OPM Expands Information Sharing

At Wired Workplace, Brittany Ballenstedt highlights an Office of Personnel Management memo on improving information sharing between folks who work on human capital issues in the agencies, state and local government, tribal authorities, and the private sector. All of which makes me wonder if OPM has considered establishing an internal research unit, like the one at the Merit Systems Protection Board, which conducts studies and publishes public reports. Right now, much of that research work on human capital is left to other government audit units like the Government Accountability Office or to external organizations like the Partnership for Public Service. It would let OPM target research in areas it's curious about, and establish its own best practices recommendations in a form other than memorandums, and do its own data analysis on its own schedule. Just a thought, but an intriguing one, I think.