Managing Senior Professional Performance

What it does

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) are proposing to revise the rules governing the performance appraisal of senior-level (SL) and scientific or professional (ST) employees, collectively referred to as "senior professionals." This rulemaking would establish a new subpart specifically dedicated to senior professional performance appraisal. The new subpart would align more closely with the SES performance appraisal regulations, eliminate senior professional appraisal programs, remove the prohibition of a forced distribution of performance rating levels, and enhance oversight.

The Personnel Management Office's summary, as published in the Federal Register.

What it would change

8 parts of Title 5 of the Code of Federal Regulations:

5 CFR 351, 5 CFR 430, 5 CFR 451, 5 CFR 534, 5 CFR 537, 5 CFR 630, 5 CFR 894, 5 CFR 1330

Before this

No earlier Federal Register document under regulation identifier 0348-AB92, 3206-AO88 since Jan. 1, 2025.

Since then:

• Oct. 19, 2026 Final rule. Managing Senior Professional Performance

What happens next and when

Comments must be received on or before March 26, 2026.

The agency's dates, word for word.

Check it yourself

• The document in the Federal Register
• Docket OPM-2025-0011 on Regulations.gov
• Title 5 on eCFR

The record as published

Source: the Federal Register (public domain). The document in the Federal Register