Telework Metrics and Cost Savings Act
Bill: H.R.7951 | Sponsor: Rep. Connolly, Gerald E. (D-VA)
Policy area: Government Operations and Politics

Summary:
Telework Metrics and Cost Savings Act
This bill prohibits executive agencies from reducing or otherwise limiting the level of employees who may telework below the level in effect at the time of the bill's enactment. Agencies must also report on their plans to increase the number of teleworking employees and any resulting cost savings; the Office of Personnel Management must also issue guidance on how agencies can more effectively collect data on telework use and implementation, including any cost savings.

To amend title 5, United States Code, to improve Federal agency 
             teleworking programs, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Telework Metrics and Cost Savings 
Act''.

SEC. 2. IMPROVING FEDERAL AGENCY TELEWORKING PROGRAMS.

    (a) Definition of Telework.--Paragraph (3) of section 6501 of title 
5, United States Code, is amended to read as follows:
            ``(3) Telework.--The term `telework' or `teleworking'--
                    ``(A) refers to a work flexibility arrangement 
                under which an employee performs (on a periodic or 
                full-time basis) the duties and responsibilities of 
                such employee's position, and other authorized 
                activities, from an approved worksite other than the 
                location from which the employee would otherwise work; 
                and
                    ``(B) includes remote work, which refers to a 
                particular type of telework arrangement under which an 
                employee is not expected to report to an officially 
                established agency location on a regular and recurring 
                basis.''.
    (b) Federal Agency Teleworking Policies.--Section 6502 of title 5, 
United States Code, is amended--
            (1) in subsection (a)--
                    (A) in paragraph (1)--
                            (i) by striking ``and'' at the end of 
                        subparagraph (B);
                            (ii) by striking the period at the end of 
                        subparagraph (C) and inserting ``; and''; and
                            (iii) by adding at the end the following:
                    ``(D) provide for executive agency managers and 
                supervisors annual work training and instruction in 
                compliance with the requirements in section 6503.''; 
                and
                    (B) in paragraph (2)(A), by striking ``any calendar 
                year'' and inserting ``any of the 5 calendar years 
                preceding a calendar year in which a determination is 
                made pursuant to this subparagraph with respect to an 
                employee's eligibility to telework''; and
            (2) in subection (b)--
                    (A) by striking ``and'' at the end of paragraph 
                (4);
                    (B) by striking the period at the end of paragraph 
                (5) and inserting a semicolon; and
                    (C) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(6) include annual agency goals for the number and 
        percent of employees participating in telework--
                    ``(A) three or more days per pay period;
                    ``(B) one or 2 days per pay period;
                    ``(C) once per month; and
                    ``(D) on an occasional, episodic, or short-term 
                basis; and
            ``(7) methods for collecting data on, setting goals for, 
        and reporting costs savings to the executive agency achieved 
        through teleworking, consistent with the guidance developed 
        under section 2(g) of the Telework Metrics and Cost Savings 
        Act.''.
    (c) Training and Monitoring.--Section 6503 of title 5, United 
States Code, is amended--
            (1) in subsection (a)(1)(B), by inserting ``or 
        supervisors'' after ``managers''; and
            (2) in subsection (b), by inserting ``, except that an 
        agency head may not exempt a manager or supervisor described in 
        subsection (a)(1)(B) from any training required under 
        subsection (a)(3)'' after ``date of enactment of this 
        chapter''.
    (d) Policy and Support.--Section 6504, of title 5, United States 
Code, is amended--
            (1) in subsection (c), by adding at the end the following:
            ``(3) Review.--The Director of the Office of Personnel 
        Management, in coordination with the Department of Homeland 
        Security and the National Institute of Standards and 
        Technology, shall--
                    ``(A) perform an annual review of the guidelines 
                issued under this subsection; and
                    ``(B) make any updates to the guidelines issued 
                under this subsection that are determined to be 
                appropriate as a result of a review conducted under 
                subparagraph (A).''; and
            (2) in subsection (d), in the subsection heading, by 
        inserting ``; Plans for Disease Outbreaks'' after ``Operations 
        Plans''.
    (e) Reports.--
            (1) OPM reports.--Section 6506(b) of title 5, United States 
        Code, is amended--
                    (A) in paragraph (1)(A)--
                            (i) by striking ``and'' at the end of 
                        clause (i); and
                            (ii) by inserting after clause (ii) the 
                        following:
                            ``(iii) the Chief Human Capital Officers 
                        Council; and''; and
                    (B) in paragraph (2)--
                            (i) in subparagraph (F)(vi), by striking 
                        ``and'' at the end;
                            (ii) in subparagraph (G), by striking the 
                        period at the end and inserting ``; and''; and
                            (iii) by adding at the end the following:
                    ``(H) agency cost savings achieved through 
                teleworking, consistent with the guidance developed 
                under section 2(g) of the Telework Metrics and Cost 
                Savings Act.''.
            (2) CHCO reports.--Section 6506(d) of title 5, United 
        States Code, is amended--
                    (A) by redesignating paragraph (2) as paragraph 
                (3); and
                    (B) by inserting after paragraph (1) the following:
            ``(2) Contents.--Each report submitted by a Chief Human 
        Capital Officer under paragraph (1) shall include--
                    ``(A) annual goals for increasing the percent of 
                employees of the executive agency who are eligible for 
                and participating in teleworking--
                            ``(i) three or more days per pay period;
                            ``(ii) one or 2 days per pay period;
                            ``(iii) once per month; and
                            ``(iv) on an occasional, episodic, or 
                        short-term basis; and
                    ``(B) the teleworking status of positions to which 
                an individual has been appointed under section 3330d 
                (relating to appointment of military spouses) and the 
                total number of such individuals in such positions who 
                requested, but were denied, telework.''.
            (3) Agency report on teleworking reduction.--Section 6506 
        of title 5, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end 
        the following:
    ``(e) Notification for Reduction in Teleworking Participation.--Not 
later than 30 days before the date that an executive agency implements 
or modifies a teleworking plan that would reduce the percentage of 
employees at the agency who telework, the head of the executive agency 
shall provide written notification, including a justification for the 
reduction in telework participation and a description of how the agency 
will pay for any increased costs resulting from that reduction, to--
            ``(1) the Director of the Office of Personnel Management;
            ``(2) the Committee on Oversight and Reform of the House of 
        Representatives; and
            ``(3) the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental 
        Affairs of the Senate.''.
            (4) Technical correction.--Section 6506(b)(1) of title 5, 
        United States Code, is amended by striking ``with Chief'' and 
        inserting ``with the Chief''.
    (f) Regulations.--
            (1) In general.--Chapter 65 of title 5, United States Code, 
        is amended by adding after section 6506 the following:
``Sec. 6507. Regulations.
    ``The Office of Personnel Management may prescribe regulations 
necessary for the administration of this chapter with respect to 
employees in each executive agency. In this section, the term 
`executive agency' does not include the Government Accountability 
Office.''.
            (2) Clerical amendment.--The table of sections for such 
        chapter is amended by adding after the item relating to section 
        6506 the following:

``6507. Regulations.''.
            (3) Conforming amendment.--Section 6501(2) of title 5, 
        United States Code, is amended by striking ``section 6506'' and 
        inserting ``sections 6506 and 6507''.
    (g) Guidance.--Not later than 90 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Director of the Office of Personnel 
Management, in collaboration with the Chief Human Capital Officer 
Council, shall establish uniform guidance for agencies on how agencies 
are to collect qualitative and quantitative data on, set goals for, and 
report cost savings achieved through, teleworking related to reduced 
absences, continuity of operations, reduced real estate and utility 
costs, and reduced community costs, among other cost savings measures.
    (h) Limitation on Reducing Telework Eligibility.--An executive 
agency may not reduce or otherwise limit the level of employees at the 
executive agency eligible to telework, or reduce or otherwise limit 
eligibility for, or levels of, teleworking on a uniform, agency-wide 
basis, below such levels in effect at the executive agency on the date 
of enactment of this Act. In this subsection, the terms ``executive 
agency'' and ``telework'' have the meanings given such terms in section 
6501 of title 5, United States Code, as amended by subsection (a) of 
this section.

SEC. 3. PUBLICATION REQUIREMENTS FOR OPM DIRECTOR.

    The Director of the Office of Personnel Management shall--
            (1) publish guidance and standards to assist agencies in 
        determining telework eligibility as well as guidance to Federal 
        agencies on how agencies are to provide to the Office annually 
        qualitative and quantitative data on telework use and 
        implementation as well as all cost savings achieved through, 
        teleworking related to reduced absences, continuity of 
        operations, reduced real estate and utility costs, and reduced 
        community costs, among other cost savings measures;
            (2) publish online, at least annually, the Government-wide 
        data on agency telework use and implementation, including 
        agency use and implementation of telework as well as data 
        collected on cost savings;
            (3) not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of 
        this Act, submit to Congress a report that analyzes persistent 
        barriers to increasing agency telework across the Federal 
        Government; and
            (4) not later than 1 year after the submission of the 
        report under paragraph (3), the Office shall offer agencies 
        guidance to help address such barriers.

SEC. 4. RESPONSIBILITIES OF FEDERAL AGENCIES.

    The Federal Chief Human Capital Officer (or the equivalent 
position) within each executive agency (as that term is defined in 
section 6506(a) of title 5, United States Code) shall--
            (1) implement controls to verify that all employees who 
        supervise other employees have completed training on telework 
        availability and implementation described in section 6502(b) 
        and 6503(c) of such title, as amended by section 2 of this Act;
            (2) in accordance with section 2(g), provide to the Office 
        of Personnel Management, on an annual basis, qualitative and 
        quantitative data on telework use and implementation as well as 
        all cost savings achieved through, teleworking related to 
        reduced absences, continuity of operations, reduced real estate 
        and utility costs, and reduced community costs, among other 
        cost savings measures; and
            (3) at least once every year, review all agency telework 
        policies and ensure they are in compliance with Office 
        standards and guidance as well as with Federal law.

SEC. 5. TELEWORK DATA INTEGRITY ACT.

    (a) Short Title.--This section may be cited as the ``Telework Data 
Integrity Act'' or the ``TDI Act''.
    (b) Plan on Improving Data in OPM Enterprise Human Resources 
Integration System.--
            (1) Development.--Consistent with recommendations contained 
        in the report entitled ``COVID-19: Federal Telework Increased 
        During the Pandemic, but More Reliable Data are Needed to 
        Support Oversight'', published by the Government Accountability 
        Office on February 8, 2022, the Director of the Office of 
        Personnel Management shall develop and implement a plan to 
        improve the reliability of data (including telework data) in 
        the Enterprise Human Resources Integration system (in this 
        section referred to as the ``system'') of the Office of 
        Personnel Management. Such plan shall--
                    (A) provide for consistent monitoring of Federal 
                payroll data system-generated error and edit check 
                reports, and ensure timely action is taken to address 
                identified issues;
                    (B) integrate Federal payroll data into the system;
                    (C) evaluate existing internal control activities 
                and develop new internal control activities for Federal 
                payroll data, including transactional edit checks that 
                leverage information in other system datasets; and
                    (D) establish phases of implementation of the plan, 
                and clear deadlines for the timely completion of such 
                phases.
            (2) Submission.--Not later than 180 days after the date of 
        enactment of this Act, the Director shall submit the plan 
        developed under paragraph (1) to--
                    (A) the Committee on Oversight and Reform of the 
                House of Representatives;
                    (B) the Committee on Homeland Security and 
                Governmental Affairs of the Senate; and
                    (C) the Government Accountability Office.
            (3) Implementation.--Not later than 90 days after the date 
        the plan is submitted under paragraph (2), the Office of 
        Personnel Management shall begin to implement such plan.
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