U.S. Marshals Service: Additional Actions Needed to Improve Oversight of Merit Promotion Process and Address Employee Perceptions of Favoritism
Highlights
What GAO Found
The U.S. Marshals Service's (USMS) merit promotion policy aligns with relevant provisions in title 5 of the United States Code and Code of Federal Regulations, which are the government-wide laws and related provisions agencies must follow to make federal appointments. Agencies must design and administer merit promotion programs to ensure a systematic means of selection for promotion based on merit and these programs must conform to five key requirements outlined in title 5. GAO found that the USMS merit promotion plan, as revised in November 2016, aligned with each of these five requirements. For example, the first requirement states that agencies must establish merit-based procedures for promoting employees that are available in writing to candidates. The USMS merit promotion plan, which is available to employees, outlines such procedures.
USMS is taking steps to improve how it monitors the implementation of the scoring component of its process to rate promotion applications, but lacks documented guidance to ensure consistent compliance with its merit promotion policy. GAO found that USMS does not adequately monitor the rating process, which allowed for conflicts of interest with raters who may compete with candidates whose applications they score. USMS also does not monitor the rating process to ensure that raters complied with a key requirement—that raters decline to score applications of candidates with whom there is a conflict of interest, such as a supervisor-employee relationship. USMS is implementing a process change that, if implemented effectively, can address these two deficiencies. The new process entails having a third-party contractor, rather than USMS employees, determine candidates' scores. Finally, GAO found that USMS lacks documented guidance on rater scoring. USMS only provides verbal guidance to instruct raters on how to score the experience category of merit promotion packages, creating inconsistent application of the guidelines. Employees GAO met with expressed the view that such discrepancies create the perception that the rating process is unfairly subjective. Developing clear and specific documented guidance on how raters should apply the benchmark guidelines could minimize scoring inconsistency and potential rater subjectivity for both the current rating process and the new competency-based assessment.
USMS has taken limited steps to understand and address employee concerns about the promotion process. An estimated 41 percent of USMS respondents to the 2016 Office of Personnel Management Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey strongly disagreed or disagreed that USMS promotions are merit-based, while 34 percent strongly agreed or agreed, and 25 percent neither agreed nor disagreed. During discussion groups GAO held at four USMS district locations across the U.S., employees frequently expressed negative views and many indicated low or no trust that the process is fair and merit-based. Although USMS has acknowledged employees' negative perceptions of the promotion process, it has not developed an agency-wide action plan in accordance with federal guidance to better understand the nature and causes of employee concerns across districts and divisions. Providing specific and consistent information to employees about key steps in the merit promotion process and internal management decisions could improve transparency and help mitigate employee perceptions of favoritism that have negatively impacted employee morale.
Why GAO Did This Study
USMS mission areas include fugitive apprehension, witness protection, and federal prisoner transportation, among others. USMS whistleblowers recently alleged that USMS officials engaged in improper promotion practices—such as routinely preselecting favored candidates. Investigations have substantiated multiple whistleblower allegations which has raised questions about the integrity of USMS's merit promotion process. USMS announces about 260 law enforcement promotion opportunities annually.
GAO was asked to review USMS's promotion processes and policies and effects that USMS promotion practices have on employee morale. This report examines (1) the extent to which the USMS's merit promotion policies are aligned with federal guidelines; (2) the extent to which USMS monitors its merit promotion processes; and (3) the steps, if any, USMS has taken to understand and address employee concerns about its merit promotion policies and processes. GAO analyzed data and documents on USMS promotions from October 2015 through April 2017, and found these data to be sufficiently reliable for the purposes of GAO's study. GAO also analyzed USMS documentation, and interviewed USMS officials and non-generalizable groups of employees (85 in total) in four district locations.
Recommendations
GAO recommends that USMS develop specific rater guidance and develop and implement an agency-wide action plan to better understand and address employee concerns, among other steps. USMS concurred with the recommendations.
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| United States Marshals Service | The Director of the USMS should develop specific documented guidance--both for the current and new processes--to enhance raters' ability to consistently interpret and apply experience-based benchmarks for GS-14 and GS-15 positions and competency-based benchmarks for GS-13 positions when evaluating candidate qualifications. (Recommendation 1) |
USMS concurred with this recommendation and said it was taking steps to implement it. In April 2019, USMS completed implementation of the new GS-13 and GS-14 competency assessment processes and provided initial and ongoing refresher training to third-party assessors on the application of the USMS benchmarks. In addition, quality assurance monitoring has been conducted since January 2018 for the GS-13 competency assessment process. As of October 2020, USMS provided documentation showing that the GS-15 competency assessment process has been completed and quality assurance monitoring is underway for the GS-14 and GS-15 processes. As a result, this recommendation is closed as implemented.
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| United States Marshals Service | The Director of the USMS should develop and implement a mechanism to provide specific feedback to employees on the results of the promotion process, including their readiness for promotion. (Recommendation 2) |
USMS concurred with this recommendation and said that it is taking steps to implement it. In August 2018, USMS began providing feedback reports to employees completing the redesigned competency assessment process, which include detailed breakouts of scores by competency. USMS also provides conversion instructions to assist employees in determining how their competency scores contribute to their overall promotion application. Moreover, USMS posts a ranked promotion score register on their internal website to help applicants determine their comparative standing for promotion readiness within the candidate pool. On August 20, 2021, USMS launched a new Deputy Development Training program with the goal of providing all law enforcement personnel with the standardized skills needed to be successful in their current roles while preparing them for future promotion opportunities. The program consists of computer-based training courses to develop core competencies and will be automatically assigned to deputies based on their current grade from GS-05 through GS-15. In addition to the training program, deputies from GS-05 through GS-12 will be assigned job tasks to develop an agency-wide baseline of experience and proficiency. Finally, according to USMS officials, candidates are encouraged to talk to their local district or division management to receive guidance and advice on how to further develop any competencies in which they scored lower. As a result, this recommendation is closed as implemented.
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| United States Marshals Service | The Director of the USMS should develop and implement an agency-wide action plan to more fully understand and address areas where employees express negative perceptions of the merit promotion process. Consistent with Office of Personnel Management guidance in this area, the plan should specify (1) time frames for accomplishing the actions, (2) who will be responsible for implementing the actions, (3) who will be affected by the actions, (4) the resources required, and (5) a plan to communicate these actions to managers and employees. (Recommendation 3) |
In October 2017, we reported on additional actions needed to improve oversight of the USMS merit promotion process and address employee perceptions of favoritism. During our review, we found that USMS had taken limited steps to understand and address employee concerns about the merit promotion process, including encouraging local managers to evaluate their Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey results and formulate an action plan that fit their individual district or division. Specifically, we noted that although the Human Resources Division (HRD) disseminated a memorandum requesting district and division managers to develop action plans, it had not developed an agency-wide action plan, nor had it taken steps to ensure that all districts and divisions developed action plans. Further, USMS did not track the extent to which district and divisions completed action plans and did not require district or division offices to submit their action plans to HRD. Thus, we recommended that the Director of USMS develop and implement an agency-wide action plan to more fully understand and address areas where employees express negative perceptions of the merit promotion process. Consistent with OPM guidance in this area, we noted that the plan should specify (1) timeframes for accomplishing the actions; (2) who would be responsible for implementing the actions; (3) who would be affected by the actions; (4) the resources required, and (5) a plan to communicate these actions to managers and employees. In March 2018, USMS submitted an agency-wide action plan to DOJ based on the results of the 2017 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey, which focused primarily on improving the perception that promotions are not based on merit. The submitted action plan outlined steps being taken to redesign the operational merit promotion process and develop training plans to help employees prepare for leadership positions. The action plan also included timeframes, responsible parties for key deliverables, and needed resources. As of June 2019, USMS provided documentation showing that districts and divisions were required to complete and submit action plans to HRD, and confirmed that HRD collected 100 percent of the action plans from each division and district for 2018. As a result, this recommendation is closed as implemented.
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