Executive Order 13197: Governmentwide Accountability for Merit System Principles; Workforce Information
President: Bill Clinton
Strengthened OPM oversight of delegated personnel authority and required government-wide workforce information systems.
Status: In effect. Is Executive Order 13197 still in effect? Yes. Executive Order 13197 remains in effect. See Federal Register record.
What does Executive Order 13197 do?
EO 13197 directed the Office of Personnel Management to hold agencies accountable for merit-system principles when exercising delegated human-resources authority and to maintain reliable government-wide workforce information. Agencies must supply data and cooperate with oversight. OPM’s Enterprise Human Resources Integration warehouse and Federal Workforce Data service continue these functions, and a 2025 privacy assessment still identifies EO 13197 as system authority.
Claim-level review October 2, 2026: OPM data-system materials continue to identify EO 13197. Its workforce-data role does not replace statutory merit-system rules or create an individual entitlement to a particular dataset or personnel outcome.
Before and after
Before the order
Personnel authority was increasingly delegated without a fully integrated accountability and workforce-data framework.
After the order
OPM gained explicit direction to evaluate agency systems, require corrective action and build common data resources.
Who had to do what
| Agency / office | Action | Timing / position |
|---|---|---|
| OPM | Oversee delegated personnel systems and require corrective action | Continuing |
| Executive agencies | Report workforce data and comply with merit principles | Continuing |
| OPM Director | Maintain government-wide information and assessment capacity | Continuing |
What happened next
EO 13197 established the framework.
Signed text, official disposition and the cited later implementation records for EO 13197 rechecked.
Legal and source detail
How it works legally
Title 5 merit principles, prohibited personnel practices, privacy law and collective-bargaining rights remain controlling. OPM oversight does not remove statutory review by MSPB, OSC, EEOC or courts.
Sources by type
If a source is unavailable, first check the cited publisher or another official repository. The cited publisher remains the authority.
Primary and official sources
Orders, laws, court records and official implementation material.
- GovInfo — EO 13197 (opens in a new tab) Order text
- OPM — Federal Workforce Data (opens in a new tab) Official record
- U.S. Code — merit-system principles (opens in a new tab) Official record
How we checked this
Last checked against the sources above on October 2, 2026. How we research →