Office of Personnel Management
Official seal
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| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | January 1, 1979 |
| Preceding agency | |
| Jurisdiction | Federal government of the United States |
| Headquarters | 1900 E Street NW, Washington, D.C. |
| Employees | 6,205 (2011) |
| Agency executive |
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| Website | opm.gov |
The United States Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is an independent agency of the United States government that manages the civil service of the federal government.
The United States Civil Service Commission was created by the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act of 1883. The commission was abolished and replaced by OPM on January 1, 1979, following the passage of the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 and Reorganization Plan No. 2 of 1978 (43 FR 36037, 92 Stat. 3783).
In 1996 the investigation branch of the OPM was privatized, and USIS was formed.
According to their website, the mission of the OPM is "recruiting, retaining and honoring a world-class force to serve the American people." The OPM is partially responsible for maintaining the appearance of independence and neutrality in the Administrative Law System. While technically employees of the agencies they work for, Administrative Law Judges (or ALJs) are hired exclusively by the OPM, effectively removing any discretional employment procedures from the other agencies. The OPM uses a rigorous selection process which ranks the top three candidates for each ALJ vacancy, and then makes a selection from those candidates, generally giving preference to veterans.
The OPM is also responsible for a large part of the management of security clearances (Federal Investigative Services a/k/a FIS conducts these investigations) for the United States Government. With the exception of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which maintains its own system, separate programs for each executive department have gradually been merged into a single, Government-wide clearance system. The OPM is responsible for investigating individuals to give them Secret and Top Secret clearances.SCI compartments, however, are still managed by the particular agency that uses that compartment.
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