OPM Director Scott Kupor said in a joint memo with OMB Director Russ Vought that his agency would procure a single technology system to manage the federal government's HR operations by fiscal 2028. Anna Moneymaker / Getty Images
OMB, OPM pitch new governmentwide HR system
A joint memo from OMB Director Russ Vought and OPM Director Scott Kupor Wednesday laid out plans to encompass all federal HR management data into a single technology platform by fiscal 2028.
The heads of the Office of Management and Budget and the Office of Personnel Management unveiled plans Wednesday to build a single information technology platform to manage all human capital data across the federal government.
In a joint memo, OMB Director Russ Vought and OPM Director Scott Kupor described a two-year plan to transition the federal government’s collection of disparate human resources networks onto a single system dubbed Federal HR 2.0.
“For too long, the Federal Government has lacked what is taken for granted at any other organization — a single system of record for personnel management. Instead, the Federal Government spends an inordinate amount each year on numerous costly, duplicative, and outdated core human capital management (“Core HCM”) systems,” the memo said.
As part of the plan, the memo said OMB and OPM officials will lead efforts “to procure a modern, best-in-class commercial Core HCM system” for governmentwide adoption by fiscal 2028.
Vought and Kupor said the new system would manage HR data such as “personnel action processing, employee system of record, position management, employee and manager self-service, analytics and dashboards, time and attendance, and learning,” but will also integrate other functions like payroll, benefits, talent acquisition, performance management and retirement.
A footnote in the document noted that OPM will outline how it will consolidate HR services in a subsequent memo.
While OPM is heading procurement efforts to identify a technology vendor that can develop the system, agencies' transition will start this fiscal year and include the Agriculture, Homeland Security, Health and Human Services, Interior, Veterans Affairs and Transportation departments, alongside OPM and the Environmental Protection Agency and potentially some Interior customers — or roughly 900,000 full-time employees.
The remainder of the transition will occur in fiscal 2027, covering roughly 1.1 million employees, and offering a sample eight-month transition timeline starting with interagency agreements and then moving to platform capabilities testing, data migration, training and legacy system wind-downs.
As such, the memo directs agencies to pause their human capital management procurements and modernization efforts, but offers exceptions to be approved by the OMB and OPM directors for “a critical, time-sensitive update or need to modernize or procure a new Core HCM system” ahead of the central system adoption.
While OMB and OPM plan to stand up a Federal HR 2.0 Advisory Board to assist with the transition, the memo directs CFO Act agencies to name points of contact for integrated project team leaders and various working groups before developing data integration and migration strategies.
A performance work statement posted on SAM.gov on Oct. 29 calls for a 10-year single award indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract.