Recommendation 2018-7 – Public Engagement in Rulemaking offers strategies for agencies to enhance public engagement prior to and during informal rulemaking. It encourages agencies to invest resources in a way that maximizes the probability that rule-writers obtain high quality public information as early in the process as possible.
Recommendation 2019-8 – Public Identification of Agency Officials promotes the public availability of real-time information about high-level officials leading federal agencies. It encourages agencies to publish on their websites basic information about high-level agency leaders and identify vacant leadership positions and acting officials.
Recommendation 2018-8 – Public-Private Partnerships offers agencies guidance on legal and practical considerations for participating in public-private partnerships.
Recommendation 2020-5, Publication of Policies Governing Agency Adjudicators – encourages agencies to disclose policies governing the appointment and oversight of adjudicators that bear on their impartiality and constitutional status. It offers best practices on how to provide descriptions of, and access to, such policies on agency websites.
Recommendation 2021-10, Quality Assurance Systems in Agency Adjudication – identifies best practices for promoting fairness, accuracy, timeliness, and consistency in agency adjudications through the use of quality assurance systems. It provides guidance to agencies on the selection, role, and institutional placement of quality-assurance personnel.
Recommendation 2019-9 – Recruiting and Hiring Agency Attorneys urges agencies to avail themselves of the flexibilities available to them when hiring attorneys and offers best practices for structuring their hiring processes. First, it suggests that the Office of Personnel Management offer training for agencies on the alternative processes and flexibilities available to them when they hire attorneys.
Recommendation 2018-4 – Recusal Rules for Administrative Adjudicators urges agencies to issue procedural rules governing the recusal of adjudicators to ensure both impartiality and the appearance of impartiality in agency adjudications.
Recusal, the voluntary or involuntary withdrawal of an adjudicator from a particular proceeding, is an important tool for maintaining the integrity of adjudication.
Recommendation 2012-6 – The Need to Reform 28 U.S.C. § 1500 urges Congress to repeal Section 1500, which divests the U.S. Court of Federal Claims of jurisdiction when a plaintiff has claims against the government based on substantially the same operative facts pending in another court, and replace it with a provision that would create a presumption that in such circumstances, later-filed actions would be stayed.
Recommendation 2021-9, Regulation of Representatives in Agency Adjudicative Proceedings – This recommendation recommends that agencies consider adopting rules governing attorney and non-attorney representatives in order to promote accessibility, fairness, integrity, and efficiency in agency adjudicative proceedings.