Federal Workforce Competency Initiative Survey

MEMORANDUM TO: CXO Councils and Heads of Departments and Agencies FROM: Scott Kupor, Director, U.S. Office of Personnel Management DATE: April 27, 2026 RE: Federal Workforce Competency Initiative Survey

The U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is launching the next phase of the Federal Workforce Competency Initiative (FWCI) to collect job component information for Federal Government occupations. This initiative will provide a current data-based foundation for a wide variety of human capital activities, including job design, recruitment, hiring, performance management, training, and career development. OPM also will use the data to inform HR policy and services by providing critical data to build upon OPM’s prior competency studies. OPM and agencies can use FWCI data to identify or develop assessments consistent with the Merit Hiring Plan, Chance to Compete Act of 2024, and 5 CFR 300.103. Furthermore, the FWCI approach uses a common language for describing work that provides consistency in hiring, training, and managing the performance of Federal employees. Finally, this centralized data collection offers efficiencies and cost savings to agencies by having OPM collect job analysis data, greatly reducing the need for single agency efforts. OPM is launching the next phase of the FWCI in the coming weeks. OPM will send the survey to a sample of employees and supervisors in many occupational series. OPM needs your help encouraging your employees and supervisors to respond, should they be among those sampled to receive the survey 1. The survey will start launching the week of May 4, 2026 and respondents will have at least two weeks to complete. Please consult with your Human Resources office or counsel for any labor relations obligations. Thank you, in advance, for partnering with us to complete this effort. Additional information about this phase is in the fact sheet within the appendix section of this memo. cc: Chief Human Capital Officers (CHCO) and Deputy CHCOs Appendix 1. Federal Workforce Competency Initiative (FWCI) Job Component Fact Sheet 1

Collection of this information is authorized by Sections 1302, 3301, and 3304 of Title 5, US Code.

Page 2 Appendix 1: Federal Workforce Competency Initiative (FWCI) Job Component Fact Sheet What are job components? Job components are a way of describing work people do. They are written at a level of detail to be broadly applicable across multiple jobs. At this level of detail, job components cover specific, more granular tasks an employee might take at work. Some job components will be general in nature, likely being applicable to a large number of jobs. An example is Communicating with and presenting information to various audiences. Other job components will be specialized in nature and only applicable to a small number of jobs, such as Designing and administering surveys to collect data. What is the FWCI? The FWCI is the Federal Workforce Competency Initiative (FWCI) - a series of Governmentwide occupational analysis efforts. The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) launched the FWCI to gather information on the work requirements across Federal jobs to provide a current data-based foundation for a wide variety of human capital activities, including job design, recruitment, hiring, performance management, training, and career development. The current phase of the FWCI will collect ratings on 260 job components that describe the work done in across a variety of government jobs. Who is being asked to complete the FWCI Survey? Federal employees and supervisors in many occupations will be asked to complete the survey. Why is OPM issuing a survey for the FWCI? OPM is collecting information to identify the job components that are most important for successful performance across a wide variety of occupations in the Federal Government. Results will be used to help agencies with job design, recruitment, hiring, performance management, training, and career development. How will individuals receive the FWCI Survey? Participants receive an email with an invitation to complete the survey. What information does the employee survey cover? The employee survey will contain four sections: (I) Background Information; (II) General Job Component Ratings; (III) Specialized Job Component Ratings; and (IV) Missing Job Components. The Occupational Background Information section asks employees to respond to questions regarding their experience in the job. The General Job Component Ratings and Specialized Job Component Ratings sections ask employees to indicate the job components they perform and to rate the importance of those job components. The Missing Job Components section asks employees to indicate any job components missing from the survey that are critical to their success. What information does the supervisor survey cover? The supervisor survey will contain four sections: (I) Background Information; (II) General Job Component Ratings; (III) Specialized Job Component Ratings; and (IV) Missing Job Components. The Occupational Background Information section asks supervisors to respond to questions regarding

Page 3 their experience in the job. The General Job Component Ratings and Specialized Job Component Ratings sections ask supervisors to indicate the job components that are part of their employees’ jobs and to rate the proficiency required at entry to a particular grade level on those job components. The Missing Job Components section asks supervisors to indicate any job components missing from the survey that are critical to their employees’ success. Who will see the responses to the survey? All information provided will be treated in accordance with the Privacy Act. OPM staff who will be involved in collecting or preparing the information for analysis and have access to completed surveys will be required to treat it confidentially. Respondents’ information will be analyzed by certain occupational groupings (e.g., series, grade level). In any public release of survey results, no data will be disclosed that could be used to identify specific individuals. Agencies will not receive data that could be used to identify a specific individual or a person’s specific response to a survey question. When will the surveys be conducted? The surveys will begin being distributed the week of May 4th and will be open for 3 to 4 weeks. Additional rounds of surveys may launch in subsequent weeks if additional data is required. How long will the survey take to complete? The survey may take approximately 30 to 60 minutes to complete. How will the results be used? The job component models resulting from the FWCI efforts may be used in a variety of Governmentwide and agency-specific efforts across the entire human capital lifecycle (e.g., job design, recruitment, hiring, performance management, training, and career development). Data from employees and supervisors with first-hand knowledge of the day-to-day work will help build the foundation for these types of human capital initiatives.