House bill would enlist OPM in federal biotech workforce assessment
The Office of Personnel Management would get a better handle on the federal biotechnology workforce under a pair of bills from a bipartisan House duo.
Introduced Wednesday, the Federal Biotechnology Workforce Assessment Act directs OPM to coordinate with agency heads on defining the federal biotech workforce, in addition to assessing current and future needs for those “bio-literate” federal employees.
The bill from Reps. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., and Rich McCormick, R-Ga., shared first with FedScoop, is aimed at ensuring the federal government workforce keeps the country a step ahead of China in the biotech space.
“Investing in the federal biotechnology workforce is critical to ensuring the United States remains the global leader in scientific innovation,” Khanna said in an emailed statement to FedScoop. “Rep. McCormick’s Biotechnology Workforce Alignment Act and my Federal Biotechnology Workforce Assessment Act provide a bipartisan, two-pronged approach to identify workforce gaps, strengthen federal coordination, and ensure our biotechnology industry has the talent needed to grow and maintain America’s leadership in the industries of the future.”
Priority No. 1 for OPM’s assessment is identifying the total number of biotech positions required at federal agencies. The legislation is focused specifically on the departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Energy, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Interior, State, and Treasury, as well as the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Science Foundation, NASA, and the offices of the Director of National Intelligence and the U.S. Trade Representative.
OPM’s work should include details on how each biotech position supports overarching federal objectives, as well as the qualifications required for the roles. There are also callouts in the bill for OPM to identify challenges that may hinder federal biotech workforce development and how those challenges may be mitigated.
The bill also seeks to determine if some biotech-skilled employees could be detailed to other agencies, and the degree to which training could lessen some gaps.
The lawmakers additionally see a role for the private sector to play, with the bill pushing for a “pool of outside experts” to help agencies with biotech needs “on a temporary or intermittent basis.” Public-private “talent exchanges” would also be explored, per the bill text.
The Biotechnology Workforce Alignment Act and the Federal Biotechnology Workforce Assessment Act follow previous legislative efforts in the biotech space from Khanna and McCormick. The California Democrat is a co-sponsor of a March bill to strengthen U.S. leadership in AI and biotech, while the Georgia Republican backed a bipartisan bill last month to expand biotechnology education.
