Technology and cybersecurity

Executive Order 13111: Using Technology To Improve Training Opportunities for Federal Government Employees

President: Bill Clinton

Set federal training-technology recommendations and created a separate advisory committee; OPM later piloted Individual Learning Accounts.

Status: Partly revoked. Is Executive Order 13111 still in effect? Partly. Executive Order 13111 remains in force in part. See Federal Register record.

What does Executive Order 13111 do?

EO 13111 established a President’s Task Force on Federal Training Technology. It set an 18-month deadline for the Task Force to recommend a government policy and a six-month deadline for options on Individual Training Accounts. Separately, section 7 created an Advisory Committee on Expanding Training Opportunities with its own two-year sunset unless extended. OPM launched an Individual Learning Account pilot in December 1999 with 13 agencies and 17 pilot projects. EO 13188 and EO 13218 amended or extended the committee provisions; EO 13316 revoked sections 5 through 7 effective September 30, 2003 after the committee’s work was complete. OPM’s current training handbook still cites EO 13111 as authority for Individual Learning Accounts. The order did not guarantee each employee a personal fund or require new appropriations.

Administration position: The order authorized and tested agency-funded learning accounts; it did not grant every employee a personal budget or require new funds.
SignedJanuary 12, 1999
Task Force policy recommendation dueWithin 18 months
Individual account options dueWithin six months
OPM pilot launchedDecember 1999: 13 agencies, 17 pilots
Advisory CommitteeTwo-year term unless extended; committee provisions revoked in 2003

Before and after

Before the order

Federal agencies used training technology unevenly, with limited cross-agency coordination.

After the order

The Task Force received time-limited recommendation deadlines and OPM piloted Individual Learning Accounts.

The separate Advisory Committee was extended and later ended by EO 13316 in 2003.

Who had to do what

Agency / officeActionTiming / position
President’s Task Force on Federal Training TechnologyRecommend federal training-technology policy and account optionsRecommendation deadlines in 1999–2000
Advisory Committee on Expanding Training OpportunitiesProvide an independent assessment of federal training technologySeparate committee provisions ended September 30, 2003
OPM and participating agenciesTest Individual Learning AccountsPilot launched December 1999
Federal agenciesUse learning accounts within law and available training appropriationsNo individual entitlement created

What happened next

EO 13111 established the Task Force and separate advisory committee.

Six-month deadline for Task Force options on individual training accounts.

EO 13188 amended and extended the Advisory Committee provisions.

EO 13316 revoked sections 5–7 after the committee’s work was completed.