OPM Abandons Merger with GSA

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) recently announced that it would not be following through with its proposed merger with the General Services Administration (GSA). President Trump’s government reorganization initiative, which has been in the works for several years, included a push to combine GSA with OPM to form the new “Government Services Agency.”

However, in an email to OPM staff, acting OPM director Michael Rigas announced that the agency is looking at other options when it comes to restructuring.

 “As Congress has not acted on the administration’s legislative proposal, we are no longer devoting time and energy to the merger and are focused on ensuring OPM can function as a standalone personnel agency for the federal government. We are also conducting an independent analysis of the agency to help inform how OPM can best carry out its mission and meet the needs of the American people,” Rigas wrote.

Due to Congress preventing the transfer of functions from OPM to GSA, and due to the fact that security clearances are now the responsibility of the Department of Defense (DoD), an OPM merger with GSA seems less likely, according to Federal News Network. Even still, the Trump administration requested $70 million in their 2021 budget proposal to restructure OPM.

While the merger has been scrapped, many Democrats are still concerned about the trajectory of the administration, with Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA), Chairman of the Oversight and Reform Subcommittee on Government Operations, stating “OPM has wasted time and resources on this quixotic mission that clearly had no support from Congress, no legal grounding and made no sense.”