Security Checks, Time to Hire, Slow Down Federal Hiring Process at Two Agencies

Improving the federal hiring process is a pillar of the Biden Administration’s effort to bolster the federal workforce.

That has meant everything from adopting skills-based hiring to promoting internships and early career development to fast-tracking hires for certain positions.

However, a pair of reports studying hiring at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) found that pitfalls remain. Both agencies were in the midst of a hiring surge when some of the questionable practices were uncovered.

VA Background Checks

A report from the VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) noted that two subagencies, the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) and National Cemetery Administration (NCA) are not effectively managing background checks. Background checks are required as a condition of employment to “help protect veterans, their family members, employees, and visitors—as well as sensitive information and resource.”

“As a result of program deficiencies, both [VA] administrations assume unnecessary risk by allowing staff who are not fully vetted to handle sensitive personal information and interact with veterans for extended periods of time,” wrote assistant inspector general for audits and evaluations Larry Reinkemeyer.

For the report, OIG created a statistical sample to analyze compliance, using 353 VBA employees and 47 NCA employees.

The report found that two of the 353 employees at VBA did not submit questionnaires which prohibited their background checks from starting. The investigations were not completed until months later after alerts from OIG.

VBA also failed to properly review the results of background checks within 90 days in 71 percent of cases. NCA failed to do that in 58 percent of cases.

At the NCA, 57 percent of background checks were not started within 14 calendar days of employee start dates as required.

On documentation, VBA officials did not maintain investigation documentation in personnel folders for 67 percent of employees, while NCA did not do this in 44 percent of cases. 

The OIG issued three recommendations which the VA complied with.

Those include that the VBA execute its compliance plan and ensure that timelines and documentation requirements are met.

The NCA was asked to establish robust oversight of its personnel suitability program and evaluate resources to ensure compliance with requirements.

IRS Report

Another report reviewed delays in IRS hiring, after the agency onboarded nearly 53,000 employees in FY 2022 and FY 2023, thanks to funds from the Inflation Reduction Act.

The report found that 64 percent of the hires were hired within the 80-day prescribed time frame.

To figure out the delays with the other 36 percent, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) reviewed a random sample of those who took longer than 90 days to get on the job.

TIGTA concluded that those delays were the results of a myriad of issues including “workload constraints and miscommunication, security checks exceeding their targeted completion time, as well as limitations in the IRS’s hiring management system.”

TIGTA found that HR specialists often exceeded the target of 15 days to refer candidates when a job announcement attracted a lot of candidates, sometimes taking 44 days to review external applications. The report blamed that delay on the notion that “HR specialists are not always trained to properly identify the qualified candidates for each of the various BODs/functions.”

Another issue cited was duplicate data and invalid record information with the hiring system.

On security checks, TIGTA found that 97 percent of applicants in their sample exceeded the 10-day target for completion by 40 days. A big reason was a delay in securing fingerprints, which contributed to the delay in more than half the cases.

TIGTA made the following recommendations:

• Create a plan to improve training, communication and coordination between hiring representatives and HR specialists throughout the hiring process to reduce delays. 

• Develop up-to-date reference materials on hiring. 

• Alert applicants to upcoming deadlines with respect to the fingerprinting process. 

• Request from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) additional automation enhancements for its hiring management system. 

The IRS agreed with the recommendations.