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The number of federal employees filing prohibited personnel practice complaints and disclosures of waste, fraud or abuse with the Office of Special Counsel is increasing, according to the agency's annual congressional report.

In fiscal 2004, OSC received 1,964 allegations involving one or more of 12 personnel practices prohibited in the federal government, up from 1,791 in fiscal 2003 and 1,558 in fiscal 2002.

The annual report, released more than a year after the close of fiscal 2004, also shows 572 new whistleblower disclosures, up from 535 in fiscal 2003 and 555 in fiscal 2002.

In addition, the report indicates progress on a backlog reduction project undertaken by Special Counsel Scott Bloch.

OSC processed a total of 1,154 whistleblower disclosures in fiscal 2004, of which 135 were moved in fewer than 15 days. The year before, the agency processed 401 disclosures, of which 111 took fewer than 15 days.

The law requires OSC to decide within 15 days whether to pass allegations of waste, fraud and abuse along for further investigation.

The fiscal 2004 annual report fails to fully reflect accomplishments during Bloch's tenure, said Cathy Deeds, an agency spokeswoman. Bloch started in January 2004, but that fiscal year began in October 2003.

Deeds said the agency's report to the Government Accountability Office in May 2005 more accurately reflects what Bloch has done. The fiscal 2005 report will "tell an even better story," she said.

But the Washington-based Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, an advocacy group that has been critical of Bloch's tenure at OSC, had a much more negative outlook. The fiscal 2004 report indicates that more whistleblowers are coming forward, yet fewer cases are being investigated, the group argued.

PEER also claimed that favorable outcomes for whistleblowers declined sharply in fiscal 2004. OSC said in a statement that this was because the unit that obtains corrective actions was engaged in extensive work on the case backlog. The numbers for fiscal 2005, which ended more than two months ago, were more positive, OSC added.

According to the agency, a bipartisan group of congressional staff counsels and investigators came for a visit in response to advocacy organization allegations. The delegation questioned senior OSC career attorneys and reviewed at random hundreds of closed case files, the agency said.

The congressional delegation was generally satisfied with what it found, resulting in a congratulatory letter from House Government Reform Chairman Tom Davis, R-Va., OSC noted.

COMMENTS

• It's a shame that they put a system in place just to say they have one. There are so many instances of fraud, waste and abuse and no one cares. No one at a level who should care, anyway. It's a crying shame. GovExec.com reader Posted December 12, 2005 12:58 PM
• I am sure I would believe some Senate staffer. If the OSC treated complaint files like the VA treats job applications for disabled veterans, I guarantee you they threw many away. Unnamed Posted December 10, 2005 7:15 PM
• In 2004, OSC received more whistleblower complaints but referred less for further investigation. What is wrong with this picture? In his congratulatory letter to OSC for reducing its backlog, Rep. Tom Davis quoted a Senate staffer, "we have satisfied ourselves that they did not throw any folders into the Potomac." OSC may not have thrown any complaints away but the outcome for all but 2 percent to 3 percent was virtually the same. GovExec.com reader Posted December 9, 2005 10:41 AM