GAO Review Finds Flaws in Hiring by Federal Agencies

In a letter to the OPM calling for corrective action, Waxman and Davis said improper conversions "are a threat to the civil service both because they implant less qualified personnel into the government and because they tarnish the integrity of the federal merit-based hiring system."

Civil service law calls for fair and open competition for federal jobs, based on what an applicant knows, not who they know. But the GAO probe found instances where agencies did not adhere to the highest hiring standards.

The Justice Department, for example, converted an appointee with less than six months of immigration law experience into an immigration judge, raising questions of fairness, the GAO said.

In one case, Waxman and Davis said, a longtime aide to a former secretary of Health and Human Services was given a career job that had been created to match the appointee's work experience. The employee received about the same in salary after the conversion, $57,550 annually.

Talk Shows

Craig W. Floyd , chairman and executive director of the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, will be the guest on "FEDtalk" at 11 a.m. today on federalnewsradio.com and WFED radio (1050 AM).

Richard L. Gregg , commissioner of the Financial Management Service at the Treasury Department, will be the guest on "The IBM Business of Government Hour" at 9 a.m. Saturday on WJFK radio (106.7 FM).

Stephen Barr's e-mail address isbarrs@washpost.com.