Summary: Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the: (1) effectiveness of the Disabled Veterans' Affirmative Action Program (DVAAP) at the Department of Labor (DOL), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and Office of Personnel Management (OPM); and (2) OPM oversight of DVAAP.
GAO found that: (1) neither the law establishing DVAAP nor the implementing regulations provided performance standards or other criteria for measuring employment and advancement of disabled veterans; (2) without specific performance criteria, it could not conclusively determine whether agencies' programs have been successful; (3) employment, new-hire, and promotion data indicated that DOL and OPM programs were more successful at employing and advancing disabled veterans than HHS, NASA, and OMB programs; (4) all five agencies' disabled veteran employment rates declined from 1982 to 1987; (5) neither OPM, as governmentwide program manager, nor any of the five agencies did the detailed analyses needed to define and correct problems in employing and advancing disabled veterans; and (6) OPM did not evaluate individual agency progress in meeting DVAAP objectives in its annual report to Congress. GAO also found that most DVAAP coordinators reported that they: (1) spent less than 10 percent of their time on DVAAP; (2) received less than 5 hours of DVAAP training; (3) were not evaluated on their program activities in their annual performance appraisals, contrary to OPM instructions; and (4) perceived the program as falling short of achieving its objectives.
