TMP Worldwide Government Services gets site design contract

Job seekers looking for work in the federal government could see significant changes in the next three months, following the Office of Personnel Management's award earlier this week of a contract to redesign the government's employment Web site, at www.usajobs.opm.gov.

TMP Worldwide Government Services of New York, the parent company of the Monster.com job site, will perform the redesign. The company also will handle daily maintenance of the site, completing the outsourcing of almost the entire operation.

The award is another milestone for the Recruitment One-Stop e-government project?one of five Quicksilver initiatives for which OPM is the managing partner.

"Through the addition of private-sector expertise, citizens will be able to better target and navigate their searches for opportunities," said OPM director Kay Coles James. "This solution will take the guesswork out of the job search and application process."

TMP Worldwide won the one-year contract, with four one-year options, over five other bidders based on its technical expertise. The company could hold the contract until 2013 if additional option years are picked up, OPM officials said. Potential value of the award is $62 million over 10 years.

Among the first changes users will see will be an enhanced search engine, a resume building tool and shorter, easier-to-understand and more-relevant online vacancy announcements, OPM officials said.

OPM officials said other site improvements will include a data mining feature to let federal IT managers look for job candidates through a database of resumes and allow job seekers to track their resumes through the process.