FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 18, 2002

Contact: Eldon Girdner (202) 606-2402

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OPM Director James Testifies before Senate
on President’s “Managerial Flexibilities”

Washington, D.C. -- In oral and written testimony given today before Congress, Kay Coles James, Director of the Office of Personnel Management, praised the bipartisan ground work of several Senators on the Committee of Governmental Affairs to reform governmental operations, including Senators Joe Lieberman (D-CT), Daniel Akaka (D-HI), Fred Thompson (R-TN) and George Voinovich (R-OH). James said, “Good government is not a partisan issue. This committee has a long history of working in a bipartisan manner to improve the operation of government…and now the committee has the opportunity to move forward on reforms to improve the way we manage the people who serve with the federal government.” James continued, "Our agencies and managers must have greater flexibility to manage their workforces effectively, to keep high performers on the job and to compete successfully in the market for talent."

James testified before the Subcommittee on International Security, Proliferation and Federal Services on The Federal Workforce: Legislative Proposals for Change. Three bills are being considered by the subcommittee which would reform federal workplace rules; S.1612, S.1639, which closely track the Bush Administration’s Managerial Flexibility proposals and S.1603, introduced by Senator Voinovich, which includes many similar provisions but also has some key differences from the Administration’s plan.

James reiterated her commitment to reform by pointing out from the outset of her tenure in July of 2001 she has “reoriented the focus of our agency and OPM began to provide tailored assistance to agencies government-wide.” James stated, “Since September 11th, however, the world has changed and OPM has accelerated the pace of our activities to support the growing human capital demands across government.” Said James, “OPM began to provide tailored assistance to agencies government-wide through ‘strike forces’ staffed by career professionals equipped with relevant expertise.”

Also mentioned by James was the close working relationship between OPM and the Office of Management and Budget, which over the last two months, has led to the training of over 500 senior managers on the hiring flexibilities that currently exist, and how agencies can reach “green” on the President’s Management Scorecard for human capital. “[President Bush] is the first MBA President and this President cares a great deal about management,” stated James.

However, James stated that more changes need to be made. "The legislation before you today provides a modest but a very vital step forward in giving Federal agencies the additional tools they need,” she continued. “Many of the changes are technical fixes that remove barriers to efficient management and allow even better use of the flexibilities currently in place"

There are five key flexibilities that James mentioned needed to be included in a successful reform package. Those flexibilities include: 1) establishing a permanent voluntary separation incentive authority 2) improving the existing recruitment and retention incentives, 3) providing greater hiring flexibility in areas where there is a shortage of candidates, 4) senior executive initiatives, such as eliminating the requirement for recertifying career senior executives every three years, and, 5) streamlining the process for testing innovative human resource concepts.

Throughout her testimony, James spoke of the spirit of cooperation which existed between OPM and the General Accounting Office on efforts to develop specific criteria for measuring agency progress in responding to human capital challenges.

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OPM oversees the federal work force and provides the American public with up-to-date employment information. OPM also supports U.S. agencies with personnel services and policy leadership including staffing tools, guidance on labor-management relations and programs to improve work force performance.