***MEDIA ADVISORY***

FROM RED TAPE TO RESULTS: OPM BIDS FAREWELL TO THE FPM

Washington, D.C. -- The U.S. Office of Personnel Management, as part of its commitment to reinventing government, will bid farewell to a large chunk of the government's personnel policies, regulations, guidance and processing instructions known as the Federal Personnel Manual (FPM) at the:

U.S. Office of Personnel Management
E Street Lobby
1900 E Street, NW
11:30 a.m., Thursday, January 27, 1994

The 50-year-old FPM has been reduced from some 10,000 pages to under 1,000 pages. The old manual had been criticized by government personnel experts and managers roundly as impeding effective management.

In September 1993, Vice President Gore's National Performance Review called for the abolishment of the FPM by the end of 1994. "Year after year, layer after layer, the rules have piled up. This elaborate system does not work," said the National Performance Review report.

With the help of federal agencies, employee unions, EEO offices and professional management organizations, OPM has cut more than 70 percent of the FPM, three months after the challenge was initiated and a year ahead of schedule.

As part of the FPM abolishment, federal agencies will develop and implement their own directives on hiring, classification, performance management and reward systems.

"We are ushering in a more flexible and simpler system which will untie the hands of frontline users, while making federal services more user-friendly and accessible to the public," said OPM Director Jim King.

-End-

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