News Release
OPM Director Sends Strong Message to Financial Management Conference
Washington, D.C. -- Kay Coles James, Director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, today extolled the budgetary virtues of online training for federal employees and other e-Government initiatives the human resources agency is leading under President Bush’s Management Agenda.
James’ sentiments concerning the e-Training initiative and four other OPM-managed initiatives, including e-Payroll, were communicated through an agency official to federal budget officers during the 32nd Annual Joint Financial Management Improvement Program Conference.
"This is great for you and the agency finance officers whose training dollars will go further as a result of the significant economies of scale that e-Training brings," read James’ message. "And this is wonderful for taxpayers, who benefit by the huge $1.19 billion savings."
To date, more than 10,000 online courses have been completed by federal employees who have upgraded existing proficiencies or learned new skills.
James, energized by the President’s ongoing recognition of OPM as an important force in the nation’s fight against terrorism, has said the proposed transfer to her agency of the Defense Department’s Defense Security Service will focus on faster core processing for national security needs to help reduce backlogs and ensure that those "who work for American are of the highest and finest moral caliber." The Defense Security Service conducts hundreds of thousands of low- to high-level background investigations each year on current and potential employees.
The e-Payroll initiative, expected to reduce agency costs by more than $1billion over 10 years, cuts the number of payroll service providers from 22 to four. A significant portion of the savings will come from economies of scale in payroll processing for 1.8 million federal employees and the elimination of the need to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in modernization projects.
"This e-Payroll initiative is like a paycheck to taxpayers who will no longer be asked to subsidize a bloated, duplicative and archaic payroll system in dire need of costly modernization," continued James’ message, on the "hodgepodge of 22 independent" federal payroll providers.
When fully implemented, OPM’s full complement of e-Gov initiatives will improve applicants’ job-search experiences on the agency’s USAJOBS web site, improve the efficiency and speed of security clearances and background investigations, and transfer HR data electronically between agencies, bringing paper records to near extinction.
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OPM oversees the federal work force and provides the American public
with up-to-date employment information. OPM also supports U.S. agencies
with personnel services and policy leadership including staffing tools,
guidance on labor-management relations and programs to improve work
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