OPM Issues Guidance to Agencies to End Outdated Assessment Tools

WASHINGTON, DC — The US Office of Personnel Management today issued a memorandum to federal agencies providing updated guidance ending use of the Administrative Careers with America (ACWA) assessment. This step reinforces the administration’s ongoing efforts to streamline hiring and ensure agencies recruit the most qualified applicants based on merit.

 From the beginning, ACWA (which was developed in response to the Luevano consent decree) was criticized by hiring managers and applicants alike as ineffective in identifying quality candidates for federal service. In light of OPM’s development of validated, state-of-the-art assessment tools (particularly the USA Hire platform), there is no longer a need for ACWA.

“Federal agencies need hiring tools that are effective in identifying top talent,” OPM Director Scott Kupor said. “As we implement the Merit Hiring Plan and Chance to Compete Act and modernize federal hiring, we have found that ACWA no longer meets that need, and therefore we are ending it after 36 years. We look forward to working with agencies to drive implementation of validated assessment tools that will ensure the hiring of top talent across the federal government.”

Read the memo here and Director Kupor’s blog on this here.