Comments on a Draft Bill To Amend, Clarify, and Update the System for Appointment and Compensation of Experts and Consultants

Views were presented on a draft bill to amend, clarify, and update the system for appointment and compensation of experts and consultants. The draft legislation would: (1) eliminate any reference to procuring by contract the services of individuals; (2) eliminate the requirement for each agency to have a separate statutory triggering authority before it can use the general authority; (3) increase the top pay rate to grade GS-18 in agencies otherwise subject to the classification and pay laws; and (4) provide central regulatory authority and definitions under the law. The proposed legislation would be a step toward providing greater control and uniformity in the hiring of consultants and experts; however certain changes and additions would increase the likelihood of achieving the objective of the legislation. The definitions of expert and consultant should be changed to: (1) clarify or emphasize the principal distinction between an expert and a consultant; and (2) avoid contradicting the administrative definition of expert. The law should be changed to read: "An expert's primary function is to perform an operating function rather than to provide advisory or consulting services." Further, the definition of consultant should not contain the word expertise. Many agencies currently employ experts to provide advisory services only; in essence, these experts are providing consulting services. The portion of the proposed legislation that would authorize the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to prescribe regulations concerning the employment of individual expert and consultant appointments and require agencies to take corrective actions that OPM directs in writing should be modified to give OPM the authority to indefinitely suspend an agency's authority to hire and appoint experts and consultants if the agency did not take the corrective actions recommended by OPM. Finally, an amendment should be added that would require executive branch agencies to report to OPM at the end of each appointment the actual number of days that each expert or consultant worked and the total salary he or she received.