Sustaining the PMA success as the Biden administration ends, with OMB’s Loren DeJonge Schulman

The Biden administration is coming to a close. As the president’s term nears its end, what better way to take stock of the last four years than to reflect on some of the top goals from the President’s Management Agenda and what’s been accomplished. Loren DeJonge Schulman, associate director for performance and personnel management at the Office of Management and Budget, joins the podcast to talk PMA progress in areas like customer experience, hiring and cybersecurity, and how the White House hopes to sustain that progress as a new administration is set to take over next January. Also: A bipartisan bill would extend the life of a council of the government’s top data officials and require that body to look at improving data management practices for artificial intelligence and emerging technologies. The Modernizing Data Practices to Improve Government Act (S.5109) was introduced last week by Sens. Gary Peters, D-Mich., and Todd Young, R-Ind., and announced on Monday. That legislation would specifically renew the Chief Data Officers Council — which is set to expire in 2025 — for seven years, and add new requirements for several AI-related actions. And, federal agency direct hire authorities for STEM, cybersecurity and acquisition positions have been extended through the end of 2028, the Office of Personnel Management said in a memo released Monday. OPM had previously signed off on direct hire authorities for those positions on Oct. 11, 2018, and again on Sept. 29, 2023. In the Monday memo, OPM acting Director Rob Shriver said the new DHA window will be open through Dec. 31, 2028 or until the personnel agency “terminates this authority, whichever occurs first.”