Software eases workload for appointment process

A new software package has eliminated one of the biggest headaches faced by all new political appointees: filling out the slew of background forms required to work for Uncle Sam. The Nomination Forms Online software was unveiled last week by officials with the White House 2001 project, an initiative to simplify the presidential transition process. The software contains electronic copies of all the documents appointees are required to complete, including the SF-86 FBI Form and the SF-278 financial disclosure statement required by the Office of Government Ethics. The program links together similar forms, enabling appointees to simultaneously fill out related forms required by the White House, Senate, Office of Government Ethics and the FBI. "Until now, presidential appointees were forced to complete all forms on a typewriter, entering and re-entering basic information such as name, address and Social Security number dozens of times," said Paul Light, senior advisor to the Brookings Institution's Presidential Appointee Initiative, which supported the project. The software's release date comes too late to be of much use to the first class of Senate-confirmed appointees in the Bush administration, which is largely in place. The White House had nominated officials for all but 50 of 510 appointee positions as of Monday, according to Brookings' figures. But since political appointees have an average tenure of 18-24 months in their jobs, the software could be used by hundreds of future nominees, according to Light. "I would estimate that the Bush administration will send another 500 or so [nominees] up for confirmation in a second and third wave," he said. A Bush administration review of the White House data form delayed release of the software, which was originally designed last year. The software will be added to the package of information new nominees receive from the White House and is also available through the White House 2001 Web site. Officials with the project will maintain a telephone help line for nominees with questions about using the software.