US federal government departments reopen deferred resignation programmes
A number of US federal government departments have reopened their deferred resignation programmes for federal employees as part of overarching plans to restructure the workforce and consolidate operations.
When president Trump returned to the White House in January, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) launch a “deferred resignation” programme, with staff being asked to decide by 6 February whether they wanted to leave the government. Those that did so would receive eight months’ salary as a severance package.
Details were published on the OPM website under the heading ‘Fork in the Road’, but the programme closed in February.
However, it has now been reported that a number of departments – agriculture, defence, energy, transportation, housing and urban development, as well as the Small Business Administration and the General Services Administration – have all restarted their deferred resignation programmes.
At the GSA, acting administrator Stephen Ehikian wrote to staff that there are no excluded positions at GSA, and employees are still eligible if they are already on RIF [reduction in force] lists, which set out jobs roles that may be cut.
“Per president Trump’s directives concerning the federal workforce, we are undertaking a multi-step approach to restructuring the federal workforce and consolidating redundant operations,” Ehikian wrote in a memo, reported by GovExec.
“I know these decisions are deeply personal to each of you, and it is my job to provide you all with the pertinent facts for you to make the best decision for you and your families.”
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GSA set to take on federal procurement responsibilities
The reduction in force at the GSA, which according to the most recent Agency Financial Report published under the previous administration has a workforce of about 12,000 employees nationwide, comes as president Trump also set out plans to empower the agency as part of consolidated government procurement.
The GSA, which oversees government property, shared central contracts and leased vehicles, will be given additional duties under an executive order signed by president Trump last month, titled Eliminating Waste and Saving Taxpayer Dollars by Consolidating Procurement.
Under the order, Trump highlighted that the US federal government spends approximately US$490bn per year on federal contracts for common goods and services, and set out a need for standardised procurement functions to be “carried out in the most efficient and effective manner possible for the American taxpayer”.
To achieve this, Trump said that it is time to return the GSA to its original purpose of improving procurement, “rather than continuing to have multiple agencies and agency subcomponents separately carry out these same functions in an uncoordinated and less economical fashion”.
Consolidating domestic federal procurement in the GSA would therefore “eliminate waste and duplication, while enabling agencies to focus on their core mission of delivering the best possible services for the American people”, the executive order stated.
To achieve this, the GSA will consolidate its remaining operations and workforce into groups of centralised functions, moving away from a current regional model, according to the GovExec report.
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