Summary: Despite both the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 and other measures taken since then, the service system is still viewed by many as burdensome to managers, unappealing to ambitious recruits, overregulated, and inflexible. GAO's testimony makes three main points. First, ever since the creation of the competitive service in 1898, Congress has periodically updated it in response to changing conditions. The goal of reform today should be a system that not only fulfills current needs but is also flexible enough to respond quickly to changing demands. Second, today's leading private-sector employers--as well as some government entities--are creating personnel system that diverge sharply from the federal government's traditional approach. The new model is more decentralized, focused on mission accomplishment, and designed more to establish guiding principles than to dictate rules and procedures. Third, should Congress adopt this model and create a more decentralized civil service system under which federal agencies have more flexibility to manage their own workers, an effective oversight and accountability mechanism will still be needed to ensure that agencies adhere to civil service principles and meet established goals.
