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

Why It Matters

The initiatives aim to modernize the federal workforce and cut procurement costs, directly affecting how government delivers technology services and competes for talent.

Key Takeaways

• OPM proposes federal‑to‑industry exchange tours for skill development
• Tech Force program now includes two‑year stints and management swaps
• NASA’s “NASA Force” cited as model for public‑private talent swaps
• NIH will sunset all NITAC IT contracts by end‑2028
• GSA will assume NIH’s IT procurement functions after contract expiration

Summary

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.

Original Description

The Trump administration is already trying to bring talent from industry into the government via its U.S. Tech Force program, but the next step could be putting federal workers on exchanges to companies, according to remarks from an Office of Personnel Management official Thursday. During a panel at a federal technology-focused conference, Kevin Hennecken, senior advisor to the director at OPM and leader of the Trump administration’s Tech Force hiring effort, mentioned the agency’s interest in such a program as a way of helping train federal workers.

A National Institutes of Health contracting arm responsible for a series of large-scale IT contracting vehicles is ending all of its cross-government contracts and ceasing all functions by the end of 2028, according to a notice from the agency. All of the governmentwide acquisition vehicles (GWACs) under the NIH Information Technology Acquisition and Assessment Center (NITAAC) will expire Oct. 29, which is also the last day to award new orders, the Tuesday announcement stated. That includes the office’s ongoing iterations of its Chief Information Officer-Solutions and Partners contracts. The functions will be moved to the General Services Administration.

Links

• OPM wants to leverage talent exchanges that would place feds in industry via FedScoop: https://fedscoop.com/opm-leverage-talent-exchanges-place-feds-industry/

• NIH contracting arm announces sunset of all governmentwide vehicles via FedScoop: https://fedscoop.com/nih-contracting-announces-sunset-governmentwide-vehicles-nitaac/

#federal #government #technology #news #ustechforce #techforce #opm #workforce #usgovernment #trumpadministration #nih #governmentcontracts #federalgovernment #governmentnews #govtech #technews #techpodcast #podcast

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