July 31, 1995

First Federal Privatization Through Employee Ownership Slated

NCEO founder and senior staff member

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has proposed privatizing its Investigation Service office by transferring the operation to employees. The 700-employee service does background checks for security purposes. The OPM has awarded a contract to study the proposal, which met some bipartisan opposition in Congress at recent hearings. Employees are also unenthused about being privatized, but OPM believes the move could save millions of dollars annually.