General Schedule Position Classification Standard		Classification Programs Division
Draft Job Family Standard for Administrative Work in the Investigation, Enforcement, Inspection, and Compliance Group, GS-1800
Release Date:  December 2001 - DRAFT		Section Two of Thirty-One

Contents

United States Office of Personnel Management
Washington, D.C. 20415-0001

MEMORANDUM FOR CLASSIFICATION CHIEFS

WE REQUEST YOUR COMMENTS AND SUGGESTIONS BY March 29, 2002

Note:Do not use the grade-level criteria in the attached draft to classify positions until the Office of Personnel Management issues the standard in final form.

We are now distributing the draft Job Family Position Classification Standard for Administrative Work in the Investigation, Enforcement, Inspection, and Compliance Group, GS-1800, for review, test application, and comment.

Using the lead agency test approach, we assigned the following agencies as leads for review and test of the full draft job family standard:

We also assigned the following agencies as leads to review, test, and provide comments on the draft standard for positions currently classified to some specific series, as indicated below:

As in the past, we will continue to:

• accept all timely comments, including those from non-lead agencies; and
• carefully review, assess, and incorporate comments from all sources in the final product.

Issuance of this job family standard in final form will eliminate two series; realign several series to different occupational groups; rename series and position titles; and replace the following position classification standards and guides:

Position Classification Standards and Guides, Series
1.Wage and Hour Compliance, GS-0249
2. Equal Opportunity Compliance,GS-0360
3. General Inspection, Investigation, and Compliance, GS-1801
4. Grade Level Guide for Classifying Investigator Positions, GS-1810/GS-1811
5. Game Law Enforcement, GS-1812
6. Immigration Inspection, GS-1816
7. Mine Safety and Health, GS-1822
8. Agricultural Commodity Warehouse Examining, GS-1850
9. Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms Inspection, GS-1854
10. Customs Patrol Agent, GS-1884
11. Import Compliance, GS-1889
12. Customs Inspection, GS-1890
13. Border Patrol Agent, GS-1896
14. Grade Evaluation Guide for Compliance Work

BACKGROUND

Occupational Study and Draft Standard.We conducted this study to update the existing position classification standards for administrative work in the Investigation Group, GS-1800, using the job family standard (JFS) method. The draft Job Family Position Classification Standard for Administrative Work in the Investigation, Enforcement, Inspection, and Compliance Group, GS-1800, covers all nonsupervisory two-grade interval administrative positions that perform work and have knowledge of investigation, enforcement, inspection, and compliance.

We wrote this draft JFS in the Factor Evaluation Format (FES) with factor level descriptions and illustrations that relate the concepts from the primary standard to the individual investigation, enforcement, inspection, and compliance disciplines. The factor level descriptions and illustrations reflect the work found and observed during the on-site factfinding in participating agencies.

In summary, we made the following series title, code, and/or occupational group changes within this draft document:

Proposed Series Name Changes.

Grouping Series by Categories of Work. This job family standard groups its covered series into four categories of work, which are determined by the primary nature of most of the work in their associated occupational series. However, the categories are not mutually exclusive. In each category, situations will occur where work associated with another category is also performed, but is not the principle work for which the position was established.

Investigation Work - Investigation work within this job family covers situations where the employee undertakes extensive investigations primarily for the purpose of establishing and pursuing civil or criminal cases that will be processed and prosecuted by further administrative and judicial action, usually after being turned over by the investigator to other authorities. This category is further divided into two types:

• Administrative investigation work is covered by three occupational series:
• General Investigation, GS-1810,
• Wage and Hour Investigation, GS-1849, and
• Equal Opportunity Investigation, GS-1860.
• Criminal investigation work is covered by one occupational series:
• Criminal Investigation, GS-1811

Many of the processes, techniques, and knowledge used in each type may be similar. The primary distinction between the two is the purpose of the initial investigation: administrative or civil actions or criminal prosecution.

Enforcement Work - Enforcement work covers two series within this job family:

• Customs Patrol Enforcement, GS-1884, and
• Border PatrPatrolS-1896.

Inspector Work - Inspection work covers three series within this job family:

• Fish and Wildlife Inspection, GS-1813, and
• Immigration Inspection, GS-1816, and
• Customs Inspection, GS-1890.

Compliance Work - Compliance work covers five series within this job family:

• General Compliance, GS-1801,
• Mine Safety and Health Compliance, GS-1822,
• Agricultural Compliance, GS-1850,
• Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives Compliance, GS-1854,
and
• Import Compliance, GS-1889.

Compliance work entails examining, interpreting, accepting, appraising and/or monitoring regulated products, establishments, industries, and imported merchandise to determine compliance with laws, regulation, and polices. The entities that are examined typically will have set up internal programs and procedures to ensure compliance with regulatory requirements. The compliance work often involves reviewing those programs and the outcomes of the procedures and making suggestions for improvement.

Changes to Specific Series. As a continuing part of our effort to establish JFS's for the entire General Schedule, we are revising occupational series that cover related but dissimilar categories of work within the same series and realigning series to occupational groups that better match their primary knowledge requirements and the purpose of the work. We believe that separating dissimilar categories of work into different series and grouping series by their primary knowledge requirements and the purpose of the work will help simplify the classification process for all users. We are proposing to make these series-related changes:

• Game Law Enforcement Series, GS-1812 - The current series includes both investigation and inspection work. The investigation work deals with criminal undertakings affecting the conservation of wildlife while the inspection work deals with patrol, enforcement, and compliance with Federal statues and regulations for the conservation and protection of fish and wildlife resources. We are proposing to abolish the Game Law Enforcement Series, GS-1812, and realign the criminal investigation work into the Criminal Investigation Series, GS-1811, and the inspection work into a proposed new series called the Fish and Wildlife Inspection Series, GS-1813.



• Air Safety Investigating Series, GS-1815 - The primary knowledge requirements and purpose of the work are the investigation and prevention of air transportation accidents. We are proposing to realign this work to the Transportation Group, GS-2100, with similar occupations regarding transportation safety. The series will be renumbered as GS-2115 and will retain the current title and grading criteria.



• Aviation Safety Series, GS-1825 - The primary knowledge requirements and purpose of the work are developing and enforcing regulations and standards concerning civil aviation safety and national aviation transportation safety. We are proposing to realign the work to the Transportation Group, GS-2100. The series will be renumbered as GS-2155 and will retain the current title and grading criteria.
  
  
• Securities Compliance Examining Series, GS-1831 - The primary knowledge required by the work is financial. The full performance or journey level requires professional knowledge of accounting. The Securities and Exchange Commission uses the GS-1831 series for recruitment purposes for applicants who do not meet the qualification requirements for the Accounting Series, GS-0510. We propose to abolish the Securities Compliance Examining Series, GS-1831, and to realign the work to the Accounting Series, GS-0510, and the Financial Administration and Program Series, GS-0501, for positions not requiring the accounting qualifications.
  
  
• Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms Inspection Series, GS-1854 (Part II) - The primary knowledge requirements and purpose of the work in this series is inspection. Part II of the current position classification standard for the GS-1854 series describes a different knowledge requirement and purpose of the work than Part I. It covers tax-related technical work and provides grading criteria for alcohol and tobacco tax specialist work. The tax-related technical work is separate and distinct from inspection work performed by alcohol, tobacco, and firearms inspectors. The inspection work is the primary purpose of the series. We propose to realign the tax-related work to the Tax Specialist Series, GS-0526.



• Customs Entry and Liquidating Series, GS-1894 - The primary knowledge requirement and purpose of the work is financial. The work involves the determining tax liability through duties and tariffs on merchandise entering the country. We propose to abolish the Customs Entry and Liquidating Series, GS-1894, and to realign the work to the Tax Specialist Series, GS-0526, based the primary knowledge requirement and purpose of the work.





BASIC INFORMATION REQUESTED FROM REVIEWING AGENCIES (LEAD AND SERIES-SPECIFIC)

NOTE: We request that any agency with positions currently classified to series within this job family review and respond to questions 4 - 8 (marked with an asterisk "*"), and let us know if you have issues or concerns.

Please evaluate the draft standard to determine if it meets your classification needs. Please apply the draft standard to a sufficient number of positions to support your estimates of potential impact. Follow the instructions in the HOW TO USE THIS STANDARD section, especially about how to interpret and use illustrations. The results of your test application will provide vital information needed to produce the final standard. Please provide the following information and answer the following questions.
1. The number of positions, by title and grade level, that you evaluated by the draft standard.

2. The potential impact on these positions; i.e., the number of upgrades, downgrades, and no grade changes.

3. Copies of position descriptions that would change in grade level. Include an evaluation statement or an explanation of:


1. how the position was classified using the current standard; and
2. why the grade changed after applying the draft criteria.


* 4. Are the four categories of work (Investigation, Enforcement, Inspection, Compliance)
and their component occupational series logical?


* 5. Are the proposed series name changes reasonable?


* 6. Do the proposed titles reflect the scope of administrative work within your agency?


* 7. Do you agree with the proposed realignment of certain series to other occupational
groups to better reflect their primary purpose?


* 8. Is the occupational information for each series appropriate and sufficient?


9. Do the factor level descriptions provide sufficient information to properly evaluate
administrative work in the Investigation, Enforcement, Inspection, and Compliance Group, GS-1800?


10. Do the number and variety of illustrations provide sufficient information to use in the application of the standard?


11. For the Department of Labor: Do you agree that the title Wage and Hour Specialist is
appropriate for policy-related work in the proposed GS-1849 series?


12. For the Securities and Exchange Commission: Will the Job Family Standard for Professional and Administrative Work in the Accounting and Budget Group, GS-0500 properly address the work currently classified to the Securities Compliance Examining Series, GS-1831?





In addition, we encourage you to submit proposed illustrations for Factors 1, 4, and 5 of the draft JFS that address significant work operations in your organization that you believe would facilitate application of the standard. Please provide any other information, opinions, or suggestions you have that will improve this standard.

As you conduct the trial application, do not include positions if there is any question about the current grade or if the correct grade cannot be determined. However, if you have positions that have been especially difficult to classify under the current standards, please apply the draft standard to these positions, provide copies of the position descriptions, and tell us if the draft standard was harder or easier to apply than the current standard.

We would like to have both:

1. comments representing the agency's overall view, as well as
2. representative comments from a sufficient number of locations to support your view.

Please submit comments in accordance with your agency's guidelines by March 29, 2002. In line with our normal practice, we will evaluate and consider every timely comment and suggestion submitted. Suggestions for change will be particularly helpful if you include the rationale for the suggested change.

Please send your response to the following address:
U.S. Office of Personnel Management
Workforce Compensation and Performance Service
Office of Performance and Compensation Systems Design
Classification Programs Division
1900 E Street, NW, Room 6H31
Washington, DC 20415-8330

Individuals who wish to send personal comments should send them to the same address or to our email address, fedclass@opm.gov. If you would like to discuss the draft or obtain additional information, contact Delmar D. White at (202) 606-2950, or ddwhite@opm.gov.

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Updated 07 January 2002