A bipartisan bill signed into law this week will give the Office of Personnel Management inspector general a larger budget to oversee the agency’s $2 billion revolving fund, Federal Times reported Thursday.Sean Reilly writes Reps. Blake Farenthold, R-Texas, and Stephen Lynch, D-Mass., authored the measure following a request from IG Patrick McFarland for legislative language that would provide the additional resources to help fulfill OPM’s missions.
OPM uses the revolving fund model to pay for expenses incurred for services rendered to other agencies.
These include activities such as background checks, audits and other human resource management initiatives.
In his testimony at a congressional hearing in June 2013, McFarland said the Office of the IG had $3 million to monitor the fund, citing that a number of risk factors demonstrates “an urgent need for an immediate and strong infusion of oversight,†he said in prepared testimony.
The bill President Obama signed Wednesday grants the OIG about 0.33 percent of the fund’s annual budget, or approximately $6.6 million, according to Federal Times.
