Agency Response to Schedule F Order Varied, GAO Finds

Response was mixed among federal agencies during the several months between when the Trump administration ordered creation of an excepted service Schedule F and when the Biden administration revoked it, GAO has found.

That order sought to convert potentially tens of thousands of competitive service positions involved with making or carrying out policy, to the excepted service, where they would lose many of their protections and in which a White House could fill such positions without competition.

GAO confirmed reports that no agencies converted any positions during the roughly four months the Trump order was in effect, adding that only 15 even contacted OPM ahead of the January 19, 2021 deadline the order set to report to OPM on their review of positions to potentially convert.

Of those, only two submitted firm plans, which OPM approved.

* OMB would have converted more than 400 positions, about two-thirds of its workforce, nine-tenths of them at GS-13 or higher, “levels generally associated with high levels of responsibility in the federal government, and requiring specialized experience,” GAO noted. It added that an OPM official of the Trump administration told GAO that “the reason OMB submitted a petition first was because then-administration officials wanted OMB to serve as an example for other agencies to follow.” However, OMB was too busy with transition-related activities to take implementing steps such as notifying employees of their status, it said.

* The International Boundary and Water Commission would have converted five out of its more than 200 positions all of them at GS-15 or above. Officials told GAO that they favored conversions to help the agency in “competing for qualified candidates, particularly in remote border offices where it is challenging to recruit and retain key personnel. Another factor officials noted was the desire to have employees who the Commissioner trusted to expeditiously carry out policy decisions.”

Of the 13 other agencies that communicated with OPM during that time, seven said they needed more time to finalize their analysis: EEOC, EPA, Treasury, FERC, FTC, National Endowment for the Humanities and OPM itself.

The other six said they did not intend to convert any positions, either because they did not have any meeting the criteria or because they “did not need the hiring and removal exceptions provided by Schedule F.” They were Corporation for National and Community Service, Federal Maritime Commission, the TSP, National Archives and Records Administration, National Transportation Safety Board and National Labor Relations Board.

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