The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is turning its attention to USA Hire as part of its HR modernization strategy. The agency plans to modernize the platform to improve hiring efficiency, assessment quality, and overall candidate experience. This effort reflects OPM’s commitment to merit-based, transparent, and efficient recruitment for federal agencies.
OPM has already worked to consolidate over one hundred human capital systems across government. Now, the agency is concentrating on USA Hire as a critical component of the HR modernization strategy. On October 7, 2025, OPM issued a Request for Information (RFI) to gather insights from vendors on modern technology solutions for assessments. The RFI closed on October 21, 2025. Through this process, the agency aims to identify solutions that improve scoring, integration, and candidate evaluation processes.
USA Hire currently provides assessments for more than 800 job series and grade combinations. The system evaluates skills such as writing, data analysis, project management, and supervisory ability. Agencies may use prebuilt or customized assessment batteries to meet specific hiring needs. Candidates complete assessments online, in proctored centers, or via remote proctoring. USA Hire supports computer-adaptive testing (CAT) and linear-on-the-fly (LOFT) assessments. OPM expects the upgraded platform to score both automatically closed and open-ended responses, including writing samples, while handling complex formulas when necessary.
The modernization effort may include asynchronous unproctored testing, online video interviews, and AI-assisted scoring. Additionally, OPM seeks improved integration with other HR systems, including staffing, onboarding, and applicant tracking platforms. These upgrades align with OPM’s overarching HR modernization strategy.
In fiscal year 2024, USA Hire supported assessments for approximately one million applicants and over 20,000 job announcements. This widespread usage demonstrates the platform’s essential role in federal hiring. High demand, particularly from large agencies such as the Transportation Security Administration, led OPM to raise the contract ceiling by $182.7 million, bringing the total to about $395 million. This increase reflects the growing need for modern, scalable assessment tools.
Reducing time-to-hire is a central goal. The Merit Hiring Plan emphasizes efficiency, fairness, and merit-based recruitment. By modernizing assessment delivery and integrating it with HR tools, OPM hopes to speed hiring and improve candidate quality. The modernization strategy also addresses challenges faced by agencies not using USA Hire. These agencies often struggle to integrate assessment tools into existing HR systems. The new approach may allow external assessments to connect with OPM’s platform, improving flexibility while maintaining merit-based hiring standards.
OPM’s HR modernization strategy also encompasses broader initiatives in talent acquisition, performance management, and workforce planning. The agency is modernizing USA Staffing, USAJOBS, and USA Performance, and it plans to establish a cloud-hosted core HR platform. This platform will integrate onboarding, assessment, classification, and personnel data, creating a single source of truth for federal HR operations and improving transparency and efficiency.
OPM aims to provide agencies with secure, modern, and flexible assessment tools for entry-level and specialized positions. The HR modernization strategy ensures competency-based assessments, predictive scoring, and standardized testing while minimizing inefficiencies.
In conclusion, OPM’s HR modernization strategy now focuses on USA Hire as a key initiative. By leveraging modern technology, improving system integration, and supporting merit-based hiring, OPM seeks to transform federal recruitment. As assessment demand grows, the upgraded USA Hire system will become central to a streamlined, efficient federal HR ecosystem.
