ML20027B692

DNFSB-20-A-04-Audit of Dnfsbs Human Resources Program Final Report Dated January 27, 2020

ML20027B692
Person / Time
Issue date:	01/27/2020
From:	Baker B NRC/OIG/AIGA
To:	Sklar G, Tontodonato R Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board
References
DNFSB-20-A-04
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Audit of DNFSBs Human Resources Program DNFSB-20-A-04 January 27, 2020 All publicly available OIG reports (including this report) are accessible through NRCs Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/insp-gen

DEFENSE NUCLEAR FACILITIES SAFETY BOARD WASHINGTON, D.C. 20004-2901 OFFICE OF THE INSPECTOR GENERAL January 27, 2020 MEMORANDUM TO:

Glenn Sklar General Manager Richard Tontodonato Acting Deputy General Manager FROM:

Dr. Brett M. Baker /RA/

Assistant Inspector General for Audits

SUBJECT:

AUDIT OF DNFSBS HUMAN RESOURCES PROGRAM (DNFSB-20-A-04)

Attached is the Office of the Inspector Generals (OIG) audit report titled Audit of DNFSBs Human Resources Program.

The report presents the results of the subject audit. Following the January 06, 2020, exit conference, DNFSB staff indicated that they had no formal comments for inclusion in this report.

Please provide information on actions taken or planned on each of the recommendation(s) within 30 days of the date of this memorandum.

We appreciate the cooperation extended to us by members of your staff during the audit. If you have any questions or comments about our report, please contact me at (301) 415-5915 or Mike Blair, Team Leader, at (301) 415-8399.

Attachment:

As stated cc:

R. Howard

Office of the Inspector General U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board Results in Brief Audit of DNFSBs Human Resources Program What We Found DNFSBs human resources program is currently not designed and implemented to effectively support the execution of its mission.

DNFSBs hiring process has been ineffective and inefficient. DNFSB must be able to select candidates efficiently and effectively; however, there is a lack of agency consensus and communication regarding DNFSBs hiring practices. As a result, the agency remains understaffed, which may negatively impact DNFSBs ability to accomplish its mission.

Additionally, nearly half of DNFSBs Senior Executive Service (SES) positions are vacant. DNFSB should establish its SES positions to provide more effective management of its staff; however, DNFSBs senior leadership does not believe SES positions are needed. As a result, agencys responsibilities may be ineffectively managed.

What We Recommend This report makes four recommendations to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of DMFSBs hiring practices; and two recommendations to provide more effective SES management of agency staff.

Why We Did This Review The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) was established to oversee the Department of Energys (DOE) defense nuclear facilities, and to provide the Secretary of Energy with advice and recommendations to ensure adequate protection of public health and safety at these facilities.

DNFSBs staff is composed of excepted service and general schedule staff. In addition, Senior Executive Service (SES) employees are assigned to lead DNFSBs offices.

From 2018 through 2019, DNFSB lost approximately 25 percent of its technical staff. As a result, Congress directed DNFSB to increase the number of its staff.

The audit objective was to determine if DNFSBs human resources program is designed and implemented to effectively support the execution of its mission.

OIG-20-A-04 January 27, 2020

Audit of DNFSBs Human Resources Program ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS.......................................................... i I. BACKGROUND................................................................................ 1 II. OBJECTIVE...................................................................................... 3 III. FINDINGS........................................................................................ 3 I. DNFSBs Hiring Process Has Been Ineffective and Inefficient...... 4 II. Nearly Half of DNFSBs SES Positions Are Vacant................... 13 IV. CONSOLIDATED LIST OF RECOMMENDATIONS........................ 17 V. DNFSB COMMENTS...................................................................... 18 APPENDIXES A. OBJECTIVE, SCOPE, AND METHODOLOGY............................... 19 TO REPORT FRAUD, WASTE, OR ABUSE............................................. 21 COMMENTS AND SUGGESTIONS.......................................................... 21 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Audit of DNFSBs Human Resources Program i

ATD DNFSB DOE ES FY GS HR OGC OIG OGM OPM OTD SES SME Associate Technical Director Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board Department of Energy Excepted Service Fiscal Year General Schedule Human Resources Office of the General Counsel Office of the Inspector General Office of the General Manager Office of Personnel Management Office of the Technical Director Senior Executive Service Subject Matter Expert ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS

Audit of DNFSBs Human Resources Program 1

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) was established in 1988 as an independent agency within the executive branch of the United States Government to oversee the Department of Energys (DOE) defense nuclear facilities, and to provide the Secretary of Energy with advice and recommendations to ensure adequate protection of public health and safety at these facilities.

The agency is led by five1 presidentially appointed Board members including a Chairman. DNFSB is organized into three staff offices:

• Office of the General Manager (OGM).

• Office of the General Counsel (OGC).

• Office of the Technical Director (OTD).

Staff Classification DNFSB is composed of both technical and general staff. OTD technical staff are classified as excepted service (ES) employees. The ES classification schedule begins at the DN-I band and ends at the DN-V band. Staff in OGC and OGM are classified as competitive service employees, also known as general schedule (GS) staff. The GS classification schedule starts at the GS-1 grade and ends at GS-15. DNFSBs three offices are led by individuals in the Senior Executive Service (SES).

1 There is a total of three Board members currently as two positions are vacant.

I. BACKGROUND

Audit of DNFSBs Human Resources Program 2

Parties Involved With Hiring According to DNFSBs Enabling Legislation, the Chairman decides how many and the type of staff the agency should hire each year. However, except for SES hires, the Chairman has delegated his hiring authority to the office directors.

Alongside the three office directors, the division of Human Resources (HR) within OGM has the responsibility for hiring staff. Finally, at least one Board member is involved with interviewing applicants for technical positions before the final hiring decision is made.

ES Hiring Process DNFSB posts its ES vacancies for technical positions on USA Jobs,2 in addition to DNFSBs public web page and other sources such as newspapers. DNFSB may also receive technical applications during job fairs and conferences, as well as through staff networking. Unlike with DNFSBs GS hiring process, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM)3 is not involved with screening the applications received for DNFSBs technical vacancies. HR receives and screens all applications received for technical vacancies, determines an applicants qualifications for a specific DN band, then sends the remaining applications to technical staff subject matter experts (SMEs)4 for review. The SMEs screen these applications, and along with the Technical Director,5 decide who from the remaining applicants will be interviewed. The Technical Director selects the new hire; however, the selection is final only after Board members have an opportunity to interview the candidate and agree with the Technical Directors selection.

2 USA Jobs, or www.usajobs.gov, is the United States Government's website for listing civil service job opportunities with federal agencies. The site is operated by the Office of Personnel Management.

3 OPM is an independent agency of the United States Federal Government, which maintains statutory responsibility to guide, enable, and assess strategic human capital processes.

4 SME refers to an employee who is an expert in his/her field. In the context of this audit report, SMEs refer to experienced OGM, OTD, and OGC staff.

5 The Technical Director is the head of OTD.

Audit of DNFSBs Human Resources Program 3

GS Hiring Process DNFSB posts its GS vacancies on USA Jobs. Unlike the ES hiring process, DNFSB contracted with OPM to service the GS applications received through USA Jobs for these vacancies. OPM screens the applications received and then sends qualified applications to DNFSBs HR group. If the agency receives 10 or fewer applications, HR will assess the qualifications of each candidate and refer a ranked list to the selecting official. When there are more than 10 applicants, HR convenes a panel of SMEs to further screen these applications against the qualifications described on the position description. Once the screening is completed, applicants are interviewed and the office director selects a candidate.

HR then communicates this decision to the candidate and, upon the candidates acceptance, finalizes the hiring.

The audit objective is to determine if DNFSBs human resources program is designed and implemented to effectively support the execution of its mission.

The report appendix contains information on the audit scope and methodology.

DNFSBs human resources program is currently not designed and implemented to effectively support the execution of its mission. Specifically,

1. DNFSBs hiring process has been ineffective and inefficient. DNFSB must be able to select candidates efficiently and effectively; however, there is a lack of agency consensus and communication regarding DNFSBs hiring practices. As a result, the agency remains understaffed, which may negatively impact DNFSBs ability to accomplish its mission.

2. Nearly half of DNFSBs Senior Executive Service (SES) positions are vacant. DNFSB should establish its SES positions to provide more II. OBJECTIVE III. FINDINGS

Audit of DNFSBs Human Resources Program 4

effective management of its staff; however, DNFSBs senior leadership does not believe SES positions are needed. As a result, agency responsibilities may be ineffectively managed.

A. DNFSBs Hiring Process Has Been Ineffective and Inefficient DNFSBs hiring process has been ineffective and inefficient. DNFSB must be able to select candidates efficiently and effectively; however, there is a lack of agency consensus and communication over DNFSBs hiring practices. As a result, the agency remains understaffed, which may negatively impact DNFSBs ability to accomplish its mission.

DNFSB Must Select High-Quality Candidates Efficiently and Effectively In a presidential memorandum, former President Barack Obama stated agencies should improve the quality and speed of agency hiring by substantially reducing the time it takes to hire mission-critical and commonly filled positions; measuring the quality and speed of the hiring process; analyzing the causes of agency hiring problems and actions that will be taken to reduce them; and providing every hiring manager training on effective, efficient, and timely ways to recruit and hire well-qualified individuals.

What Is Required

Audit of DNFSBs Human Resources Program 5

DNFSBs Hiring Is Ineffective and Inefficient DNFSBs hiring process is ineffective and inefficient as the agency has taken several months to hire four new employees from January 2019 through October 2019, despite attempts to fill several existing vacancies.6 In August 2018, Chairman Bruce Hamilton sent a letter to Congress proposing to reform DNFSB by managing hiring strategically. In the letter, the Chairman stated the agency was too large as currently constructed and proposed a reorganization of DNFSB. The reorganization called for an overall decrease of approximately 34 percent of its staff, with a target of 79 total employees by the start of fiscal year (FY)2020 from the 120 requested in the agencys 2018 budget request.

In September 2018, Congress precluded action to implement the Chairmans proposed reorganization in the Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2019.7 Consequently, the Chairman authorized the hiring of additional staff in January 2019. Despite this authorization, the agency remains severely short-staffed.

Attrition Rates OIG examined personnel data provided by DNFSB to determine attrition rates for the past 5 years beginning in December 2014 through August 2019. During this period, DNFSB has had approximately 61 separations and 28 new hires for a net total of 33 separations. Overall, DNFSB was at its lowest staffing levels in FY19.

See Figure 1 for DNFSB staffing levels from FY15 through FY19.

6During the OIG/DNFSB Exit Conference held on January 6, 2020, DNFSB informed OIG it had recently hired two additional staff, with two more pending arrivals.

7The Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2019, stated that $31 million was to remain available to DNFSB until September 30, 2020, and added that none of these funds shall be available to implement any reform or reorganization plan of DNFSB, including the plan announced on August 15, 2018.

What We Found

Audit of DNFSBs Human Resources Program 6

Figure 1 - DNFSB Staffing Levels from FY15 - FY19 Source: OIG generated Of the 33 total DNFSB net separations, 27 (nearly 82 percent) were from OTD.

From FY18 through FY19, OTD dropped from 83 to 62 staff. This equates to a 25 percent decrease in the agencys technical staff in less than 2 fiscal years. See Figure 2 for OTD staffing levels from FY15 through FY19.

Figure 2Total OTD Staff FY15-19 Source: OIG generated

Audit of DNFSBs Human Resources Program 7

While OTD has suffered the most significant employee losses, OGM and OGC have also suffered from departures, especially in FY19. See Figure 3 for a change in staffing levels per office from FY15 through FY19.

Figure 3Change in Staff per Office, FY15-FY19 Source: OIG generated Congress expressed its concern that DNFSB is not adequately staffed, and in its FY20 Appropriations Bill,8 directed DNFSB to increase its staff to a minimum of 110 full-time equivalents.

In addition to analyzing staffing data, OIG learned that two of DNFSBs new hires in 2019 took 5 months to join the agency. The first new hire applied for a GS position in March 2019 and did not join the agency until August 2019, while the second new hire applied for an ES vacancy on April 1st, 2019 and was not hired until September 2019. One of the new hires stated the process took longer than he anticipated, especially after DNFSB made him a formal offer.

8H.R. 1865, Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020.

Audit of DNFSBs Human Resources Program 8

There Is a Lack of Agency Consensus and Communication Regarding DNFSBs Hiring Practices Agency employees agreed that there is a lack of consensus and communication regarding DNFSBs hiring practices. This is especially true when it comes to hiring technical staff under the ES hiring authority.

ES Hiring Authority DNFSBs ES hiring process is not fully understood by both HR and the other employees involved with hiring. According to several OTD staff, DNFSB does not seem to utilize its ES flexibilities. ES agencies set their own qualification requirements and are not subject to the appointment, pay, and classification rules listed in Title 5 of the United States Code. For example, ES hiring allows an agency to bypass GS hiring requirements such as veterans preference and public notice. However, several staff questioned why hiring technical staff takes so long even though ES hiring requirements allow for more flexibility.

In discussing the differences between GS and ES hiring, DNFSBs HR Director and an HR staff member stated there may not be a timeline difference because ES candidates still must go through most of the same processes as GS candidates. They added that the two processes are similar especially when ensuring compliance with Federal requirements. DNFSBs General Manager stated DNFSB is looking for a consistent, repeatable hiring model, which was not historically always the case at DNFSB. He emphasized that the hiring process should be fair, even-handed, and competitive.

According to the Merit Systems Protection Board report, Reforming Federal HiringBeyond Faster and Cheaper, the ES hiring authority is in place to help speed and simplify the hiring process. Furthermore, ES appointments are exempted from the competitive examining process, do not require agencies to follow competitive examining procedures, and recruitment and assessment rules are not as proscriptive as those in the competitive service. The report also says, ES hiring can streamline recruitment, allow for faster hiring decisions, and provide the ability to tailor hiring procedures to meet mission requirements.

Why This Occurred

Audit of DNFSBs Human Resources Program 9

Finally, it adds that an increasing number of hiring flexibilities and appointing authorities simplify or eliminate some of the steps GS hiring has.

Similarly, in its report9 detailing the comprehensive history of DNFSB, the Library of Congress stated that a lack of excepted service authority would hamper

[agency] hiring efforts and by having such authority, DNFSB was able to hire without going through a lot of red tape and difficulties and it allowed greater flexibility in hiring.

In fact, DNFSB sent a letter10 to DOE advocating the benefits of the ES hiring authority. In the 1994 letter, DNFSB expressed its concern that DOE remains at a severe recruiting disadvantage because it has not obtained statutory authority from Congress for excepted service hiring of scientific and engineering personnel. DNFSB added excepted service authority greatly enhances an agency's ability to directly recruit and hire a highly competent staff, and with this excepted authority, agencies have the flexibility to hire personnel directly, and to establish pay commensurate with the duties and responsibilities of each position and the market for such talent.

DN Qualifications Another area appearing to lack agency consensus involves the rating of technical applicants. As mentioned earlier in this report, technical staff fall under the DN band (as opposed to GS). The DN bands range from DN-I to DN-V. Some OTD staff expressed concerns over how HR rates technical applications received through USA Jobs. For example, if an applicant applies for a job listing with multiple bands, such as DN-III, DN-IV, and DN-V, HR determines the applicants appropriate band and then forwards the application to OTD. If OTD disagrees with HRs decision on the applicants band, the two groups discuss it and make a final determination. However, if an applicant applies for a specific band only (such as DN-V), and if HR determines the applicant only qualifies for a lower position (such as DN-IV), OTD would not receive the application for review.

OTD staff have expressed concerns with this process because OTD and HR do not always agree on applicant band levels. Because OTDs line of work is highly technical, it can be difficult for HR to screen applicants in relation to OTD responsibilities. This is also true when it comes to military or teaching 9 DNFSB: The First Twenty Years, Federal Research Division, Library of Congress, September 2009 10 Letter number 94-0002659, dated May 12, 1994.

Audit of DNFSBs Human Resources Program 10 experience. Both OTD and HR staff said they have had differences in opinion on band levels applicants should be placed in based on previous military or teaching experience. HR looks for more direct engineering experience, while OTD often wants to credit applicants for their applicable military or teaching experience.

This can lead to disagreements, and thus delays, in making offers to applicants.

The Technical Director stated that he would like to be involved in the screening of applicants. He believes this would help expedite the process and would eliminate the possibility of missing out on qualified applicants. An HR staff member responded that the Technical Director cannot take over HR responsibilities, and it is HRs job to screen applications. Nevertheless, there is a disconnect in the screening process and how to quickly determine to what pay band an applicant should belong.

Lack of Communication/Transparency A common theme expressed both by applicants and by OTD hiring officials was the lack of communication by HR during the hiring process. OIG interviewed DNFSB job applicants, including applicants who did not take jobs with DNFSB, and was told there was little communication from HR in keeping them informed during the hiring process. Likewise, OTD hiring officials said they were often uninformed during the hiring process and would need to proactively reach out to HR to obtain status updates.

Part of the reason HR may not have been able to provide timely updates to DNFSB hiring officials, or even to applicants themselves, is because HR does not proactively track that type of data. OIG requested that HR provide data related to its most recent job postings, such as the number of job postings, applications received, time it took HR to screen the applications, time it took HR to contact applicants, the number of applicants interviewed, etc. OIG wanted to measure the duration of each of the hiring steps. However, HR was not able to provide this data as staff said they do not collect this type of information, nor do they formally track how long it takes to hire new employees. Therefore, HR was unable to say which of its internal steps may delay hiring. Furthermore, HR currently does not have any hiring goals or timeliness metrics.

There are no strict guidelines or timeliness rules in Federal hiring, but OPM does provide an 80-day hiring standard as a suggested timeframe for agencies to use, and a diagnosis tool to determine where in the hiring process improvements could be made. While not required, such a model could provide a metric for

Audit of DNFSBs Human Resources Program 11 Federal agencies to monitor against. DNFSBs HR Director stated that, while they do not do so now, their goal is to eventually follow this metric.

Guidance Some DNFSB hiring officials stated they received no instructions on how to screen the applications they received. For example, OGM SMEs involved with screening applications received different criteria. Specifically, a couple of SMEs said the description of the position and responsibilities contained in the USA Jobs announcement were very different from DNFSBs internal position description.

An OGM staff member said there are multiple position descriptions floating around the agency, and if one cannot clarify which position description to assess applicants against, there will be inconsistencies. Therefore, SMEs have had to ask management for clarification on which position descriptions to use to evaluate candidates. This was compounded by the fact that there was no hiring guidance the OGM panel was aware of, so they were on their own to figure it out.

Other Issues According to HR, one of the reasons for the extended hiring delays was due to the performance of OPM as DNFSBs HR contractor. The consensus from HR and OGM senior management was that OPMs support was a disaster and did an extremely poor job in screening DNFSB applications. Reportedly, OPM was so ineffective that DNFSB is preparing to switch to another HR contractor.

Another issue that contributed to hiring delays was HRs own staff shortage.

Agency executives said HR typically has 4 full-time employees, but they had 1 vacancy for approximately 1 year, and their most experienced HR employee had been out several months on extended leave. This essentially left the HR office with 2 fewer full-time equivalents which impacted them considering the sudden, renewed interest in agency hiring.

Audit of DNFSBs Human Resources Program 12 Reduced Staff May Negatively Impact DNFSBs Ability to Accomplish Its Mission The ineffectiveness of the HR hiring program results in reduced staff, which may negatively impact DNFSBs ability to accomplish its mission. With a shortage in staff, technical work may be put aside as employees can only review so much.

Technical staff cannot dig into things deeply and sometimes the problems are not obvious without searching a little deeper. Management has also limited the number of reviews because they do not have the staff to do more. In fact, during 2018 and 2019 public meetings, a Board member stated, the turnover has been problematic in terms of maintaining quality and quantity of product. As one staff member described, DNFSB is in crisis mode.

Recommendations OIG Recommends that DNFSB

1. With the involvement of the Office of the Technical Director, develop and implement an Excepted Service recruitment strategy and update guidance to reflect this strategy.

2. Develop and implement a step-by-step hiring process metric with periodic reporting requirements.

3. Update and finalize policies and procedures relative to determining the technical qualifications of OTD applicants. These should include examples of experience such as military and teaching, and their applicability to OTD positions.

4. Develop and issue hiring-process guidance and provide training to DNFSB staff involved with the hiring process.

Why This Is Important

Audit of DNFSBs Human Resources Program 13 B. Nearly Half of DNFSBs SES Positions Are Vacant Nearly half of DNFSBs Senior Executive Service (SES) positions are vacant.

DNFSB should establish its SES to provide more effective management of its staff; however, DNFSBs senior leadership does not believe SES are needed. As a result, agency responsibilities may be ineffectively managed.

DNFSB Should Establish Its SES To Provide More Effective Management of Its Staff According to Title 5 of the U.S. Code, Section 3131, The Senior Executive Service, an SES is established to ensure that the executive management of the U.S. Government is responsive to the needs, policies, and goals of the Nation.

They are to be accountable and responsible for the effectiveness and productivity of employees under them, ensure accountability for economical and efficient Government, and provide for an executive system which is guided by the public interest and free from improper political interference.

Every 2 years, Federal agencies examine SES position needs and submit a written request to OPM for a specific number of SES allocations. OPM allocates SES spaces to each agency after analyzing agency needs and consulting with the Office of Management and Budget.

Approximately 45 Percent of DNFSBs SES Positions Are Vacant Approximately 45 percent of DNSBs SES position are vacant even though OPM approved DNFSBs request for 11 SES. DNFSBs SES distribution currently11 is as follows:

11 According to DNFSBs FY20 Work Plan, the Executive Director for Operations, an SES position, will be created and filled upon legislation from Congress directing this organizational change. In addition, OGM is only authorized to fill the deputy GM position with a GS-15.

What Is Required What We Found

Audit of DNFSBs Human Resources Program 14

• OGM o 1 General Manager o 1 Deputy General Manager

• OTD o 1 Technical Director o 1 Deputy Technical Director o 5 Associate Technical Directors (ATDs)

• OGC o 1 General Counsel o 1 Deputy General Counsel The six SES positions that are currently filled are the General Manager, an ATD who is currently acting as the Deputy General Manager, the Technical Director, the Deputy Technical Director, one ATD, and the Special Assistant to the Chairman12 who is currently on detail at another agency.

DNFSBs Leadership Does Not Believe SES Are Needed DNFSBs leadership does not believe SES are needed to lead the agencys divisions. In 2019, the current Chairman instructed HR not to hire SES and stated he only needed three or four SES in the agency. The Chairman said SES are not needed because DNFSB already has too many for the number of employees in the agency, and no thorough analysis has been done to determine that DNFSB needs more. Additionally, another Board member stated the agency is not structured efficiently for the mission and has more SES than it needs. This Board member believes that each of the current SES could manage more staff than they currently manage.

While some senior leaders question the importance of SES in DNFSB, DNFSBs FY15 and FY17 staffing plans noted that the composition of the Boards workforce in terms of SES to staff ratio also known as span-of-control is 9 percent when fully staffed, which remains comparable to other medium-sized, 12 The Board re-assigned DNFSBs General Counsel to the position of Special Assistant to the Chairman in August 2018.

Why This Occurred

Audit of DNFSBs Human Resources Program 15 independent federal agencies which range from 1 to 12 percent.13 Furthermore, for FY20-21, DNFSB has continued to request OPMs approval for the same 11 SES as requested in its previous biennial request.14 DNFSBs Responsibilities May Not Be Effectively Managed DNFSBs responsibilities may not be effectively managed. The constant state of vacant SES positions has created a scenario of continuous internal rotations to temporarily fill these vacant SES positions. Thus, SES employees from other offices or divisions, or even non-SES employees, may be temporarily filling these SES roles for up to or more than OPMs guidelines of 240 continuous days. The SES position subsequently becomes vacant again and this creates an endless cycle of employees temporarily filling these vacant SES positions.

The continuous internal rotations may negatively impact agency operations. A staff member said OTD has had a literal revolving door of supervisors since the SES positions are not filled with permanent hires, while another said the rotations have created chaos since other staff must fulfil the responsibilities assigned to positions vacated by the person on rotation. As an example, DNFSB has not had a permanent General Counsel since August 2018 or a Deputy General Manager since June 2018. During that time, the agency has had GS-15s from OGC filling the General Counsel position, and the Deputy General Manager position had been vacant until June 2019 when an SES from OTD rotated to temporarily fill this vacancy. This SES also fulfilled the role of the Chief Information Officer and the responsibilities of two other division directors. Since this SES from OTD is filling the Deputy General Manager role, others must take on his primary responsibilities in OTD.

OIG conducted an analysis of OTD internal rotations to temporarily fill vacant SES positions in OTD and in OGM. The SES positions were filled either by other 13 According to a leading private industry workforce planning organization, there is no ideal industry goal to executive span of control. The nature of the work being performed must be considered. Depending on the work, the optimal span of control could be over 100 staff (e.g., call center), or a maximum of 3 or 4 staff (e.g., executive functions requiring high degrees of collaboration and interaction).

14 According to OPM, agencies are required to examine its SES position needs every 2 years. Subsequently, agencies are to submit a written request to OPM for a specific number of SES position authorizations for each of the succeeding fiscal years.

Why This Is Important

Audit of DNFSBs Human Resources Program 16 SES, or by DN-V employees from OTD. Since January 2015, SES vacancies were detailed to technical staff for 1,799 cumulative days, or nearly 5 years.

In addition to the continuous rotations, several staff stated SES are important because they lend more credibility to DNFSB. DNFSB technical staff must frequently work with DOE senior management, so it is important to have senior level management representing DNFSB as well. One employee said DNFSB has lost its ability to manage strategically and the loss of SES and experience has reduced their ability to provide definitive advice to the Board and DOE on nuclear safety issues.

Should the FY20 Appropriations Bill be approved, Board members stated the new Executive Director for Operations position will play an integral role in determining the eventual outcome of the agencys SES positions.

Recommendations OIG Recommends that DNFSB

5. Conduct analyses to determine (1) the optimal SES span-of-control that promotes agency efficiency and effectiveness, and (2) the impact on agency activities when detailing employees to vacant SES positions.

6. Develop and implement an action plan to mitigate negative effects shown by the SES analyses.

Audit of DNFSBs Human Resources Program 17 OIG recommends that DNFSB

1. With the involvement of the Office of the Technical Director, develop and implement an Excepted Service recruitment strategy and update guidance to reflect this strategy.

2. Develop and implement a step-by-step hiring process metric with periodic reporting requirements.

3. Update and finalize policies and procedures relative to determining the technical qualifications of OTD applicants. This should include examples of experience such as military and teaching, and their applicability to OTD positions.

4. Develop and issue hiring-process guidance and provide training to DNFSB staff involved with the hiring process.

5. Conduct analyses to determine (1) the optimal SES span-of-control that promotes agency efficiency and effectiveness, and (2) the impact on agency activities when detailing employees to vacant SES positions.

6. Develop and implement an action plan to mitigate negative effects shown by the SES analyses.

IV. CONSOLIDATED LIST OF RECOMMENDATIONS

Audit of DNFSBs Human Resources Program 18 An exit briefing was held with the agency on January 6, 2020. Prior to this meeting, DNFSB management reviewed a discussion draft and later provided comments that have been incorporated into this report as appropriate. As a result, DNFSB management stated their general agreement with the findings and recommendations of this report and chose not to provide formal comments for inclusion in this report.

V. DNFSB COMMENTS

Audit of DNFSBs Human Resources Program 19 Appendix A Objective The audit objective is to determine if DNFSBs human resources program is designed and implemented to effectively support the execution of its mission.

Scope This audit focused on determining if DNFSBs hiring practices are effectively and efficiently supporting DNFSBs ability to accomplish its mission. We conducted this performance audit at DNFSB headquarters (Washington, D.C.) and in Rockville, MD, from May 2019 to October 2019.

Internal controls related to the audit objective were reviewed and analyzed. Throughout the audit, auditors considered the possibility of fraud, waste, and abuse in the program.

Methodology OIG reviewed relevant criteria for this audit, including, but not limited to:

• Enabling Statute of the Defense Nuclear Safety Board, 42 U.S.C. § 2286 et seq.

• The Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended.

• Title 5 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Part 250, Personnel Management in Agencies.

• United States Code (USC) Title 5 Government Organization and Employees, Chapter 23 Merit System Principles.

• United States Office of Personnel Management Guide To The Senior Executive Service.

We conducted this performance audit in accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain sufficient, appropriate evidence to provide a reasonable basis for our findings and conclusions based on our OBJECTIVE, SCOPE, AND METHODOLOGY

Audit of DNFSBs Human Resources Program 20 audit objectives. We believe that the evidence obtained provides a reasonable basis for our findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives.

Throughout the audit, auditors considered the possibility of fraud, waste, and abuse in the program.

The audit was conducted by Mike Blair, Team Leader; Roxana Hartsock, Senior Auditor; Connor McCune, Management Analyst; and Stephanie Dingbaum, Auditor.

Audit of DNFSBs Human Resources Program 21 Please

Contact:

Email:

Online Form Telephone:

1-800-233-3497 TTY/TDD:

7-1-1, or 1-800-201-7165 Address:

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Office of the Inspector General Hotline Program Mail Stop O5-E13 11555 Rockville Pike Rockville, MD 20852 If you wish to provide comments on this report, please email OIG using this link.

In addition, if you have suggestions for future OIG audits, please provide them using this link.

TO REPORT FRAUD, WASTE, OR ABUSE COMMENTS AND SUGGESTIONS