Oversight and Effectiveness (OE) is OPM’s Governmentwide oversight arm for Federal human resources management. Working directly with agencies’ Chief Human Capital Officer (CHCO) offices and accountability teams, OE evaluates how effectively HR programs are run and helps ensure they advance the Administration’s workforce priorities.

OE’s oversight and accountability program centers on four core activities — Executive Order implementation, Human Resources Management Evaluations, Delegated Examining Audits, and agency Accountability support. Through this work, OE identifies risks and deficiencies early, shares practices that are getting results, and helps agencies correct problems and build stronger, more accountable human capital systems.

Our key responsibilities

• Ensuring compliance with the President’s Executive Orders, Presidential memoranda, and civil service laws, rules, and regulations.
• Providing ongoing guidance and feedback to agencies’ Chief Human Capital Officers (CHCO) offices and accountability teams on initiatives led by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM).
• Identifying and promoting leading, best, and promising practices in human capital management and HR through conducting Human Capital Reviews.
• Promoting a culture of continuous improvement in utilizing human capital.
• Advising on the use of data to inform HR decision-making.

Additionally, OE assesses the effectiveness of agencies’ evaluation systems, which is an assessment of their independent audit programs and Staffing Plan progress to determine their impact on meeting agency strategic goals. OE also chairs the governmentwide Accountability Program Manager Council (APMC), a community of practice for the agency officials who lead human capital accountability, audit, and evaluation programs. Through the APMC, members share leading practices and strengthen human capital audits and accountability programs across government, consistent with federal human capital statutes, regulations, merit system principles, and applicable Office of Personnel Management (OPM) guidance.

Agency human capital management is governed by 5 CFR Part 250, Subpart B, which implements the Chief Human Capital Officers Act (5 U.S.C. 1103(c)) and establishes the Human Capital Framework (HCF). The HCF provides governmentwide guidance on human capital planning, implementation, and evaluation, and replaced the former Human Capital Assessment and Accountability Framework (HCAAF) in 2016.

The HCF is organized across four systems:

• Strategic Planning & Alignment — aligning human capital programs with agency mission, goals, and objectives.
• Talent Management — attracting, developing, and retaining talent and closing skill gaps.
• Performance Culture — engaging and developing a diverse, high-performing workforce.
• Evaluation — monitoring outcomes and ensuring compliance with merit system principles.

For the full Framework, including each system’s focus areas and reference materials, see the Human Capital Framework.

How OE’s oversight connects to the Framework

OE applies the HCF as the standard against which agency human capital programs are evaluated, and its work concentrates on the HCF’s Evaluation system. Agencies assess their implementation of the Framework through three evaluation mechanisms — quarterly ASP reviews, independent audits, and Human Capital Reviews (HCRs) — which together form the Human Capital Evaluation Framework. OE administers the governmentwide Human Capital Review process, supports agency independent audit programs, and uses the results to identify risks, share leading practices, and drive corrective action. Agencies document their strategies and results in their ASP.