FedScoop

Under Tech Force, OPM Wants to Send some Feds for Tours of Duty in Industry

The Daily Scoop highlighted two major federal initiatives: the Office of Personnel Management’s proposal to rotate civil servants through private‑sector “tours of duty” under the Trump administration’s Tech Force, and the National Institutes of Health’s decision to wind down all of its government‑wide IT contracting vehicles by the end of 2028. OPM’s plan builds on the existing Tech Force pipeline that brings early‑career technologists into Washington for two‑year assignments, while also allowing seasoned managers to temporarily join the federal workforce from industry. Kevin Henkin, senior adviser at OPM, said the goal is to expose employees to alternative ways of getting things done. The agency has already onboarded about 60 participants and cites the Department of Defense cyber exchange and NASA’s “NASA Force” as precedents. Henkin’s remarks emphasized “exposure to different ways of getting things done,” and NASA’s bipartisan‑backed recruitment model was highlighted as a template for future swaps. Meanwhile, NIH announced that its Information Technology Acquisition and Assessment Center (NITAC) contracts—including CIO‑SP3, CIO‑SP3 Small Business, and CIO‑CS—will expire on Oct. 29, 2028, with a performance restriction preventing extensions past Dec. 31, 2028. The General Services Administration will inherit these procurement responsibilities. If implemented, the OPM exchange could accelerate federal digital transformation by injecting private‑sector practices, while the NIH contract sunset consolidates procurement under GSA, potentially reducing redundancy and saving billions. Both moves signal a broader Trump‑era push to streamline government talent pipelines and acquisition processes.