U.S. Office of Personnel Management - Recruiting, Retaining and Honoring a World-Class Workforce to Serve the American People

Demonstration Projects

A demonstration project provides a means for testing and introducing beneficial change in Governmentwide human resources management systems.  A Federal agency obtains the authority from OPM to waive existing Federal human resources management law and regulations in title 5, United States Code, and title 5, Code of Federal Regulations, to propose, develop, test, and evaluate interventions for its own human resources management system.  No waivers of law are permitted in areas of employee leave, employee benefits, equal employment opportunity, political activity, merit system principles, or other prohibited personnel practices.   However, examples of laws and regulations that may be waived under title 5 include:

• qualification requirements, recruitment, and appointment to positions;
• classification and compensation;
• assignment, reassignment, or promotions;
• disciplinary actions;
• providing incentives;
• establishing hours of work;
• involving employees and labor organizations in personnel decisions; and
• reducing overall agency staff and grade levels.

To learn more, click on the links below.

• Alternatives to Demo Projects
• Legal Requirements
• Demo Fact Sheets