BUREAU OF THE BIOLOGICAL SURVEY IO o, 



Like the budget, personnel work for the Survey is handled 

 at present by a clerk responsible directly to the head of the 

 Division of Administration. When an officer of the Survey 

 wishes to fill a vacancy or to promote one of his subordi- 

 nates he submits a form memorandum stating the proposed 

 action, salary, grade, and title to the Personnel Clerk. When 

 approved by both the Division and Bureau Chiefs in the 

 Survey it is sent via the Personnel Clerk to the office of the 

 Secretary of Agriculture. 



In the latter office, personnel, among other matters, is 

 handled by the staff Division of Personnel and Business 

 Administration which is made up of five sections. 50 In this 

 case the personnel request is first sent to the section on 

 Organization and Classification which examines it to see 

 whether the proposed salary and title are in line with that 

 paid for similar positions in the Department as a whole. 

 Under the present emergency economy order this section has 

 the additional duty of preparing papers for the President's 

 signature without which no appointment can be made. This 

 rule will, most probably, be only of temporary nature. 



The request is then sent to the Section of Appointments 

 in the same division which acts as contact agent with the 

 Civil Service Commission in obtaining certification of likely 

 candidates. The certifications are sent back to the Survey 

 and down to the appointing officer who originally made the 

 request for an additional employee, who examines them and 

 makes his choice. 



There is no efficiency rating system for the men in the 

 field but clerks and stenographers in the Washington office 

 are rated on a percentage basis according to a form prepared 

 some years ago by the Bureau of Efficiency. The system 

 has not proved very satisfactory up to the present. 



50 These sections are sometimes referred to as divisions, thus leading 

 one to become confused as to their true status. 



