Office of Personnel Management (OPM)

NIFA partners with the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) through the Interagency Federal Child Care Council (IFCCC) to provide oversight and information to federal child care centers and programs.

Interim regulations, with requests for comments, are posted in the Federal Register. These regulations have been posted since the laws Congress wrote providing for child care subsidies were made permanent.

Federal families use a number of different child care options that include both alternative work arrangements and nonparental child care. Federal personnel policies include leave policies and flexible work schedules to help employees with their child care responsibilities. Employees might choose one option at one point in their career, and another option at a different point. The policies are designed to give federal employees the flexibilities they need to manage personal and professional responsibilities.

To help make child care more affordable for lower-income federal employees, Public Law 107-67 was enacted on November 12, 2001. The law permits agencies in the executive branch of government to assist these employees with child care costs. For more information about implementation of this law, go to Guide for Implementing Child Care Legislation.

That law permits agencies to spend appropriated funds, including revolving funds otherwise available for salaries, to assist lower-income employees with the costs of child care. Check with individual agencies to see if any offers a child care subsidy program.

The Child Care Subsidy Program applies to employees whose children are between the ages of birth and 13, or disabled and under age 18, and are enrolled, or will be enrolled, in family child care homes or center-based child care. The child care must be licensed and/or regulated.

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