The U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM), in support of the Program Management Improvement Accountability Act (PMIAA) and the U.S. Office of Management and Budget’s guidance, Improving the Management of Federal Programs and Projects through Implementing PMIAA , has collected data to create career paths and suggested training curriculum for Federal Program and Project Management professionals. The PMIAA requires OPM to establish a Government-wide career path to develop capable and competent program and project managers.

This Guide also supports the President’s Management Agenda’s Cross-Agency Priority Goal, Strengthening and Empowering the Federal Workforce, which focuses on agencies developing “equitable, transparent, and  transferrable career development pathways that promote career growth and agency mission delivery.” Further, this Guide is a valuable tool for agencies’ reskilling and upskilling efforts to gain a better understanding of their program and project management workforce capabilities and determine how to invest in and develop this workforce based on the identification of emerging and mission critical skills.

This Guide was developed to provide guidance to Federal agencies interested in creating or enhancing their own Program and Project Management career paths. The intent is to provide agencies with more direction in strengthening the planning, implementation, and evaluation of existing and future program and project management workforce development programs. The information presented in this Guide captures critical activities for agencies to achieve success in Federal Program and Project Management through recruitment, development, and retention of top talent.

To facilitate common understanding and implementation across agencies, key terms related to P/PM are described in Appendix A of this Guide.