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By: FEDweek StaffFollowing is a letter to OPM listing GAO’s top priority recommendations for that agency.
The purpose of this letter is to provide an update on the overall status of the Office of Personnel Management’s (OPM) implementation of GAO’s recommendations and to call your continued personal attention to areas where open recommendations should be given high priority. In November 2022, we reported that, on a government-wide basis, 77 percent of our recommendations made 4 years ago were implemented. OPM’s recommendation implementation rate was about 46 percent. As of April 2023, OPM had 64 open recommendations. Fully implementing these open recommendations could significantly improve both OPM’s operations and its efforts to assist federal agencies in addressing various human capital management issues.
Since our June 2022 letter, OPM has implemented two of our 15 open priority recommendations.
• OPM provides and tracks specialized training for all individuals, including contractors, who have significant security responsibilities, as we recommended in our May 2016 report. This will help ensure that individuals with significant security responsibilities carry out their job in a manner that protects the systems they work with.
• It is now standard process to reach out to payroll data providers in cases of missing, flagged or rejected data, and that such efforts typically result in submission or resubmission of data, as we recommended in October 2016.
We ask your continued attention to the remaining priority recommendations. We are also adding two new priority recommendations. One is related to fully defining the role of the agency official for privacy and another is related to addressing skills gaps. This brings the total number of priority recommendations to 15.
The 15 priority recommendations fall into the following six areas
• Improving the federal classification system. Questions have been raised about the General Schedule’s (GS) ability to keep pace with the evolving nature of government work. Implementing one priority recommendation that OPM examine ways to make the GS system’s design and implementation more consistent with the attributes of a modern, effective classification system could help OPM ensure that the federal classification system is keeping pace with the government’s evolving requirements.
• Making hiring authorities more effective. To ensure agencies have the talent they need to meet their missions, federal agencies must have a hiring process that is applicant-friendly and flexible while also meeting policy requirements, including hiring on the basis of merit. By implementing one priority recommendation to refine, consolidate, eliminate, or expand hiring authorities, OPM could improve the federal hiring process and strengthen the government’s ability to compete in the labor market for top talent.
• Improving payroll data. OPM is responsible for supporting federal agencies’ human capital management activities, which includes ensuring that agencies have the data needed to make staffing and resource decisions to support their missions. The Enterprise Human Resource Integration (EHRI) system is OPM’s primary data warehouse to support these efforts. We have three priority recommendations in this area, including (1) increasing the availability of payroll data for analysis, (2) creating a schedule for executing data integration plans, and (3) developing or improving internal control activities to ensure the quality and security of EHRI data. Doing so will help support OPM’s strategic and open data goals, which include making this data available to the community currently served by their FedScope data website.
• Addressing employee misconduct and improving performance management. OPM has a role in ensuring that agencies have the tools and guidance needed to effectively address misconduct and maximize the productivity of their workforces. Implementing one priority recommendation, which calls for OPM to provide guidance on agency training for managers and supervisors, would help agencies more effectively address employee misconduct and maximize the productivity of the workforce.
Additionally, managing employee performance has been a long-standing government-wide issue, and without effective performance management, agencies also risk losing the skills of top talent. OPM could help inform agencies’ decision making related to performance management by implementing two performance management-related priority recommendations to develop and implement a mechanism for agencies to share information, and to develop a strategic approach for identifying and sharing emerging research and innovations.
• Strengthening IT security and management. OPM collects and maintains personal information on millions of individuals. Protecting this sensitive information is imperative. We have six priority recommendations in this area, such as establishing (1) a process for conducting an organization-wide cybersecurity risk assessment, (2) a timeline to develop a plan to manage permanent electronic records, and (3) a time frame for fully defining the role of the senior agency official for privacy. Implementing these recommendations is critical for ensuring that OPM can effectively protect and manage sensitive information that it collects as the chief human resources agency and personnel policy manager for the federal government.
• Addressing mission critical skills gaps. Mission-critical skills gaps specific to federal agencies and across the federal workforce pose a high risk to the nation. They impede the government from cost effectively serving the public and achieving desired results. This area was added to the High-Risk List in 2001. In our latest high-risk update, mission critical skills gaps are a factor in 22 of 36 high-risk areas.
OPM plays a critical leadership role in addressing this issue and implementing the one priority recommendation in this area, which is to establish an action plan to address skills gaps identified in OPM’s workforce assessment. Doing so will help OPM improve its capacity to provide human capital services and guidance to agencies.
Several other government-wide high-risk areas also have direct implications for OPM and its operations. These include (1) the government-wide personnel security clearance process, (2) ensuring the cybersecurity of the nation, improving the management of IT acquisitions and operations, and (4) managing federal real property. We urge your attention to the OPM and other government-wide high-risk issues as they relate to OPM. Progress on high-risk issues has been possible through the concerted actions and efforts of Congress, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and the leadership and staff in agencies, including within OPM. In March 2022, we issued a report on key practices to successfully address high-risk areas, which can be a helpful resource as your agency continues to make progress to address high-risk issues.
In addition to your continued attention on these issues, Congress plays a key role in providing oversight and maintaining focus on our recommendations to ensure they are implemented and produce their desired results. Legislation enacted in December 2022 includes a provision for GAO to identify any additional congressional oversight actions that can help agencies implement priority recommendations and address any underlying issues relating to such implementation.
There are various strategies Congress can use in addressing our recommendations, such as incorporating them into legislation. Congress can also use its budget, appropriations, and oversight processes to incentivize executive branch agencies to act on our recommendations and monitor their progress. For example, Congress can hold hearings focused on OPM’s progress in implementing GAO’s priority recommendations, withhold funds when appropriate, or take other actions to provide incentives for agencies to act. Moreover, Congress could follow up during the appropriations process and request periodic updates. Congress also plays a key role in addressing any underlying issues related to the implementation of these recommendations. For example, Congress could pass legislation providing an agency explicit authority to implement a recommendation or requiring an agency to take certain actions to implement a recommendation.
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