IG says up to a third of Schedule B hires in past few years "questionable" Image: Gil C/Shutterstock.com
By: FEDweek StaffMany of the hiring actions the State Department took under Schedule B in recent years did not meet the department’s own policies or OPM policies, an IG report has found.
Schedule B is an excepted service that authority may be used when it is impractical to hold open competition or to apply usual competitive examining procedures. OPM has authorized State to use it to fill scientific, professional, and technical positions in grades GS-12 to -15 requiring specialized experience in foreign policy. The report said that State made at least 137 hires under that authority over 2013-2018, more than a third of which “raise concerns that the department improperly used” it.
Under the department’s policy, Schedule B appointments are to be used to fill a temporary need or where the applicable experience does not already exist in the department and may not be used to fill positions that are confidential or policy-determining in nature.
But the IG said it found that several individuals hired in that time “lacked special qualifications in foreign policy matters, and, of the appointments reviewed, almost a fifth were appointments to positions that are inherently policy-determining or confidential.” Others with little background in foreign policy were hired into general management or communications positions.
Further, the department used the authority to convert current employees or to hire contractor employees when the expertise needed was already available within the department, it said. It added that the department’s policy “does not provide adequate guidance on whether and in what circumstances such hires or conversions are appropriate.”
