Employee Conduct Standards

Among the 11 federal agencies GAO reviewed, the extent of approved outside activities varied, with speaking and consulting being the most common. Some agencies did not monitor employees' activities outside the government to the extent needed to avoid violations of related laws and regulations. Because of overly permissive approval policies, five agencies allowed some outside activities, such as speaking and consulting, that appeared to violate prohibitions against the use of public office for private gain. These activities preceded Congress' January 1991 ban on the acceptance of honoraria by most federal employees for outside speeches, articles, and appearances. The ban applies whether or not the activity relates to government work. Congress is considering changing the ban so that it applies only to activities specifically relating to government work. Under new standards proposed by the Office of Government Ethics in July 1991, all executive branch agencies would be allowed to establish requirements for prior approval of employees' outside activities. GAO believes that the Office of Government Ethics needs to strengthen its standards on agency approval of outside activities. Prior approval of some kinds of activities, for example, could help agencies and employees avoid conflicts of interest. The Office of Government Ethics also needs to provide agencies with guidance on how to deal with these situations.

GAO found that: (1) the number of employees with approved outside activities ranged from less than 1 percent at 1 agency to 11 percent at another; (2) speaking and consulting activities were the most frequently approved activities among the 11 agencies; (3) some agencies do not monitor employees' activities outside of the government to the extent required to ensure that violations of laws are avoided; (4) OGE monitored most of the 11 agencies' controls over outside activities and recommended improvements, but agencies did not always implement the recommendations; (5) five agencies approved some activities that appear to violate standards of conduct prohibiting the use of public office for private gain; (6) Congress is considering proposals to apply the ban of the acceptance of honoraria by most federal employees for outside speeches, articles, and appearances only to such activities that focus specifically on government work; and (7) OGE proposed new standards of conduct for all executive branch employees that would establish a requirement for prior approval of employees' outside activities.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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