D. of the Anti-Deficiency Statute (31 USC 665) 99 103 - 104 104 -- 105 105 106 108 109 109 110 XVII. INDEPENDENT OFFICE OF INSPECTOR GENERAL 112 SUMMARY The Investigative Staff was directed to make an investigation of the policies, procedures, and practices of ACTION. More than 200 persons were interviewed which included ACTION management officials, employees, contractors, grant project directors and supervisors, and VISTA volunteers--both former and present. In addition, ACTION files and documents pertaining to areas of interest to the Investigative Staff were reviewed and analyzed. The Investigative Staff traveled to 5 ACTION regional offices and visited the ACTION State directors in 12 States and 45 VISTA projects in 22 States. The review focused on the conversion of ACTION personnel from foreign service to civil service, changes in the number and staffing of excepted and senior management positions, and the use of experts and consultants. 1. Conversions Not Politically Motivated The Investigative Staff found no evidence of political motivation behind the blanket conversion of some 149 ACTION employees from foreign service to civil service. Neither did the Investigative Staff find any evidence of a reported "fifth column" within the agency, made up of upper-level holdovers from the prior administration who acquired job tenure as a result of the conversion exercise. The Investigative Staff can only conclude that ACTION officials have been in error in assuming or implying that past manipulation of the personnel system is in some way related to the ineffective accomplishment of current agency programs. In early 1974, the Civil Service Commission made a personnel management inspection of ACTION, concluded that foreign service appointments for other than Peace Corps operations were improper, and directed the agency to develop a plan for eliminating the dual personnel system in agencywide support offices. ACTION had difficulty with some of the details of the recommendation, but the Investigative Staff could find no evidence in the record of the agency ever having objected strongly, in principle, to the idea of eliminating foreign service positions in support offices. Neither could the Investigative Staff find any suggestion that the exercise was viewed as an opportunity to provide the incumbents with civil service tenure and other benefits. The attitude seems more likely to have been related to a turnover of personnel in several key positions and a sincere effort to establish a base for better personnel management in the agency. Negotiations with the Commission continued through the spring of 1976, at which time the conversion plan was implemented on the basis that ACTION would limit future foreign service appointments to the Peace Corps and to the FS-1 and FS-2 levels. While there is some confusion about how many employees were included in the exercise, the best information available to the Investigative Staff indicates that 149 were actually converted and another 35 employees were reinstated. Other data compiled by the ACTION personnel staff would indicate that well over half of the employees were lower-level clerks and technicians and the remainder were supervisory or middle management. Some 28 employees, most of whom were FS-1, FS-2, and FS-3, remained in foreign service positions subsequent to the conversion. Four of these employees are still with the agency. As of September 30, 1978, ACTION had a total of 25 foreign service employees working in support offices, or 3 fewer than immediately after the conversion. The agency still has no written policy on how positions in support offices will be filled. The Investigative Staff can understand ACTION's reluctance to use only general schedule employees in support offices, but it cannot agree with the position. While the flexibilities of the dual personnel system may be highly desirable from a management standpoint, there are just not enough safeguards to prevent its abuse. In the hands of a willful director, it could still be used as a means for circumventing merit hiring principles. To avert the possibility and encourage better personnel management in the agency, the Investigative Staff believes ACTION should adopt a firm policy of filling agencywide support offices with Civil Service personnel only. 2. Increase in Non-Competitive The report entitled "U.S. Government--Policy and Supporting Positions" (popularly known as the "Plum Book") is generally considered to be reflective of the "political jobs" in an agency. The last official "Plum Book" was issued by the House Committee on Post Office and Civil Service in November 1976, with information current as of September 3, 1976. Comparison of the "Plum Book" with a corresponding report current as of March 30, 1978, and prepared by the ACTION personnel office shows a net increase of 30 "political" jobs broken down as follows: There has been no change in the number of executive level positions. This number is fixed at six by statute. Noncareer executive assignment (NEA) positions have increased from three to six. NEA appointments are made.to |