PMCD COMMENTS ON THE INSPECTOR GENERAL SURVEY REPORT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP82-00357R000300020045-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 12, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 20, 2002
• Sequence Number: 45
• Publication Date: May 10, 1976
• Content Type: MF

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10 May 1976
MEMORANDUM FOR: DD/Pers/P&C
STATINTL
FROM .
Chief, PMCD
SUBJECT : PMCD Comments on the Inspector General Survey Report
1. Before commenting on the observations and recommendations
relative to PMCD as contained in the IG Survey Report, I believe it
appropriate to review briefly the historical development of the Federal
Compensation System in the light of several recently-expressed Adminis-
tration concerns which involve position classification.
2. One of the dynamic factors central to the evolving scope and
structure of the Federal Compensation System has been the changing nature
of the workforce needed by the Federal Government to perform its mission.
The growing complexity of the Federal mission has led to a parallel growth
in the variety of skills required in the Federal workforce, as reflected
in the great number of distinct occupations and jobs found today in the
Federal Government. It is the task of the classification and pay system
to keep pace with these developments in order to establish fair and equit-
able salary distinctions among the myriad occupations and jobs in the
Federal service. The need to establish and maintain this appropriate
internal alignment of pay rates within the Federal servictlhas been a
continuing problem for Congress and the Executive Branch.
3. Over the years, the Federal Compensation System has developed
from a simple, almost ad hoc, process to the current highly structured
and intricate system. According to legislation passed by Congress in 1795,
Agency heads could use their own discretion to determine how many clerks
to hire and how much to pay them, provided that the Agencies did not exceed
either their appropriations for salaries or the maximum salaries established
by Congress. From 1818 to 1830, Congress used what came to be called the
"Statutory Role" system of appropriating money for Federal salaries. A
specific number of clerks was allocated to each Agency, and a ceiling was
placed on salaries paid to "principal clerks". Such wide discretion on
the part of Agency heads to manipulate salaries was the seed of inequity
in Federal salaries, not only among but within Agencies. With the growth
of Federal Service and proliferation of Agencies, Federal employees began
voicing concern about the lack of systematic internal alignment in the
Federal Service. For almost a hundred years, Congress recognized the need
for some means of attaining this goal but it was not until the Classifi-
cation Act of 1923 that Congress established a formal policy of systematic
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internal alignment. Such a policy was expressed in that Act as
requ7 ng "equal pay for equal work" for all employees subject to the
Act.t ) This policy was reaffirmed in the Classification Act of 1949
which created the present General Schedule (GS) System. Although CIA
was exempted from the Classification Act of 1949, the Agency is on
record that it would follow the basic philosophy and principles of the
Act.
4. During the past eighteen months there have been voiced a number
of additional concerns relative to Federal compensation and the job
classification effort. In early 1975, President Ford expressed his
concern over rising personnel costs in Government and asked the help of
heads of Departments and Agencies in slowing the upward trend. CIA's
support for these efforts was reaffirmed in May 1975 in a letter to the
Director of 0MB in which our scheduled position management/classification
surveys were listed as one means of insuring maximum efficiency and
economy in the use of personnel. The Civil Service Commission in its
report to the President also listed position management and classification
as one of several plap~d CSC initiatives to promote cost reduction in
personnel management.ll Additionally, the Comptroller General's Report
to the Congress in December 1975 stated that t(6i)classification of Federal
White-Collar Jobs should be better controlled. Specifically, the
Report stated that "weak controls and pressures exerted on job classifi-
cations have resulted in overgraded Federal positions", and that "top
Federal management must make a commitment to improve job classifications
and to organize the work of Federal Departments and Agencies economically".
5. It is hoped that these background comments will help place in
proper prespective the attached PMCD response to the Inspector General
survey report.
STATINTL
k
Attachment: PMCD response to IG Survey Report
(1) CSC: Studies of Federal White-Collar Compensation (October 1975)
(2) Ibid
(3) CSC: Report to the President on Cost Initiatives in Personnel
Management (November 1975)
(4) GAO: Report to the Congress: Classification of Federal White-Collar
Jobs Should Be Better Controlled (December 1975)
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