President Bush had sought a 3.6 percent average civilian raise in his budget plan. Over the 12 months ending in April, the C fund was down 12.95 percent. During the same period the S fund's index shows it would have dropped 18.99 percent and the I fund's index displays a similar 16.3 percent drop. According to a survey done for the Office of Government Ethics, the most common unethical behaviors cited by federal employees was the misuse of official time and government property. The survey showed a lesser perception of other unethical behaviors such as improper gift-giving or acceptance of outside payments for doing a government job.
Most federal employees believe that unethical behavior in their agencies is relatively mild.
GSA also says it has doubled the size of its uniformed physical security force and contract guards for a combined total of some 7,000 security-related personnel. The Defense Department has already announced that effective in October, it will carry out a similar policy for DoD employees activated for military duty. The General Accounting Office's Commercial Activities Panel will convene the first of three public hearings on outsourcing issues June 11 in Washington. The first hearing will explore the principles and policies that should govern decisions to perform government work in-house or shift it to the private sector. The panel will convene additional public hearings in Indianapolis on Aug. 8 and San Antonio Aug. 15.