Conversions of Selected Employees from Noncareer to Career	 
Positions at Departments and Certain Agencies (09-JUN-05,	 
GAO-05-584R).							 
                                                                 
According to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), a	 
"conversion" occurs whenever an employee changes from one	 
personnel "status" or "service" to another without a break in	 
federal government service of more than 3 days. There are many	 
kinds of conversions. This report focuses on one type of	 
conversion, i.e., employees converting from noncareer to career  
positions. Conversions of individuals from noncareer to career	 
positions must conform to applicable regulations and		 
qualification requirements. As requested, we are providing	 
Congress with information on the number of employees who were	 
converted from noncareer to career positions during the 32-month 
period from May 1, 2001, through December 31, 2003, as reported  
to us by 41 departments and agencies. The types of positions this
letter covers and a definition of each, along with the criteria  
we used to select the 41 departments and agencies, are listed in 
the scope and methodology section. As agreed with Congress, we	 
will report at a later date on conversions reported by		 
departments and selected agencies from May 1, 2001, through April
30, 2005. That report will discuss (1) the number of all	 
conversions occurring during that 4-year period; (2) for each of 
these conversions, characteristics of the noncareer positions	 
previously held by employees and the career positions to which	 
they were converted; and (3) whether the departments and selected
agencies followed appropriate authorities and proper procedures  
in converting employees holding noncareer positions to career	 
positions at the GS-12 level and above. 			 
-------------------------Indexing Terms------------------------- 
REPORTNUM:   GAO-05-584R					        
    ACCNO:   A26297						        
  TITLE:     Conversions of Selected Employees from Noncareer to      
Career Positions at Departments and Certain Agencies		 
     DATE:   06/09/2005 
  SUBJECT:   Federal agencies					 
	     Government job appointments			 
	     Personnel management				 
	     Personnel qualifications				 
	     Federal employees					 
	     Data collection					 

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GAO-05-584R

United States Government Accountability Office Washington, DC 20548

June 9, 2005

The Honorable Henry A. Waxman Ranking Minority Member Committee on
Government Reform House of Representatives

The Honorable Danny K. Davis

Ranking Minority Member, Subcommittee on Federal Workforce and Agency
Organization Committee on Government Reform House of Representatives

Subject:	Conversions of Selected Employees from Noncareer to Career
Positions at Departments and Certain Agencies

According to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), a "conversion"
occurs whenever an employee changes from one personnel "status" or
"service" to another without a break in federal government service of more
than 3 days. There are many kinds of conversions. This report focuses on
one type of conversion, i.e., employees converting from noncareer to
career positions. Conversions of individuals from noncareer to career
positions must conform to applicable regulations and qualification
requirements.

As requested, we are providing you with information on the number of
employees who were converted from noncareer to career positions during the
32-month period from May 1, 2001, through December 31, 2003, as reported
to us by 41 departments and agencies. The types of positions this letter
covers and a definition of each, along with the criteria we used to select
the 41 departments and agencies, are listed in the scope and methodology
section.

As agreed with your offices, we will report at a later date on conversions
reported by departments and selected agencies from May 1, 2001, through
April 30, 2005. That report will discuss (1) the number of all conversions
occurring during that 4-year period; (2) for each of these conversions,
characteristics of the noncareer positions previously held by employees
and the career positions to which they were converted; and (3) whether the
departments and selected agencies followed appropriate authorities and
proper procedures in converting employees holding noncareer positions to
career positions at the GS-12 level and above.

Results

On the basis of data submitted by the 41 departments and agencies and our
discussions with them, 77 individuals holding noncareer positions were
converted to career positions during the 32 months from May 1, 2001,
through December 31, 2003. These conversions were reported by 18 of the 41
departments and agencies we surveyed. The other 23 departments and
agencies reported no conversions during this period. Forty-four (57
percent) of the 77 reported conversions were made by three departments:
the Departments of Defense (17), Justice (17), and Health and Human
Services (10).1 (See encl. I for a more detailed list of departments and
agencies reporting conversions from May 1, 2001, through December 31,
2003.)

Agency Comments

We provided a draft of this report to OPM for their review and comment.
OPM agreed with the facts presented in this report, and provided some
technical clarifications, which we incorporated as appropriate. In
particular, OPM asked that we further clarify that some of the individuals
moving from noncareer to career positions as discussed in this report, had
previously held career positions (prior to being appointed to the
noncareer positions from which they were being converted).

Scope and Methodology

For the purpose of this review, we identified seven categories of
noncareer positions, defined below. Individuals holding noncareer
positions may have previously held career positions. For example,
limited-term Senior Executive Service (SES) and limited-emergency SES
positions are often filled by federal employees who have previously held
career positions and achieved career status.

o  	Schedule C: Appointments are generally noncompetitive and are for
excepted service positions graded GS-15 and below that involve determining
policy or that require a close confidential relationship with the agency
head or other key officials of the agency.

o  	Noncareer SES: Appointments are to positions with responsibility for
formulating, advocating, and directing administration policies. Noncareer
SES appointees have no tenure and serve "at the pleasure of the department
or agency head."

o  	Limited-term SES: Appointments may be made for up to 36 months to a
position with duties that will end in 36 months or an earlier specified
time period.

o  	Limited-emergency SES: Appointments may be made for up to 18 months to
meet a bona fide, unanticipated, urgent need.

1The 77 conversions from noncareer to career status discussed in this
report represent about 0.01 percent of the more than 74,000 conversions of
all types made governmentwide during this time frame. Within the Senior
Executive Service (SES), the 38 conversions discussed in this report
represent about 2.8 percent of the 1,359 conversions of all types made
governmentwide during this same period.

o  	Presidential appointees, including executive level and noncareer
ambassadors: Appointments are made by the president, generally to fill
high-level executive positions. Appointees support and advocate the
president's goals and policies.

o  	Noncareer legislative branch: Appointments are primarily to positions
in member and committee offices.

o  	Other statutory at-will employees: Sometimes called administratively
determined positions. Certain agencies have specific authority to appoint
individuals to these positions noncompetitively. Appointees serve at the
pleasure of the agency head and can be removed at will and the salary
levels can be determined by the agency head within certain limits.

We identified four categories of career positions, defined as follows:

o  	Career (competitive service): Appointments are made through a
governmentwide or "all sources" merit staffing (competitive) process,
including recruitment through a published announcement, rating and ranking
of eligible candidates, and establishment of OPM-created or approved
qualification standards.

o  	Career-conditional (competitive service): Appointments are for
permanent positions in the competitive service and are generally the
initial positions for new hires. Appointees must complete a 1-year
probationary period and a total of 3 years of continuous creditable
service to attain a career appointment.

o  	Career (SES): Appointments are to top-level policy, supervisory, and
managerial positions in most federal agencies. The SES includes most Civil
Service positions above grade 15 of the General Schedule. Career SES
positions require a further review and approval of the
executive/managerial qualifications of the proposed selectee by an
OPM-administered SES Qualifications Review Board.

o  	Excepted Service (Non-Schedule C): Appointments involve positions
within agencies that are not required to use OPM's competitive hiring
examination. These agencies have authority to establish their own hiring
procedures to fill excepted service vacancies. Most excepted service
employees, with the exception of Schedule C, have adverse action appeal
rights to the Merit Systems Protection Board.

The criteria used to select the executive branch departments and agencies
for this review were: (1) all 15 departments, (2) agencies that had
oversight or other regular responsibilities for federal workforce issues,
and (3) agencies of particular interest to the congressional requesters of
the review. Under these criteria, we identified 41 departments and
agencies. These are listed in enclosure II.

To determine the number of employees who converted from noncareer to
career positions, we asked the 41 departments and agencies to first
complete a data collection instrument (DCI) for the selected conversions
made from May 1, 2001, through December 31, 2003, and provide the
information to us by April 15, 2004. To follow up on conversions made on
or after January 1, 2004, we asked the departments and agencies to provide
information on a monthly basis even if they had no conversions, beginning
on May 15, 2004, through April 30, 2005.

Using the DCI, we asked the 41 departments and agencies to provide
information about the career positions to which the individuals were
converted, i.e., the position title, the pay grade, annual salary, and
entered-on-duty date. We also asked the departments and agencies to
provide the title of the appointee's former position. In addition, we
asked the departments and agencies to provide the related Standard Form 50
for all appointments. These forms provide the official record of a
personnel action. We used the Form 50s to obtain information about each
appointee's prior position, such as annual salary, and to verify
information that the departments and agencies provided on the DCI. We did
not make judgments regarding the qualifications of former noncareer
employees for the career positions to which they were converted.

We conducted our work in Washington, D.C. from March 2004 through May 2005
in accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards.

As agreed with your office, unless you publicly announce the contents of
this report earlier, we plan no further distribution until 30 days from
the report date. We will also make copies available to others upon
request. In addition, this report will be available at no charge on GAO's
Web site at http://www.gao.gov.

Major contributors to this report were Carolyn Samuels, Terry Draver,
Sarah Veale, Jeffrey McDermott, and Greg Wilmoth. Please contact me on
(202) 512-6806 if you have any questions.

George H. Stalcup Director, Strategic Issues

Enclosure I

Number of Employees Converted from Noncareer to Career Positions from May
1, 2001, through December 31, 2003, as Reported by Certain

a

Departments and Agencies

                                                      Number of               
                                 Number of            employees               
     Departments and   Number of employees         converted to     Number of 
            agencies conversions converted to       Competitive         other
                                 Senior Executive       Service conversions b
                                 Service (SES)        (non-SES) 
                                 positions            positions 
       Department of      1              0              1       
         Agriculture                                            
       Department of      1              0              1       
            Commerce                                            
       Department of     17             12              5       
             Defense                                            
       Department of      1              1              0       
           Education                                            
       Department of                                            
    Health and Human     10              8              2       
            Services                                            
       Department of      6              2              4       
Homeland Security                                            
       Department of                                            
Housing and Urban      2              0              2       
         Development                                            
Department of the      1              1              0       
            Interior                                            
       Department of     17              1              0            16       
             Justice                                            
       Department of      2              1              1       
               Labor                                            
       Department of      2              0              2       
               State                                            
Department of the      5              5              0       
            Treasury                                            
       Department of                                            
            Veterans      1              0              1       
      Administration                                            
       Environmental      1              0              1       
Protection Agency                                            
Equal Employment                                             
Opportunity            1              0              1       
Commission                                                   
    General Services      3              1              2       
      Administration                                            
National                                                     
Aeronautics and        1              1              0       
Space                                                        
Administration                                               
           Office of                                            
           Personnel      5              5              0       
          Management                                            
               Total     77             38              23           16       

Source: GAO analysis of data based on department and agency responses to
our data collection instrument.

aThese data include employees who had previously held career positions
prior to being appointed to noncareer
positions, i.e., limited-term and limited-emergency SES positions, before
they were converted to career positions,
such as career SES positions.
bOther conversions would include conversions to Non-Schedule C excepted
service positions.

Enclosure II

Executive Branch Departments and Select Agencies Covered in This Review

1. Department of Agriculture

2. Department of Commerce

3. Department of Defense (Office of the Secretary, Air Force, Army, and
Navy)

4. Department of Education

5. Department of Energy

6. Department of Health and Human Services

7. Department of Homeland Security

8. Department of Housing and Urban Development

9. Department of the Interior

10. Department of Justice

11. Department of Labor

12. Department of State

13. Department of Transportation

14. Department of the Treasury

15. Department of Veteran Affairs

16. Commission on Civil Rights

17. Consumer Product Safety Commission

18. Corporation for National Service

19. Environmental Protection Agency

20. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

21. Export-Import Bank of the U.S.

22. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation

23. Federal Labor Relations Authority

24. Federal Maritime Commission

25. Federal Trade Commission

26. General Services Administration

27. U.S. International Trade Commission

28. Merit Systems Protection Board

29. National Aeronautics and Space Administration

30. National Labor Relations Board

31. Office of Government Ethics

32. Office of Management and Budget

33. Office of Personnel Management

34. Office of Special Counsel

35. Office of the U.S. Trade Representative

36. Overseas Private Investment Corporation

37. Peace Corps

38. Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation

39. Securities and Exchange Commission

40. Small Business Administration

41. Social Security Administration

                                    (450274)

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