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-
sure system is implemented.

The chief Administrative Law Judge at each
agency, commission, or board should review
the procedures by which cases are formally
adjudicated to determine if simplified pro-
cedures can be used. The accomplishments
and progress toward meeting each of the above
recommendations should be reported to the
cognizant congressional committees.

RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE CHAIRMAN,
CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION

The Civil Service Commission should:

--Encourage and assist the Administrative
Conference in its efforts to develop an
Administrative Law Judge caseload account-
ing system.

--Reexamine the need for selective certifica-
tion at the agencies where it is currently
in use and evaluate future requests for
its use on a case-by-case basis.

GAO did not obtain formal comments on this
report from agency officials. However, GAO
discussed the report with them and considered
their comments. Some of these officials felt
that because GAO did not review all agencies
employing Administrative Law Judges, GAO's
observations may apply in differing degrees
to individual agencies. Nevertheless, there
was general agreement that reform was needed
in this area.

vii

ICC

NLRB

NTSB

OSHRC

SEC

SSA

Interstate Commerce Commission

National Labor Relations Board

National Transportation Safety Board

Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission
Securities and Exchange Commission

Social Security Administration