Sub-score (0-100). Question no. 39. In practice, civil servants are appointed and evaluated according to professional criteria.

A 100 score is earned where all the following conditions are met:
1) appointments to the civil service are made on a merit-based system,
2) individuals appointed are free of conflicts of interest due to personal loyalties, family connections, political party affiliations or other biases, and
3) performance evaluations are based on standard benchmarks.

A 50 score is earned where any of the following conditions apply:
1) not all civil servants are appointed because of their merits,
2) not all appointees are free of conflicts or interest, or
3) performance evaluations are not always based on standard benchmarks.

A 0 score is earned where at least one of the following conditions apply:
1) no merit-based system is in place or it's so weak it's useless,
2) civil servants frequently have conflicts of interest, or
3) performance evaluations are usually based on personal, discretionary criteria.