The Government Accountability Office has recommended that the Office of Personnel Management director work with agencies to aid hiring efforts and analyze the extent to which hiring authorities meet requirements and refine, eliminate or expand authorities as necessary.
GAO said in a report published Thursday that OPM should sustain the Hiring Excellence Campaign‘s efforts to help boost agency hiring and utilize previously established programs as appropriate.
Auditors said agencies relied on 20 out of 105 hiring authorities in fiscal year 2014 that amounted to 91 percent of the 196,226 new appointments made that year and noted the OPM does not utilize data on agency time-to-hire, manager and applicant survey results to assess the hiring process.
OPM and agency can identify methods to refine authorities and expand access to specific authorities labeled as efficient and effective as well as eliminate “less effective” authorities through an analysis of hiring authorities, GAO added.
GAO noted OPM has described the objectives, strategies and measures to sustain the Hiring Excellence Campaign designed to address challenges with federal hiring.
