Assuring Responsive and Accountable Federal Executive Management

Office of Personnel Management.

Notice of proposed rulemaking.

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is proposing to remove the prohibition of a forced distribution of performance rating levels within the Senior Executive Service (SES) as well as eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) language within SES performance management regulations. Currently, agencies are prohibited from establishing quotas or limits on the number or proportion of the various rating levels assigned, meaning that each senior executive potentially can receive any rating based on their performance, irrespective of how other senior executives perform within the agency. However, governmentwide SES ratings data have consistently shown that virtually all SES receive the highest rating levels ( i.e., levels 4 and 5) despite documented reports of SES failings. Removing the prohibition on forced distribution would allow agencies to establish and enforce limits on the highest SES rating levels, thereby increasing rigor in the SES appraisal process and leading to a more normalized distribution of SES ratings across the Federal Government.

Comments must be received on or before June 2, 2025.

You may submit comments, identified by RIN number “3206-AO81,” and title using the following method:

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: https://www.regulations.gov. Follow the instructions for submitting comments.

The general policy for comments and other submissions from members of the public is to make these submissions available for public viewing at https://www.regulations.gov without change, including any personal identifiers or contact information.

As required by 5 U.S.C. 553(b)(4), a summary of this rule may be found in the docket for this rulemaking at https://www.regulations.gov.