Review of Veterans' Preference and the "Rule of 3" (22-AUG-03,	 
GAO-03-966R).							 
                                                                 
The General Accounting Office has completed a review of selected 
agencies' compliance with veterans' preference and the "Rule of  
3" in federal hiring. This review was requested by Congressman	 
Lane Evans, Ranking Minority Member of the House Committee on	 
Veterans Affairs, and Senator Tom Daschle. As agreed with the	 
requesters, because of continuing oversight of agencies'	 
delegated examining units (DEU) and ongoing review of veterans'  
preference, we are providing the results of our review for	 
possible follow-up. The requesters specifically asked us to	 
review the results of job announcements for fiscal year 2001 for 
five selected agency personnel offices in the Washington	 
Metropolitan Area: the National Aeronautics Space Administration 
(NASA) headquarters, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, the	 
Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the Defense	 
Logistics Agency (DLA) and the Broadcasting Board of Governors	 
(BBG). As agreed with the requesters, we reviewed: (1) advertised
full-time positions (both permanent and temporary) at the	 
GS-7,9,11,13, and 15 levels as identified by the selected agency,
(2) the use of multiple certificates in filling these positions, 
(3) the resulting certificates of eligibilities, including how	 
often veterans headed these certificates and were selected, and  
(4) the reported reasons why veterans were not selected if they  
headed these certificates.					 
-------------------------Indexing Terms------------------------- 
REPORTNUM:   GAO-03-966R					        
    ACCNO:   A08195						        
  TITLE:     Review of Veterans' Preference and the "Rule of 3"       
     DATE:   08/22/2003 
  SUBJECT:   Federal agencies					 
	     Personnel management				 
	     Veterans						 
	     Hiring policies					 

******************************************************************
** This file contains an ASCII representation of the text of a  **
** GAO Product.                                                 **
**                                                              **
** No attempt has been made to display graphic images, although **
** figure captions are reproduced.  Tables are included, but    **
** may not resemble those in the printed version.               **
**                                                              **
** Please see the PDF (Portable Document Format) file, when     **
** available, for a complete electronic file of the printed     **
** document's contents.                                         **
**                                                              **
******************************************************************
GAO-03-966R

GAO- 03- 966R Veterans* Preference

United States General Accounting Office Washington, DC 20548

August 22, 2003 The Honorable Kay Coles James Director Office of Personnel
Management

Subject: Review of Veterans* Preference and the *Rule of 3*

Dear Ms. James: This is to inform you that the General Accounting Office
has completed a review of selected agencies* compliance with veterans*
preference and the *Rule of 3* in federal hiring. This review was
requested by Congressman Lane Evans, Ranking Minority Member of the House
Committee on Veterans Affairs, and Senator Tom Daschle. As agreed with the
requesters, because of your continuing oversight of agencies* delegated
examining units (DEU) and

ongoing review of veterans* preference, we are providing you with the
results of our review for possible follow- up. The requesters specifically
asked us to review the results of job announcements for fiscal year 2001
for five selected agency personnel offices in the Washington Metropolitan
Area: the National Aeronautics Space Administration (NASA) headquarters,
NASA*s Goddard

Space Flight Center, the Department of Housing and Urban Development
(HUD), the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) and the Broadcasting Board of
Governors (BBG). As agreed with the requesters, we reviewed: (1)
advertised full- time positions (both permanent and temporary) at the GS-
7,9,11,13, and 15 levels as identified by the selected agency, (2) the use
of multiple certificates in filling these positions, (3) the resulting
certificates of eligibilities, including how often veterans headed these
certificates and were selected, and (4) the reported reasons why veterans
were not selected if they headed these certificates.

Our observations may be useful to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM)
in following up on specific cases, as well as more generally in developing
and implementing governmentwide personnel oversight and evaluation
efforts. Moreover, based on our

understanding of OPM*s guidance to the agencies, OPM would consider the
type of issues included in our observations when deciding whether more
detailed assessments of agency actions by OPM oversight teams would be
warranted. We have the following specific observations about the cases
examined.

Multiple certificates were used extensively. Most of the 258 announcements
reviewed resulted in agencies issuing multiple certificates, including
multiple DEU certificates and certificates for merit promotion. Multiple
DEU certificates were typically issued for

GAO- 03- 966R Veterans* Preference Page 2 multiple vacancies at different
grades or locations. In a few cases, multiple DEU

certificates were issued for the same position at the same grade. In
general, agencies use of multiple certificates was consistent with OPM
guidance. See table 1 in the enclosure for total cases reviewed.

Selections were made more often from certificates without veterans listed.
Specifically, of the 214 announcements for which DEU certificates were
issued, selections occurred more often when the certificates included no
veterans than when veterans were on the certificates. (See table 2 in the
enclosure for results of cases with certificates issued.)

Out of 134 announcements reviewed with no veterans on the certificates of
eligibles, 90 (67 percent) nonveterans were selected. Out of 77
announcements reviewed with veterans on the certificates of eligibilities,
21 (27 percent) veterans were selected.

Agency files suggested a variety of reasons why veterans were not selected
from certificates. These include those listed below. (See table 2 in the
enclosure for more information on the reported reasons why veterans were
not selected.)

A nonveteran with a higher score on the DEU certificate was selected. A
nonveteran was selected from another source, for example, merit promotion,
noncompetitive appointment. The vacancy/ certificate was canceled. The
veteran withdrew his/ her name.

Many case files were incomplete. Of the 258 announcement cases reviewed,
there were 41 for which we could not determine the disposition of the
hiring action. At one agency, for 18 out of 78 case files we reviewed the
status of the vacancy announcements could not be determined. Further,
there were 11 additional cases where no case file could be located. (See
table 3 in the enclosure for more details.) Additionally, in at least one
location, all the application files fitting our criteria may not have been
provided for our review. We would suggest that as OPM*s evaluation efforts
go forward, the number of cases reported in agency case files be compared
with the relevant listings in USAJOBS.

A few cases may warrant further review by OPM. In cases in which
selections were made from a certificate listing a veteran on top, the
veteran was usually selected. However, in a few cases the top- ranked
veteran was not selected. For example, at one agency the top- ranked
veteran was not selected because officials said they were unable to
contact him. However, the telephone number that the agency noted as being
disconnected was not the veteran*s listed home number on the application.
In addition, a note in the file said that the agency tried to contact the
veteran with a letter sent via Federal Express. The letter was not in the
file. In another case, a nonveteran was chosen over a veteran with the
same score. There was no explanation in the file for this action.

GAO- 03- 966R Veterans* Preference Page 3 We performed our work on this
report from August 2002 through May 2003 in accordance

with generally accepted auditing standards. In addition, we sent this
report to the following agencies for comment: the NASA, HUD, BBG, and DLA.
The agencies generally agreed with our report but provided some technical
comments and suggestions that we incorporated where appropriate. We are
sending copies of this report to the Chairman and Ranking Minority Member
of the House Committee on Veterans* Affairs, the Chairman of the Senate
Committee on Veterans* Affairs, Senator Tom Daschle, the heads of the
agencies visited during this review, and other interested parties. This
report will also be available on GAO*s home page at http:// www. gao. gov.
I would appreciate your staff keeping me informed of any action they plan
to take in

response to this information. The major contributors to this review were
Edward Stephenson, Assistant Director; Charlesetta Bailey, Senior Analyst;
and Figen Gungor, Analyst. If you have any questions, please call me at
(202) 512- 6806.

Sincerely yours, J. Christopher Mihm Director, Strategic Issues

Enclosure

GAO- 03- 966R Veterans* Preference Page 4 Enclosure

Additional Information on Case Files

Table 1: Total Cases Reviewed

NASA HQ NASA

Goddard HUD BBG DLA Total

Number of cases reviewed 30 67 78 69 14 258

Cases with insufficient information before certificate was issued 2 0 90
012 Cases canceled before certificate was issued 2 3 11 6 0 22

Cases in which no DEU certificate issued 0 1 0 7 3 10

Cases resulting in certificate 26 63 58 56 11 214

Source: NASA headquarters, NASA Goddard, HUD, BBG, and DLA vacancy
announcement files for fiscal year 2001. Table 2: Comparison of
Certificates with Veterans and Nonveterans NASA HQ NASA

Goddard HUD BBG DLA Total

Number of announcements with certificate issued: Veteran is top candidate
6 10 26 16 6 64

Veteran is not the top candidate 1 2 5 4 1 13

No veterans on certificate 19 51 27 33 4 134 Total announcements with
certificate issued 26 63 58 56 a 11 214 a

Results of certificates with veterans: (7) (12) (31) (20) (7) (77) Top
veteran selected 0 6 5 3 3 17

Other veteran selected 0 1 1 2 0 4

Nonveteran selected from certificate 0 0 6 6 0 12

Selection from another source 5 0 6 6 3 20

Cases canceled 2 1 10 3 0 16

Veteran withdrew name 0 2 0 0 0 2

Cases with insufficient information 0 2 3 0 1 6

Results of certificates with nonveterans: (19) (51) (27) (33) (4) (134)

Nonveteran selected b 16 40 19 26 3 104

Cases canceled 0 6 2 3 0 11

Cases with insufficient information 3 5 6 4 1 19

Source: NASA headquarters, NASA Goddard, HUD, BBG, and DLA vacancy
announcement files for fiscal year 2001 and agency officials. a For three
vacancy announcements, candidates* status was not noted in files.

b Nonveterans selected included selections from other sources: NASA HQ, 7;
BBG, 6; and DLA, 1. Table 3: Total Cases with insufficient information

NASA HQ NASA

Goddard HUD BBG DLA Total

Total cases with insufficient information 7 7 18 7 2 41

Source: NASA headquarters, NASA Goddard, HUD, BBG, and DLA vacancy
announcement files for fiscal year 2001. (450141)

This is a work of the U. S. government and is not subject to copyright
protection in the United States. It may be reproduced and distributed in
its entirety without further permission from GAO. However, because this
work may contain copyrighted images or other material, permission from the
copyright holder may be necessary if you wish to reproduce this material
separately.

GAO s Mission The General Accounting Office, the audit, evaluation and
investigative arm of Congress, exists to support Congress in meeting its
constitutional

responsibilities and to help improve the performance and accountability of
the federal government for the American people. GAO examines the use of
public funds; evaluates federal programs and policies; and provides
analyses, recommendations, and other assistance to help Congress make
informed oversight, policy, and funding decisions. GAO s commitment to
good government is reflected in its core values of accountability,
integrity, and reliability. The fastest and easiest way to obtain copies
of GAO documents at no cost is

through the Internet. GAO s Web site ( www. gao. gov) contains abstracts
and full- text files of current reports and testimony and an expanding
archive of older products. The Web site features a search engine to help
you locate documents using key words and phrases. You can print these
documents in their entirety,

including charts and other graphics. Each day, GAO issues a list of newly
released reports, testimony, and correspondence. GAO posts this list,
known as Today s Reports, on its Web site daily. The list contains links
to the full- text document files. To have GAO e- mail this list to you
every afternoon, go to www. gao. gov and select Subscribe to e- mail
alerts under the Order GAO Products heading.

The first copy of each printed report is free. Additional copies are $ 2
each. A check or money order should be made out to the Superintendent of
Documents. GAO also accepts VISA and Mastercard. Orders for 100 or more
copies mailed to a single address are discounted 25 percent. Orders should
be sent to:

U. S. General Accounting Office 441 G Street NW, Room LM Washington, D. C.
20548

To order by Phone: Voice: ( 202) 512- 6000 TDD: ( 202) 512- 2537 Fax: (
202) 512- 6061

Contact: Web site: www. gao. gov/ fraudnet/ fraudnet. htm E- mail:
fraudnet@ gao. gov Automated answering system: ( 800) 424- 5454 or ( 202)
512- 7470 Jeff Nelligan, Managing Director, NelliganJ@ gao. gov ( 202)
512- 4800 U. S. General Accounting Office, 441 G Street NW, Room 7149
Washington, D. C. 20548 Obtaining Copies of

GAO Reports and Testimony Order by Mail or Phone To Report Fraud, Waste,
and Abuse in Federal Programs Public Affairs
*** End of document. ***