Top jobs at agencies remain unfilled as transition looms

As the transition gets under way, several federal agencies overseeing pay, benefits and labor issues have vacancies in upper management, according to the latest edition of the Plum Book, released on Wednesday.

The directory, published every four years, lists about 8,000 top-level jobs in executive and legislative branch agencies. The Office of Personnel Management, Federal Labor Relations Authority, Federal Service Impasses Panel, and Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service all included unfilled positions in the 2008 Plum Book.

The guide lists five vacancies of the 57 positions listed for OPM. Included in that 8.8 percent vacancy rate is OPM director (acting Director Michael Hager has not been confirmed), deputy associate director for human resources systems requirements and strategies, deputy associate administrators for natural resources human capital management and general government human capital management. The job of modernization project manager also is open.

In the 2004 edition of the Plum Book, OPM listed 73 positions, three of which were vacant: e-payroll project manager, assistant director for examining and consulting services, and deputy associate director for internal control and risk management.

The Federal Labor Relations Authority, which governs the processes by which employees form unions and determines whether agencies have used unfair labor practices, lacks a chairman and a third member. The Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, which trains and provides mediators in disputes, has openings for a national representative and deputy director.

The Federal Service Impasses Panel, which hears and settles disputes between agencies and government employee unions, has a full roster of members, but has reduced its professional staff and funding since fiscal 2001.

The Homeland Security Department, which has been criticized in recent years for the number of high-profile vacancies and transition readiness, eliminated or reorganized several positions. In the 2004 Plum Book, the department listed 452 jobs, of which 38, or 8.4 percent, were vacant. In the 2008 edition, DHS includes 287 jobs, of which 18, or 6.3 percent, are unfilled.

The decrease in the total number of DHS positions is due primarily to the elimination of the Transportation Security Administration's federal security directors and their deputies from the list. A number of those positions were eliminated in a 2005 reorganization of the agency, and the remaining federal security directors are no longer listed in the Plum Book.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said on Nov. 6 that the department was ready for the transition.

"DHS has been aggressive in preparing internally for the upcoming transition, to ensure there are no gaps in the leadership team, or in our planning efforts," he said. "Last year, we established a succession plan for all component agencies, ensuring that the top leadership in each component includes career executives who will preserve continuity of operations before, during and after the administration transition."