 Good morning,
Recently, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) issued a series of guidance documents in support of Executive Order 14110 on Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence (“the Biden AI EO”) and in response to the AI in Government Act of 2020. These guidance documents support federal agency efforts to recruit and retain top AI talent — all with the aim of supporting the accomplishment of key agency missions.
The OPM AI Guidance includes:
- The skills-based hiring guidance and the AI competency model empower agencies to shift towards a skills-centric paradigm, pinpointing talent equipped with AI proficiencies tailored to organizational objectives with an emphasis on practical skills over educational pedigrees or past titles. This guidance will assist agencies in identifying key skills and competencies needed for AI work and increase access to these technical roles for individuals with nontraditional academic backgrounds. This will, in turn, improve the hiring process for all applicants, as well as agency hiring managers, and human resources practitioners.
- This guidance comes after OPM released an AI job analysis survey to Federal supervisors and employees working in the field of AI to rate competencies and tasks associated with AI work government-wide. The competency model validates AI competencies that OPM issued in July 2023.
- Any follow up questions can be emailed to competency@opm.gov.
- OPM conducted an occupational study on AI in civil engineering work to explore the impact and use of AI on civil engineering work, and the AI competencies needed to perform civil engineering work. As part of the study, OPM issued a governmentwide survey to GS-0810 series Civil Engineering employees and supervisors to identify critical AI competencies in civil engineering work. Agencies may use the competencies identified in this model for civil engineering positions that use AI technology to perform work.
- Any follow up questions can be emailed to competency@opm.gov.
- This guidance addresses position classification, job evaluation, qualifications, and assessments for AI positions. It will help agencies identify AI positions; clarify AI roles and duties; implement training, performance, and retention programs; and conduct AI workforce assessments. OPM worked with federal stakeholders like the Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, Office of Management and Budget, Office of Science and Technology Policy, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and also collected/analyzed data from industry and academia to inform the development of the guidance.
- OPM encourages all agencies to conduct a general review of their agency positions covered by this policy guidance and provide feedback. OPM relies on agency human resources officials with covered positions to ensure subject matter experts and program management officials are aware of the release of this guide and to seek their input. OPM depends on agency input to assist in making the appropriate adjustments to ensure the policy guidance meets agencies’ needs. OPM is providing a 30-day comment period. During the comment period, the policy guidance may be implemented by Federal agencies. Accordingly, please provide agency comments in response to this request by Wednesday, May 29, 2024.
- Any follow up questions or feedback can be emailed to fedclass@opm.gov.
In the coming months, OPM will engage hiring managers, human capital practitioners, and industrial organizational psychologists to ensure the above guidance is understood and effectively implemented. Success will be measured by increases in job postings using competency-based assessments, hiring manager satisfaction, and selection rates, alongside a decrease in postings relying on education or other proxies.
Thank you for your continued partnership!
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