The Public Service Commission (PSC) was established under section 9(1) of the Public Service Act No. 8 of 2002 as amended by Public Service Act No. 18 of 2007, and became operational on 7th January 2004 after the President made the appointments of the Chairman, Commissioners, Secretary and Deputy Secretaries of the Commission.

The creation of the PSC is one of the efforts to implement the Public Service Management and Employment Policy endorsed by Government in 1999. The aim of the policy was to bring about fundamental shift in the management of the Tanzania Public Service, especially in the management of employees as Human Resource Management (HRM) so as to replace the existing "Personnel administration system".

The newly created PSC has replaced three Service Commissions, each one being responsible for a particular Service, namely:

• The Teachers' Service Commission;
• The Local Government Service Commission; and
• The Civil Service Commission.