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Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information about the number of Schedule C employees at the Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs and Office of Public Affairs.

GAO found that, although DOE complied with Office of Personnel Management (OPM) regulations and guidelines in establishing 19 permanent Schedule C positions for the two offices, DOE: (1) did not comply with requirements to report to OPM changes it made to the positions; (2) used Schedule C appointment authority to hire three permanent employees and detail them directly to the White House, although it had certified that the positions and the employees would be located within DOE; (3) did not follow its procedures in billing the White House for two of the details; and (4) did not annually report the details to Congress. GAO also found that: (1) OPM disagreed with a previous GAO recommendation that OPM issue a regulation prohibiting the detailing of Schedule C appointees within 90 days of appointment; and (2) DOE prepared a procedure to improve controls over the transmission of reimbursable detail agreements between its personnel and accounting offices.