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Frequently Asked Questions
e-Clearance FAQs
There are no e-Clearance
FAQs at this time. |
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e-Payroll FAQs
Why were four Providers and two Partnerships selected and how were the Providers grouped into Partnerships? |
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The four providers were selected based on a review by the Source Selection Board of their replies to the Request for Response. The Board considered factors including customer service, functionality, and a history of providing payroll services with experience in consolidating and converting agencies with diverse business requirements. The results of the Board's evaluations were assigned numeric ratings and a cutoff point established to determine the best qualified. Although this process resulted in four best qualified candidates, the Board determined that no single candidate provided an optimum solution to meet all of the Government's payroll needs. The candidates were then grouped into a partnership arrangement that capitalized on their strengths, mitigated risks, reduced costs, and minimized disruption. |
Why did the board not go straight to two Providers? |
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The Board concluded that the partnership arrangement capitalized on each of the best qualified candidates and was the best approach in order to provide consistent and uninterrupted payroll service while at the same time allowing the schedule to be met. |
What does the Partnership offer? |
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Initially each Provider will concentrate on converting agencies to their existing system. At the same time, the Providers will begin preparing a strategic plan that develops the Partnership concept with the objective of implementing the plan shortly after all conversions are completed. During this interim, the Partnership will also be exploring ways to reduce or eliminate overall costs by doing things such as joint software development efforts or consolidation of some operations. |
What were the challenges in finalizing the Partnerships? |
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The Office of Personnel Management has entered into a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Defense, the Department of Interior and the General Services Agency to provide payroll services to executive branch agencies. During the development of the MOA it was necessary that all parties understand and agree upon:
- the terms and conditions of the MOA;
- the objectives, risks, roles and responsibilities of the initiative; and
- a governance structure.
This was an iterative process that built relationships and created a foundation necessary for e-Payroll success.
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What is the Payroll Advisory Council (PAC) and what authority does it have? |
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The PAC is a body chartered by the Director of OPM to provide advice and recommendations for streamlining payroll service delivery and standardizing policies affecting payroll. The Council is chaired by OPM, vice-chaired by OMB, and includes nine sitting members (5 customer agency representatives and 4 payroll provider representatives). |
Why are agencies migrating to a selected provider when some of those agencies have more modern systems in place? |
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The Administration is looking at increasing effectiveness from a business perspective and with an enterprisewide view. Based on the e-Payroll Business Case, the best decision for the Government is to achieve savings and economies associated with rapid consolidation of Providers while leveraging key technology investment. The goal is to interface payroll systems with customer administrative systems, while increasing interoperability and reducing overall cost. This decision, made from a Governmentwide rather than agency perspective, will move us toward the objective of a standard architecture and final e-Payroll solution. |
Why do all of the migrations have to be completed by September 30, 2004? |
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The Office of Management and Budget designated OPM as the managing partner for e-Payroll in its December 21, 2001 memorandum to Agency Chief Financial, Information and Human Resource Officers. At that time OPM was charged with accomplishing consolidations by September 30, 2004. The April 30, 2002 e-Payroll Business Case concluded that this milestone could be met and the four Providers agree. |
Have detailed schedules been developed that support September 30, 2004 as a completion date? |
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We have developed a high-level migration plan that provides a standard path and methodology to accomplish this goal. The plan and specific timeline for each migration is customized to meet the needs of the customer agency. |
When will my agency's migration be scheduled? |
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Migrations will be completed by September 30, 2004. Specific conversion dates are based on an analysis of customer agency requirements, consideration of mission critical activities, and provider experience in completing customer agency migrations.
Migration Date |
Customer |
Alignment |
Estimated Number of Employees |
Estimated Customer & Provider Migration Cost (in $000) |
Aug, 2003 |
Department of Energy |
DFAS |
14,968 |
$2,056 |
Oct, 2003 |
Nuclear Regulatory Commission |
NBC |
2,926 |
$480 |
Dec, 2003 |
American Battle Monuments Commission |
GSA |
54 |
$50 |
Dec, 2003 |
Broadcasting Board of Governors |
DFAS |
2,200 |
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Feb, 2004 |
National Science Foundation |
NBC |
1,313 |
$1,849 |
Apr, 2004 |
Federal Bureau of Investigation |
NFC |
27,000 |
$1,102 |
Apr, 2004 |
Office of Thrift Supervision |
NFC |
1,200 |
$465 |
Jun, 2004 |
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission |
NFC |
1,300 |
$268 |
Jul, 2004 |
Department of Health and Human Services |
DFAS |
66,745 |
$8,877 |
Aug, 2004 |
National Aeronautics and Space Administration |
NBC |
18,902 |
$8,986 |
Sep, 2004 |
Department of Veterans Affairs |
DFAS |
225,616 |
$12,661 |
TSA- TBD
USCG-TBD
All others - Oct, 2003
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Department of Homeland Security
TSA
USCG
All others
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NFC |
TBD |
TBD |
STB - Nov, 2003
SLSDC - In development
FAA - Sep, 2004
All others - May, 2004
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Department of Transportation |
NBC |
66,322 |
$9,120 |
TBD |
Department of Labor |
NFC |
16,491 |
$707 |
TBD |
Environmental Protection Agency |
NFC |
18,736 |
$691 |
TBD |
Panama Canal Commission |
TBD |
TBD |
TBD |
TBD |
Tennessee Valley Authority |
TBD |
13,600 |
TBD |
In development |
Railroad Retirement Board |
GSA |
1,175 |
TBD |
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It currently costs my agency less to process payroll than it will under the new Provider. Where are the economies for us? |
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This effort must be looked at from a Governmentwide perspective, not from an individual agency view. The e-Payroll Business Case cost analysis was performed for the Government as a whole and was not specific to any given agency. The major cost savings of the e-Payroll Initiative are anticipated to be the reduction of operation and maintenance costs associated with legacy systems and operations as well as the cost avoidance associated with multiple system replacements. The Providers selected are very cost efficient. |
Are the unions on board with this? Have they been involved in this process? |
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OPM has met with unions at the national level and during the migration process OPM, the customer and the Provider will meet with the local unions to discuss proposed changes, including union negotiated requirements. |
Are there plans to replace the Providers current system? If so, what will the impact be on customers? |
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Yes, the e-Payroll Business Case anticipates leveraging existing modern technology where possible and replacement of Provider systems is targeted to begin FY05. We anticipate minimizing the impact on the customer to the extent possible. As new technology solutions are implemented, customers will be involved as required, to ensure success. Individual customer agency impact will vary based on legacy technology. |
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e-Training FAQs
What are the advantages of having a Governmentwide e-learning portal? |
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It allows the collective expertise of Government, and the efforts agencies have made to develop their workforce to be shared in a one-stop centralized environment. The Gov Online Learning Center provides the opportunity to share high quality Government-owned courseware, products and services to ensure all agencies have enhanced access to the tools they need to develop a world class workforce. A world class workforce that is ready to provide world class service to citizens. It also allows for the pursuit of Governmentwide licenses which reduces costs significantly over what individual agencies can obtain (economies of scale); reduces redundancies in labor, procurement, costs and time, and provides the ability to deploy critical solutions rapidly (and one time vs. in stovepipes). |
Will agencies be required to use the Gov Online Learning Center? |
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Our hope is that agencies will want to adopt this initiative because it meets their needs and allows them to redirect some of their Human Capital efforts to other critical areas. However, we are considering a variety of migration strategies to ensure the success of this initiative and meet the President's vision of a unified and simplified Government. |
My agency has a course that contributes to the Initiative. How can I make my agency course available on the Gov Online Learning Center? |
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OPM continuously seeks government owned courseware that can be leveraged on the Gov Online Learning Center. The courseware(s) will be evaluated and tested. Courseware should be 508 compliant. If your agency is interested in contributing courseware, you may contact the e-Training Program Office at golearn@opm.gov. |
What products and services are available from the Gov Online Learning Center? |
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The Gov Online Learning Center provides a wide array of e-training products and services for free and for fee. Free access is currently provided for nearly 40 e-training courses, e-Books, a Search & Select feature, and Resource Center links. Please click here to view a listing of free courses. |
Will the e-Training courses in the Gov Online Learning Center meet my legislative/agency mandated (e.g., ethics, computer security awareness, etc.) training requirements? |
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Yes, in many cases. However, each agency has the discretion to specify additional areas that must be covered to meet requirements. Agency personnel should check with their Training Manager to determine if, or what, additional training must be taken to meet each requirement. Over time, additional e-training courses in this arena will become available on the Gov Online Learning Center. |
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e-HRIS FAQs
There are no e-HRIS FAQs
at this time. |
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EHRI FAQs
There are no EHRI FAQs
at this time. |
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Recruitment One-Stop FAQs
What is the goal of the Recruitment One-Stop initiative? |
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Simply stated, the goal of the Recruitment One-Stop initiative is to improve the process by which Federal job seekers locate and apply for Federal jobs. Through enhanced job-seeker focused services, the Recruitment One-Stop initiative will help Federal agencies meet the Human Capital recruitment challenges of the next decade. |
How will the Recruitment One-Stop goal be implemented? |
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The Recruitment One-Stop goal will be implemented via a series of enhancements to the USAJOBS Federal Employment Information System - USAJOBS website, Studentjobs.gov website, and USAJOBS by Phone interactive voice response telephone system. Over the course of the last eighteen months, OPM and the Federal human resources community have engaged in an objective and deliberate process to determine the requirements and scope of the USAJOBS system and services needed for the 21st century, to determine the best model for system operations, and to identify a commercial partner capable of not only meeting, but exceeding, those needs. In mid-January of this year, OPM awarded a contract for the full outsourcing of the system. On August 4th of this year, the new system was launched. Immediately, job seekers were provided with a more user friendly website; a more powerful and flexible job search engine; improved tools for resume creation and management; and basic application tracking capability. Federal recruiters also benefited from new job posting tools and resume mining capability. Over the next several months in a series of phased in releases, USAJOBS will be further enhanced to deliver dramatic improvements including completely redesigned job announcements that will be engaging, concise and easy to read; a "create once, use many" basic job application that can be used to apply for multiple opening across multiple agencies and automated assessment systems; and the real time delivery of application status tracking data so that job seekers will know at a glance where they stand in the employment consideration process. Beyond implementation of these immediate and known tasks, USAJOBS will be continually enhanced to provide Federal job seekers and agencies with the tools and services associated with industry best practices for online recruitment. |
How has the job search engine been improved? |
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The new USAJOBS job search engine provides job seekers with the ability to conduct full text searching on the entire content of job announcements. This full text search capability follows industry best practices and allows job seekers to flexibly craft job searches that can be very precisely or broadly defined according to each individual's interests. The new search engine tool gives job seekers the ability to search job postings for very specific skills, such as XML or Java, or particular knowledge areas, such as groundwater conservation or hazardous waste. The search engine on the legacy site only provided for keyword searching on job titles and offered no help to job seekers in differentiating one, for example, Environmental Protection Specialist from another. |
How do I access the Recruitment One-Stop system? |
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Recruitment One-Stop is the name of this E-Government initiative, not a new system. The Federal Employment Information System is USAJOBS. Please visit www.usajobs.opm.gov or www.studentjobs.gov or call 703-724-1850 or TDD 978-461-8404. |
Will implementation of the Recruitment One-Stop initiative require agencies to shut down their own recruitment websites? |
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Absolutely not. OPM and the Recruitment One-Stop agency partners realize that job seekers will come to the Government to search for jobs through many paths. Job seekers may access listings via agency career sites, through direct connection with USAJOBS, or through other Government portals such as FirstGov. Under the Recruitment One-Stop initiative, agencies will not be prohibited from maintaining their own career site pages to promote agency branding, career paths, benefits information, etc. Agencies will be required, however, to migrate from the development and operation of independent job search engines on their websites to a single, Governmentwide job search engine provided by USAJOBS. The Recruitment One-Stop initiative will provide agencies with agency-specific, custom-branded job search pages to link to from their sites. Moving agencies to a single job search solution will allow us to implement a simplified application process that will allow job seekers to create a single, initial job application that can be used and integrated with multiple agencies and automated candidate assessment systems across the Federal government. The implementation of this "build once, use many" technology will greatly improve the Federal job application process for job seekers and eliminate the need for agencies to invest in redundant technology for this purpose. Federal agencies will be able to continue to collect from job seekers (via the Internet or other means) supplemental information needed to fully assess individuals' qualifications and ranking for employment consideration. Agencies seeking to apply automation to the staffing process will be able to independently contract for whatever automated candidate assessment system or software they choose to use so long as it operates in a manner compliant with Federal hiring policy and regulation. |
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