The Civil Service Reform Act of 1978: A 30-Year Retrospective and a Look Ahead

President Jimmy Carter initiated the most sweeping reforms of the U.S. federal civil service in 95 years when he signed the Civil Service Reform Act (CSRA) on October 13, 1978. This introduction reviews the substantive reforms whose implementation began with creation of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM), on January 1, 1979. CSRA's provisions were wide-ranging. They included reorganization of the agencies tasked with civil service management and regulation, establishment of a Senior Executive Service, creation of performance appraisal and merit pay programs, and clarification and simplification of appeal procedures for personnel actions. The introduction concludes with summaries of the five articles that appear in the symposium and their significance in the context of CSRA and developments of the past 30 years.