On March 23, 2020, the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA) announced it entered into a contract with the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to conduct a comprehensive assessment of the agency, as directed by Congress in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020. NAPA expects to submit its final report to Congress in March 2021.

The study will focus on:

• The non-statutory functions of OPM, OPM’s justification for carrying out such functions, and the challenges with OPM’s execution of these functions; 

• The options and recommendations for addressing the challenges related to statutory and non-statutory functions, including an analysis of the benefits, costs, and feasibility of each option and the effect of each on labor-management agreements; 

• A timetable for implementing the options and recommendations identified above; 

• Statutory or regulatory changes necessary to execute any of the recommendations; 

• The methods for engaging and receiving input from other federal agencies potentially affected by any change in the structure, functions, or authorities of OPM that may be recommended; and 

• The views of stakeholders, including other federal agencies, non-federal entities representing customers or intended beneficiaries of OPM services, and such individual customers and potential beneficiaries. 

FMA has expressed concern with the proposed merger of OPM functions with the General Services Administration and supported action Congress took to require the NAPA study. We look forward to reviewing NAPA’s final report in 2021.