Health and Human Services officials and the Office of Government Ethics are seeking to amend conflict-of-interest statutes governing former senior officials ability to contact employees at a component agency. ALASTAIR PIKE / Getty Images
New regulation would allow some former feds to skirt conflict-of-interest contact requirement
A rule proposed in the Federal Register would allow for former senior employees of the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response to have contact with HHS officials within the conflict-of-interest restriction period of one year.
Former senior federal officials could be able to suspend their conflict-of-interest restrictions to have contact with employees at the Health and Human Services Department, under a proposed rule published Tuesday.
Current federal statutes prevent former senior employees, from appearing before or intending to influence any employee of their agency for one year after they leave their role as part of regulations deemed an ethical “cooling off period” to prevent the influence of current federal officials by former colleagues.
However, there is an official exception to those statutes when the director of the Office of Government Ethics determines a component agency’s work is “distinct and separate from the remaining functions” of the parent agency, allowing either a former senior employee of the component agency to communicate with officials at the parent agency or a former senior official at the parent agency to contact the other components.
The OGE is seeking to approve such an arrangement for senior employees within HHS’ Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response. In the proposed rule published Tuesday, HHS officials are asking the OGE to designate ASPR as a separate component of the department, “because it exercises functions that are distinct and separate from the functions of the parent agency and other components.”
The ASPR was created in December 2006 and focuses on preventing and responding to public health emergencies, including response to the COVID-19 pandemic such as supporting therapeutic and vaccine research, coordinating medical supplies and other activities. It presently employs around 1,200 staff and has a fiscal 2024 budget of $3.63 billion.
The proposed move follows the 2022 reclassification of ASPR from a staff division to an operating division within HHS — effectively making it a standalone agency — which took effect in February 2023.
“According to HHS, designation of ASPR as a separate agency component would not create the potential for undue influence or unfair advantage based on the past government service of ASPR employees,” the proposed rule said. “As discussed above, ASPR is unique in that its mission focuses on assisting the country to prepare for, respond to and recover from public health emergencies and disasters, and in furtherance of this mission, ASPR engages in work that differentiates it from other HHS components and the larger agency.”
Under the proposed rule, OGE would amend ASPR’s listing as a component separate and distinct from HHS and its other component agencies, signifying that its former senior officials would offer no potential of undue influence or unfair advantage based on past government service.
The OGE will accept written public comments to the proposed rule on or before June 27.
Correction: A previous version of this story did not clearly state that certain former senior officials within a component agency would only be able to contact officials within a parent agency or other component agencies within the conflict-of-interest period if approved by OGE. The former official would still face communication restrictions within their own agency.