Washington, DC – The U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) announced today that the Biden Administration has exceeded its goal of selecting 5,800 targeted positions helping implement the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), a once-in-a-generation investment in America’s infrastructure and competitiveness. Over the last two years, OPM has served as a strategic workforce partner for seven federal agencies and supported surge hiring for key positions, including engineers, scientists, project managers, IT & HR specialists, construction managers, and many more.
The agencies included in targeted hiring positions are the Department of Agriculture, Department of Commerce, Department of Energy, Department of Homeland Security, Department of the Interior, Department of Transportation, and the Environmental Protection Agency.
“This is a big milestone for the Investing in America Agenda under President Biden,” said OPM Director Kiran Ahuja. “I want to congratulate the dozens of OPM staff involved in this effort and all our agency partners for exceeding these goals. Thanks to their hard work, America is rebuilding our roads, bridges and rails, expanding access to clean drinking water, expanding high-speed internet, tackling the climate crisis, and investing in communities left behind. As the federal government’s chief recruitment officer, I am very proud of the collaboration that went into this project.”
To date, the federal government has selected 3,000 BIL targeted positions in FY 2022 and recently exceeded its goal of selecting 2,800 BIL targeted positions in FY 2023. Of the 6,099 selections, 90% have entered-on-duty. Another 1,000 positions are expected to be hired in FY 2024.
In November 2021, President Biden signed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, an investment of $1.2 trillion over eight years, to address longstanding issues with the country’s infrastructure, stimulate economic growth, create jobs, and support sustainable clean energy initiatives. To date, the Administration has announced nearly $300 billion in BIL funding, including over 38,000 specific projects and awards, across over 4,500 communities in all 50 states, D.C., and territories.
“When the President signed the Bipartisan Infrastructure nearly two years ago, his first directive was that we build the team needed to implement his historic Investing in America Agenda,” said Senior Advisor to the President and White House Infrastructure Implementation Coordinator Mitch Landrieu. “Through close collaboration and coordination across the federal government, we’ve been able to meet the President’s goals – ensuring that we hire great people who can help deliver critical infrastructure projects on time, on task, and on budget across the nation. Together, we are proving that we can do big things as we build this country back better than ever before.”
OPM Efforts in Support of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law
OPM has served as a strategic workforce partner for BIL hiring agencies, assisting in several ways:
- Supported interagency hiring across government with more than 50 OPM staff assisting or contributing to hiring, workforce planning, and recruitment efforts.
- Released a Talent Surge Executive Playbook containing information on flexibilities, authorities, and actions that agencies can use to strategically plan, recruit, and hire staff.
- Designed and listed several targeted USAJOBS portals for one-stop shopping for federal positions, including a Bipartisan Infrastructure Law page, a STEM page, and a Tech Portal page.
- Developed government-wide talent surge hiring dashboards for internal agency use to track announcements, hiring targets, and time-to-hire metrics.
- Analyzed government-wide Applicant Flow Data for BIL positions and provided a preliminary analysis to help agencies better understand their data and hiring process.
- Encouraged agency use of hiring flexibilities, including:
- Competitive Service Act hiring and cross-government hiring actions enabling multiple agencies to hire from the same pool of qualified candidates.
- Targeted recruitment with agencies and the White House to invite highly qualified candidates to apply.
- Direct hire authority for human resource professionals and multi-job agency announcements.
- Specific hiring flexibilities, including temporary appointments, to address discrete agency critical hiring needs.
- Identified and coordinated agency STEM hiring and amplified essential STEM and related technical roles to support implementation.
OPM-Led Hiring Campaigns
As the “Chief Recruitment Officer” for the federal government, Director Ahuja has spent time speaking to employers, trade associations, training and technical programs, universities, and Early Career Talent on the benefits and value of working in the federal government.
OPM has also led a cross-agency, cross-sector recruiting effort focused on bringing tech, cyber, artificial intelligence, and data talent into government. In partnership with the Tech Talent Project, a Tech to Gov Working Group was created to support agencies with recruiting and hiring in-demand talent into the federal government.
