OPM creates office to oversee the Senior Executive Service

The Office of Personnel Management announced on Wednesday that it was creating a new office to oversee the Senior Executive Service, consolidating powers spread across multiple units to improve efficiency.

The new unit will manage the SES' Qualifications Review Board, which sets the core qualifications for applicants, and it will coordinate outreach to organizations such as the Senior Executives Association and executive resource managers. It also will make recommendations on allocations of SES and senior-level positions, as well as the certification of appraisal systems and candidate development programs.

"The establishment of a centralized SES office will increase the efficiency of our efforts to better serve federal agencies and build a world-class workforce," OPM Director John Berry said.

Nancy Kichak, associate director for the human resources policy division at OPM, said the consolidation will result in one-stop shopping. "Instead of not knowing where to go to OPM, now you will come to this office, and the answers should all reside in one location," she said.

According to Kichak, the unit will focus on performance management for the SES, and on forums and executive groups that will share information about resource allocations and best practices. "It's not new stuff, but it's certainly an intensified focus," she said.

OPM plans to have this office up and running by the end of 2009, Kichak said.

The SES -- established in the 1978 Civil Service Reform Act to create an elite group of federal managers above the GS-15 level -- recently has been criticized for a lack of diversity. In addition, the Government Accountability Office last year recommended improvements to the process of certifying performance-based SES pay systems.

Legislation introduced in the House and Senate in June aims to boost diversity in the SES by creating the Senior Executive Service Resource Office, which would be responsible for promoting diversity throughout the top ranks in government.

Kichak said the new office would be similar to the one proposed in the legislation, but would have a broader focus.

"We're about so much more," she said. "Not only diversity, but we're also about getting SESers the right training, making sure they have the right development opportunities and making sure that there's an environment where they can be mentored."

OPM's move won praise from managers and good government groups.

"Our SES has been impeded by decentralized talent development and recruiting, a cumbersome and lengthy hiring process, and inadequate training programs," said Max Stier, president and chief executive officer of the nonprofit Partnership for Public Service. "By creating an office designed to focus on these issues, OPM has taken an important step to reinvigorate the executive team that leads our government through presidential transitions and through a set of increasingly complex daily challenges." Establishing the new office was one of many recommendations in a report to be presented on Thursday by the Partnership and consultancy Booz Allen Hamilton. The report, titled "Unrealized Vision: Reimagining the Senior Executive Service," calls for the SES to be split into two groups -- one of mobile managers who will move from agency to agency, and another of managers who will stay put in their respective agencies. In addition, the report calls for Congress to abolish the centralized Qualifications Review Board, which evaluates SES candidates, so OPM can take over that process. The report also advocates reforms to improve the focus and planning of the SES.

"Our primary finding is that the Senior Executive Service as envisioned by reformers has fallen short of its promise," the report states. "The original vision of the SES was never realized. More importantly, we find that the original vision itself is inadequate for today's needs and does not provide the blueprint to build the kind of senior government leadership required for the future."

Carol Bonosaro, president of the Senior Executives Association, said OPM had a similar SES office, but it was dismantled during Bush administration reorganizations.

"I think we have pretty clearly felt the need for a focal point in OPM to deal with policy and best practices in regard to the executive corps," Bonosaro said. "There were times we felt like we were pushing a balloon to determine where it was most appropriate to address an issue within OPM."