Federal Executive Board Reports Strong Interagency Collaboration Among Program Users

For over 60 years, Federal Executive Boards (FEB) have served as hubs for interagency coordination and communication. More recently the FEBs have focused on three strategic goals: 1) Emergency Preparedness, Employee Safety, and Security, 2) Workforce Development and Support, and 3) Strategic Partnerships.

The 28 current FEBs are located in metropolitan areas around the country with significant Federal presence, covering approximately 828,739 Federal civilian employees or 38 percent of the workforce, according to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) FY21 FEB National Network Annual Report.

According to a survey of key FEB stakeholders –the eligible population of the highest-ranking agency officials in an area–the Boards are providing an excellent forum for networking and connecting with leadership peers.

The survey found that 90 percent felt FEB programs helped them connect with agencies and/or organizations that I wouldn’t have otherwise. Eighty four percent of Board leaders felt their employees have gained skills or information from FEB programs that have helped them with their work: 85 percent felt their involvement in the FEB has given them connection and experience that help as a senior leader. Eighty eight percent felt involvement with the FEB has benefited their agency. Further, 92 percent of Board leaders recommended engagement with the FEB.

“Fiscal Year 2021 proved to be a very productive year for the Boards in a number of important areas,” said OPM Director Kiran Ahuja. “FEBs supported agencies’ efforts to continue operations during the pandemic, improved agencies’ emergency preparedness by sponsoring 6 continuity exercises and 36 emergency planning workshops, provided training opportunities to 23,000 Federal employees, and supported local Combined Federal Campaign efforts. The Boards made significant progress in all three of their strategic lines of business and, as a result, reduced duplicative efforts and contributed to improved Government operations.”

The report demonstrates the value of shared workforce investments thru FEBs. Over 23,000 federal employees received training for a cost avoidance to agencies of $6.9 million.  An additional estimated cost avoidance of over $7.4 million was attributed to 159 cases successfully settled thru Alternative Dispute Resolution / Shared Neutrals.

Across the nation, FEB campaigns raised $36.4 in Combined Federal Campaign (CFC) pledges and an additional 31,533 hours of volunteer service pledges. FEB-coordinated food drives brough in over 100,911 pounds of food donations, and blood drives hosted by FEBs provided local hospitals with over 347 units of blood.