FY 2001 Performance and Accountability Report Homepage Annual Performance Goals and Results Performance for FY 2001 Goals and Objectives —     Strategic Goal I     Strategic Goal II     Strategic Goal III     Strategic Goal IV     Corporate      Management      Strategies and      Internal Goals Completeness and Reliability of Performance Data

 

Annual Performance Goals and Results

Performance for FY 2001 Goals and Objectives

Strategic Goal II.

We continued to ensure that the merit system is consistently honored across the Federal government. In our oversight of the merit system, we completed our scheduled reviews of eight large and nine small agencies and 96 delegated examining audits. These activities resulted in our achieving all of the 7 goals described in our fiscal year 2001 Performance Plan.

Strategic Objective: Agencies adhere to the merit principles and other laws, rules, regulations, and public policies governing human resources management.

Improve and support the high standard of agency adherence to the merit system principles and other laws, rules, regulations and public policies governing Federal human resources management.

Ensure that all career SES selections, particularly those of non-career employees for career SES appointments, comply with merit principles; and that the use of non-career and limited appointment authorities complies with statute and regulation.

Agency personnel security programs are made more effective as a result of OPM evaluations which note best practices, identify deficiencies and make recommendations for improvement.

	Creating a culture of performance means attaching a new seriousness and new rigor to the federal government's evaluation and accountability measures. Our appraisal systems must again become a vehicle for measuring and recognizing excellence. —Kay Coles James

OPM met its three annual goals during the year. Thus, this objective is being achieved. Merit systems reviews reflected that most agencies were substantially in compliance with merit principles and HR laws and regulations. Where inconsistencies were identified, the agency worked closely with those organizations to ensure their practices were brought back into compliance. All problems uncovered during the oversight reviews were resolved in an appropriate and timely manner.

The agency conducted comprehensive reviews of HR programs in eight large agencies and nine small agencies, as well as 96 delegated examining audits. In addition, we completed an inventory of all Federal agencies to determine if they are subject to our oversight review and to identify their authority to appoint, pay, and conduct other HR activities outside of title 5, U.S. Code. As a result, OPM doubled its coverage of small agencies to 80 and added these agencies to its regular review schedule.

Merit staffing reviews were conducted of all proposed SES career appointments of individuals from non-career positions. The agency did not encounter any cases that did not meet the intent and spirit of the law.

OPM carried out 11 inspections and evaluations of agency personnel security program operations, identified deficiencies, and made recommendations for corrective actions. The agency is intensifying its training efforts and working with the USDA Graduate School to make sure that there are always courses available to assist agencies in meeting their security and suitability responsibilities.

In course evaluations, 88% of trainees rated the ten modules of the course good or excellent. Six of nine measures in the annual Merit Systems Principles Questionnaire that reflect the Federal workforce's perception of the equity and merit in the workplace met or exceeded the FY 2001 target, and two of the three that did not were within the margin of error for the questionnaire.

	Percent favorable responses
Merit System Principle	FY 1999 Results**	FY 2000 Results	FY 2001 Target	FY 2001 Actual
1.  Recruit, select and advance on the basis of merit.	62	64	stable	65
2.  Treat employees and applicants fairly and equitably.	63	65	stable	65
3.  Provide equal pay for equal work, and reward excellent performance.	44	45	improved	47
4.  Maintain high standards of integrity, conduct, and concern for the public interest.	76	76	stable	68*
5.  Manage employees efficiently and effectively.	55	54	improved	55
6.  Retain or separate employees on the basis of their performance.	65	66	stable	68
7.  Educate and train employees when it it will result in better organizational and individual performance.	58	57	improved	61
8.  Protect employees from improper political influence.	67	70	stable	69
9.  Protect employees against reprisal for the lawful disclosure of information.	41	47	improved	44
*Questions were changed in the FY 2001 survey. Therefore a comparison to prior year's data is not meaningful. ** The FY 2000 results, reflected in the table above, differ slightly from the results reported in the FY 2000 Performance Report. The prior numbers were incorrectly reported in that they reflected the employee responses only rather than the entire population of people who responded to the survey.

Strategic Objective: By FY 2003, agencies have implemented accountability systems that effectively hold responsible officials accountable for their human resources operations and results.

Improve agency accountability for conducting HRM in accordance with the merit system.

OPM is on track to meet this objective in FY 2003. In January 2001, Executive order 13197 was issued, giving OPM clear authority to require that agencies establish and maintain HRM accountability systems. A multi-agency taskforce drafted a concise set of accountability systems standards, now under review, in preparation for issuance in FY 2002. OPM also maintains an accountability database to track agencies' internal accountability efforts. Currently, eighty agencies are covered in this database. OPM's surveys of human resources directors reveal the following:

HR Directors Survey Results
HRM Accountability Systems	FY 1998 Results	FY 2000 Results	FY 2001 Target	FY 2001 Actual
Percent Satisfied with Policy Leadership	60%	60%	62%	86%
Percent Satisfied with their Opportunity for Involvement	61%	74%	75%	70%

Strategic Objective: All agency units that conduct employment examinations under our delegated authority are fully trained, covered by effective internal accountability systems and meet our criteria for recertification by FY 2004.

An effective program of support to agency delegated examining units (DEU's) is maintained so that agency DEU's are continuing to operate according to merit system laws, regulations, and principles.

This Strategic Objective is being met. OPM updated the DEU Handbook and Training Materials using plain language in order to make them customer focused. The agency added information on the existing Federal hiring flexibilities, which will enable DEU's to reduce the time it takes to hire applicants. It also developed a database to communicate information to all 70 DEU's in an effective and timely manner. OPM's surveys of HR specialists showed that after declining during FY 1999, HR specialists are increasingly satisfied with our technical assistance to delegated examining units.

Delegated Examining Unit Assistance	FY 1998 Results	FY 1999 Results	FY 2001 Target	FY 2001 Actual
Percent HR Specialists Satisfied with Technical Assistance	78%	72%	74%	75%

Strategic Objective: Decisions of Federal adjudicatory agencies are consistent with civil service laws, regulations, and policies.

Third-party decisions that warrant OPM intervention are identified to ensure that case decisions are consistent with civil service laws, rules, and policies.

Agency requests for variations, exceptions, extensions, waivers, adjudications, and schedule C activities are responded to in a manner that is both timely and consistent with law and merit staffing principles so that agencies can proceed in a timely manner.

This objective was met. We reviewed more than 10,000 relevant decisions from the MSPB, FLRA, courts, and arbitrators, and recommended intervention or judicial review in six cases. The decision to intervene is based on a determination both that the third-party decision is erroneous and that the error will have a substantial governmentwide impact. Our survey of HR specialists reported the following:

	FY 1998 Results	FY 1999 Results	FY 2001 Target	FY 2001 Actual
Percent HR Specialists satisfied with OPM's intervention in employee disputes before arbitrators and the MSPB	67%	58%	69%	54%

The agency processed 328 Temporary Transitional Schedule C appointments, 585 permanent Schedule C appointments, and 60 requests for Voluntary Early Retirement Authorities. All were handled within 10 days, except for those where the initial submission was incomplete and additional information was required from the agency. OPM also handled six agency requests for variations. Due to the lengthy decision-making process of variations, the average processing time exceeded the timeliness standard.

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