Under the Rehabilitation Act, a person is considered to have a disability if the individual has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities. Existing federal efforts are intended to promote the employment of individuals with disabilities in the federal workforce and help agencies carry out their responsibilities under the Rehabilitation Act. For example, federal statutes and regulations provide special hiring authorities for people with disabilities. These include Schedule A excepted service hiring authority—which permits the noncompetitive appointment of qualified individuals with intellectual, severe physical, or psychiatric disabilities without posting and publicizing the position—and appointments and noncompetitive conversion for veterans who are 30 percent or more disabled. To qualify for a Schedule A appointment, an applicant must generally provide proof of disability and a certification of job readiness. Proof of disability can come from a number of sources, including a licensed medical professional, or a state agency that issues or provides disability benefits. The proof of disability document does not need to detail the applicant’s medical history or need for an accommodation. Executive Order 13548 committed the federal government to many of the goals of an executive order issued a decade earlier, but went further by requiring federal agencies to take certain actions. For example, Executive Order 13548 requires federal agencies to develop plans for hiring and retaining employees with disabilities and to designate a senior-level official to be accountable for meeting the goals of the order and to develop and implement the agency’s plan. In addition, OPM and Labor have oversight responsibilities to ensure the successful implementation of the executive order (see table 1). For the purposes of determining agency progress in the employment of people with disabilities and setting targeted goals, the federal government tracks the number of individuals with disabilities in the workforce through OPM’s Standard Form 256, Self-Disclosure of Disability (SF-256). Federal employees voluntarily submit this form to disclose that they have a disability, as defined by the Rehabilitation Act. For reporting purposes, disabilities are separated into two major categories: Targeted and Other Disabilities. Targeted disabilities, generally considered to be more severe, include such conditions as total deafness, complete paralysis, and psychiatric disabilities. Other disabilities include such conditions as partial hearing or vision loss, gastrointestinal disorders, and learning disabilities. Further, Labor is given responsibilities in the executive order to improve efforts to help employees who sustain work-related injuries and illnesses return to work. In July 2010, the Protecting Our Workers and Ensuring Reemployment (POWER) Initiative was established, led by Labor. This initiative aims to improve agency return-to-work outcomes by setting performance targets, collecting and analyzing injury and illness data, and prioritizing safety and health management programs that have proven effective in the past. 5 U.S.C. §8101, et seq. Workers’ Compensation Programs (OWCP) reviews FECA claims and makes decisions on eligibility and payments. We have completed a number of reviews that have identified steps that agencies could take to provide equal employment opportunity to qualified individuals with disabilities in the federal workforce. In July 2010, we held a forum that identified barriers to the federal employment of people with disabilities and leading practices to overcome these barriers. Participants said that the most significant barrier keeping people with disabilities from the workplace is attitudinal and identified eight leading practices that agencies could implement to help the federal government become a model employer: (1) top leadership commitment; (2) accountability, including goals to help guide and sustain efforts; (3) regular surveying of the workforce on disability issues; (4) better coordination within and across agencies; (5) training for staff at all levels to disseminate leading practices (6) career development opportunities inclusive of people with (7) a flexible work environment; and (8) centralized funding at the agency level for reasonable accommodations. GAO, Highlights of a Forum: Participant-Identified Leading Practices that Could Increase the Employment of Individuals with Disabilities in the Federal Workforce, GAO-11-81SP (Washington, D.C.: Oct. 5, 2010). OPM, in consultation with EEOC, OMB, and Labor, issued a memorandum in November 2010 to heads of executive departments and agencies outlining the key requirements of the executive order and what elements must be included in agency disability hiring plans. These elements include listing the name of the senior-level official to be held accountable for meeting the goals of the executive order and describing how the agency will hire individuals with disabilities at all grade levels and in various job occupations. The memorandum also described strategies that agencies could take to become model employers of people with disabilities, such as reviewing all recruitment materials to ensure accessibility for people with disabilities. To help implement the strategies, OPM contracted in December 2010 with a private firm to recruit and to manage a list of Schedule A-certified individuals from which federal agencies can hire. OPM received 66 agency plans for promoting the employment of individuals with disabilities, representing over 99 percent of the federal civilian executive branch workforce. OPM officials reviewed all the plans, recording whether they met criteria developed by OPM based on the executive order and its model strategies memorandum. OPM also identified and informed agencies about innovative ideas included in plans. In reviewing the plans, OPM found that many agency plans did not meet one or more of its review criteria (see fig. 1). For example, OPM’s review found that 29 of the 66 agency plans did not include numerical goals for the hiring of people with disabilities. OPM also found that 9 of the 66 agency plans did not identify a senior-level official responsible for the development and implementation of the plan. Finally, only 7 of the 66 plans met all of the criteria; over half of the plans met 8 or fewer of the 13 criteria. However, OPM expected agencies to begin implementing their plans immediately, regardless of any unaddressed deficiencies. Agencies met some criteria more successfully than others. For example, OPM found that 40 of the 66 agency plans included a process for increasing the use of Schedule A to increase the hiring of people with disabilities. In contrast, 29 of the 66 agency plans provided for the quarterly monitoring of the rate at which employees injured on the job successfully return to work. OPM provided agencies with written feedback on plan deficiencies and strongly encouraged agencies to address them numerous times beginning in June 2011. However, 32 out of the 59 agencies with deficiencies in their plans had not addressed them as of April 2012. Specifically, in June 2011, OPM provided agencies with access to reviews of their plans, which identified deficiencies, through OMB’s Max Information System (MAX). According to OPM, in July 2011, a White House official told agency senior executives that they were required to address deficiencies in their plans. In October and November 2011, OPM provided agencies with a list of the deficiencies identified in their plans, and asked agencies to determine how their plans could be improved. In December 2011, OPM again told agencies they were strongly encouraged to review and address plan deficiencies and provided agencies with several examples of plans that met all of the criteria. Though the executive order does not specifically authorize OPM to require agencies to address plan deficiencies, it calls for OPM to regularly report on agencies’ progress in implementing their plans to the White House and others. In response to the executive order’s reporting requirement, OPM officials told us that they had briefed White House officials on issues related to agencies’ implementation of the executive order, but did not provide information on the deficiencies in all of the agency plans. In addition, OPM does not think that the federal government is on target to achieve the goals set in the executive order. While the executive order did not provide additional detail as to what information should be reported, providing information on the extent to which agencies’ plans have met OPM’s criteria would better enable the White House to hold agencies accountable for addressing plan deficiencies. In addition to reviewing agency plans, the executive order required OPM to develop mandatory training programs on the employment of people with disabilities for both human resources personnel and hiring managers, within 60 days of the executive order date. We have previously reported that training at all staff levels, in particular training on hiring, reasonable accommodations, and diversity awareness, can help disseminate leading practices throughout an agency and communicate expectations for implementation of policies and procedures related to improving employment of people with disabilities. Such policies and procedures could be communicated across the federal government with training on topics such as how to access and efficiently use the list of Schedule A- certified individuals, the availability of internships and fellowships, such as Labor’s Workforce Recruitment Program, and online communities of practice established to help officials share best practices on hiring people with disabilities, such as eFedlink. In its November 2010 model strategies memorandum to heads of executive agencies, OPM stated that, in consultation with Labor, EEOC, and OMB, it was developing the mandatory training programs required by the executive order and that further information would be forthcoming. OPM officials told us in March 2012 that they are working with federal Chief Human Capital Officers (CHCO) to develop modules on topics such as using special hiring authority that will be available through HR University. Officials explained that they need to ensure that the training is uniform to ensure all personnel receive consistent information, and they expect the training modules to be ready by August 2012. Although it has yet to fully develop mandatory training programs, OPM has taken steps to train and inform federal officials about tools available to them. For example, OPM partnered with Labor, EEOC, and other agencies to provide elective training courses for federal officials involved in implementing the executive order on topics including: the executive order, model recruitment strategies, guidance on developing disability hiring plans, and return-to-work strategies. OPM also conducted training on implementation of the executive order in July 2011 specifically for senior executives accountable for their agencies’ plans. It also offers short online videos for hiring managers on topics such as Schedule A hiring authority. Further, other governmentwide training on employing people with disabilities exists.