OPM Overview
The U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) serves as the chief human resource agency and personnel policy manager for the Federal Government. OPM provides human resource leadership and support to Federal agencies and helps the federal workforce achieve its aspirations as it serves the American people. OPM directs and guides human resource and workforce policy, administers retirement benefits, manages health insurance and other insurance benefit programs, provides human capital solutions, and oversees merit-based and inclusive hiring into the civil service. The agency promotes the efficiency and integrity of the Federal workforce through personnel vetting policies and processes. The agency also leads and supports the Federal Executive Boards, a network of Federal officials across the country focused on improving coordination, communication, and collaboration across agencies outside of the Washington, D.C. region.
Key Functions
Human Capital Management Leadership
OPM’s divisions and offices implement the programs and deliver the policies, services, and oversight that enable both OPM and other agencies to meet their respective strategic goals. OPM works in several broad categories to lead and serve the Federal Government in enterprise human resource management by delivering policies, services, and oversight to achieve a trusted, effective civilian workforce, including human capital management leadership, benefits, and personnel vetting.
Policy
The agency interprets and enforces governing law and provides policy direction and leadership in designing, developing, and promoting Government-wide human capital systems, programs, and policies. In addition, the agency provides technical support and guidance to agencies on the full range of human capital management policies and practices, including recruitment, hiring policy and classification, veterans’ employment, strategic workforce planning, pay, leave, performance management and recognition, leadership and employee development, training, diversity and inclusion, work-life and wellness programs, employee accountability, labor and employee relations, and the Administrative Law Judges Program. OPM’s leadership in these areas enables the Federal Government to anticipate drivers that will influence and impact the Federal workforce. OPM also reviews agency requests to exercise certain personnel management authorities that are centrally administered or subject to OPM approval under law or regulation and oversees the implementation of key political administration priorities and goals concerning Government-wide human capital management matters.
Services
As part of its mission, OPM provides technical assistance to Federal agencies to meet their most critical human capital needs. OPM provides human capital services and training to Federal agencies to help maximize their organizational and individual performance and to drive their mission results. OPM delivers products and services to Federal agency partners in a variety of ways, including: 1) OPM internal human capital experts, including HR professionals, industrial-organizational psychologists, educators, data analysts, and program managers; 2) pre-competed private sector partnerships; and 3) a blended approach that leverages private sector capability that complements the Federal workforce. OPM helps agencies design effective organizations, recruit and hire top talent, develop and cultivate leaders, build Federal human resource professional capability, improve the performance management process, and achieve long-lasting human capital results.
The agency provides a leadership development continuum that enables Federal executives, managers, and aspiring leaders to acquire knowledge and master skills so they can lead within a rapidly changing Government environment. Anchored by the Federal Executive Institute (FEI), OPM’s leadership development infrastructure and programs also include the Presidential Management Fellows (PMF) Program, the Federal HR Institute, the Lab at OPM (human-centered design), and USALearning.
OPM leads the Government-wide transformation of human resource information technology by focusing on modernization, integration, and human capital outcomes. OPM offers Federal systems such as Enterprise Human Resource Integration (EHRI), USA Staffing, USA Hire, USA Performance, and USALearning. OPM is also developing the necessary information technology infrastructure to facilitate the exchange of human resource data and information Government-wide, as appropriate.
The agency manages USAJOBS, the official job site of the Federal Government. It is the one-stop source for Federal jobs and employment information through which Federal agencies meet their legal obligation to provide public notice of Federal employment opportunities to Federal employees and American citizens. The USAJOBS website is the portal for Federal recruitment for most Government positions.
Oversight
Through its oversight, evaluation work, special studies, and collaboration with agencies, OPM assesses whether Federal human resource programs and human capital management systems are effective and consistent with merit system principles and related civil service requirements. OPM works directly with agencies to improve programs that are ineffective, inefficient, or not compliant with Federal law. OPM also adjudicates and provides the final administrative decision on appeals and claims related to position classification, job grading, the Fair Labor Standards Act, compensation, and leave, including the termination of retained pay or grade in certain circumstances. These adjudications provide Federal employees with procedural rights to challenge compensation and related agency decisions.
Healthcare and Insurance
OPM facilitates access to the high-caliber healthcare and insurance programs offered by the Federal Government to active employees, annuitants, and their eligible family members across all three branches of Government. This includes health insurance, dental and vision insurance, life insurance, long-term care insurance, and flexible spending accounts. OPM manages insurance benefits for more than eight million Federal employees, retirees, and their families, employees of tribes or tribal organizations, and other eligible persons. In 2019, OPM also began offering dental and vision plans to military retirees and their families, members of the Retired Reserve, non-active Medal of Honor recipients, and survivors and family members of active-duty service members. In 2025, OPM began coverage for Postal workers, retirees, and their eligible family members under the new Postal Service Health Benefits Program in accordance with the Postal Service Reform Act of 2022. These high-quality benefits make Federal employment more attractive, enabling agencies to compete for good candidates with other potential employers.
Retirement
OPM administers the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) and the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) covering 2.8 million active employees, including the United States Postal Service, and over 2.7 million annuitants, survivors, and family members. OPM also develops and administers benefits programs and services that offer employees choice, value, and quality to help the Government remain a competitive employer. Activities include record maintenance and service credit accounts prior to retirement; initial eligibility determinations at retirement; adjudication of annuity benefits based on age and service, disability, or death, according to relevant statutes and regulations; post-retirement changes due to life events; health and life insurance enrollments; Federal and state tax deductions; and other payroll functions.
Personnel Vetting
The agency is responsible for prescribing suitability, fitness, and credentialing standards for Government employees and contractors. It works closely with the Director of National Intelligence to determine investigative standards. OPM issues guidelines and instructions to the heads of other agencies to promote uniformity and effectiveness when executing their delegated responsibilities, and it conducts oversight of those agencies’ programs and processes in this area, including oversight of suitability and credentialing investigations. OPM retains jurisdiction of suitability adjudications in circumstances where a Government-wide bar of an individual from Federal service is necessary to promote efficiency and protect the integrity of the civil service. The agency also provides Government-wide training for suitability adjudicators that conforms to Government-wide training standards.
History
OPM’s roots lie in a more than 140-year history of protecting merit system principles. In 1883, the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act ended the patronage or “spoils” system for Federal employment, and instead introduced a merit-based civil service as a key pillar of American democracy, ensuring that the Federal Government makes employment decisions about public servants based on their skills, and not their political affiliations. Congress also established OPM’s predecessor, the United States Civil Service Commission. Since then, Congress has enacted statutes and agencies have promulgated rules to govern the civil service and further good government, including the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978.
In the Civil Service Reform Act and related legislation, Congress divided the Civil Service Commission into separate agencies and established OPM, giving it jurisdiction over personnel management of the civil service. Congress directed that OPM would have a Director and a Deputy Director, both appointed by the President with Senate confirmation. Congress authorized OPM to promulgate merit system regulations and to maintain programs to enable departments and agencies to establish, classify, and fill competitive service jobs and manage workforce matters including examination and appointment, suitability and security, merit promotion, compensation, training, employee relations, awards and incentives, managerial and executive development, and employee benefits. Congress also tasked OPM with evaluating departments’ and agencies’ personnel programs and operations and providing them with advice and guidance on all aspects of personnel management. Additionally, Congress authorized OPM to provide reimbursable training and personnel management services at the request of individual agencies.
Profile
OPM maintains its headquarters in the Theodore Roosevelt Federal Office Building at 1900 E Street, NW, Washington, D.C. The agency has three operating centers and 27 facilities and Federal Executive Board locations across the country. OPM’s FY 2024 gross budget, including appropriated, mandatory administrative authorities, and revolving fund activities totaled more than $1.3 billion. In FY 2024, the agency had 2,877 full-time equivalent employees. OPM’s discretionary budget, excluding the Office of the Inspector General, was $412,051,000.
For more information about OPM, please refer to the agency’s website, www.opm.gov.