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On February 6, in a shocking case of what Baseball Hall of Famer Yogi Berra once eloquently called “déjà vu,” the Government Accountability Office released a report slamming the U.S. government’s The Office of Personnel Management — the House Office of Human Resources responsible for hiring, benefits, payroll and overall management of the federal workforce — has failed to address persistent and serious data management and security deficiencies that continue to compromise the personal and personal data of federal employees. Profile of anyone applying for a federal job using the USA Staffing/USA Jobs portal.
One year ago, in March 2023, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee held an oversight hearing focused on OPM’s management practices. The results of the hearing were sobering and disturbing.
During the hearing, OPM Administrator Kiran Ahuja was forced to admit that OPM did not know how many federal employees were on its payroll. Ahuja also couldn’t explain the lack of detail surrounding the work-from-home policy adopted during the coronavirus pandemic. She stopped short of blaming the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program for billions of dollars in overpayments from U.S. taxpayers. Worst of all, Ahuja was unable to detail any remedial actions OPM took to strengthen its cybersecurity posture after the 2015 OPM breach—at the time the worst U.S. government data breach in history. This resulted in the leak of the Social Security numbers and other sensitive personally identifiable information of thousands of federal employees. The breach was so large that the U.S. government was forced to pay for credit monitoring services for all affected employees. As of a few weeks ago, federal officials had begun considering extending that protection indefinitely.
While the federal government must perform certain tasks—such as national defense and prosecuting federal crimes—human capital management is not one of them. Many Fortune 500 companies have determined that workforce management policies and operations are best left to professionals. So, a long time ago, they contracted with large human capital management companies to manage these back-office tasks. Many of these companies have become U.S. government-approved contractors and have obtained FEDRAMP (cybersecurity) certification.
The federal government should consider doing the same. It is supposed to replace this rigid, outdated bureaucracy that has been mired in incompetence due to a lack of sound management and competition with private sector alternatives.
Maybe it sounds extreme, but putting human resource management, talent acquisition, and other back-office functions in the hands of capable, federally certified human capital management professionals will be an effective, cost-effective way to ensure that U.S. taxpayers pay their taxes People are not subject to the excessive costs and mistakes of federal bureaucrats.
Any OPM functions that cannot be outsourced should be transferred to the General Services Administration (OPM portfolios such as health and life insurance benefits can be managed by outside experts and subject to detailed oversight) or the Office of Management and Budget, where professional staff can make adjustments to the federal requirements required by the President. Workforce mandates and policies.
However, OPM should at least fire anyone involved in the 2015 breach and all those responsible for the latest “F” rating under the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act.
This shift is likely to happen gradually. It doesn’t need to happen immediately. However, once completed, the U.S. government’s human capital management function will become more efficient, safe, responsive, and secure.
Sean Moran is the former chief of staff for the House Administration Committee. In this role, he oversaw all human resources, payroll and cybersecurity for the U.S. House of Representatives and was one of the official points of contact in the 2015 OPM data breach. Moran has an extensive private sector background in human capital management government contracting.
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