Federal Employees: Hiring Patterns at Federal Agencies Just Prior
to a Change in Administration (24-SEP-01, GAO-01-1147R).	 
								 
GAO reviewed 24 agencies that are covered by the Chief Financial 
Officers (CFO) Act of 1990 to analyze trends in hiring patterns. 
Generally, the information does not show any discernable	 
patterns. More than half of the 24 agencies GAO reviewed reported
career hiring increases of 10 percent or more between July and	 
December 2000 compared to the same period in 1999. A similar	 
number of agencies, although not necessarily the same agencies,  
reported increases of 10 percent or more for 1999, compared to	 
1998. Although the percentage changes exceeded 10 percent for	 
most agencies, the actual number of hires were often small. The  
total number of career and Senior Executive Service employees on 
board in each of the 24 CFO agencies remained relatively stable  
during the three-year period.					 
-------------------------Indexing Terms------------------------- 
REPORTNUM:   GAO-01-1147R					        
    ACCNO:   A02010						        
  TITLE:     Federal Employees: Hiring Patterns at Federal Agencies   
             Just Prior to a Change in Administration                         
     DATE:   09/24/2001 
  SUBJECT:   Federal employees					 
	     Hiring policies					 
	     Labor force					 
	     Personnel management				 
	     Senior Executive Service				 

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GAO-01-1147R
     
GAO- 01- 1147R Hiring Patterns at Federal Agencies

United States General Accounting Office Washington, DC 20548

September 24, 2001 The Honorable Dave Weldon Chairman, Subcommittee on Civil
Service

and Agency Organization Committee on Government Reform House of
Representatives

The Honorable Mark Souder Chairman, Subcommittee on Criminal Justice,

Drug Policy, and Human Resources Committee on Government Reform House of
Representatives

Subject: Federal Employees: Hiring Patterns at Federal Agencies Just Prior
to a Change in Administration

This letter responds to a request by the former Chairmen that we survey the
hiring trends of the 24 agencies covered by the Chief Financial Officers
(CFO) Act. (Enc. I lists the CFO agencies.) They asked us to identify (1)
the extent of hiring during the last 6 months of calendar year 2000 compared
to similar periods in 1999 and 1998 and (2) agency explanations for
increases of 10 percent or more in hiring for the last 6 months of calendar
year 2000. They also asked us to identify the policies and processes that
the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) uses, during a presidential
transition, for suspending or convening its Senior Executive Service (SES)
Qualifications Review Boards, which certify SES candidates? qualifications
before they can be hired. To respond to their request, we are presenting
agency- reported information, which we did not verify.

Enclosures II and III provide information on the hiring trends for career
and SES hires and career GS- 12 through GS- 15 hires for the last 6 months
of 1998, 1999, and 2000. Generally, the information does not show any
discernable hiring patterns. For example, over half of the 24 agencies
reported career hiring increases of 10 percent or more during the July
through December 2000 period over the 1999 period. A similar number of
agencies, although not necessarily the same agencies, reported increases of
10 percent or more for 1999, when compared to 1998. While the percentage
changes exceeded 10 percent for the majority of the agencies, the actual
number of hires were small for many of these agencies. As shown in enclosure
IV, the total number of career and SES employees on board in each of the 24
CFO agencies remained relatively stable over the 3- year period.

GAO- 01- 1147R Hiring Patterns at Federal Agencies Page 2 Officials of the
agencies with hiring increases of 10 percent or more in 2000 cited

several reasons for the hiring increases. The reasons most often cited were
(1) the replacement of exiting employees and (2) increased funding the
agency received for new positions and programs. Other reasons they cited
included lifting of hiring freezes and changing workforce requirements.

Enclosure V provides information on OPM?s policies and processes for
suspending or convening its SES Qualifications Review Boards.

We conducted our review from December 2000 through August 2001 in accordance
with generally accepted government auditing standards. Agencies provided us
with information on the number of career hires (GS- 1 through GS- 15
appointments and conversions), by grade level, from July 1 through December
31 for 1998, 1999, and 2000. For the same periods, agencies also provided
similar information on career SES hires. We also asked the agencies to
provide us with explanations for increases of 10 percent or more in the
number hired during the 2000 period as compared to 1999 and 1998. All of the
agencies provided information in response to our request. OPM officials
provided us with information on the policies and processes for the SES
Qualifications Review Boards. We also obtained information from officials at
agencies where OPM had suspended the review boards during the July through
December 2000 period. We did not obtain agency comments because of the
factual nature of the data reported to us by the agencies.

- - - - We plan no further distribution of this letter until 5 days after
its date. At that time, we will send copies of this letter to the heads of
the 24 agencies covered by the CFO Act, as listed in enclosure I, and
interested congressional committees. This letter will also be available on
GAO?s home page at http:// www/ gao/ gov.

Please contact Richard W. Caradine or me at (202) 512- 6806 if you have any
questions.

Victor S. Rezendes Managing Director, Strategic Issues

Enclosures

Enclosure I GAO- 01- 1147R Hiring Patterns at Federal Agencies Page 3

CFO Act Agencies

Department of Agriculture Department of Commerce Department of Defense
Department of Education Department of Energy Department of Health and Human
Services (HHS) Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Department
of the Interior Department of Justice Department of Labor Department of
State Department of Transportation Department of the Treasury Department of
Veterans Affairs Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Federal Emergency
Management Agency (FEMA) General Services Administration (GSA) National
Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) National Science Foundation
(NSF) Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Office of Personnel Management
(OPM) Small Business Administration (SBA) Social Security Administration
(SSA) U. S. Agency for International Development (AID)

Enclosure II GAO- 01- 1147R Hiring Patterns at Federal Agencies Page 4

Number of Career and SES Employees Hired and Percentage of Change at 24 CFO
Agencies in

July Through December Periods

Career a SES b Career a SES b Hired in

1998 period

Hired in 1999 period

Hired in 2000 period

Hired in 1998 period

Hired in 1999 period

Hired in 2000 period

Percentage change 1998 to

1999 Percentage

change 1999 to

2000 Percentage

change 1998 to

1999 Percentage

change 1999 to

2000

Agriculture 1, 608 2,295 2,310 15 9 20 43% 1% -40% 122% AID 27 55 69 11 10 4
104% 25% -9% -60% Commerce 1, 345 1,304 1,215 24 16 29 -3% -7% -33% 81%
Defense 13,202 13,080 15,336 24 16 36 -1% 17% -33% 125% Education 129 152
256 6 8 16 18% 68% 33% 100% Energy 171 212 393 10 29 60 24% 85% 190% 107%
EPA 618 102 520 5 30 11 -83% 410% 500% -63% FEMA 55 88 107 1 5 4 60% 22%
400% -20% GSA 244 247 450 0 3 12 1% 82% c 300% HHS 2,428 2,590 3,148 43 41
33 7% 22% -5% -20% HUD 142 198 524 5 4 13 39% 165% -20% 225% Interior 1,412
1,554 1,659 11 15 29 10% 7% 36% 93% Justice 4, 244 3,355 4,281 35 23 32 -21%
28% -34% 39% Labor 345 391 622 8 2 13 13% 59% -75% 550% NASA 190 430 639 6 8
2 126% 49% 33% -75% NRC 43 54 83 2 3 6 26% 54% 50% 100% NSF 30 37 40 4 4 4
23% 8% 0% 0% OPM 65 126 136 3 2 1 94% 8% -33% -50% SBA 216 43 100 1 3 8 -80%
133% 200% 167% SSA 890 2,111 1,972 10 9 9 137% -7% -10% 0% State 574 895 794
53 66 44 56% -11% 25% -33% Transportation 1,743 1,104 1,669 3 13 26 -37% 51%
333% 100% Treasury 3, 547 3,755 3,982 37 37 60 6% 6% 0% 62% Veterans Affairs
3, 998 3,657 6,095 10 9 15 -9% 67% -10% 67%

Totals 37,266 37,835 46,400 327 365 487 2% 23% 12% 33%

a Includes employees hired into career and career- conditional positions and
nonpermanent employees converted to career and career- conditional positions
at the GS- 1 through GS- 15 level. Also includes non- GS employees with
equivalent GS grade/ pay levels, but not wage grades.

b Includes career SES and non- SES employees with equivalent SES grade/ pay
levels. c Percentage of change cannot be mathematically calculated because
the 1998 number is zero.

Source: Agency data.

Enclosure III GAO- 01- 1147R Hiring Patterns at Federal Agencies Page 5

Number of GS- 12 Through GS- 15 Career Employees Hired and Percentage of
Change at 24 CFO Agencies in

July Through December Periods

Hired a in 1998 period Hired a in 1999

period Hired a in 2000 period Percentage change

1998 to 1999 Percentage change 1999 to 2000

Agriculture 244 349 357 43% 2% AID 23 51 60 122% 18% Commerce 321 328 304 2%
-7% Defense 2, 239 2,329 3,079 4% 32% Education 51 88 123 73% 40% Energy 76
108 215 42% 99% EPA 212 34 213 -84% 526% FEMA 23 56 66 143% 18% GSA 93 117
193 26% 65% HHS 815 941 1,241 15% 32% HUD 82 120 371 46% 209% Interior 231
298 310 29% 4% Justice 282 283 307 0% 8% Labor 38 56 86 47% 54% NASA 122 250
387 105% 55% NRC 35 34 49 -3% 44% NSF 7 2 12 -71% 500% OPM 31 50 39 61% -22%
SBA 90 20 27 -78% 35% SSA 79 111 119 41% 7% State 246 382 326 55% -15%
Transportation 586 407 740 -31% 82% Treasury 415 558 523 34% -6% Veterans
Affairs 200 186 373 -7% 101%

Totals 6, 541 7,158 9,520 9% 33%

a Includes employees hired into career and career- conditional positions and
nonpermanent employees converted to career and career- conditional positions
at the GS- 12 through GS- 15 level. Also includes non- GS employees with
equivalent GS grade/ pay levels, but not wage grades.

Source: Agency data.

Enclosure IV GAO- 01- 1147R Hiring Patterns at Federal Agencies Page 6

Number of Career and SES Employees at 24 CFO Agencies as of September 30,
1998, 1999, and 2000

Career a SES b As of September 30 As of September 30 1998 1999 2000 1998
1999 2000

Agriculture 84,136 83,675 83,814 278 279 283 AID 2,354 2,241 1,817 30 26 25
Commerce 31,597 33,107 33,144 308 306 296 Defense 502,539 489,864 483,118 1,
099 1,116 1,144 Education 4,223 4,289 4,300 60 57 60 Energy 14,163 13,831
13,654 374 381 391 EPA 17,660 17,664 17,235 230 249 255 FEMA 2,006 1,937
1,993 29 29 32 GSA 11,781 11,945 12,149 88 87 84 HHS 46,521 47,651 48,761
418 417 399 HUD 9,312 9,377 9,743 71 71 73 Interior 48,582 49,173 50,029 186
182 191 Justice 111,624 114,424 115,309 547 556 594 Labor 15,105 15,251
15,518 118 126 132 NASA 17,757 17,377 18,042 381 404 394 NRC 2,719 2,667
2,644 179 141 139 NSF 993 973 976 84 81 79 OPM 3,366 3,413 3,538 36 38 36
SBA 3,525 3,512 3,399 35 34 39 SSA 63,064 61,920 61,882 94 104 118 State
11,435 11,581 13,101 92 107 101 Transportation 61,442 60,806 60,353 184 174
178 Treasury 149,702 151,109 152,517 489 510 537 Veterans Affairs 170,686
168,580 169,912 261 248 247

a Includes career employees at the GS- 1 through GS- 15 levels. It also
includes non- GS employees with equivalent GS grade/ pay levels, but not
wage grades. b Includes career SES employees.

Source: OPM?s Central Personnel Data File.

Enclosure V GAO- 01- 1147R Hiring Patterns at Federal Agencies Page 7

OPM?s Policies and Processes for Suspending or Convening SES Qualifications
Review Boards

Qualifications Review Boards are convened by OPM at the request of an agency
to certify the executive and managerial qualifications of a candidate to the
SES before career appointments can be made to the SES position. OPM may
suspend the review board process for an agency if the agency head leaves or
announces an intention to leave his/ her office, if the president nominates
a new agency head, or if a presidential transition is under way. 1 A
suspension means that no SES candidates can be certified as qualified by the
review boards and hired, with certain exceptions. It is done to give the new
agency head maximum flexibility in making executive resources decisions.
According to OPM officials, OPM has never had a governmentwide suspension of
the review boards during a presidential transition. They said that OPM?s
policy is to suspend the review board process when the departure of an
agency head is imminent (which may coincide with a presidential transition).
For example, OPM suspended the review boards for a portion of the period
from July through December 2000 at four agencies because of the agency
heads? departures. These agencies were the Department of Commerce, the
Department of Veterans Affairs, the General Services Administration, and the
Social Security Administration.

Each of these four agencies received exceptions to the suspension for some
SES candidates. Three of the agencies receiving a suspension notice
requested exceptions. In notifying agency officials of the suspensions, OPM
said it would consider requests for exceptions to the suspension policy on a
case- by- case basis. Based on information we reviewed at three agencies-
the Department of Veterans Affairs, the General Services Administration, and
the Social Security Administration- OPM granted exceptions to the suspension
policy for 15 SES candidates because the SES positions either were not
involved in policy matters or were at an organizational level that did not
report directly to the agency head. In the case of the Department of
Commerce, OPM convened the review boards for four SES candidates without an
agency request for an exception. According to an OPM official, OPM convenes
the review boards for candidates for whom it has received the agency?s
documentation before it notified the agency of the suspension. OPM and
Commerce officials said that the review board documents were sent to OPM
before the suspension notice.

(450070) 1 5 C. F. R. 317.502( d).
*** End of document. ***