Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO reviewed the Office of Personnel Management's (OPM) efforts to improve federal human resource management and the status of key open recommendations made to Congress, OPM, and other agencies. GAO found that: (1) since 1991, OPM has made significant improvements in federal human resource management; (2) in response to the 1991 recommendations, OPM provided greater assurance that career appointments granted political appointees would be on the basis of merit principles, reduced the risk of fraud and abuse and administrative costs in the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program by developing minimum internal control and quality assurance standards for financial claims, improved the services offered at its Federal Job Information Centers, reduced drug testing program costs by reducing the rate of blind proficiency testing, and revised its guidance on the appointment of government experts and consultants; and (3) OPM has not acted upon some significant recommendations for developing a more flexible performance management system, improving the collection of gender, race, and ethnic origin data, improving federal recruiting, hiring, and information dissemination practices, and developing a new framework for merit system accountability.