Washington, D.C. – The U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) released the Federal Workforce Competency Initiative (FWCI) General Competencies and Competency Models today for a broad set of occupational series. The FWCI is a governmentwide effort led by OPM that updates a selection of general competencies from OPM’s MOSAIC (Multipurpose Occupational Systems Analysis Inventory—Closed-Ended) studies.  

The FWCI competencies provide a common language for 214 occupational series. OPM has published 80 occupation-specific competency models representing work governmentwide that may be used for selection, evaluation, and training activities. The FWCI is a resource for agencies to leverage in their skills-based hiring practices. 

“OPM will continue to support agencies and collect critical data that strengthens our workforce and enables us to deliver services for the American people,” said OPM Director Kiran Ahuja. “This update to the Federal Workforce Competency Initiative will help agencies hire the talent they need and expand opportunities for positions that do not require certain degrees.” 

Over 90,000 federal employees and supervisors from more than 300 occupational series governmentwide responded to the general competency survey and were crucial in examining, rating, and participating in the development of the competency models. The FWCI survey responses provided data on 32 competencies across 214 occupational series.  

FWCI supports Executive Order 13932 - Modernizing and Reforming the Assessment and Hiring of Federal Job Candidates, issued on June 26, 2020, that directs important, merit-based reforms that will increase the use of valid, competency-based assessments and expands the use of skills-based hiring across the federal government. This initiative also supports the President’s Management Agenda Strategy 1.4, to build a personnel system to sustain the federal government as a model employer by providing data-driven tools for agency human resources professionals in their workforce planning endeavors.