U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board Congressional Budget Justification FY 2020: “Over the last year, the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB or Board) has worked to improve the effectiveness and long-term impact of its missions function in response to the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) memorandum M-17-22, “Comprehensive Plan for Reforming the Federal Government and Reducing the Federal Civilian Workforce.”… If the President’s Budget Request of $42,265,500—which represents a 10% cut to our FY 2019 funding level—is enacted, MSPB will have to cut its workforce since personnel costs represent approximately 80% of our budget. Additionally, this will affect performance results for: (1) average processing time for both initial appeals and petitions for review (PFR); (2) the scope and number of merit system studies produced; (3) MSPB’s review of OPM’s significant actions and rules and regulations; (4) conducting outreach; (5) internal program evaluation; (6) our ability to conduct surveys in support of merit systems studies and reports, obtaining customer feedback; (7) our critical IT modernization efforts; and (8) a potential relocation of our Washington, D.C.Headquarters as a result of lease expiration. All of these issues are overshadowed by the backlog of approximately 2,000 PFRs before the Board due to the lack of quorum since January 2017…” [emphasis added]