Washington, D.C. – This month, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is launching the Federal Workforce Competency Initiative (FWCI) to update governmentwide competency models. With the goal of strengthening the federal workforce, the initiative will provide current data for a wide variety of human capital activities, including job design, recruitment, selection, performance management, training, and career development.

“The FWCI is an opportunity for OPM to work together with agencies to identify the competencies most important for success,” said OPM Acting Director Kathleen McGettigan. “It will contribute critical data needed to continue building the foundation for effective human capital management across the federal government.”

OPM has conducted Multipurpose Occupational Systems Analysis Inventory—Closed-ended (MOSAIC) studies since the 1990s. The FWCI will update and build upon data collected in those studies, which provided the data-based foundation for competency use across the federal government, with the customers OPM serves and for policies OPM develops and implements.

A random sample of employees and supervisors in more than 350 occupational series will receive the phase one survey. The current phase will target general competencies and tasks that are relevant across many Federal jobs. Subsequent phases will focus on technical competencies for targeted job families.

The FWCI offers several important benefits:

• OPM and agencies can use the competencies to identify or develop assessments that meet 5 CFR 300.103 requirements that employment practices be based on a job analysis.
• This governmentwide competency modeling approach uses a common language for describing work that can provide consistent messaging on the factors on which employees are selected, evaluated, and trained.
• This centralized data collection approach offers efficiencies and cost savings to agencies by having OPM collect job analysis data once and eliminating the need for single agency studies.

The phase one survey will open the week of April 26 and remain open for approximately three weeks.