Errors and inconsistencies in a public register of political appointees are raising concerns from a government watchdog over data reliability and transparency across agencies.

The PLUM book — a digital roster listing senior federal leaders governmentwide — is lacking data from at least seven federal entities and 130 Senate-confirmed political appointees, the Government Accountability Office found in a Feb. 26 report.

GAO’s new analysis of the PLUM book also found that the list does not contain all statutorily required data. Out of 10,540 total entries in the PLUM book, GAO flagged inconsistent or inaccurate information in more than 600 listings.

On top of that, GAO said the Office of Personnel Management, which maintains the PLUM book listings online, has not clearly stated the limitations of the workforce data, such as when there is a missing entity or an unreported acting agency official.

“Incomplete information limits the public’s ability to identify individuals holding important federal leadership and management positions,” GAO wrote in its report. “Disclosing additional information on known data limitations can help ensure that the public can use the data with confidence.”

The PLUM book, short for “Periodically Listing Updates to Management,” has been routinely published for decades, dating back to the Eisenhower administration. It’s an effort to increase transparency into which senior executives lead which offices at each federal agency and department. But for years, the PLUM book was only required to be updated every four years, making it quickly outdated.

In 2022, Congress passed the PLUM Act — a bill that required OPM to digitize the PLUM book, and more frequently update the list of every federal position that’s appointed by the president, Senate-confirmed or part of the Senior Executive Service.

The most recent update to the PLUM book occurred last summer, when OPM published a new version using agency data up through June 2025. But in that update, GAO found key information was still missing — in some cases, despite the information being publicly available elsewhere.

“For example, as of July 2025, the PLUM website did not identify the Acting Administrator of the General Services Administration or the Acting Director of the U.S. Mint, though that information was reported on the agencies’ websites as well as in our vacancies database,” GAO wrote.

OPM officials, however, told GAO they are “not aware” of all publicly available data sources. The officials explained that OPM does not have a process to identify every position that’s required to be reported, and that the agency lacks resources to contact every entity and position individually.

In its report, GAO also pointed to “numerous” data issues, such as duplicative position listings, spelling errors and inconsistent reporting on a position’s vacancy status — all of which is limiting the timeliness and accuracy of the information. GAO also found that OPM did not engage with public stakeholders before launching its latest version of the PLUM book, leading to concerns of a lack of transparency.

GAO warned that the inconsistencies and errors in the data may affect the public’s ability to understand the information, potentially leading individuals to draw incorrect conclusions about the information available.

“More proactive engagement may present opportunities for OPM to make further improvements that increase the data’s value to the public,” GAO wrote.

For each PLUM book entry, the law requires OPM to list the associated agency, component, position title and appointee’s name, as well as details on the geographic location, pay rate, duration and expiration of the appointment, and whether a position is vacant. OPM pulls data from a digital application called the Executive and Schedule C System (ESCS) to fill in agency information on the senior-level positions.

OPM officials told GAO that data accuracy depends on the quality of the information agencies report through ESCS — and attributed many of the current data quality issues to errors in agencies’ entries into the ESCS system.

“OPM officials stated that individual federal entities control their own human resources data and use many different systems to manage these data,” GAO wrote. “Since OPM officials do not have visibility into agency systems, they are not able to automatically update ESCS, and subsequently the PLUM data, to reflect real-time changes.”

GAO noted, however, that OPM does have some procedures in place to ensure data quality, such as offering monthly trainings on using ESCS and encouraging agencies to regularly review their data. OPM also manually reviews data to flag spelling mistakes and other errors before publishing the PLUM book.

Moving forward, GAO recommended that OPM develop a process with “reasonable assurance” that all the required positions will be available in the PLUM book. The report also tells OPM to implement automatic data validations to flag errors that arise, as well as develop a process for better engaging with the public and disclosing information on known data limitations.

“Taken together, these improvements can help OPM improve the usefulness of the PLUM reporting website and the data’s value as a tool for helping the public and Congress understand who is accountable for key decisions, improving oversight and strengthening transparency and trust in government,” GAO wrote.

OPM agreed with the recommendations and said it is moving forward with plans to address them, by notifying agencies when they have missing data, gathering feedback from the public and disclosing data limitations. OPM is also considering options for data validations and controls to improve the information available.

In response to the recommendations, OPM said it “acknowledges data limitations as identified in GAO’s report and is committed to improving the accessibility and transparency of its data to the public.”

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