The National Academy of Public Administration's congressionally mandated report on Office of Personnel Management concludes that the federal human resources agency should remain independent. The report was ordered in the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act at the behest of House Democrats who had thwarted the Trump administration's plan to merge OPM into the General Service Administration and wanted a top-down look at the functioning of the agency. "OPM as we know it today really needs to rebuild staff capacity, encourage innovation and adopt a more data-driven, accountable and forward looking human capital management approach," NAPA president and CEO Terry Gerton said on a Wednesday call with reporters.