Encourage Automated Accountability Measures

3. Identify and develop useful accountability measures that can be
automated.

The director of OPM, with the assistance of agency managers and staff
experts (personnel, planning, information management, and budget),
should develop, by December 1994, automated methods or accountability
measures for use by agency heads to monitor exercise of delegated
personnel management authorities. A variety of data sources could be
tapped, including OPM's CPDF, the Survey of Federal Employees, and any
reports that may continue to be necessary. Indicators that could be used
to measure accountability include cash award trends to note unusual
patterns, or conversions from excepted to career appointments to
identify potential violations of merit principles. Such management
information systems can be powerful tools for use in ensuring that
managers are properly exercising the increased delegations envisioned by
NPR. They also should be an element of the reinvented oversight program
called for in the NPR accompanying report on the Office of Personnel
Management.