years depending on management requirements.

The incumbent will report to the deputy administrator for federal procurement policy and will collaborate with the Office of the Federal Chief Information Officer and the designated IT category manager.

Other duties of the ITCM include developing analytic tools and techniques to support strategy for select IT categories as well as sourcing strategies for IT commodities and services.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency supported a University of Colorado-Boulder research team that discovered an approach on how to synthesize ultrathin materials at room temperature under the agency’s Local Control of Materials Synthesis program.

DARPA said Wednesday the CU team demonstrated room-temperature deposition of silicon and gallium nitride and a capacity to etch specific materials that lead to spatial control in three dimensions that may help meet demands for smaller device architectures.

Personnel at the Naval Research Laboratory and National Institute of Standards and Technology have collaborated with CU on the university’s research that was featured at the 16th International Conference on Atomic Layer Deposition.

“Looking forward, the EE-ALD approach could serve not just as a tool for integrating incompatible materials but also more generally to build and etch device architectures at atomic scales, an increasingly important capability as circuit geometries shrink,” said Tyler McQuade, DARPA program manager.

DARPA noted CU has also developed a custom deposition chamber in a push to showcase industrial relevance and scalability of the EE-ALD process which can potentially deposit or etch films comprised of several materials on industrial-scale six-inch silicon wafers.