Legislation related to telework began to emerge from Congress in the 1990s. For example, beginning in 1992, Congress provided funding to GSA to establish the first federal telework centers. Three years later, Congress permanently authorized federal agencies to spend money to install telephone lines and related equipment and pay monthly charges for federal workers authorized to work at home, in accordance with OPM guidelines. Within the legislation that evolved from 1992 through 2009, the most significant congressional action was the enactment of Section 359 of Pub. L. No. 106-346 in October 2000. This section required each executive-branch agency to establish a telework policy “under which eligible employees of the agency may participate in telecommuting to the maximum extent possible without diminished employee performance.” It also directed OPM to provide that the law’s requirements were applied to 25 percent of the federal workforce by April 2001 and to an additional 25 percent of the federal workforce in each subsequent year, until 2004 when the law was to be applied to 100 percent of the federal workforce. From 2005 through 2009, federal workforce participation in routine telework has remained low. In calendar year 2009, according to OPM’s latest survey of federal agency telework coordinators, less than 6 percent of federal employees employed by the 79 agencies that responded to the survey teleworked at least 1 day per month, while less than 4 percent of the federal workforce employed by these agencies teleworked at least 1 day per week. The estimated percentage of employees teleworking at least 1 day per month, relative to the number of the federal employees employed by the agencies that responded to the survey, has remained between 5 and 7 percent, since calendar year 2005. The legislation for telework provided both OPM and GSA with leadership roles in the implementation of telework in the federal government. However, in 2003, we reported that the lack of coordination between OPM and GSA had resulted in executive agencies receiving conflicting messages on several telework-related topics, including emergency closings of government offices. These conflicting messages had created confusion for federal agencies in implementing their individual telework programs. To provide federal agencies with consistent, inclusive, unambiguous support and guidance related to telework, we recommended that OPM and GSA better coordinate their efforts. In response, OPM and GSA agreed later that year on a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). Under this MOU, OPM and GSA agreed to the respective responsibilities listed in table 1. The agencies also agreed in the MOU to continue to share draft telework documents to ensure mutual concurrence. Recently, Congress passed a framework for implementing a comprehensive federal telework program. Congress passed the Telework Enhancement Act of 2010 in November 2010, and the President signed it into law in December 2010. The law requires each executive agency to designate a telework managing officer, establish a telework policy, and submit an annual report to the Chair and Vice Chair of the Chief Human Capital Officers (CHCO) Council on the agency’s efforts to promote telework. Under the act, OPM is to play a leading role in helping agencies implement the new telework provisions. The law requires OPM to provide policy and policy guidance for telework in several areas, including pay and leave, agency closure, performance management, official worksite, recruitment and retention, and accommodations for employees with disabilities. In developing its telework policy and policy guidance, OPM is to consult with FEMA, GSA, and the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) relative to their designated areas of policy responsibility, as listed in table 2. NARA provides guidance to agencies on ensuring the federal government’s essential records are, among other things, secure and accessible to key federal personnel during emergencies. The Telework Enhancement Act also includes several provisions related to the potential use of telework during emergencies. The law requires agencies to incorporate telework into their COOP plans. OPM is to report annually to Congress and provide its assessment of each agency’s progress toward its goals, such as the effect of telework on emergency readiness. Finally, the act requires the Director of OPM to research the utilization of telework that identifies best practices and recommendations for the federal government and review the outcomes associated with an increase in telework. Agencies with jurisdiction over such matters as energy consumption, urban transportation patterns, and planning the dispersal of work during periods of emergency, shall work cooperatively with the Director, as necessary, to carry out these research responsibilities. OPM, GSA, FEMA, and FPS offer a host of guidance on telework or telework-related emergency planning. Several of these guidance documents have expanded significantly in recent years, broadening the scope of the topics that they address and describing broader responsibilities for the lead agencies. After Congress required agencies to establish a telework policy in 2000, OPM provided several telework guidance documents to agencies. OPM’s major telework guidance is contained in the Guide to Telework in the Federal Government. According to Federal Continuity Directive 1 (FCD 1), OPM is also responsible for developing and promulgating personnel guidance to support the operation of federal executive-branch agencies during emergencies. OPM has also issued regulations providing uniform instructions to agencies on making payments to employees evacuated due to, among other reasons, natural disasters and pandemic health crises. OPM also has the lead role, by mutual agreement with other agencies in the region, in determining when to close federal offices and dismiss employees in the Washington, D.C., area. According to OPM, these procedures, referred to as the Dismissal Guide, ensure a coordinated response to areawide disruptions, which is important given the concentration of federal employees in this area. According to an OPM official, its dismissal and closure procedures are updated annually. The latest procedures were issued in December 2010. While these procedures directly apply only to executive agencies in the Washington, D.C. area, OPM officials explained that agency leaders in other regions of the United States use OPM’s procedures as a model. In addition, OPM’s guidance on managing human-capital resources during emergencies and continuity events was included in FEMA’s directive to executive agencies on developing and implementing continuity plans. Table 3 lists examples of OPM guidance relating to the use of telework during various types of emergencies, as provided in OPM and FEMA documents. Since 2000, OPM has expanded the scope of its guidance on the use of telework in the federal government. For example, the telework guidance OPM issued in 2001 listed several topics agencies should address in their telework policies. The current version of OPM’s guidance for routine telework, the 2011 Telework Guide, provides guidance for managers and employees on an array of topics, such as the telework agreement, purchasing equipment, communications, and performance management. This guide also provides advice on using telework during emergencies, continuity events, and pandemics. Compared to the 20 06 Telework Guide, the immediate predecessor to the 2011 Guide, the 2011 Guide added  a summary of the major sections of the Telework Enhancement Act;  the checklist items that OPM used to evaluate telework policies to help agency officials assess and revise their policies;  guidance on pay, leave, and work-schedule flexibilities, including the new option of unscheduled telework; and telework and reasonable accommodations for employees with disabilities. During the same period, OPM expanded some of its emergency-related pay and leave policies. For example, OPM broadened its regulations on pay during an evacuation to include, in the event of a pandemic health crisis, permission for agencies to order employees to work from home (or an alternative location), regardless of whether they have a telework agreement. As the lead agency in the management of federal workplaces, GSA provides governmentwide workplace guidance related to telework, emergency planning, and continuity planning and operations. Under its authority to provide guidance, assistance, and oversight on the establishment and operation of alternative workplace arrangements, such as telework, GSA has issued guidelines, through Federal Management Regulation (FMR) Bulletins, on the use of information and telecommunication technology to support telework and the implementation and operation of alternative workplace arrangements, as shown in table 4. GSA, under its responsibility to operate, maintain, and protect the buildings and grounds it controls, also leads the federal Occupant Emergency Program, which consists of short-term emergency- response programs for particular facilities. Under this program, each agency or facility develops and maintains an occupant emergency plan (OEP) which details the procedures for safeguarding lives and property, such as evacuation or shelter-in-place, in response to a wide range of emergencies. At the agency level, the OEP and the continuity plan are the principal emergency-response plans. According to GSA’s regulations, GSA approves OEPs for GSA-controlled facilities. Lastly, as described in FCD 1, GSA is also responsible for assisting FEMA and other federal agencies in continuity planning and operations. GSA’s ongoing responsibilities include coordinating the provision of facilities to support the continuity of the executive-branch agencies and providing data on alternate facilities. GSA issued regulations on telework in 2005. These regulations included references to existing statutory provisions on telecommuting and OPM’s 2001 guidance regarding telework and telework centers. In these regulations, GSA also described the statutory obligation of agencies to consider whether the need for space could be met by alternative workplace arrangements and offered to assist agencies with alternative workplace arrangements. In 2006, GSA issued an FMR Bulletin that provided significantly expanded guidance to agencies on using alternative workplace arrangements. In addition to what had been stated in the regulation, the bulletin provided detailed information on implementing alternative work arrangements, such as teleworking and telework centers.