Federal brief
Agency Information Collection; Request for Public Comment
The U.S. Office of Special Counsel asks OMB to keep Form OSC-14, the online form for whistleblower disclosures and prohibited personnel practice complaints, approved through 2029 with no changes. FR 2026-01142.
If you are a federal employee, a former one or a job applicant and want to report wrongdoing or a prohibited personnel practice, the tool is Form OSC-14, an online “dynamic electronic form” run by the U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC). OSC has asked the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to keep it approved through 2029.
In its September 2025 notice on the same form, OSC describes itself as an independent agency that investigates prohibited personnel practices, protects whistleblowers, enforces certain federal employment laws under Titles 5 and 38 of the U.S. Code, and oversees Hatch Act compliance.
The form has a short paper trail. OMB first approved it on September 18, 2017. OSC revised it in July 2019 after changes in the law, and a final rule authorizing Form OSC-14 took effect August 26, 2019. Approvals then ran through March 2023 and again through February 28, 2026. OSC says it proposes no substantive changes to the form or how it collects information.
OSC’s estimates: about 6,000 filings a year at about 90 minutes each, or 9,000 hours, at no cost to filers because submission is electronic. Filing is voluntary. The form covers whistleblower disclosures under 5 U.S.C. 1213 and prohibited personnel practice complaints under 5 U.S.C. 1214 (OMB Control No. 3255-0005).
This January 22, 2026, notice gave the public a second chance to comment before OMB acted; that window closed February 23, 2026. It is signed by Barbara Jones, Chief of OSC’s Case Review Division. OSC’s phone number in the notice is (202) 804-7000.
Federal Register filing: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/01/22/2026-01142/agency-information-collection-request-for-public-comment
This is a Notice Nearby publisher-desk Federal brief — a short in-house summary of a public federal filing. It is not official agency minutes, not a newspaper story, and not Legal Publication. It does not satisfy a statutory notice requirement.
Source: the official public federal record 2026-01142 · Federal Register · 2026-01142 · 2026-01142.
This is a Notice Nearby publisher-desk Federal brief — a short in-house summary of a public federal filing. It is not official agency minutes, not a newspaper story, and not Legal Publication. It does not satisfy a statutory notice requirement.