With Election Nearing, OPM Reminds Agencies About “Burrowing”
With the presidential campaign about to kick into a high gear with just five months to Election Day, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) issued a memo to agencies, reminding them of the rules around “burrowing.”
“Burrowing” is the name for efforts to get political appointees into career positions in the federal government’s competitive and Senior Executive Service (SES).
The issue can come up at any time but is particularly pertinent around presidential elections, as appointees of one party may try to stay on in case another party takes power.
In the memo, which includes a “Do’s and Don’ts Checklist” for political appointee hiring, OPM Merit System Accountability and Compliance Associate Director Mark Lambert and OPM Workforce Policy and Innovation Associate Director Veronica Hinton, remind agency leaders of the “need to ensure all personnel actions remain free of political influence or other improprieties and meet all relevant civil service laws, rules, and regulations.”
OPM says all official personnel records must “clearly document continued adherence to Federal merit principles and remain free of any prohibited personnel practices” and that any appointees of political appointees, Schedule C employees, and noncareer SES members to competitive or non-political excepted service positions or to career SES positions “require careful attention to ensure they comply with merit principles regarding fair and open competition.”
Agencies are also reminded to carefully review all actions involving the appointment of a political appointee to the SES, before sending the cases to OPM for review. Agencies are required by federal law to seek approval from OPM before appointing a current or recent political appointee to a competitive or non-political excepted service position at any level.
Common reasons for OPM denying such appointments include “the new position appears to have been designed solely for the individual who is being selected; and/or competition has been limited inappropriately.”
The memo also includes guidance on awards, noting that incentive awards may not be given during the election period (June 1, 2024, through January 20, 2025), to a senior political appointed officer. The freeze on discretionary awards bonuses and similar payments to political appointees remains in place.
Above all, Lambert and Hinton write that the goal is to ensure that merit system principles remain intact and prohibited personnel practices are not violated, even as uncertainty surrounds the nation’s political future.
“During an election period, these requirements demand particularly close attention to ensure all agency personnel actions adhere faithfully to these principles,” they wrote.
GAO Audit
The memo comes after a Government Accountability Office (GAO) audit covering political appointee “burrowing” at the end of the Obama Administration through the Trump Administration, found that OPM denied about 20 percent of burrowing requests.
23 percent of the converted appointments were implemented without OPM’s permission, in violation of government policy. Ten of those hires were ultimately deemed improper.
