Consolidate Across Agencies with Similar Processes and Functions
OPM should take a greater role and provide less flexibility in their oversight of HR practices. Although OPM initially delegated its administration and oversight of HR to Agencies in order to provide greater flexibility, it is time to pull back on these shoestrings in order to eliminate inefficiency. Currently each Agency has so much independence in the implementation of HR practices that there is a great deal of inconsistency ...more »
OPM should take a greater role and provide less flexibility in their oversight of HR practices. Although OPM initially delegated its administration and oversight of HR to Agencies in order to provide greater flexibility, it is time to pull back on these shoestrings in order to eliminate inefficiency. Currently each Agency has so much independence in the implementation of HR practices that there is a great deal of inconsistency and duplication of work. Advances in Technology have provided a great opportunity to improve the efficiency of most HR processes but only if everyone is using the same software (economies of scale must be leveraged). The Electronic Personnel File is a perfect example, but it is the exception with regard to the software used for HR processes across Agencies. Similar gains can also be found by consolidation of other HR resources. If the HR resources (including staff) were consolidated (either across bureaus or divisions within each Agency, or across the entire government into OPM itself), millions could be saved by leveraging these resources more efficiently and effectively. This practice can also be used to consolidate other similar groups of employees with technical and regulatory knowledge required to perform functions that are basically the same across multiple agencies, such as with IT personnel.
« less full details »