The Bush administration expects in late May or early June
to certify agencies to provide central human resources
services under its “service center” concept,
administration officials say. HR services are one of the
five lines of business that the administration hopes to
centralize under its e-gov program.
In response to the initiative, five agencies have
expressed interest in offering HR service center
services– the National Finance Center at Agriculture,
the National Business Center at Interior, the Health
and Human Services Department, the Treasury Department
and the Defense Department’s Civilian Personnel System.
It’s currently the administration’s expectation that
all five will be given the green light.
The main goal of the initiative is to simplify and set
standards for “back-office” type HR services including
benefits administration, time and labor recordkeeping,
personnel record processing and integration with payroll
systems. The centers will also offer IT services and
tailored HR services, said Norman Enger, director of
e-gov initiatives at the Office of Personnel Management,
at a presentation at a recent trade show. He said that
the service center approach will free up more federal
HR professionals to concentrate on setting personnel
strategies, motivating and training the workforce and
aligning it to the agency mission. He said that
currently, 75 percent of the HR cadre is devoted to
back-office functions.
