The responsible organization could be the Civil Service Commission by itself or as a part of an ad hoc committee composed of attorneys, Federal judges, chief Administrative Law Judges, agency officials, and the Administrative Conference of the United States. --Clarify the extent to which the Commission can perform its normal personnel management functions in the case of Administrative Law Judges--issuing personnel management guidelines and evaluating periodically agency compliance. --Establish an initial probationary period of up to 3 years and so eliminate immediate, virtually guaranteed, appointment and tenure. The Congress should also: --Establish criteria for deciding what degree of formality is required to provide fair decisions in different types of administrative disputes and amend the Administrative Procedure Act and other legislation as necessary to clarify the agencies' power to adopt streamlined adjudication procedures. --Amend other legislation as necessary to provide for standards of review along the lines outlined in Public Law 95-164 (91 Stat. 1290, 1314) which afforded Administrative Law Judges' decisions at one Commission greater finality. --See that each agency employing Administrative Law Judges has taken steps to establish performance standards before additional Administrative Law Judges are given to agencies. RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE HEADS OF AGENCIES Federal agencies, commissions, and boards employing Administrative Law Judges (see app. I) should Tear Sheet --establish procedures which would preclude extensive review of Administrative Law Judges' decisions, --establish one central body to conduct case reviews when necessary, --establish objective performance standards delineating what is expected of all Administrative Law Judges in terms of quality and quantity of work, and -see that an effective financial disclo- The chief Administrative Law Judge at each RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE CHAIRMAN, The Civil Service Commission should: --Encourage and assist the Administrative --Reexamine the need for selective certifica- GAO did not obtain formal comments on this vii |