OPM seeks governmentwide solution for digital employee records

The Office of Personnel Management is seeking a digital record system that would make it easier for federal employees to move across agencies and in and out of government.

OPM, in a request for information posted on FedBizOpps, is seeking an IT system so employees’ personnel records could be collected only once and would not require the re-entering of data.

The goal, as stated in the RFI, is to cut down on duplicative and manual processes, boost data collection and storage efficiency and reduce operational costs.

OPM expects agencies across government to eventually adopt the records system for both their own internal and external human capital management reporting activities.

The request encourages interested businesses to apply, but advises “generic technology solution statements are not sufficient for effective assessment of a proposed technology solution.”

“Currently, Human Resource (HR) data systems lack integration within agencies and interoperability among and between agencies and service providers,” the request states. “This results in redundancy, inefficient and occasionally inaccurate reporting, complex and costly vendor management, and incomplete data that makes it difficult to apply needed business processes to core HR functions,” such as automated collection of service and payroll records.

Ultimately, the personnel agency hopes, the new record system “will contain personnel data for all Government employees, annuitants, and current and former family members, including those both inside and outside of the Executive Branch and associated with Tribal entities.”

And as agencies move to the new digital records system, they will be expected to move away from and retire existing systems that handle equivalent functions.

Data privacy comes up repeatedly in the RFI, and it specifically notes intelligence agency personnel information must be able to be secured in compliance with intelligence agency security and privacy requirements.”

Operationally, the RFI states the system must use “current, proven technology” and “regularly updated software” to maximize its lifespan, scalability, reliability and efficiency.

The RFI also ranks its preference for commercially acquired system components: most preferable would be software-as-a-service, followed by platform-as-a-service, then infrastructure-as-a-service. For custom-build components, the RFI notes modifying an existing, already-deployed component would be preferable than building a new one altogether.

OPM will host an industry day regarding the RFI June 7, and the deadline for response is June 13.