Labor & Employment Law Daily Wrap Up, AGENCY NEWS—OPM announces new SES appraisal system and performance plan, (Feb 26, 2025)
Organizations Mentioned:Office of Personnel Management
By Brandi O. Brown, J.D.
Earlier in the week, a memo was also issued providing guidance on career reserved SES positions and agency redesignation requests.
The U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) this week announced that, pursuant to the Presidential Memorandum issued January 20, 2025, entitled “Restoring Accountability for Career Senior Executives,” it is providing a new Senior Executive Service (SES) Performance Appraisal System and accompanying SES Performance Plan that all agencies are required to adopt beginning with the Fiscal Year 2026 performance cycle.
This initiative, which it states was developed in coordination with the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB), purportedly aims to “deliver enhanced accountability and help restore a ‘government of the people, by the people, for the people.’” OPM Acting Director Charles Ezell indicates in the memo his belief that “[i]t will ensure that senior executives are responsive to the needs, policies, and goals of the Nation and otherwise is of the highest quality.”
Elements of new system. The new SES Performance Appraisal System and Plan aim to, according to the memo, “reinvigorate the SES performance appraisal system to ensure that it differentiates excellent from mediocre from poor performance; provides a meaningful basis to determine whether executives should be retained in the SES; and ties senior executive bonuses directly to performance.” According to the memo, the significant updates to the SES performance appraisal system, generally, include updated critical elements and performance requirements; performance monitoring on a quarterly basis; requirements regarding distribution of ratings; requirements regarding pay adjustments and performance awards; and other performance actions related to ratings.
Forced distribution is back, but Presidential waiver applies. Among the “improvements” identified, the new system is removing the prohibition on the use of a forced distribution on ratings. “Establishing governmentwide limits on rating levels will promote a high-performance culture. Only truly exceptional performers will receive the highest ratings. And poor performers will receive ratings commensurate with their performance. Further, the President may waive the requirement that no more than 30% of total ratings shall be Levels 4 and 5 by certifying that the performance of the agency’s executives was outstanding during the relevant time period.”
Presidential policies made key. “In addition,” the memo adds, “the new performance standards “ensure[] that SES officials are properly accountable to the President and the American people” by implementing new critical elements and performance requirements. These new critical elements and performance requirements evaluate whether the senior executive faithfully administered the law and the President’s policies; whether the senior executive upheld the principles of the Founding, including equality under law and democratic self-government; whether the senior executive demonstrated specific results that align with and advance the President’s specific policy agenda; and how the senior executive and the senior executive’s agency performed when evaluated against measurable outcomes from the President’s Management Agenda, Agency Strategic Plan, Congressional Budget Justification/Annual Performance Plan, and other organizational planning documents.”
Implementation timeline. According to the memorandum, here are some of the key dates involved:
Updated language in the current Basic SES Performance Plan is effective immediately and must be communicated to each agency’s executives “no later than March 7, 2025.”
No later than March 27, 2025, the memo provides, “agencies must report to OPM on these actions, along with any other actions they have taken consistent with SES Accountability ‘to reinvigorate the SES system and prioritize accountability.’”
The new system, plan, and fiscal year rating cycle will be adopted and implemented by all agencies with SES members starting October 1, 2025.
No later than October 31, 2025, the memo provides, all agencies must provide confirmation of their transition to the SES Performance Appraisal System and Performance Plan to OPM. For agencies not currently on a fiscal-year SES performance cycle, appropriate actions must be taken, in compliance with 5 CFR Part 430, Subparts C and D, to extend the current cycle and close out on September 30, 2025.
All senior executives will be appraised using this system by September 30, 2026.
Memo providing guidance on career reserved SES positions. This week, OPM also issued a memorandum regarding “Guidance on Career Reserved SES Positions and Agency Redesignation Requests” wherein it instructs agencies to submit “by March 24, 2025, 1) a revised, proposed list of career reserved SES positions at the agency; and 2) a list of requested redesignations of career reserved SES positions (consistent with agency regulations and organic statutes)” in order “to ensure that agencies have appropriately delineated between general and career reserved SES positions.”
News: AgencyNews PublicEmployees WhiteHouseNews