GAO Report Highlights Need for Comprehensive OPM Guidance to Address Staffing Shortages
Using the personnel mobility program, established under the Intergovernmental Personnel Act of 1970 (PL 91-648), agencies can address critical skills gaps through temporary assignments.
In a recent report, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) studied written guidance from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) regarding the personnel mobility program. In their analysis GAO found the program management is not comprehensive when it comes to supervisory duties, such as those related to performance management and relevant training. As it stands, the guidance states “non-federal [participants]…may exercise supervision over federal employees," raising concerns that program participants may take detrimental performance management actions.
GAO reviewed actions by the Department of Defense (DOD), Department of Energy (DOE), General Services Administration (GSA), and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). These agencies were able to recruit top scientists, researchers, and professors to lead highly technical and complex projects with the assistance of the personnel mobility program.
Temporary assignments under the personnel mobility program can benefit non-federal organizations as well as federal agencies by addressing skills gaps. Benefits of the program include flexibility regarding time commitments for participants of up to two years and lower costs of gaining skills or expertise.
Despite these benefits, GAO found that the program is rarely utilized. Agency officials cited a lack of program awareness, reluctance of home organizations to lose employees, and salary limits for participants as limitations on the program’s success.
GAO recommends that OPM first update its guidelines regarding federal supervisory participation, and then establish a process to ensure complete data collection for the mobility program. OPM accepted the first recommendation, but not the second.
At present, GAO observed that OPM does not have accurate data tracking the use of the mobility program. Consequently, OPM cannot make reliable strategic decisions about overseeing, providing guidance, promoting, or understanding more broadly how federal agencies are using the mobility program to meet their missions and close critical skills gaps.
The issues GAO presented OPM regarding management of programs to address skills gaps are not new. In September 2021, the Partnership for Public Service (Partnership), in collaboration with Ernst & Young LLP (EY), published a report outlining the need for an exchange of cross-sector talent to strengthen the federal workforce and promote relationships with industry. As FEDmanager has previously reported, the Partnership and EY urged Congress to create an oversight authority with appropriate funding to alleviate burdens for implementing such a program on agencies and to facilitate a successful program.
