Broader ‘Demonstration Project’ Authority Sought

The Voinovich civil service reform plan also would broaden the authority for agencies to conduct “demonstration project” tests of alternative personnel systems. Such tests have been authorized for two decades and often involve changes to hiring, classification, performance measurement, rewards, promotions and disciplinary policies. However, the authority is relatively little used, since current law requires an extensive proposal and review process and limits the number of potentially affected employees per test to 5000. Under Voinovich’s plan, that process would be streamlined, the limit on the number of employees who could be affected would be eliminated, and entire agencies could be designated as demonstration project sites, effectively removing them from many of the standard civil service policies.