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Median time from exam administration to exam results completion for DCAS-administered exams (business days)
Help City agencies fulfill their workforce needs. — Ensure timely administration of civil service exams.
This indicator swings with the mix of exam types DCAS processes in a given year, not a change in efficiency. Fiscal 2024's low time reflected a high share of automated, single-part exams that year; Fiscal 2025 rose because that mix wasn't repeated, and the improvement in the first part of Fiscal 2026 is again attributed to a larger share of quicker, single-part exams.
Researched July 16, 2026 — DCAS, Fiscal 2024 Mayor's Management Report, DCAS, Fiscal 2025 Mayor's Management Report, DCAS, Fiscal 2026 Preliminary Mayor's Management Report
* Year to date — this fiscal year isn't complete, so it's not compared against prior years in the target/trend status above.
View as table
| Fiscal year | Actual | Target |
|---|---|---|
| FY22 | 167 days | 290 days |
| FY23 | 149 days | 290 days |
| FY24 | 139 days | 290 days |
| FY25 | 158 days | 197 days |
| FY26 (YTD) | 101 days | 197 days |
Why this is tracked
New York State enacted its first civil service law in 1883, becoming the first state in the nation to require competitive examinations for government hiring and promotion rather than political patronage, with Theodore Roosevelt an early champion of the reform. DCAS itself was created in 1996 when Mayor Rudolph Giuliani merged the Department of General Services and the Department of Personnel into a single agency. Today DCAS writes and administers the civil service exams and manages recruitment and hiring support that city agencies rely on to fill their workforce, a direct descendant of that 19th-century push to make government jobs a matter of merit and fitness rather than who you know.
New York City Department of Citywide Administrative Services - Wikipedia, NYS Department of Civil Service - Merit System Information
Source: DCAS Bureau of Examinations — via NYC Open Data: Mayor's Management Report, Agency Performance Indicators
Coverage shown: FY22–FY26, reported monthly.
Definition: The median number of business days elapsed from the date a civil service exam was given to the date exam results were completed (list published or directly established at the request of a hiring agency) for all single-part (i.e., education & experience or multiple choice exams) and multi-part (i.e., qualifying education & experience or qualifying practical exams with competitive multiple choice exams) exams, excluding NYCTA exams during the reporting period. NYCTA exams are excluded from this indicator as NYCTA has jurisdiction over the development, administration, and scoring of its civil service exams; DCAS is only responsible for processing NYCTA’s eligible lists. List publication refers to the point at which results are sent to candidates and published lists are sent to hiring agencies. Appointments cannot be made until a list has been established and certified to hiring agencies.