Tag Archives: OPM

The Office of Personnel Management issued a memo encouraging agencies to allow work-from-home arrangements and other approaches promoting schedule flexibility for employees. The memo intends to support federal employees who are still working despite the government shutdown, OPM said Wednesday.

The National Background Investigations Bureau is still running despite the partial government shutdown's effects on the Office of Personnel Management, Nextgov reported Wednesday. The bureau continues to run on funds that customer agencies pay for investigation work. The NBIB has managed to cut a backlog of 725,000 investigations down to 600,000 between April and the end of 2018.

Margaret Weichert, acting director of the Office of Personnel Management, said the Trump administration aims to integrate workforce efforts through executive councils and agencies in 2019, Federal News Network reported Wednesday. Weichert noted that the government will focus on the collaboration of agencies in workforce initiatives such as reskilling federal personnel, fostering employee engagement and shortening hiring procedures.

David Berteau, president and CEO of the Professional Services Council, told Government Matters in an interview aired Tuesday about industry’s concerns once the Defense Department takes over the governmentwide program for security clearances from the Office of Personnel Management. Berteau mentioned some of those concerns, including the volume of the clearance backlog, background investigation process, funding and reciprocity.
 

A new report from the Government Accountability Office shows that the Office of Personnel Management has failed to help federal agencies access effective practices on performance management. Officials found that the OPM did not modernize its performance guidance to provide new information despite the changes in the performance management industry, the GAO said in the report.

Federal Chief Information Officer Suzette Kent has said her office plans to launch programs that will help address gaps in the federal information technology workforce, Federal News Network reported Wednesday.

The Office of Personnel Management seeks comments on a proposal to modify rules in direct hire authorities to address shortages in government IT employees.

The Congressional Budget Office has estimated the implementation of a Senate bill that would allow cybersecurity personnel in one federal civilian agency to work at another agency on a rotational and temporary basis would cost less than $500K annually from fiscal 2019 through fiscal 2023.

The Office of Personnel Management has announced plans to introduce two direct hiring authorities as part of its civil service reform efforts, Federal Times reported Thursday. Agencies will have a DHA for engineering; economics; math, statistics and actuarial sciences; physical science; and biological sciences effective next week.
 

President Trump intends to appoint Margaret Weichert, deputy director for management at the Office of Management and Budget, as acting director of the Office of Personnel Management. Replacing former OPM director Jeff Pon, she will hold the role concurrently with her position at the OMB, the White House said Friday.