The Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) has an article in its Dec. 1999 newsletter—Employee Selection Methods Need to be Better—dealing with the abolishment of the Outstanding Scholar Program and the Bilingual/Bicultural Appointing Authority. See www.fpmi.com/MSPB/99decnws.pdf.
To download a copy of the report, which was issued on January 12, 2000, and/or the press release, go to http://www.mspb.gov, and click on the What’s New directory. The report is called "Restoring Merit to Federal Hiring: Why Two Special Hiring Programs Should Be Ended." To see the Council’s letter on this subject, go to the Luevano file, and to see a press release from the OPM Director disagreeing with the MSPR Report, go to http://www.opm.gov/pressrel/2000/statement.htm.
As you know, these two appointing authorities were authorized by the Luevano Consent Decree (which abolished the PACE exam at OPM) to increase the representation of Hispanics and African-Americans in the federal sector. The Outstanding Scholar Program allows the hiring of applicants who have graduated from college with a minimum 3.45 gpa or in the 10 percent of their class. The Bilingual/Bicultural Appointing Authority grants preference to applicants who are fluent in Spanish.
Abolishing these appointing authorities would have serious consequences for the hiring of Hispanics and African-Americans at the entry level in the federal sector. Please circulate this information to as many Hispanic and African-American organizations as you can think of. For a discussion of this topic at the September 22, 1998 Council meeting, see Minutes9.98.