# Federal Agencies Expand Forced-Ranking Reviews

Federal agencies are introducing or expanding forced distribution and peer-ranking in employee performance reviews, including for 1,400 specialized employees across 60 agencies. Employees report opaque calibration, less input from direct supervisors, and concerns about morale and retention; one commenter said their agency used forced distribution in FY25. Another commenter supports the change as a way to address perceived grade inflation. The signals do not identify a procurement action or show that acquisition personnel are specifically affected, but changes to specialized federal staffing could matter to contractors whose work depends on stable agency teams.

- Contractors supporting specialized agency functions may want to account for potential staff-retention and continuity risks in delivery and knowledge-transfer planning; the signals do not establish that these effects have occurred.
- Procurement professionals should distinguish this workforce-management development from a contract opportunity: no solicitation, award, contract value, or vendor is identified.
- The differing employee views point to the importance of clear performance criteria and transparent evaluation processes where agencies rely on specialized staff.

**Jurisdictions:** federal
**Published:** October 20, 2026

### Government Entities
- U.S. Federal Government
- U.S. Navy (Navy)

### Key Quotes
> Calibrated down from an Outstanding, given by my actual supervisor based on known and agreed-to performance standards, to a Fully Successful, by a panel of executives who have never seen my work or work product, based on newly created standards and an unknown rubric with zero explanation or transparency about the process.
> — Commenter (federal employee; username not provided)

> Grade inflation was rampant under the old system, with far too many people receiving “Outstanding” evaluations for simply doing their jobs. Forced distribution actually “forces” managers to make the hard calls.
> — Commenter (username not provided)

> At the time I was in charge of 22 systems and 2 security details, whereas one of the performance questions was related to something another coworker did. That coworker only had 1 system.
> — Commenter (former Navy employee; username not provided)

### Sources
- [Tougher Federal Worker Reviews Roll Out With Hits to Morale](https://www.reddit.com/r/fednews/comments/1xar8zn/tougher_federal_worker_reviews_roll_out_with_hits) - reddit-fednews