Executive Order 13836: Developing Efficient, Effective, and Cost- Reducing Approaches To Federal Sector Collective Bargaining
President: Donald J. Trump
Set bargaining-policy directions for federal agencies; later revocation was not automatically undone.
Status: Revoked.
Is Executive Order 13836 still in effect? No. Executive Order 14003 revoked Executive Order 13836 on January 22, 2021. OPM’s February 7, 2025 guidance says the revocation of EO 14003 did not immediately reinstate it.
What does Executive Order 13836 do?
EO 13836 instructed federal agencies to change how they negotiated collective bargaining agreements. The administration argued that protracted negotiations and restrictive contract provisions interfered with efficient operations. Its response was to set agency negotiating objectives, encourage shorter bargaining schedules and assemble shared information about contract language. These instructions applied to executive-branch management under the federal labor-relations statute, not to private-sector bargaining. Official source.
An interagency Labor Relations Group, chaired by the OPM Director, was to develop model ground rules and compare significant provisions across agencies. Participation was compulsory for agencies with at least 1,000 represented employees and optional for smaller agencies with OPM concurrence. The group’s work included management-rights analysis, shared proposals and approaches to dealing with common unions; it did not independently negotiate every agency’s agreement. Official source.
The order directed agencies not to bargain over the permissive subjects in 5 U.S.C. 7106(b)(1), while still recognizing statutory bargaining over procedures and appropriate arrangements. It also promoted written proposals, mediation and referral of unresolved issues to the Federal Service Impasses Panel. Its six-week ground-rule and four-to-six-month contract targets were negotiating expectations, not automatic expiration dates for workers’ legal rights. Official source.
Before and after
Before the order
Agencies bargained under title 5 and their existing agreements. Contracts could cover permissive topics when management elected to bargain. There was no interagency group created by this order to collect standard language, and no presidential directive requiring this particular government-wide contract-submission process. Official source.
After the order
Agencies were told to prepare contract reviews at least a year before renewal, report lengthy negotiations and submit agreements for public access through OPM. Existing agreements were not automatically abrogated. EO 14003 reversed the policy in 2021. Although that later order was revoked in 2025, OPM expressly distinguished a return to specified workforce policies from immediate reinstatement of the 2018 orders. Official source.
Who had to do what
| Agency / office | Action | Timing / position |
|---|---|---|
| OPM Director | Chair and support the Labor Relations Group; prescribe contract-reporting format; make agreements publicly accessible; submit group recommendations through OMB. | Format within 90 days; recommendations within 18 months of first group meeting. |
| Agency heads / agency negotiators | Review operative contracts, preserve management rights, negotiate in good faith, use written proposals and evaluate mediation or impasse referral; review executed agreements for legality. | Contract review at least one year before renewal; agency-head review within 30 days of execution. |
| Participating agency representatives / Labor Relations Group | Provide proposals and analysis; create shared inventory and model bargaining ground rules; coordinate cross-agency approaches. | Continuing group work; no separate completion deadline. |
| Agency staff and heads | Notify leadership when negotiations pass six months, continue monthly notices, and report qualifying negotiations exceeding nine months to President through OPM. | Six-month and nine-month triggers. |
| Agency reporting officials | Submit existing agreements, new agreements and arbitral awards in OPM’s format. | Initial submissions within 30 days after format issuance; new agreements 30 days after effectiveness; awards 10 business days after receipt. |
| OMB | Transmit the OPM group’s recommendations to the President. | Within the group’s 18-month reporting schedule. |
| Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service / Federal Service Impasses Panel | Receive requests for mediation and unresolved bargaining issues under applicable statutory procedures. | When negotiations cannot be resolved within reasonable or agreed periods. |
What happened next
EO 13836 establishes the new bargaining directives. Official source
The D.C. Circuit holds that the statutory labor-review scheme precluded the unions’ district-court challenge; it does not decide every provision’s merits. Official source
EO 14003 revokes EO 13836. Official source
OPM states that rescinding EO 14003 did not immediately reinstate the 2018 orders. Official source
Legal and source detail
How it works legally
The central authority was the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute, 5 U.S.C. chapter 71. The order relied on its effective-government objective while preserving good-faith bargaining duties and existing agreements. Management-rights provisions and agency-head agreement review remained subject to the statute rather than expanded by presidential assertion. The D.C. Circuit’s 2019 jurisdictional ruling required challenges to follow that statutory scheme; it should not be described as a substantive judicial endorsement of every bargaining restriction. Official source.
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.
How we checked this
Last checked against the sources above on September 23, 2026. How we research →