Information on Selected Personnel Practices at the Justice	 
Department (22-APR-04, GAO-04-665R).				 
                                                                 
This letter responds to a request that we provide information on 
selected personnel practices at the Justice Department. On March 
1, 2004, we briefed Congress on the results of our review. This  
letter transmits information provided during that briefing.	 
Specifically, the slides enclosed in this letter describe (1)	 
Justice's hiring processes for entry-level and lateral (i.e.,	 
experienced) career attorneys, (2) the types of monetary awards  
Justice grants to political appointees and the number of awards  
granted from 1993 through 2002, and (3) Justice's selection	 
process for the position of the Assistant Attorney General for	 
Administration. 						 
-------------------------Indexing Terms------------------------- 
REPORTNUM:   GAO-04-665R					        
    ACCNO:   A09862						        
  TITLE:     Information on Selected Personnel Practices at the       
Justice Department						 
     DATE:   04/22/2004 
  SUBJECT:   Awards						 
	     Hiring policies					 
	     Personnel recruiting				 
	     Lawyers						 

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GAO-04-665R

United States General Accounting Office Washington, DC 20548

April 22, 2004

The Honorable Patrick J. Leahy
Ranking Minority Member
Committee on the Judiciary
United States Senate

The Honorable Charles E. Schumer
Ranking Minority Member
Subcommittee on Administrative Oversight and the Courts
Committee on the Judiciary
United States Senate

Subject: Information on Selected Personnel Practices at the Justice
Department

Dear Senator Leahy and Senator Schumer:

This letter responds to your request that we provide information on
selected personnel practices at the Justice Department. On March 1, 2004,
we briefed your office on the results of our review. This letter transmits
information provided during that briefing. Specifically, the slides
enclosed in this letter describe (1) Justice's hiring processes for
entry-level and lateral (i.e., experienced)1 career attorneys, (2) the
types of monetary awards Justice grants to political appointees2 and the
number of awards granted from 1993 through 2002, and (3) Justice's
selection process for the position of the Assistant Attorney General for
Administration.

Summary

Justice hires entry-level attorneys through the Attorney General's Honors
Program. Conducted on an annual basis, the program is the only way that
Justice hires graduating law students. Nine Justice components participate
in this program, which include the six litigating divisions (Antitrust,
Civil, Civil Rights, Criminal, Environment and Natural Resources, and
Tax), the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), the Executive Office for
Immigration Review (EOIR), and the U.S. Trustees Office.3

1Lateral attorneys are those who have had a law degree for at least 1 year
and are active members of the bar.

2Political appointments are generally made by the administration in office
to support and advocate the President's political goals and policies. They
are noncareer appointments-that is, they are noncompetitive and are not
generally subject to the rules for competition that govern career
appointments. Political appointees fill positions in the executive branch
under various types of appointments. For example, they may hold Schedule C
positions, obtain noncareer appointments to the Senior Executive Service
(SES), or be presidential appointees.

3With the exception of the EOIR and BOP, the Honors Program appointments
are for permanent attorney positions. EOIR hires applicants for 1-or
2-year clerkships, while BOP hires applicants for 2-year fellowships.

             GAO-04-665R Department of Justice Personnel Practices

Under the direction and management of the Office of Attorney Recruitment
and Management (OARM), the components are responsible for various aspects
of the fivestep hiring process. Justice's hiring of lateral attorneys,
which occurs on a year-round basis, is a largely decentralized process
that involves Justice's 40 components and individual units (i.e., sections
or branches) within those components. Each component and unit devises its
own process for accomplishing lateral hiring.

Justice grants two types of monetary awards to political appointees under
Schedule C and noncareer Senior Executive Service (SES) status in
recognition of overall highlevel performance or a special act or service.4
Granted in the form of lump-sum cash, the two types of awards are (1) the
Special Achievement Award for Sustained Superior Performance and (2) the
Special Achievement Award for Special Act or Service. From 1993 through
2002, Justice granted a total of 49 monetary awards, at an average award
amount of $1,817. The average annual award amount ranged from $375 in 1996
to $3,868 in 2002.5

Justice's selection of an Assistant Attorney General for Administration is
based on its merit competition process. That is, the vacancy is announced
publicly for a minimum of 14 days. Application screening and candidate
selection follow a set of predetermined eligibility requirements based on
position qualifications (see apps. I and II). An Executive Resources
Board, composed of three SES members nominated by the Deputy Attorney
General, selects the best-qualified candidates. These candidates are
interviewed by either the Deputy Attorney General or a panel of SES
members. The successful candidate is approved by the Attorney General-
subject to the President's approval-and certified by the Office of
Personnel Management (OPM).

Scope and Methodology

To obtain a general understanding of Justice's hiring processes for
entry-level and lateral career attorney positions, we examined relevant
documentation and interviewed Justice officials from OARM, the Office of
the Deputy Attorney General, and the Justice Management Division. To gain
a more in-depth understanding of Justice component roles and
responsibilities in these hiring processes, we relied primarily on
interviews with officials in four litigating divisions-Antitrust, Civil,
Civil Rights, and Environment and Natural Resources. We selected these
divisions because they do the majority of entry-level hiring within the
Attorney General's Honors Program.6 In addition, we obtained data on
aspects of Justice's entry-level hiring process for its 2003 hiring cycle,
such as the number of applications Justice received and the number of
candidates Justice interviewed. Because we used these data for
illustrative purposes only, we did not verify their reliability.

4Schedule C appointee positions, which are graded GS-15 and below, are
those that involve determining policy or require a close,
confidential relationship with the agency head or other key officials of
the agency. Noncareer SES appointee positions are those
that normally involve advocating, formulating, and directing the programs
and policies of the Administration.
5 No awards were granted from 1999 through 2001.
6We excluded EOIR and BOP from our selection because, as we noted earlier,
these agencies hire only for 1-to 2-year clerkships.
The other seven Justice participating components hire attorneys on a
full-time basis, pending passage of a bar examination.

          Page 2 GAO-04-665R Department of Justice Personnel Practices

To determine the types of monetary awards Justice grants to political
appointees, we reviewed applicable laws and regulations and Justice and
OPM policies, procedures, and guidelines governing Justice's authority in
granting monetary awards to political appointees. We also interviewed
Justice and OPM officials on the types of monetary awards Justice grants
to political appointees. In addition, we obtained and analyzed data from
OPM's Central Personnel Database File (CPDF) 7 on the number of monetary
awards Justice granted to political appointees from 1993 through 2002.
Working with OPM and Justice officials, we were able to verify the
accuracy of the CPDF awards data.

To determine Justice's selection process for the position of the Assistant
Attorney General for Administration, we reviewed relevant statutory
provisions governing the

                                       8

hiring and selection of SES members. We also reviewed Justice's policies
and procedures, including the requirements of the position and the
criteria involved in the selection process and interviewed Justice
officials. In addition, we obtained data on aspects of the selection
process for its most recent hiring cycle,9 such as the number of
applications received and the number of final candidates that Justice
interviewed for the position. Because we used these data for illustrative
purposes only, we did not verify their reliability.

We conducted our work from June 2003 through April 2004 in accordance with
generally accepted government auditing standards.

We provided the Department of Justice with a draft of this report and
incorporated its comments as appropriate.

As agreed with your offices, unless you announce the contents of this
report earlier, we plan no further distribution of this report until 30
days from the date of this report. At that time, we will send copies to
Senator Orrin G. Hatch, Chairman, Senate Judiciary Committee; Senator Jeff
Sessions, Senate Subcommittee on Administrative Oversight and the Courts;
and the Honorable John Ashcroft, Attorney General, Department of Justice.
We will make copies available to others on request. In addition, the
report will be available on GAO's Web site at http://www.gao.gov.

7The CPDF is a database that contains individual records for most
executive branch federal agencies and is the primary
governmentwide source for information on federal employees.
8The position of Assistant Attorney General for Administration is an SES
position.
9Justice's most recent hiring cycle for this position occurred in 2002.

          Page 3 GAO-04-665R Department of Justice Personnel Practices

If you or your staff have questions regarding this report, please contact
me at (202)
512-8777 or by e-mail at [email protected] or William Crocker III at (202)
512-4533 or
by email at [email protected]. Key contributors to this report were David
Alexander,
Geoffrey Hamilton, Brenda Rabinowitz, John Vocino, Greg Wilmoth, Su Jin
Yon, and
Kathryn Young.

Sincerely yours,

Paul Jones
Director, Homeland Security and Justice Issues

Enclosure

          Page 4 GAO-04-665R Department of Justice Personnel Practices

                   Special Achievement Award for                              
                   Sustained Superior            Special Achievement Award    
                   Performance                   for Special Act or Service
     Eligibility            Schedule C           Schedule C and noncareer SES 
Statutory                                            5 U.S.C. 4503         
authority             5 U.S.C. 4505 (a)       
                      o  Superior performance of                              
                    assigned tasks sustained for                              
                            a period of time  o  o  Special act or service in 
Basis for award    Performance of one or more       the public interest in 
                     important job elements in a   connection with or related
                        manner clearly exceeding       to official employment
                      normal requirements for at 
                                  least 6 months 
    Form of award     Cash-onetime, lump-sum        Cash-onetime, lump-sum    
                    o  May not exceed 10 percent o  May not exceed 10 percent 
                   of the employee's annual rate     of the employee's annual 
                    of basic pay; in exceptional        rate of basic pay; in 
                          cases, can be up to 20 exceptional cases, can be up 
                          percent subject to the to 20 percent subject to the 
Award ceilings  Attorney General's approval.  Attorney General's approval. 
                   o  Additionally, awards up to   o  Additionally, awards up 
                          $10,000 subject to the    to $10,000 subject to the 
                    Attorney General's approval; Attorney General's approval; 
                     awards over $10,000 subject  awards over $10,000 subject 
                                to OPM approval.             to OPM approval. 

                  Special Achievement Award   Special Achievement Award for   
                  for Sustained Superior      Special Act or Service          
                  Performance                 
                  o Recipients must have been  o Recipients must have been on 
                   on a performance work plan  a performance work plan for at 
                     for at least 90 days and  least 90 days and have current 
                     have current performance  performance ratings indicating 
                      ratings indicating that    that their performance meets 
                  their performance meets the         the requirements of the 
                          requirements of the     position.  o  Recipient may 
                  position.  o  Recipient may   receive a Special Achievement 
Conditions for  not receive both a Special        Award for Special Act or 
receiving an         Achievement Award for    Service and either a Special 
award                   Sustained Superior Achievement Award for Sustained 
                    Performance and a Quality       Superior Performance or a 
                   Step Increase for the same        Quality Step Increase in 
                   period of performance.  o          recognition of the same 
                      Recipient must not have    contribution. Therefore, the 
                        received another cash    same contribution may not be 
                     performance award within     rewarded with both types of 
                   the 6 months preceding the   monetary awards and a Quality 
                          date of nomination.                  Step Increase. 
*** End of document. ***