SES Could be Cut in Half

The Senior Executive Service would be cut in half under a proposal the Clinton Administration is considering, the Office of Personnel Management estimates.

Shrinking the SES is one in a series of ideas the administration is kicking around that could develop into the most sweeping changes to the government's top cadre of executives since the SES was created 20 years ago. Joyce Edwards, assistant director of OPM's office of executive resources, said OPM will release its SES reform proposals in early April for executives' comments. This week, a working group of the President's Management Council was reviewing OPM's suggestions for changes, Edwards said. Other people, including the Senior Executives Association and congressional staff, will be asked for comments as well.

"The details of this are wide open at this point," Edwards said.

A March 16 OPM memorandum would tighten the definition of positions in the SES. As many as half of the nearly 8,000 SESers do not perform executive managerial functions, Edwards estimated. People whose jobs do not include supervisory functions, including lawyers and technical personnel, would be moved out of the SES into a senior professional service. The senior professional service and the SES together would form a "Senior Civil Service." Any member of the Senior Civil Service could qualify for Presidential Rank Awards and would be able to accrue annual leave. Professionals outside the SES would not be required to go through qualifications review boards for their appointments.

In the March 16 memorandum, OPM proposed changing the 10 percent limit on SES political appointees to a 10 percent limit on the wider Senior Civil Service group. But Edwards cautioned that OPM is rethinking that proposal.

"There is no intention that this will increase the overall number of political appointees. That's absolutely not our intention," Edwards said. "I can speak for the director on that."

Under the current SES system, executives' performance is evaluated annually, and the executives must be re-certified every three years. OPM proposed to combine the two requirements into three year performance agreements with annual progress reviews. Agreements would be tied to agencies' missions and executives would be measured on their programs' results, in keeping with the spirit of the Government Performance and Results Act.

To get back to the original "high-risk, high-reward" vision of the SES, OPM wants to make it easier for agencies to demote or remove poor performing SESers, while increasing bonuses to up to 30 percent of base pay. Currently, bonuses are limited to between 5 percent and 20 percent of base pay. OPM also suggested raising the cap on Senior Civil Service members' pay from Executive Level 1 ($151,800) to the Vice President's pay level ($175,400).

Edwards said the proposed system would make it easier for agencies to remove poor performers.

"We don't think there are a large number of poor performers. The numbers are minuscule," Edwards said. "But there is no room for any poor performers."

OPM also wants to encourage SESers to move among programs and agencies, so that executives develop a broad base of experience. To encourage mobility, OPM is considering requiring Presidential Rank Award winners to have experience in more than one agency, providing mobility bonuses for interagency transfers and requiring SES appointees to have experience in more than one agency or program to get paid at the top three grades of the executive schedule.

Senior Executives Association President Carol Bonosaro said the association has concerns with OPM's proposals. SEA plans to hold an executive summit later in the year, she said, "to really examine how the SES has worked and what changes are needed and to consider whether a new vision is needed."