Summary: Each year, hundreds of federal personnel offices process millions of personnel actions, such as pay adjustments and promotions, that affect about 1.9 million federal workers. The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) collects data on these personnel actions and processes them through its Central Personnel Data System for entry into its personnel database, the Central Personnel Data File (CPDF). Policymakers use that database to obtain statistics on federal employees, ensure agencies' compliance with governmentwide policies, and make decisions on federal personnel policy. Researchers also use the data in studies of the federal workforce. Despite these important uses, the data have not been independently evaluated. This report determines (1) the extent to which selected CPDF data elements are accurate, including the data elements used by OPM's Office of the Actuaries for estimating the government's liability for future payments of federal retirement programs; (2) whether users of CPDF data believed that CPDF products met their needs; and (3) whether OPM has documented changes to the System and verified the System's acceptance of those changes, as recommended in applicable federal guidance, and whether the System would implement the CPDF edits as intended.
