SES reassignments

Congress has already appropriated more than $17 million, but lawmakers said they still haven’t seen the department’s detailed plan for the Interior reorganization.

The Interior Department didn’t document a plan, cost estimate or reasoning to offer reassignments to 35 members of the Senior Executive Service, the agency’s inspector general said.

The president’s fiscal 2019 budget proposal includes $18 million for the Interior Department to begin reorganization and relocation of its employees and sub-agencies to new locations in the western U.S.

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said he intends to divide the country 13 broad regions where a senior executive would manage and lead each area with joint input and collaboration from each of the department’s bureaus and subcomponents.

A new president kept the federal workforce on its toes this year. Bureauchat hosts Meredith Somers and Nicole Ogrysko discuss the most important stories they covered in 2017.

According to new documents from the Interior Department, 33 senior executives received reassignment notifications back in June. Of the 33, 10 received requests for a geographic reassignment.

In a memo, Interior Deputy Secretary David Bernhardt outlined his vision for the SES and his preference for the future to reassign and rotate more career leaders.

An Interior senior executive is suing his former employer for documents related to the reassignments of 30-to-50 SES members.

A group of lawyers is encouraging the Office of Special Counsel to take special notice of the senior executive reassignments at the Interior Department, out of fear they could have dangerous implications for the future of the civil service.

Senior executives at the Interior Department say recent reassignments have demoralized the SES corps and agency leadership has done little to involve them in planning for a coming reorganization.