CONTENTS Page 2 1 21 Hampton, Hon. Robert E., Chairman, Civil Service Commission, accompanied by Seymour Berlin, Director, Bureau of Executive 29 SUPERGRADE POSITIONS WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 1969 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, MANPOWER AND CIVIL SERVICE SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE COMMITTEE ON POST OFFICE AND CIVIL SERVICE, Washington, D.C. The subcommittee met at 10 a.m., in room 210, Cannon House Office Building, Hon. David N. Henderson (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding. (The bill, H.R. 12476, subject of the hearing, is as follows:) [H.R. 12476, 91st Cong., First Sess.] A BILL To amend title 5, United States Code, to provide for additional positions in grades GS-16, GS-17, and GS-18 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That (a) section 5108 (a) of title 5, United States Code, is amended by striking out "2,577” and inserting in lieu thereof "2,727". (b) Section 5108(b)(2) of such title is amended by striking out "28" and inserting in lieu thereof "44". (c) Section 5108 (c) (1) of such title is amended by striking out "64" and inserting in lieu thereof "90". (d) Section 5108(c) (2) of such title is amended by striking out "110" and inserting in lieu thereof "140". SEC. 2. Section 4 of the Act entitled "An Act to provide certain administrative authorities for the National Security Agency, and for other purposes", approved May 29, 1959, as amended (50 U.S.C. 402, note), is amended to read as follows: "SEC. 4. The Secretary of Defense (or his designee for the purpose) is authorized to "(1) establish in the National Security Agency (A) professional engineering positions primarily concerned with research and development and (B) professional positions in the physical and natural sciences, medicine, and cryptology; and "(2) fix the respective rates of pay of such positions at rates equal to rates of basic pay contained in grades 16, 17, and 18 of the General Schedule set forth in section 5332 of title 5, United States Code. Officers and employees appointed to positions established under this section shall be in addition to the number of officers and employees appointed to positions under section 2 of this Act who may be paid at rates equal to rates of basic pay contained in grades 16, 17, and 18 of the General Schedule.". Mr. HENDERSON. The subcommittee will come to order. The Manpower and Civil Service Subcommittee is today again reviewing the needs for additional top jobs; namely GS-16, GS-17 and GS-18 positions. The subcommittee has for consideration H.R. 12476 by Chairman Dulski and the ranking minority member of the committee, Hon. Robert J. Corbett. H.R. 12476 provides for 222 additional GS-16, GS-17, and GS-18 positions and also removes the present numerical limitation on highlevel positions in certain professional engineering, natural science, (1) physical science and medical categories in the National Security Agency. The 222 additional supergrades would be allocated as follows: (a) 150 for the Civil Service Commission to distribute. (b) 30 for the FBI. (c) 26 for the GAO. (d) 16 for the Library of Congress. We have invited the Chairman of the Civil Service Commission to present the requirements of the administration. Mr. Hampton, we are happy to have you and Mr. Berlin of your staff with us this morning. In the interest of time, if there is no objection, I would ask that your statement be printed in the record, that you proceed as you like. If you can highlight it, it will be most helpful to the committee, and I am sure we will have some questions. TESTIMONY OF HON. ROBERT E. HAMPTON, CHAIRMAN, CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION, ACCOMPANIED BY SEYMOUR BERLIN, DIRECTOR, BUREAU OF EXECUTIVE MANPOWER Mr. HAMPTON. It is perfectly agreeable to me to put the statement into the record and I will touch on some of the highlights. (The document follows:) STATEMENT OF ROBERT E. HAMPTON, CHAIRMAN OF THE CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION Chairman Henderson and members of the subcommittee, we welcome the opportunity to appear before you today in connection with the Civil Service Commission's effort to obtain an increase in the statutory quota limitation on the number of supergrade spaces. This is the third straight year in which the Civil Service Commission, representing the executive branch of Government, has requested the Congress to provide additional top level administrative, managerial, and professional positions. These efforts have all had the same objective-to meet the increased needs of the service for top level management talent caused by the expansion of existing programs and by the creation of new programs. These expansions in Federal programs have been in progress since 1949; and, until 1967, the Congress has responded favorably to Administration requests to match these expansions with additional top level positions. The problem was solved for scientific and research engineering positions in 1962 when the Congress authorized the classification of such positions in grades GS-16, GS-17, and GS-18 without regard to quota limitations. But for other types of positions, quota limitations were retained. The last favorable response to an Administration request for additional quota spaces occurred in 1966 when the Congress increased the quota limitation by 177 spaces to a total of 2,577 quota spaces for overall Government needs. Since then, the Congress has authorized large expansions in many existing programs, and has authorized the establishment of totally new programs. Examples of these programs are legislation in the fields of: Highway safety (DOT) Air and water pollution (HEW and Interior) Secondary and higher education (HEW) Urban renewal (HUD) Drug abuse and control (Justice) Juvenile delinquency (Justice) Legal enforcement assistance (Justice) Health manpower (HEW) Programs for the aged (HEW) Child welfare (HEW) Vocational rehabilitation (HEW and Labor) Hunger elimination programs (Agriculture) Housing (HUD) Minority enterprise (Commerce) Manpower training (Labor) The Congress has also authorized the creation of a new department—the Department of Transportation with a staff of 100,000—since additional supergrades were made available in 1966. Every one of these developments has created the need for additional top level executive and managerial positions. In 1967, the Commission moved to meet these progressively increasing needs by requesting the Congress to authorize 245 additional quota spaces in H.R. 10376, but favorable action was not taken on this request. Again, in 1968, the Commission sought relief by requesting an increase of 365 in the number of quota spaces in H.R. 15890, and again the Congress chose not to furnish the requested relief. Yet, at the same time, the list of expanded programs has continued to grow. The cumulative result is that we now have on hand about 500 requests to create new supergrade positions on which we cannot act for lack of quota spaces. In 1967 and 1968, the Commission described the need for additional quota spaces as pressing. But today, in 1969, the need has ceased to be just pressing— it is critical. In the absence of legislative relief, the Commission has done what it could to meet new needs by shifting spaces from programs whose needs were, on a comparative basis, less critical at the time. The effectiveness of this procedure has its built-in limitations; i.e., when a space is shifted to another program, the losing program suffers. The result has been that we have been able to provide for only a fraction of the needs created by new and expanding programs. H.R. 12476 reflects the Administration's current request for an additional 150 quota spaces for Government-wide distribution. In addition, in the proposed legislation the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the General Accounting Office, and the Library of Congress are requesting an increase of 72 spaces in their special authorities. The additional 150 spaces will not enable us to meet all of the needs of the Federal service or, for that matter, all of the urgent needs. They will, however, meet the most critical needs of high priority programs. This relief will afford the Administration time in which to evaluate the impact of the new salary schedules for GS-16, 17, and 18 positions which took effect last July, and to review program needs and program direction in the light of current legislative actions and Administration program direction. The authorization of these 150 additional spaces would represent an increase of less than 6 percent in the current quota limitation of 2,577 spaces. When viewed in light of total Federal employment in General Schedule positions, the 150 additional positions are only .0001 percent of the 1,300,000 total. If one relates the requested increase of 150 GS-16, 17, and 18 positions to the great responsibility for managing a total Federal civilian work force of about 3,000.000, the 150 figure is minuscule. The effect which the creation of these additional supergrade spaces would have on the executive branch, however, would be all out of proportion to their significance. These additional spaces would permit us to meet the most critical needs for top level leadership throughout the executive branch. H.R. 12476 also seeks to eliminate an inequity which now exists in the overall provisions governing numerical limitations on supergrade spaces. Since the National Security Agency is not subject to the provisions of chapter 51 of title 5, United States Code, it cannot take advantage, as other agencies can, of the provisions of 5 U.S.C. 5108 which exempt certain professional engineering, natural science, physical science, and medical positions from quotas established by the Congress. Instead, it is limited by the provisions of section 4 of Public Law 8636 to "not more than ninety civilian positions involving research and development functions which require the services of specially qualified scientific and professional personnel." The Natural Security Agency is in urgent need of additional top level positions to carry out its crucial function. The bill proposes to meet this need and also eliminate the inequity by exempting the agency's top level scientific and engineering positions from quota limitations. This would give it the same authority and |