In 1988 the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) began a pilot project, affecting 3,000 scientists and engineers, to try to improve personnel practices. The goal was to remove some of the administrative barriers that prevent many federal agencies from hiring and retaining skilled technical workers. Three years later the project is still going on, but federal auditors say that it's impossible to know whether it's had any effect. The problem, says the General Accounting Office (GAO/GGD-91-93, "Review of Evaluation of Personnel Demonstration Project at Commerce"), is that NIST's evaluation of the project suffers from faulty control groups, poor response rates, and a failure to account for improvements in personnel practices that NIST has implemented during the course of the project. Furthermore, although the project is supposed to be "revenue neutral" (that is, NIST can't solve the problem by simply paying people more money), the first two ...
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p.4 Federal Workplace Study Faulted House Science Panel Has Doubts On SSC . . . . . . But Some Remain Bullish On The Project Bridgen Leaves Biotech Trade Group Climate Modelers To Get Own Supercomputer In 1988 the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) began a pilot project, affecting 3,000 scientists and engineers, to try to improve personnel practices. The goal was to remove some of the administrative barriers that prevent many federal agencies from hiring and retainin
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