Information Quality Guidelines

1. Purpose. The Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB or the Board) issues

these Information Quality Guidelines to describe the agency's procedures for

ensuring the quality of information that it disseminates to the public and to set

forth the administrative procedure by which an affected person may obtain

correction of disseminated information that does not comply with these

Guidelines or the government-wide guidelines issued by the Office of

Management and Budget (OMB). The purpose of these Guidelines is to ensure

that information disseminated by the MSPB: (1) is presented in an accurate,

clear, complete, and unbiased manner; (2) is useful to the intended users; and

(3) is protected from unauthorized access or revision.

2. Authority. Section 515 of the Treasury & General Government Appropriations

Act for FY 2001 (Public Law No. 106-554) requires each Federal agency to

publish guidelines for ensuring and maximizing the quality, objectivity, utility, and

integrity of information that it disseminates to the public. Each agency's

guidelines must be based on the government-wide guidelines issued by OMB.

After seeking comment on proposed government-wide guidelines, OMB

published final guidelines (with certain provisions published on an interim final

basis) in the Federal Register on September 28, 2001 (66 FR 49718). Revised

final guidelines were published by OMB on January 3, 2002 (67 FR 369), then

republished with corrections on February 22, 2002 (67 FR 8452).

3. Effective Date. October 1, 2002.

4. Definitions. The definitions of “quality,” “utility,” “objectivity,” “integrity,”

“information,” “Government information,” “information dissemination product,”

“dissemination,” “influential,” and “reproducibility” contained in section V of the

notice, “Guidelines for Ensuring and Maximizing the Quality, Objectivity, Utility,

and Integrity of Information Disseminated by Federal Agencies,” as published by

the Office of Management and Budget in the Federal Register on February 22,

2002 (67 FR 8452), are incorporated herein by reference.

5. Applicability.

a. Relationship between the Board's mission and information

disseminated. The Merit Systems Protection Board has two statutory

missions—to adjudicate Federal employee appeals of certain agency personnel

actions and other matters over which the Board has jurisdiction, and to conduct

studies of the civil service and other merit systems in the Executive Branch of the

Federal Government. Because of the nature of these statutory missions, the

MSPB produces little information that is intended for dissemination to the general

public. Disseminated information regarding the Board's adjudicatory mission is

intended primarily for Federal employees and agency managers. However,

certain matters may be appealed to the Board by applicants for employment,

former employees, and annuitants. In addition, appellants may be represented in

Board proceedings by attorneys in private practice, union representatives, or

others who are not Federal employees. Disseminated information regarding the

Board's merit systems studies is also intended primarily for a Federal audience,
but is disseminated to a broader secondary audience—including employee and 

public interest groups, labor unions and professional organizations, the media, 

and others with an interest in public personnel administration. 

b. Information to which the MSPB Guidelines apply. The government-wide 

guidelines issued by OMB do not apply to information that is intended for 

dissemination only to Federal employees. Nevertheless, because certain 

persons who are not Federal employees may become parties or representatives 

in proceedings before the Board, the MSPB applies these Guidelines to all 

information dissemination products that are intended to familiarize appellants, 

Federal agencies, and their representatives with the Board's adjudicatory 

procedures and precedential rulings. Such information dissemination products 

include publications, MSPB website pages, and a video/CD-ROM that describe 

the Board's appellate procedures, as well as the summaries of Board decisions 

that are posted weekly to the MSPB website and those that are included in the 

agency's Annual Report. The MSPB also applies these Guidelines to reports of 

the Board's merit systems studies and the periodic Issues of Merit newsletter, 

which are intended for a broader audience than the information dissemination 

products dealing with the Board's adjudicatory mission. The Guidelines also 

apply to general information about the MSPB, such as the agency's Annual 

Report, its Customer Service Standards, and the MSPB website pages that 

describe the Board's mission, provide biographical information about the Board 

members, and list the addresses and telephone numbers of MSPB offices. The 

Guidelines apply as well to case processing statistical data that are published in 

the agency's Annual Report and to certain administrative information posted on 

the MSPB website, such as employment information and information intended for 

potential vendors or contractors. 

c. Information excluded under the government-wide guidelines. These 

Guidelines do not apply to information that is specifically excluded under the 

government-wide guidelines published by OMB. Such information includes 

agency responses to FOIA and Privacy Act requests, correspondence with 

individuals, information that is provided in response to individual requests, and 

links to other website pages from the MSPB website. The Guidelines also do not 

apply to agency press releases, except to the extent that they contain new 

substantive information that has not been previously reviewed and disseminated 

in accordance with the Guidelines. Because the government-wide guidelines 

also exclude information that is disseminated in “adjudicative processes,” the 

MSPB Guidelines do not apply to decisions, orders, or any other adjudicatory 

documents issued in the course of Board proceedings. Initial decisions issued by 

MSPB administrative judges and administrative law judges (including 

administrative law judges who adjudicate MSPB cases under an inter-agency 

agreement) are subject to review by the Board in accordance with applicable 

provisions of law and regulation. Final Board decisions, including initial decisions 

of administrative judges and administrative law judges that become final Board 

decisions, are subject to judicial review in accordance with applicable provisions 

of law and regulation. 
d. Information excluded under the MSPB Guidelines. The MSPB also makes 

available on its website certain documents that are produced in compliance with 

various statutory or regulatory requirements, or in response to requests from the 

President or Congress. Examples of such documents include Board regulations 

and Federal Register notices, the annual FOIA Report, the annual report 

(inventory of commercial activities) required by the Federal Activities Inventory 

Reform (FAIR) Act, testimony and statements for the record submitted to 

committees of Congress, and the Strategic Plan, annual Performance Plan, and 

annual Performance Report required by the Government Performance and 

Results Act (GPRA). These documents would not normally be disseminated to 

the general public but would be provided to a requestor in response to an 

individual request. They are posted to the MSPB website as a matter of 

convenience for potential requestors rather than for purposes of dissemination to 

the public in general. The Board, therefore, has determined that such documents 

are not information dissemination products to which these Guidelines apply, and 

the administrative procedure for requests for correction of information set forth in 

section 8 below is not applicable to such documents. With respect to testimony 

and statements for the record submitted to committees of Congress, however, 

these Guidelines apply to the extent that such testimony and statements contain 

new substantive information that has not been previously reviewed and 

disseminated in accordance with the Guidelines. It should be noted that the 

documents described in this section are subject to quality control procedures that 

are at least as stringent as those applied to the information dissemination 

products that are covered by these Guidelines. In fact, most documents of this 

kind are not only prepared by subject matter experts and reviewed by MSPB 

office directors, but also must be approved by the Chairman or the full Board 

prior to their submission or publication. Documents of this kind also are subject 

to existing procedures for review, generally by Congress and/or OMB, and any 

needed corrections to information contained in such documents can be obtained 

through those existing procedures. 

6. Basic Standard of Quality. The basic standard of quality for information 

disseminated by the MSPB is “reasonable assurance.” The agency's procedures 

for ensuring the quality of information it disseminates to the public are intended to 

provide reasonable assurance that the information is accurate, clear, complete, 

unbiased, useful for intended users, and secure from unauthorized access or 

revision. This basic quality standard is consistent with the standard employed in 

internal management reviews to ensure the effectiveness and efficiency of the 

agency's operations. 

7. Procedures to Ensure Quality. 

a. General information about the Merit Systems Protection Board. This 

group includes the agency's Annual Report (which includes a review of MSPB 

activities in the preceding fiscal year, summaries of significant Board and court 

decisions issued, summaries of the reports of merit systems studies issued, 

certain case processing statistics, and the annual financial summary); the 

publication, An Introduction to the MSPB; the MSPB Customer Service 
Standards; biographies of the Board members; and MSPB website pages that 

provide general information such as a description of the Board's mission, 

biographies of the Board members, a listing of the addresses and telephone 

numbers of MSPB offices, and the agency organization chart. 

The agency's Annual Report is distributed in printed form to a mailing list 

consisting of the President, members and committees of Congress, Federal 

agency heads and certain other agency personnel, the media, and others who 

have asked to be placed on the distribution list. The publication, An Introduction 

to the MSPB, is distributed in outreach activities and in response to requests for 

general information. The MSPB Customer Service Standards are printed in 

MSPB publications. Biographies of the Board members are maintained in 

electronic form and are distributed in connection with outreach appearances by 

the Board members. All of these information dissemination products are also 

posted to the MSPB website. 

The Office of the Clerk of the Board, which serves as the MSPB public 

information center, is responsible for the information dissemination products in 

this group. The Office of the Clerk is also the agency's liaison with the 

Government Printing Office (GPO), which hosts the MSPB website, and the 

webmaster in the Office of the Clerk is responsible for reviewing website pages 

on a regular basis to ensure that they are kept up to date. In general, the 

information dissemination products in this group are prepared by subject matter 

experts in the Office of the Clerk and are reviewed by a supervisor and/or the 

Clerk of the Board. In the case of the Annual Report, the report is developed 

from information provided by all MSPB offices, reviewed by all MSPB office 

directors, cleared by the Chief of Staff, and approved by the Chairman. The 

other products in this group are reviewed periodically by the responsible subject 

matter expert to determine whether revisions or updates are needed. Changes 

to the Customer Service Standards are reviewed by all MSPB office directors, 

cleared by the Chief of Staff, and approved by the Chairman. Changes to An 

Introduction to the MSPB and to MSPB website pages that provide general 

information are approved by a supervisor in the Office of the Clerk or by the Clerk 

of the Board. New and revised biographies require approval only by the subject 

of the biography. 

b. Information about the Board's adjudicatory procedures and decisions. 

This group includes the publications, Questions & Answers About Appeals and 

Questions & Answers About Whistleblower Appeals; the summaries of Board 

decisions that are posted weekly to the MSPB website and summaries of Board 

and court decisions that are included in the agency's Annual Report; a video/CDROM titled Introduction to Federal Employee Appeals with the Merit Systems 

Protection Board; and MSPB website pages that provide information about the 

appeals process. 

The MSPB publicizes the availability of the publications in this group and the 

video/CD-ROM. The publications are distributed in outreach activities and in 

response to requests for information about the MSPB appeals process, and 

interested individuals are encouraged to contact the Office of the Clerk for a free 
copy of the appeals process video or CD-ROM. The MSPB website pages 

containing the weekly summaries of Board decisions are among the most 

frequently accessed pages on the website. 

The Office of the Clerk is responsible for the publications and the website pages 

in this group. These information dissemination products are prepared by subject 

matter experts in the Office of the Clerk and are reviewed by a supervisor and/or 

the Clerk of the Board. They are reviewed periodically by the responsible subject 

matter expert to determine whether revisions or updates are needed, and 

changes are approved by a supervisor in the Office of the Clerk or by the Clerk of 

the Board. 

The Office of Appeals Counsel is responsible for both the weekly summaries of 

Board decisions and the summaries of significant Board decisions that are 

included in the Annual Report. Each weekly decision summary is prepared by a 

paralegal or attorney in the Office of Appeals Counsel, then forwarded to the 

Office of the Clerk for posting on the MSPB website. Each decision summary is 

linked on the website to the complete decision for a full statement of the Board's 

finding(s) and holding(s) in the individual case. Summaries of Board decisions 

prepared by the Office of Appeals Counsel for the Annual Report—and 

summaries of court decisions prepared for the report by the Office of the General 

Counsel—are subject to review by the Chief Counsels to the Board members 

before they are incorporated into the report. 

The Office of Regional Operations is responsible for the appeals process 

video/CD-ROM—the newest of the information dissemination products in this 

group. (The Clerk of the Board is responsible for distribution of the video/CDROM.) The Office of Regional Operations drafted the script and circulated it to 

MSPB office directors for comment to ensure that the information presented was 

an accurate depiction of the Board's adjudicatory regulations and procedures and 

that it would be understandable to a pro se appellant or other individual 

unfamiliar with the Board's adjudicatory process. The Office also produced the 

video, using knowledgeable MSPB employees as narrators. A copy of the 

complete script is distributed with each video and CD-ROM. Because the 

information in the video/CD-ROM is very basic, the Office does not anticipate a 

need to update it unless there are changes in law or regulation affecting these 

basic processes. Following the initial release of the video/CD-ROM, the MSPB 

conducted a survey of those requesting a copy to ensure that users find it useful. 

c. Case processing statistical information. At the present time, this group 

consists only of the case processing statistical data that are included in the 

MSPB Annual Report. A separate annual statistical report, titled A Report on 

Cases Decided by the Merit Systems Protection Board, was incorporated into the 

Annual Report beginning with the report for FY 2000. The data included in the 

Annual Report for each fiscal year consist of: a summary of the number of cases 

decided at the regional/field office/administrative law judge level and the number 

of cases decided by the 3-member Board, broken down by major case type; 

breakdowns of the number of appeals decided in the regional/field offices by the 

kind of agency action or decision appealed, by disposition, and by agency; and 
breakdowns of the number of petitions for review decided by the Board by the 

kind of agency action or decision appealed, by disposition, and by agency. 

These statistical data are provided in tabular and graphic formats. The 

distribution of this information, of course, is the same as for the Annual Report. 

Many statistical reports are produced from the agency's automated case 

management system (CMS), but only the reports providing data used in the 

Annual Report are disseminated. All other CMS reports are produced for internal 

use or to respond to individual internal or external requests for statistical data. 

The procedures to ensure the quality of statistical data produced from the CMS, 

however, are the same, regardless of the purpose of the reports produced. The 

quality of MSPB case processing statistical data depends on three factors—the 

accuracy of data entry into the system, the error checks built into the system, and 

the programming of reports to extract data from the system. Access controls and 

user IDs are employed so that only employees designated by each MSPB office 

may enter and update CMS data. The vast majority of MSPB employees are not 

authorized to enter or update CMS data at all. Those who are authorized receive 

training in CMS data entry and are provided with a manual containing CMS 

instructions and codes. Assistance for employees who enter and update CMS 

data is available from the CMS staff in the Office of Information Resources 

Management. Only authorized personnel in the regional/field offices and the 

Office of the Clerk are allowed to create new cases in the CMS, and an 

authorized user can only add cases for his or her own office. After initial case 

creation, only authorized users can update data, and additional checks built into 

the system ensure that the person updating has a reason to update that data 

(usually the control is that the case is physically in the user's office at the time of 

update). Additional error checks are employed to ensure accuracy by allowing 

only certain appeal type codes and closing action codes to be entered for specific 

types of cases. The fact that CMS data are used on a daily basis by managers 

and by personnel in the Office of the Clerk to check decisions issued also assists 

in ensuring accuracy. An additional control is that CMS data are used in the 

agency's performance management program both for purposes of measuring the 

agency's performance in meeting its goals and for measuring individual attorney 

and administrative judge performance. Thus, the agency's managers and staff 

have a stake in the accuracy of the data. All CMS reports are extensively tested 

and checked to ensure accuracy. Also, because these reports are used daily 

throughout the agency, any errors in programming are caught quickly by users 

and corrected by the Office of Information Resources Management staff. 

d. Reports of merit systems studies and other studies-related information. 

This group consists of the Board's reports of its merit systems studies, the 

summaries of reports that are included in the MSPB Annual Report, and the 

periodic Issues of Merit newsletter. The Board generally issues between two and 

four reports of its merit systems studies each fiscal year. These reports cover a 

variety of topics relating to the civil service and human resources management in 

the Federal Government. The Issues of Merit newsletter, produced four to five 

times a year, presents preliminary results of current studies, articles written to 

inform readers about various tools and techniques used in managing human 
resources, and editorial views about important Federal human resources 

management issues. 

The Board's reports of merit systems studies are submitted to the President and 

Congress, as required by law. Both the reports and the newsletter are distributed 

in printed form to a large mailing list of Federal agency personnel, members and 

committees of Congress, employee and public interest groups, labor unions and 

professional organizations, the media, and others with an interest in public 

personnel administration. The reports and newsletter are also posted to the 

website, along with a list of previous merit systems studies reports issued by the 

MSPB. The distribution of the summaries of reports, of course, is the same as 

for the Annual Report. 

The Office of Policy and Evaluation is responsible for all of the information 

dissemination products in this group. The basic quality standard of reasonable 

assurance is applied to all of these products. In addition, the standard of 

reproducibility applies to statistical information that is disseminated in the reports 

of MSPB survey results and in newsletter articles describing those results. The 

procedures that the Office employs to ensure information quality are similar for 

both the reports and the newsletter, although the process is somewhat more 

elaborate for the reports. 

As a merit systems study progresses, staff members of the Office of Policy and 

Evaluation meet with the project manager(s) to discuss the project's design, 

direction, and any hypotheses that may have been formulated. The Director, 

Policy and Evaluation, and staff members provide comments and corrections to 

ensure that the project proceeds effectively and efficiently. This step may be 

repeated. The project manager drafts a report on the study results and submits a 

copy to each staff member for peer review. Peers review the draft, providing 

comments, corrections, and questions to the project manager. The project 

manager then considers each submission by peers and incorporates changes as 

appropriate. The project manager may then submit the revised manuscript to a 

smaller group of peers for another review, or may submit the revision directly to 

the Deputy Director of the Office. The Deputy Director reviews the report and 

returns it to the project manager for any required revisions. The revised draft is 

then provided to the Director, Policy and Evaluation, who performs a final review 

before circulating copies of the draft among the three Board members. The 

Board members review the draft, indicating comments, corrections, and 

questions, which are returned to the project manager through the Director, Policy 

and Evaluation. The project manager makes changes and submits a final report 

to the Board members. After approval by the Board members, the project 

manager submits the manuscript to the Policy and Evaluation Specialist who 

checks all facts, calculations, statistics, etc., before submitting the report for page 

layout (desktop publishing). After page layout is completed, the project manager 

checks the report prior to its submission to GPO for printing. The printer provides 

a proof that is reviewed before authority is given to print the report. 

Articles for the newsletter are written by Office of Policy and Evaluation staff 

members. The articles are reviewed and edited by a staff member, then 
prepared in page layout. Copies of the draft newsletter are submitted to all staff 

members of the Office for peer review. Peers provide comments, which are 

incorporated as appropriate. The revised draft is submitted to the Director, Policy 

and Evaluation, who provides final corrections or comments. The final draft is 

checked for accuracy of facts by the Policy and Evaluation Specialist, and it is 

then sent to GPO for printing. 

The transparency of the products in this group that include survey data is 

assured through inclusion of clear explanations of study methodology in report 

texts. In addition, the raw survey data are made available to the public through 

the National Archives and Records Center at the conclusion of a project. Thus, 

the statistical information and analyses that the MSPB disseminates in its reports 

of merit systems studies are accessible to interested parties, and if appropriately 

qualified persons use the same or a similar methodology, they would be 

expected to generate similar findings and results. 

In addition to ensuring the quality of the information dissemination products in 

this group, the Office of Policy and Evaluation is responsible for reviewing the 

MSPB website pages containing this information on a periodic basis and for 

advising the webmaster in the Office of the Clerk of any revisions needed. 

e. Financial and administrative information. This group includes MSPB 

website pages that provide various kinds of financial and administrative 

information, including the agency's annual financial summary, budget tables, 

information for potential contractors and vendors, information on employment 

opportunities, information on MSPB videoconferencing facilities, and the FOIA 

Guide. Posting to the MSPB website is the principal means of dissemination for 

the information products in this group. The annual financial summary is included 

in the MSPB Annual Report, and the distribution of that information, of course, is 

the same as for the Annual Report. 

The Office of Financial and Administrative Management is responsible for most 

of the information dissemination products in this group that are currently posted 

to the MSPB website. The information originated by the Office includes: contact 

information for staff members responsible for procurement, contracting, 

employment, etc.; information on court reporting contracts, other contracting 

opportunities, and current solicitations; information about the videoconferencing 

systems available in MSPB offices (used primarily to conduct video hearings in 

the Board's appellate proceedings); and information on employment 

opportunities. Because the MSPB has an inter-agency agreement with 

USDA/APHIS for human resources operational services, information on 

employment opportunities is provided through links to the APHIS Marketing & 

Regulatory Programs-Minneapolis Business Site (MRP-MBS) website. In 

general, the information in this group is developed by the Director, Financial and 

Administrative Management, or the responsible staff member in the Office 

(Budget Officer, Contracting Officer, Personnel Officer, Property Officer, etc.). 

The appropriate staff member is responsible for reviewing the information, as 

needed, and transmitting any required changes or updates to the webmaster in 

the Office of the Clerk or, in the case of employment information, to APHIS/MRP-
MBS. Changes will be made, for example, when there are changes of personnel 

or reassignment of responsibilities in the Office; when new solicitations for 

contractor services are issued; or when the application period for a vacant 

position closes. 

The Office of Financial and Administrative Management is also developing a 

page for the website to announce the availability of surplus computer equipment, 

in accordance with Executive Order 12999. This information will be updated 

each time surplus computer equipment is ready for transfer and will be removed 

within 5 business days of the close of the application period. 

The Office of the Clerk of the Board is responsible for the FOIA Guide. This 

information dissemination product is developed by the FOIA Officer, who is also 

responsible for reviewing and updating it as needed. 

Any other financial and administrative information added to the MSPB website in 

the future will be subject to the same kind of quality control procedures as the 

information currently in this group. 

f. Integrity of information on the MSPB website. As described above, MSPB 

office directors and appropriate subject matter experts in their offices are 

responsible for ensuring that accurate, complete, and current information in each 

office's area of responsibility is provided to the webmaster in the Office of the 

Clerk for posting to the MSPB website. The webmaster is responsible for 

ensuring that information submitted for the website is accepted only from an 

authorized person in the submitting office. The webmaster is also responsible for 

ensuring that the information is provided in an appropriate format, including a 

format that meets Section 508 accessibility requirements, and that any technical 

problems have been resolved before the information is transmitted to GPO, the 

host of the MSPB website. After transmission to GPO, the MSPB relies on GPO 

security procedures to protect the integrity of information posted to the MSPB 

website. 

g. Use of disclaimers. As a part of its procedures to ensure information quality, 

the MSPB uses disclaimers where appropriate. A general disclaimer notice 

regarding the accuracy and timeliness of information provided on the MSPB 

website is included on the website. A disclaimer notice is included with 

summaries of Board decisions to advise users that the summaries are 

descriptions prepared by individual MSPB attorneys, that they do not represent 

official summaries approved by the Board itself, that they are not intended to 

provide legal counsel or to be cited as legal authority, and that they are provided 

only to assist users in locating precedential Board rulings. The publications, 

Questions & Answers About Appeals and Questions & Answers About 

Whistleblower Appeals, include disclaimers advising users that the publications 

describe the Board's appellate procedures in typical proceedings only and that 

the information is not regulatory in nature. Other disclaimers may be used, as 

appropriate, in future information dissemination products. 

8. Requests for Correction of Disseminated Information. This section sets 

forth the administrative procedure by which an affected person may obtain 
correction of information disseminated by the MSPB that does not comply with its 

Information Quality Guidelines or the government-wide guidelines issued by 

OMB. This administrative procedure applies only to requests for correction of 

disseminated information to which these Guidelines apply, as described in 

section 5 above. This administrative procedure applies to such information 

disseminated by the MSPB on or after October 1, 2002, regardless of when the 

information was first disseminated. However, the administrative procedure does 

not apply to information disseminated prior to October 1, 2002, that is maintained 

by the MSPB as archived information (e.g., annual reports and reports of merit 

systems studies that were disseminated prior to October 1, 2002, but are still 

made available on the MSPB website). Only requests from an “affected person,” 

that is, a person who uses and may benefit from or be harmed by reliance on 

information disseminated by the MSPB under these Guidelines, will be 

considered. Requests for correction of information that are made in bad faith or 

without justification will be rejected. This procedure for the correction of 

information is not intended to have any effect on the Board's adjudication of 

cases under its appellate or original jurisdiction. 

a. Request for correction. A request for correction of disseminated information 

that allegedly does not comply with the MSPB Information Quality Guidelines or 

the government-wide guidelines issued by OMB must be submitted, in writing, to 

the Clerk of the Board, Merit Systems Protection Board, 1615 M Street, NW, 

Washington, DC 20419; by facsimile to 202-653-7130; or by e-mail to 

mspb@mspb.gov. The request for correction must specifically identify the 

disseminated information that allegedly does not comply with the MSPB 

Guidelines or the government-wide guidelines and explain how the requestor is 

affected by the information. The requestor bears the burden of proof regarding 

both the need for correction of the disseminated information and the type of 

correction requested. 

b. Initial decision. The Clerk of the Board, or designee, will review a request for 

correction of disseminated information and will issue a written initial decision to 

the requestor within 60 workdays of receipt of the request. If more time is 

required, the Clerk of the Board, or designee, will inform the requestor, explain 

why more time is needed, and provide an estimate of the date on which an initial 

decision will be issued. The initial decision will advise the requestor of 

corrections made or, if the request is denied, will explain why no correction was 

made and advise the requestor of the right to appeal the initial decision. 

c. Appeal to the Chief Information Officer. A requestor may appeal an initial 

decision denying a request for correction of disseminated information to the Chief 

Information Officer (CIO) of the Board. The appeal must be submitted, in writing, 

to the Chief Information Officer, Merit Systems Protection Board, 1615 M Street, 

NW, Washington, DC 20419; by facsimile to 202-653-7130; or by e-mail to 

mspb@mspb.gov. The appeal must be submitted no later than 60 workdays 

from the date of the initial decision. The appeal must include a copy of the 

request for correction, a copy of the Clerk's initial decision, a statement of the 

reasons why the decision is not satisfactory to the requestor, and a statement of 
what remedy would be satisfactory to the requestor. The CIO will issue a 

decision within 60 workdays of receipt of the appeal. The decision of the CIO is 

final and is not subject to administrative or judicial review. 

d. Reports. Beginning on January 1, 2004, and annually thereafter, the Board 

will file reports with OMB that provide the number and nature of complaints 

received regarding information disseminated by the MSPB and how the 

complaints were resolved. 

9. Information Quality Page on Website. The MSPB will maintain an 

Information Quality page on its website (www.mspb.gov). This page will contain 

the MSPB Information Quality Guidelines and a summary of the procedures for 

an affected person to request correction of disseminated information and to 

appeal an initial decision on such a request (section 8 of the Guidelines). The 

page may also contain other information quality-related items, such as a 

description of significant corrections of information that the MSPB has made as a 

result of the correction procedures. After January 1, 2004, the Information 

Quality page will also contain the annual reports filed with OMB, as described in 

section 8.d above. 

10. Revisions to the Guidelines. Each MSPB office that produces information 

dissemination products to which these Guidelines apply is responsible for 

notifying the Clerk of the Board whenever a change in the Guidelines with 

respect to the office's products is required. Changes may be required, for 

example, when a new information dissemination product is created or an existing 

product is discontinued, or when there is a change in the office's procedures for 

ensuring the quality of an information dissemination product for which the office 

is responsible. The Clerk of the Board will initiate necessary changes to the 

Guidelines for approval by the Chief Information Officer. When changes to the 

Guidelines are made, a revised version will be posted to the MSPB website. 

 

APPROVED: Richard Banchoff, Chief Information Officer 

DATE: September 30, 2002