Personnel Practices

Propriety of Career Appointments Granted Former Political Appointees Gao ID: GGD-92-51 February 12, 1992

Conversions of political appointees from noncareer to career status present a dilemma. On the one hand, it is reasonable to allow people who join the government as political appointees to compete for career status if they choose to continue their federal careers. On the other hand, the political nature of career appointments raises the specter of favoritism and improper advantage, even the appearance of which can compromise the integrity of the merit system. The Office of Personnel Management's review process and procedures have successfully identified and stopped some improper conversions, and GAO notes opportunities for further improvement. Even with these improvements, however, inherent difficulties remain in overseeing conversions to ensure adherence to merit system principles. Ultimately, selection decisions are subjective, and an agency official could follow procedures, conceal a prohibited motive, and plausibly defend his or her actions as a legitimate exercise of managerial discretion. If Congress believes that additional safeguards are needed, GAO suggests a control procedure that would provide greater assurance that conversions are consistent with merit system principles.

GAO found that: (1) the propriety of conversions and agencies' adherence to merit system principles are difficult to ensure, because officials can easily give the appearance that fair and open competition was achieved when it was not; (2) of 46 conversions made in the period February 1988 through December 1989, 37 appeared proper, 7 were questionable, and 2 did not fully comply with merit staffing requirements; (3) OPM has established a review process that has identified and prevented some improper conversions; and (4) the subjectivity in the selection process will continue to make it difficult for OPM to oversee conversions.

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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