Human Capital
Selected Agencies Have Opportunities to Enhance Existing Succession Planning and Management Efforts Gao ID: GAO-05-585 June 30, 2005As the federal government confronts an array of challenges in the 21st century, it must employ strategic human capital management, including succession planning, to help meet those challenges. Leading organizations go beyond a succession planning approach that focuses on replacing individuals and engage in broad, integrated succession planning and management efforts that focus on strengthening current and future organizational capacity. GAO reviewed how the Census Bureau, Department of Labor (DOL), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) are implementing succession planning and management efforts.
The Census Bureau, DOL, EPA, and VHA have all implemented succession planning and management efforts that collectively are intended to strengthen organizational capacity. However, in light of governmentwide fiscal challenges, the agencies have opportunities to enhance some of their succession efforts. While all of the agencies have assigned responsibility for their succession planning and management efforts to councils or boards, VHA has established a subcommittee and high-level positions that are directly responsible for its succession efforts. Also, VHA and the Census Bureau specifically mention succession planning and management as performance expectations in their executives' performance plans. The four agencies have begun to link succession efforts to strategic planning. For example, DOL plans to shift from a historical enforcement role to a compliance assistance and consulting role, requiring stronger skills in communication and analysis. To attract and retain employees with such skills, DOL launched the Masters in Business Administration Fellows program in 2002, which it considers one of its major succession training and development programs. Monitoring mission-critical workforce needs helps make informed planning decisions. DOL, EPA, and VHA have identified gaps in occupations or competencies, have undertaken strategies to address these gaps, and are planning or are taking steps to monitor their progress in closing these gaps. The Census Bureau could strengthen the monitoring of its mission-critical occupations more closely and at a higher level to ensure it is prepared for the 2010 Decennial Census. Effective training and development programs can enhance the federal government's ability to achieve results. All of the agencies' succession efforts include training and development programs at all organizational levels. However, in the current budget environment, there are opportunities to coordinate and share these programs and create synergies through benchmarking with others, achieving economies of scale, limiting duplication of efforts, and enhancing the effectiveness of programs, among other things. Performance measures for these programs can also help agencies evaluate these programs' effects on organizational capacity and justify their value. Finally, agencies have recognized the importance of diversity to a successful workforce and use succession planning and management to enhance their workforce diversity.
RecommendationsOur recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.
Director: Team: Phone:GAO-05-585, Human Capital: Selected Agencies Have Opportunities to Enhance Existing Succession Planning and Management Efforts
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Report to Congressional Requesters:
June 2005:
Human Capital:
Selected Agencies Have Opportunities to Enhance Existing Succession
Planning and Management Efforts:
[Hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-05-585]:
GAO Highlights:
Highlights of GAO-05-585, a report to congressional requesters.
Why GAO Did This Study:
As the federal government confronts an array of challenges in the 21st
century, it must employ strategic human capital management, including
succession planning, to help meet those challenges. Leading
organizations go beyond a succession planning approach that focuses on
replacing individuals and engage in broad, integrated succession
planning and management efforts that focus on strengthening current and
future organizational capacity.
GAO reviewed how the Census Bureau, Department of Labor (DOL), the
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Veterans Health
Administration (VHA) are implementing succession planning and
management efforts.
What GAO Found:
The Census Bureau, DOL, EPA, and VHA have all implemented succession
planning and management efforts that collectively are intended to
strengthen organizational capacity. However, in light of governmentwide
fiscal challenges, the agencies have opportunities to enhance some of
their succession efforts.
* While all of the agencies have assigned responsibility for their
succession planning and management efforts to councils or boards, VHA
has established a subcommittee and high-level positions that are
directly responsible for its succession efforts. Also, VHA and the
Census Bureau specifically mention succession planning and management
as performance expectations in their executives‘ performance plans.
* The four agencies have begun to link succession efforts to strategic
planning. For example, DOL plans to shift from a historical enforcement
role to a compliance assistance and consulting role, requiring stronger
skills in communication and analysis. To attract and retain employees
with such skills, DOL launched the Masters in Business Administration
Fellows program in 2002, which it considers one of its major succession
training and development programs.
* Monitoring mission-critical workforce needs helps make informed
planning decisions. DOL, EPA, and VHA have identified gaps in
occupations or competencies, have undertaken strategies to address
these gaps, and are planning or are taking steps to monitor their
progress in closing these gaps. The Census Bureau could strengthen the
monitoring of its mission-critical occupations more closely and at a
higher level to ensure it is prepared for the 2010 Decennial Census.
* Effective training and development programs can enhance the federal
government‘s ability to achieve results. All of the agencies‘
succession efforts include training and development programs at all
organizational levels. However, in the current budget environment,
there are opportunities to coordinate and share these programs and
create synergies through benchmarking with others, achieving economies
of scale, limiting duplication of efforts, and enhancing the
effectiveness of programs, among other things. Performance measures for
these programs can also help agencies evaluate these programs‘ effects
on organizational capacity and justify their value.
* Finally, agencies have recognized the importance of diversity to a
successful workforce and use succession planning and management to
enhance their workforce diversity.
What GAO Recommends:
GAO made specific recommendations to enhance agencies‘ succession
efforts. The Department of Veterans Affairs agreed with our
recommendations. The Census Bureau agreed with two recommendations and
in response to a third, stated that its existing monitoring approach is
effective. However, without strengthened monitoring, the Bureau is at
increased risk that it will not have the skills it needs for the 2010
Census. DOL did not take issue with our findings and will consider our
recommendations. EPA did not comment on our recommendations. DOL and
EPA provided technical comments.
[Hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-05-585].
To view the full product, including the scope
and methodology, click on the link above.
For more information, contact Eileen Larence at (202) 512-6806 or
[Hyperlink, larencee@gao.gov].
[End of Section]
Contents:
Letter:
Results in Brief:
Background:
Agencies Reinforce Top Leadership Support by Assigning Responsibility
for Succession Efforts:
Agencies Have Begun to Link Succession Efforts to Their Strategic Goals:
Monitoring Mission-Critical Workforce Needs Helps Make Informed
Succession Planning Decisions:
Enhanced Coordination and Evaluation of Training and Development
Programs Could Help Leverage Scarce Resources:
Agencies Use Succession Efforts to Enhance Workforce Diversity:
Conclusions:
Recommendations for Executive Action:
Agency Comments and Our Evaluation:
Appendixes:
Appendix I: Objectives, Scope, and Methodology:
Appendix II: Comments from the Department of Veterans Affairs:
Appendix III: Comments from the Department of Commerce:
Appendix IV: GAO Contact and Staff Acknowledgments:
Table:
Table 1: Agencies' Core Succession Training and Development Programs:
Figures:
Figure 1: VHA's Assigned Responsibility for Succession:
Figure 2: EPA's Strategic Goals and Associated Human Capital Focus:
Figure 3: VISN 16 Workforce Assessment and VHA's National Succession
Plan:
Figure 4: Selected DOL Performance Measures Designed to Gauge
Organizational Capacity:
Figure 5: Selected DOL Human Capital Measures Related to Succession
Planning and Management:
Abbreviations:
CHCO: Chief Human Capital Officers (Council):
DOC: Department of Commerce:
DOL: Department of Labor:
EEOC: Equal Employment Opportunity Commission:
EPA: Environmental Protection Agency:
Fed CDP: Federal Candidate Development Program:
MBA: Masters in Business Administration:
MSPB: Merit Systems Protection Board:
OPM: Office of Personnel Management:
SES: Senior Executive Service:
VA: Department of Veterans Affairs:
VHA: Veterans Health Administration::
VISN: Veterans Integrated Service Network:
Letter June 30, 2005:
The Honorable George V. Voinovich:
Chairman:
Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management, the Federal
Workforce, and the District of Columbia Committee on Homeland Security
and Governmental Affairs:
United States Senate:
The Honorable Jon Porter:
Chairman:
Subcommittee on the Federal Workforce and Agency Organization Committee
on Government Reform:
House of Representatives:
The Honorable Jo Ann Davis:
House of Representatives:
Large, escalating, and persistent deficits that are unsustainable over
the long term are among an array of challenges that the federal
government confronts in the 21st century.[Footnote 1] To help meet
government's challenges, we have reported that agencies must employ
strategic human capital management. We also continue to designate
strategic human capital management as a high-risk area, one that
threatens the federal government's ability to serve Americans
effectively, because federal human capital strategies are still not
appropriately constituted to meet current and emerging challenges or
drive the transformations necessary for agencies to meet these
challenges.[Footnote 2] More specifically, agencies need to identify,
develop, and select the appropriate leaders, managers, and workforce to
meet 21ST century challenges, and one critical step is through
effective succession planning and management. Leading organizations go
beyond a succession planning approach that focuses on simply replacing
individuals and engage in broad, integrated succession planning and
management efforts that focus on strengthening both current and future
organizational capacity. Particularly in an environment of likely
continued budget constraints, federal agencies must implement human
capital strategies, including succession planning and management, to
transform their cultures to achieve their long-term goals.
Congress has recognized the important role of succession planning and
management in preparing federal workers for the future. The Federal
Workforce Flexibility Act of 2004 requires the head of each agency to
establish, in consultation with the Office of Personnel Management
(OPM), a comprehensive management succession program to provide
training for employees and develop future managers for the
agency.[Footnote 3] In addition, the Chief Human Capital Officers Act
led to the creation of a governmentwide Chief Human Capital Officers
(CHCO) Council, which subsequently established a leadership and
succession planning subcommittee.[Footnote 4] This subcommittee' s
intended focus is on reviewing leadership development, moving leaders
from technicians to strategic thinkers, and meeting future workforce
needs in a planned manner. The act also calls for OPM to design
measures to assess, among other issues, the continuity of effective
leadership through the implementation of succession plans.
We previously identified how agencies in Australia, Canada, New
Zealand, and the United Kingdom are adopting a more strategic approach
to managing the succession of senior executives and other employees
with critical skills.[Footnote 5] We found that these agencies'
succession planning and management efforts (1) receive active support
of top leadership; (2) link to the agencies' strategic planning; (3)
identify talent from multiple organizational levels, early in their
careers, or with critical skills; (4) emphasize developmental
assignments for high-potential employees in addition to formal
training; (5) address specific human capital challenges, such as
diversity; and (6) facilitate broader transformation efforts.[Footnote
6] We observed that these experiences may prove valuable to agencies in
the United States.
As a follow up to that report, we reviewed how selected U.S. agencies
are implementing succession planning and management efforts. For
purposes of this report, we specifically address the first five
practices given the selected agencies' immediate succession challenges.
We selected agencies based on the nature of these succession challenges
as well as their diverse organizational structures and missions.
Specifically, we reviewed the:
* Census Bureau, which has a unique, event-driven requirement, namely
the 2010 Decennial Census, and projected that 45 percent of its
workforce will be eligible to retire by 2010;
* Department of Labor (DOL), which has reported a Senior Executive
Service (SES) retirement eligibility rate of more than 60 percent by
the beginning of fiscal year (FY) 2010;
* Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which has reported that almost
60 percent of its SES will be eligible to retire by 2008 and projected
a loss of at least 20 percent of its supervisors in 10 of 18 priority
occupations; and:
* Veterans Health Administration (VHA), which reported a 38 percent SES
retirement eligibility rate through 2008 and projects that 24 percent
of its Nurse Executives will be eligible for regular retirement in 2005.
To meet this objective, we analyzed strategic, human capital,
workforce, succession, and training and development plans; guidance for
managers' performance agreements; human capital team charters; and
diversity information from the selected agencies. In addition, we
reviewed policies and guidance on succession-related issues from OPM,
as well as the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the
Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) because of their responsibilities
for ensuring the fair application of personnel decisions, such as
selection for training and development programs. We also interviewed
agency, OPM, EEOC, and MSPB officials involved with strategic, human
capital, and succession planning and management. To get the varied
perspectives of agencies' staff located in headquarters and regional
offices, we interviewed agency officials in Washington, D.C; Charlotte,
North Carolina; and Los Angeles and San Francisco, California. Appendix
I provides additional information on our scope and methodology. We
conducted our study from June 2004 through April 2005 in accordance
with generally accepted government auditing standards.
Results in Brief:
The Census Bureau, DOL, EPA, and VHA have all implemented selected
succession planning and management efforts that collectively are
intended to strengthen both current and future organizational capacity.
Generally, these efforts receive top leadership support and commitment,
link with strategic planning, identify critical gaps in occupations or
competencies, offer training and development programs, and enhance
diversity. However, each of the agencies should enhance some succession
efforts to better position themselves for the future.
All four agencies have the support and commitment of their
organizations' top leadership. For example, they have established
councils or boards with responsibility for human capital that involve
top agency leadership. Specifically, VHA has a dedicated subcommittee
as well as high-level positions that are directly accountable for
succession planning and management, while the other three agencies have
councils or boards that are responsible for human capital more broadly,
including succession. Furthermore, all four agencies include a
performance expectation that in general holds executives accountable
for human capital management in their performance plans. However, VHA
and the Census Bureau include an expectation that specifically holds
executives accountable for succession planning and management.
All four agencies have also begun to link their succession efforts to
their strategic goals. DOL states that to meet its strategic goal of
ensuring a competitive 21ST century workforce, it plans to identify
skill gaps, assess training needs, and recruit new employees. For
example, DOL plans to shift from a historical enforcement role to
compliance assistance and consultation, requiring stronger skills in
communication and analysis. DOL seeks to develop more skills in
technology and project management as well as in strategic planning,
quantitative analysis, and analytical thinking for a more "business-
like" management approach. To attract and retain employees with such
skills, DOL launched the Masters in Business Administration (MBA)
Fellows program in 2002, which it considers one of its major succession
development programs.
These agencies have identified the talent, and specifically the mission-
critical occupations or competencies required to achieve their goals.
For example, VHA projects the number of employees needed to fill the
gaps in mission-critical occupations and monitors changes in its
mission-critical workforce. EPA has projected gaps by mission-critical
occupations, identified technical and cross-occupational competencies,
and plans to monitor its progress in closing these gaps. DOL assesses
its mission-critical requirements through skills inventories and
monitors the turnover of its workforce. The Census Bureau, on the other
hand, has also identified its mission-critical occupations, but does
not monitor its progress in closing gaps because decisions to fill
vacancies are delegated to line managers. However, without monitoring
the readiness of its mission-critical workers more closely and at a
higher level than line managers, the Bureau may not know overall if it
is acquiring the skills it needs to be prepared to conduct the 2010
Decennial Census.
Effective training and development programs can enhance the federal
government's ability to prepare its workforce and thereby achieve
results. Further, effective succession planning and management efforts
identify talent from multiple organizational levels and early in their
careers as well as provide both formal and developmental training to
strengthen high-potential employees' skills and to broaden their
experience. All four agencies have core succession training and
development programs for entry-level employees, middle-level
management, and senior executives. However, in the current budget
environment, there are opportunities for agencies to coordinate and
share these programs and create synergies through benchmarking with
others, achieving economies of scale, limiting duplication of efforts,
and enhancing the effectiveness of programs, among other things.
Examples of such coordinated and shared training include a partnership
across three agencies to share best practices among their acquisition
workforces and OPM's program to help agencies meet their senior
executive succession goals and create a leadership corps. The selected
agencies generally had not sought out such opportunities for their core
succession programs.
Given this environment, agencies also need credible information to
evaluate how training and development programs affect organizational
capacity. All four agencies are able to report on measures such as
participant number and program cost. However, the Census Bureau, VHA,
and EPA could better demonstrate their programs' value in providing
future talent by identifying outcome-oriented measures and evaluating
the extent to which these programs enhance their organizations'
capacity. For example, DOL has identified measures that are intended to
provide the department with an understanding of the programs' impact on
organizational capacity, such as its SES "bench strength," a ratio of
senior executives who are in training or have completed training to
those projected to leave.
Finally, all four agencies report using their succession planning and
management efforts to enhance diversity. For example, VHA has
integrated diversity planning into its succession and workforce
planning process. Initially, each regional office that has primary
responsibility for health care--or Veterans Integrated Service Network
(VISN)--submits a regional succession plan that includes diversity
information. VHA then analyzes these data, highlights
underrepresentation of certain demographic groups in specific mission-
critical occupations, and provides guidance to focus recruiting efforts
to enhance diversity.
To improve and refine their succession planning and management efforts,
we are recommending that all four agencies actively seek opportunities
to coordinate and share their core succession training and development
programs with other outside agencies. By doing so, agencies can enhance
efficiency and increase the effectiveness of their programs, among
other things. We are also making other recommendations to individual
agencies to enhance their succession planning and management efforts.
We provided a draft of this report to the Acting Director of OPM and
the CHCO Council's Leadership and Succession Planning Subcommittee for
their information. We also provided a draft of this report to the
Secretaries of Commerce, Labor, and Veterans Affairs (VA) and the
Administrator of EPA for their review and comment. VA agreed with our
findings and recommendations, and we present their written comments in
appendix II. The Department of Commerce (DOC) and the Census Bureau
agreed with our findings and our recommendations to seek opportunities
to coordinate core succession training and development programs and to
evaluate the extent to which these programs enhance organizational
capacity. In response to our recommendation to strengthen the
monitoring of its mission-critical workforce, the Census Bureau stated
that its existing approach is effective. However, without strengthened
monitoring of its mission-critical workforce, the Census Bureau is at
increased risk that it will not have the skills it needs to be prepared
to conduct the 2010 Census as efficiently or effectively as possible.
For example, a lesson from the 2000 Census was that while contracts for
various projects supported decennial census operations, they did so in
many instances at a higher cost than necessary because the Census
Bureau did not have sufficient contracting and program staff with the
training and experience to manage them. We present DOC's and the Census
Bureau's written comments in appendix III. DOL did not take issue with
our findings, stated that it will consider our recommendations, and
provided technical comments, which we incorporated as appropriate. EPA
did not comment on our recommendations, but provided a technical
comment, which we incorporated.
Background:
We have found that other countries are experiencing challenges in
managing their human capital, and their experiences may prove valuable
to federal agencies in the United States. For example, they are using
their performance management systems to connect employee performance
with organizational success to help foster a results-oriented
culture.[Footnote 7] They are also implementing succession planning and
management initiatives that are designed to protect and enhance
organizational capacity.[Footnote 8] Collectively, these agencies'
initiatives demonstrated the following practices.
* Receive active support of top leadership. Top leadership actively
participates in, regularly uses, and ensures the needed financial and
staff resources for key succession planning and management initiatives.
New Zealand's State Services Commissioner, whose wide-ranging duties
include the appointment and review of public service chief executives,
formulated a new governmentwide senior leadership and management
development strategy.
* Link to strategic planning. To focus on both current and future needs
and to provide leaders with a broader perspective, the Royal Canadian
Mounted Police's succession planning and management initiative figures
prominently in the agency's multiyear human capital plan and provides
top leaders with an agencywide perspective when making decisions.
* Identify talent from multiple organizational levels, early in their
careers, or with critical skills. For example, the United Kingdom's
Fast Stream program targets high-potential individuals as well as
recent college graduates, and aims to provide individuals with
experiences and training linked to strengthening specific competencies
required for admission to the Senior Civil Service.
* Emphasize developmental assignments in addition to formal training.
Initiatives emphasize developmental assignments in addition to formal
training to strengthen high-potential employees' skills and broaden
their experiences. For example, Canada's Accelerated Executive
Development Program temporarily assigns executives to work in
unfamiliar roles or subject areas, and in different agencies.
* Address specific human capital challenges, such as diversity,
leadership capacity, and retention. For example, the United Kingdom
created a centralized development program that targets minorities with
the potential to join the Senior Civil Service.
* Facilitating broader transformation efforts. The United Kingdom
launched a wide-ranging reform program know as Modernizing Government,
which focused on improving the quality, coordination, and accessibility
of the services government offered to its citizens and restructured the
content of its leadership and management development programs to
reflect this new emphasis on service delivery. In Australia, to find
individuals to champion recent changes in how it delivers services and
interacts with stakeholders, the Family Court of Australia identifies
and prepares future leaders who will have the skills and experiences to
help the organization successfully adapt to agency transformation.
We at GAO have also undertaken a variety of succession planning and
management initiatives consistent with these leading practices to
strengthen our own internal efforts. For example, we have constructed a
detailed workforce planning model and analyzed it to ensure that it
hired, retained, and contracted for the appropriate number of staff
with the needed competencies. In addition, we have developed certain
"people measures" to assess its performance in human capital
management, including measures for the attraction and retention of
staff, staff utilization and development, and organizational leadership.
Agencies Reinforce Top Leadership Support by Assigning Responsibility
for Succession Efforts:
Effective succession planning and management programs have the support
and commitment of their organizations' top leadership. Our past work
has shown that demonstrated commitment of top leaders is perhaps the
single most important element of successful management reform.[Footnote
9] We have reported that to demonstrate its support of succession
planning and management efforts, top leadership actively participates
in and regularly uses these initiatives to develop and promote
individuals, and ensures that these programs receive sufficient
resources.[Footnote 10] As a next step, federal agencies are to hold
their senior executives accountable to address human capital issues,
such as succession.[Footnote 11] We found that VHA has assigned
responsibility for succession planning and management initiatives to a
dedicated subcommittee, while DOL, the Census Bureau, and EPA have
councils or boards that are responsible for human capital more broadly,
including succession efforts.
VHA has established a subcommittee and high-level positions that are
directly responsible for succession planning and management. The
Succession and Workforce Development Management Subcommittee reports to
the Human Resources Committee of the National Leadership Board, as
illustrated in figure 1. VHA's Chief Executive Officer--the Department
of Veterans Affairs' Undersecretary for Health--chairs the board, which
consists of VISN directors, chief officers, and heads of offices.
Figure 1: VHA's Assigned Responsibility for Succession:
[See PDF for image]
[End of figure]
In addition, VHA has established (1) a workforce planner position to
help coordinate and manage VHA workforce planning activities, and (2) a
nurse workforce planner position to help respond to its nursing
shortage and consult with the workforce planner on certain issues, such
as regional-specific recruiting challenges and training. Also, this
year, VHA seeks to establish a director of succession management, a
senior executive-level position. According to a VHA human capital
official, the new director's duties will include overseeing national
coordination of VHA's succession activities.
At DOL, the Management Review Board, chaired by the Assistant Secretary
for Administration and Management, is responsible for a variety of
business issues, including human capital. The board is composed of top
senior leaders from each of the agencies within DOL. According to DOL,
the board's senior leaders helped garner support for departmentwide
succession planning and management efforts. For example, the board
recommended funding the development of departmentwide competencies
required for mission-critical occupations.
The Census Bureau's Human Capital Management Council, consisting of
representatives from each of the Census Bureau's directorates, reports
to the Deputy Director of Census. According to Census Bureau human
resource officials, the Council plays a key role in involving and
advising top leadership on human capital issues. For example, the
Council developed and presented a succession management plan that
recommended, among other things, piloting job rotations and assignments
to address mission-critical priorities and resources. In addition,
according to a Census Bureau human resource official, the Council
assesses various succession-related issues, such as recruiting and
competency development for the Bureau's senior management. In turn,
senior management recently tasked a Council representative to provide
monthly updates on succession-related issues.
EPA's Human Resources Council, composed of senior leaders who are to
advise the EPA Administrator on human capital issues, released EPA's
"Strategy for Human Capital," a planning document outlining EPA's long-
term human capital goals. The strategy names the offices responsible
for leading each of its goals. For example, the Office of Human
Resources, the Executive Resources Board, and human resources officers
are to implement a strategy to "Ensure the Continuity of Leadership,
Critical Expertise, and Agency Values through Succession Planning and
Management/Executive Development." According to agency human capital
officials, EPA's assistant and regional administrators and their senior
managers are responsible for executing succession planning initiatives.
As a next step, federal agencies are to hold their senior executives
accountable for human capital issues, thus explicitly aligning
individual performance expectations with organizational goals. VHA and
the Census Bureau specifically mention succession planning and
management in their executives' performance plans. DOL and EPA senior
executive performance expectations also include aspects of succession
planning and management as part of more general human capital
management responsibilities.
* At VHA, in their FY 2005 performance plans, chief officers and
program officials are to assure that the regional strategic plans
address workforce development, including a succession plan that
projects workforce needs. A VHA official also stated that VHA is
considering including specific succession-related performance measures,
such as turnover rates for selected priority occupations, in applicable
executive performance plans.
* The Census Bureau's FY 2005 executive performance plans state that
each senior executive "effectively develops and executes plans to
accomplish strategic goals and organizational objectives, setting clear
priorities and acquiring, organizing, and leveraging available
resources (human, financial, budget, etc.,) and succession planning to
ensure timely delivery of high quality services and products in
compliance with applicable laws, regulations and policies." Senior
executives are also to demonstrate a planned approach to workforce
development for managers and staff.
* At DOL, executives are to ensure that "staff are appropriately
selected, utilized, appraised, and developed—" Executives are also to
develop the talents of the staff and qualified candidates for positions
in the organization, according to DOL's latest senior executive
performance management plan, revised in 2004.
* EPA' s FY 2004 performance plan for senior executives states that
executives should identify current and projected skill gaps and develop
strategies for addressing these gaps. According to an EPA executive
resource policy official, the FY 2005 senior executive performance plan
is under revision, but the expectations concerning skill gaps will not
change.
We have also reported that to demonstrate its support of succession
planning and management, top leadership ensures that these programs
receive sufficient financial and staff resources and are maintained
over time.[Footnote 12] DOL uses a centrally managed "crosscut fund" to
supplement its succession planning and management initiatives.
Component agencies within DOL submit project proposals, which DOL
evaluates against established criteria, such as supporting initiatives
in the department's Human Capital Strategic Plan. According to DOL,
from FY 2003-2004, the agency allocated about $6.1 million for 18 human
capital projects, such as competency assessments for mission-critical
occupations, and the Management Development Program, one of DOL's major
succession development programs. The Census Bureau, EPA, and VHA
allocate money to various programs, including succession efforts,
intended to contribute to human capital goals, but detailed funding
information was not readily available from the agencies.
Agencies Have Begun to Link Succession Efforts to Their Strategic Goals:
Leading organizations use succession planning and management as a
strategic planning tool that focuses on current and future needs and
develops pools of high-potential staff in order to meet the
organization's mission over the long term. That is, succession planning
and management is used to help the organization become what it needs to
be, rather than simply to recreate the existing organization. We have
previously reported on the importance of linking succession planning
and management with the forward-looking process of strategic
planning.[Footnote 13] Specifically, discussing how workforce
knowledge, skills, and abilities will contribute to the achievement of
strategic and annual performance goals, how significant gaps are
identified, and what mitigating strategies are proposed (such as hiring
and training) can show the connection between succession planning and
strategic planning. All four agencies have begun to link their
succession planning to their strategic goals.
We previously reported that EPA's human capital strategy lacked some
key elements, including the linking of human capital objectives to
strategic goals.[Footnote 14] Since then, EPA's current strategic plan
recognizes that human capital management spans its 5 strategic goals
and identifies specific workforce knowledge, skills, and abilities to
achieve each goal. For example, as illustrated in figure 2, to achieve
its goal for "Clean Air and Global Climate Change," EPA states that its
workforce planning, hiring, and training activities will emphasize risk
assessment, including environmental-risk modeling and monitoring,
economic analysis, and standard setting, among other factors.
Figure 2: EPA's Strategic Goals and Associated Human Capital Focus:
[See PDF for image]
[End of figure]
Separately, the succession plan states that the agency faces a number
of future challenges, such as global pollution, and identifies key
drivers shaping the agency's future work, such as science and
technology advancements, budget constraints, administration priorities,
agricultural practices, public expectations, and the media's
influences. To respond to these drivers, EPA states that its employees
must have the capacity to build stronger working partnerships, increase
on-site problem solving, and enhance internal and external
communication practices.
As a component of VA, VHA recognizes VA's strategic objective to
"recruit, develop and retain a competent, committed and diverse
workforce that provides high quality service to veterans and their
families" in its Workforce Succession Strategic Planning Guide. To
achieve this objective, VHA identifies a number of strategic
assumptions about the future of veterans' health care. For example, it
states that health care delivery will become more patient centered,
that patients will be seen based on need instead of a predetermined
schedule, and the use of in-home and interactive technology will
increase, along with noninstitutional long-term care. Although VHA
states that technological advances will improve access and quality of
care for veterans, it does not anticipate significant impacts on the
need for health care professionals over the next 5 years, and expects
to continue to compete for scarce health care professionals in certain
occupations.
DOL states that to meet its strategic goal of ensuring a competitive
21ST century workforce, it plans to identify skill gaps, assess
training needs, and recruit new employees. For example, DOL plans to
shift from a historical enforcement role to compliance assistance and
consultation, requiring stronger skills in communication and analysis.
DOL seeks to develop more skills in technology and project management
as well as in strategic planning, quantitative analysis, and analytical
thinking for a more "business-like" management approach. To attract and
retain employees with such skills, DOL launched the MBA Fellows program
in 2002, which it considers one of its major succession development
programs. The 2-year developmental program includes rotational
assignments, mentoring, and promotional opportunities for successful
graduates. In FY 2004, DOL reported retaining 89 percent of its MBA
Fellows after 2 years.
Among the Census Bureau's strategic goals is its unique requirement to
conduct the Decennial Census. According to the agency strategic plan,
the Bureau plans to reengineer the 2010 Census so that it "is cost-
effective, provides more timely data, improves coverage accuracy, and
reduces operational risk." The agency will accomplish this by
collecting information on a yearly basis, enhancing address databases,
using local geographic information, and undertaking operational tests
of these new sources and methods. In its human capital plan, the Bureau
acknowledges that reengineering the 2010 Census requires new skills in
project, contract, and financial management; advanced programming and
technology; and statistics, mathematics, economics, quantitative
analysis, marketing, demography, and geography. To help obtain these
skills, the Bureau has established training programs and developed
competency guides. For example, it has instituted a Project Management
Master's Certificate Program and an Information Technology Master's
Certificate Program. All program managers now are to receive project
management training.
Monitoring Mission-Critical Workforce Needs Helps Make Informed
Succession Planning Decisions:
Leading organizations use succession planning and management to
identify the talent required to achieve their goals. We have also
identified key principles for effective workforce planning including
determining the critical skills and competencies that will be needed to
achieve current and future programmatic results; developing strategies
that are tailored to address gaps in number, deployment, and alignment
of human capital approaches for enabling and sustaining the
contributions of all critical skills and competencies; and monitoring
and evaluating the agency's progress toward its human capital goals and
the contribution that human capital results have made toward achieving
programmatic results.[Footnote 15]
VHA, EPA, and DOL have identified gaps in occupations or competencies
in their mission-critical workforce to achieve their goals, have
undertaken strategies to address these gaps, and plan to or are taking
steps to monitor their progress. By doing so, they can make more
informed planning decisions and help appropriately focus succession
efforts. While the Census Bureau has identified and is recruiting for
its mission-critical occupations, it could achieve similar benefits if
it more closely monitors its mission-critical workforce as it plans for
the 2010 Decennial Census.
VHA has identified 13 occupations it deems as national priorities for
recruitment and retention, including registered nurses, physicians, and
nuclear medicine technicians, among others. VHA uses a Web-based tool
with a workforce strategic planning template to help project its needs
in these mission-critical occupations. Each VISN completes a
comprehensive and detailed regional workforce assessment that projects
staffing needs for priority occupations for at least the next 5 years.
These projections are based on anticipated resignations, retirements,
other separations, and future mission needs. VHA's workforce planner
considers these data when projecting national staffing needs. For
example, as illustrated in figure 2, VHA anticipates hiring 3,403
nurses in FY 2005 and 21,796 nurses from FY 2006 through FY 2011. This
national projection includes, for example, the VISN 16 assessment that
it will need from 220 to 238 nurses from FY 2005 to FY 2008.
Figure 3: VISN 16 Workforce Assessment and VHA's National Succession
Plan:
[See PDF for image]
[End of figure]
VHA also monitors and reports changes in its mission-critical workforce
based on these data. For example, VHA reports that it increased the
total nurses it had on-board by 6.2 percent or 2,184 from FY 1999 to FY
2004. VHA states that the succession programs implemented since 1999
have helped it to meet these mission-critical needs and, therefore, it
does not plan to implement additional programs.
We previously recommended that EPA comprehensively assess its workforce
needs.[Footnote 16] Subsequently, EPA identified 18 priority
occupations, including physical scientists, biologists, chemists, and
attorneys. EPA projects each occupation's retirement, attrition, and
accession rates based on historical averages. For example, EPA
estimates that approximately 20 percent of the managers and supervisors
in 10 of the 18 priority occupations will leave by 2008, mostly due to
retirements. In addition, human capital officials stated that the
agency's strategy has been on strengthening mission-critical
competencies among their priority occupations. For example, EPA has
identified 12 technical competencies, such as information management
and sciences and biological sciences, and 12 cross-occupational
competencies, such as teamwork and oral communication, that are
essential for the agency to acquire, retain, or develop to accomplish
its future mission. EPA plans to address emerging mission-critical
competencies and gaps in priority occupations through recruitment and
development. EPA also plans to update its 2004 strategic workforce
planning effort on a cyclical basis to monitor progress in closing any
gaps, but the agency did not indicate specific time frames for these
updates.
DOL has identified 27 mission-critical occupations, such as
investigators, workforce development specialists, and mining engineers
as well as the skills needed for each occupation, which it specifies in
competency models. For example, for criminal investigators, DOL
identified skills such as external awareness and interpersonal
communication in addition to the knowledge and conduct of
investigations. DOL has also inventoried the skills of its on-board
mission-critical workers through the department's mission-critical
Skills Assessment Initiative. DOL reports that its component agencies
are developing action plans to reduce or close skill gaps which DOL is
incorporating into its human capital planning and reporting process.
In addition, DOL has developed performance measures that are designed
to help it gauge its organizational capacity, as illustrated in figure
4. For example, for FY 2004 DOL reported a 5 percent turnover rate of
its mission-critical employees during their first year, meeting its
goal of less than 10 percent. Likewise, DOL reported a 19.5 percent
turnover rate during their first 3 years, meeting its goal of less than
25 percent. In addition, DOL reported a 95.4 percent FTE utilization
rate, the percentage of filled and authorized, full-time equivalent
positions, for FY 2004, compared with a 98 percent goal.
Figure 4: Selected DOL Performance Measures Designed to Gauge
Organizational Capacity:
[See PDF for image]
[End of figure]
The Census Bureau has identified its mission-critical occupations and
is recruiting for statisticians, mathematical statisticians,
information technology specialists, cartographers, and geographers on
its employment Web site. According to an agency human capital official,
the Census Bureau does not monitor or assess gaps in numbers by mission-
critical occupation, but focuses on "building infrastructure" by
recruiting and developing competencies. The same official stated that
the Bureau delegates decisions to line managers to fill vacancies, and
thus there is no need to assess workers by mission-critical categories.
To assist these managers, the Bureau reports that an electronic hiring
system allows them to identify competencies for each vacancy, and that
line managers engage in a continuing dialogue with senior managers, the
Hiring Coordinators Group, and the Human Capital Management Council to
address hiring needs. Nevertheless, while line managers are
appropriately concerned with filling vacancies, as noted earlier, the
Bureau has also acknowledged that reengineering the 2010 Decennial
Census requires new competencies. By not monitoring its mission-
critical occupations more closely and at a higher level, Census may not
know overall if it is acquiring the skills it needs to be prepared to
conduct the 2010 Decennial Census as efficiently or effectively as
possible.
Enhanced Coordination and Evaluation of Training and Development
Programs Could Help Leverage Scarce Resources:
Effective training and development programs can enhance the federal
government's ability to achieve results. Further, effective succession
planning and management efforts identify talent from multiple
organizational levels, early in their careers, or with critical skills
as well as provide both formal training and opportunities for
rotational, developmental, or "stretch" assignments, to strengthen high-
potential employees' skills and to broaden their experience and
perspective.[Footnote 17] While all four agencies offer core succession
training and development programs, they each can seek opportunities to
achieve efficiencies through more coordination and sharing of these
programs. In addition, establishing valid measures to better evaluate
how these programs affect organizational capacity can give agency
decision makers credible information to justify training and
development programs' value.
Agency Succession Efforts Include Training and Development for
Employees across Organizational Levels:
All four agencies offer programs to train and develop their entry-,
middle-, and senior-level employees. These programs provide
opportunities for formal training, and all but one program offers
rotational or developmental assignments.[Footnote 18] Table 1 provides
a summary of core succession training and development programs by
agency.
Table 1: Agencies' Core Succession Training and Development Programs:
Program: Census Bureau (DOC Programs): Aspiring Leaders Development
Program;
Level of training: Entry: x;
Level of training: Middle: x;
Level of training: Senior: [Empty].
Program: Census Bureau (DOC Programs): Executive Leadership Development
Program;
Level of training: Entry: x;
Level of training: Middle: x;
Level of training: Senior: [Empty].
Program: Census Bureau (DOC Programs): SES Candidate Development
Program;
Level of training: Entry: [Empty];
Level of training: Middle: [Empty];
Level of training: Senior: x.
Program: DOL: MBA Fellows Program;
Level of training: Entry: x;
Level of training: Middle: x;
Level of training: Senior: [Empty].
Program: DOL: Management Development Program;
Level of training: Entry: [Empty];
Level of training: Middle: x;
Level of training: Senior: [Empty].
Program: DOL: SES Candidate Development Program;
Level of training: Entry: [Empty];
Level of training: Middle: [Empty];
Level of training: Senior: x.
Program: EPA: EPA Intern Program;
Level of training: Entry: x;
Level of training: Middle: [Empty];
Level of training: Senior: [Empty].
Program: EPA: EPA Rotational Program;
Level of training: Entry: x;
Level of training: Middle: [Empty];
Level of training: Senior: [Empty].
Program: EPA: Mid-level Development Programs;
Level of training: Entry: x;
Level of training: Middle: x;
Level of training: Senior: [Empty].
Program: EPA: SES Candidate Development Program;
Level of training: Entry: [Empty];
Level of training: Middle: [Empty];
Level of training: Senior: x.
Program: VHA: Facility LEAD Program;
Level of training: Entry: x;
Level of training: Middle: [Empty];
Level of training: Senior: [Empty].
Program: VHA: VISN LEAD Program;
Level of training: Entry: [Empty];
Level of training: Middle: x;
Level of training: Senior: [Empty].
Program: VHA: Executive Career Field Candidate Development Program;
Level of training: Entry: [Empty];
Level of training: Middle: [Empty];
Level of training: Senior: x.
Source: Census Bureau, DOC, DOL, EPA, and VHA.
Note: Agency human capital officials identified these as their core
succession training and development programs.
[End of table]
At the senior level, all four agencies have succession training and
development programs intended to enhance leadership skills, primarily
through SES candidate development programs. For example, EPA's SES
Candidate Development Program--designed to prepare a cadre of leaders
to fill future vacant executive positions in the agency and to maintain
valuable institutional knowledge--requires candidates to complete an
executive development plan and work with an SES mentor and executive
coach to help define career goals and provide guidance. The program
also requires participants to complete at least 80 hours of formal
leadership development training, as well as complete a 4-month
developmental assignment. DOL and VHA have similar programs in place.
The Census Bureau, as a component of DOC, participates in DOC's SES
Candidate Development Program.
The four agencies also have programs intended to develop the leadership
and supervisory skills for middle-level managers. For example, VHA's
program named "VISN LEAD" provides an opportunity for high-potential
employees in field locations to receive coaching and mentoring, create
a personal development plan, and join with special VISN-wide project
task teams, while retaining their current responsibilities. EPA's Mid-
level Development Programs, DOL's Management Development Program, and
DOC's Executive Leadership Development Program--in which the Census
Bureau participates--all offer similar opportunities.
At the entry level, all agencies have programs intended to develop
employees and provide them with the foundation for future leadership.
For example, DOL's MBA Fellows program requires participants to take a
minimum of four rotational assignments and core training classes,
complete a personal development plan, and work with a senior-level
mentor, among other activities. Targeting recent MBA graduates, DOL
established its program not only to address increased departmentwide
needs for business and project-management skills, but also to create a
cadre of future department leaders. EPA's Intern Program and Rotational
Program, VHA's Facility LEAD Program, and DOC's Aspiring Leaders
Development Program, in which the Census Bureau participates, are
similar in nature.
According to agency human capital officials, other programs also
contribute to their succession efforts. For example, the Census Bureau
has established certificate programs in project management and
leadership for all employees to develop and enhance these specific
skills. The Bureau also has a mathematical statisticians program,
which, according to the Deputy Director, provides career enhancement
opportunities designed to help develop and retain employees in this
critical occupation. Similarly, DOL has a Career Assistance Program
that provides employees at all levels with career planning advice and
other development assistance. In addition, the agencies use formal
mentoring or coaching programs to help guide employees throughout their
career.
Coordination and Sharing of Training and Development Programs Can
Achieve Efficiencies:
As agencies implement their core succession training and development
programs, they must plan and prepare for the possibility of significant
and recurring constraints on their resources, in light of fiscal and
budgetary constraints. Recognizing this, leading agencies look for
opportunities to coordinate and share their efforts and create
synergies through benchmarking with others, achieving economies of
scale, limiting duplication of efforts, and enhancing the effectiveness
of programs, among other things.[Footnote 19] An example of such a
coordinated and shared training effort is the recent announcement of a
new partnership by the Office of Federal Procurement Policy, Department
of Defense, and the General Services Administration. The initiative is
geared toward the civilian and defense acquisition workforces, and is
intended to provide similar training and development opportunities for
acquisition personnel across all three agencies with the goal of
sharing best practices, among other things.
OPM has begun to serve as a bridge for agencies to seek opportunities
to coordinate their succession training and development programs as it
shifts its role from less of a rule maker and enforcer to more of a
strategic partner in leading and supporting agencies' human capital
management. For example, OPM established a governmentwide Federal
Candidate Development Program (Fed CDP). OPM expects the 14-month
program to help agencies meet their SES succession planning goals and
contribute to the government's efforts to create a high-quality SES
leadership corps. Participating agencies may select, without further
competition, people who have successfully completed the Fed CDP
training program. In addition, we have testified that approaches to
interagency collaboration, such as the CHCO Council, have emerged as an
important central leadership strategy:
and that agency collaboration can serve to institutionalize many
management policies governmentwide.[Footnote 20] The Leadership and
Succession Planning Subcommittee of the CHCO Council is charged with
reviewing leadership development, among other things, and is a possible
mechanism to help agencies coordinate succession training and
development programs.
While some agencies' human capital officials acknowledged the potential
benefits of coordinating succession training and development programs
with other agencies or departments, they all could do more to seek
coordination and sharing opportunities. Cognizant human capital and
training officials stated that they had not actively sought
opportunities to coordinate core succession training and development
programs. Although EPA plans to select one senior executive through the
Fed CDP, human capital officials stated they had not extensively
explored the idea of coordinating with other agencies for their core
succession training and development. VHA human capital officials said
they did not coordinate further because they have specialized skill
needs. DOL and Census Bureau human capital managers also stated that
they had not partnered with other outside agencies to coordinate their
core succession training and development programs. By not actively
seeking to coordinate and share core succession training and
development programs, agencies may miss a potentially valuable
opportunity to gain efficiency, which may be especially important in
the current budget environment.
Performance Measures Can Help Agencies Assess Programs' Effects on
Organizational Capacity:
Decision makers need credible information to justify training and
development programs' value. We have also reported that agencies need
credible information to assess how their training and development
programs affect organizational performance and enhance organizational
capacity.[Footnote 21] We have observed in our guide for assessing
strategic training and development that while not all training and
development programs require, or are suitable for, higher levels of
evaluation, establishing valid performance measures can ensure that
agencies adequately address their development objectives. Moreover, our
guide states that such measures should go beyond input and output data,
and can include data on quality, costs, and time. We also recognize,
however, that agencies need to scale their efforts depending on the
program. Factors to consider when deciding on the appropriate level of
evaluation include the estimated costs of training efforts, size of
training audience, and program visibility, among other things.
All four agencies are able to report on participation and cost related
to their succession training and development programs. For example, 12
Census Bureau employees participated in DOC's Aspiring Leaders
Development Program in FY 2004, with an average cost of $6,267 per
participant, according to the Bureau. In addition, the Census Bureau
and DOL have also identified outcome measures related to the
performance of some of their succession-related training and
development programs. For example, the Census Bureau evaluates, among
other things, the extent to which certified project managers are using
the skills they have learned in the Project Management Masters
Certificate Program. Only DOL has identified measures intended to
provide an understanding of core succession training and development
programs' effects on organizational capacity. Figure 5 illustrates a
selection of these measures.
Figure 5: Selected DOL Human Capital Measures Related to Succession
Planning and Management:
[See PDF for image]
[A] Promoted to date. Candidates are eligible for promotion through
February 2006.
[B] Currently retained after 2 years.
[End of figure]
For example, by considering the retention rate for MBA Fellows, DOL can
make informed planning decisions about the potential availability of
certain skill sets in the department as well as when to initiate a new
program and how many students to include in it. DOL reported that in FY
2004, it retained 89 percent of its MBA fellows after 2 years and has a
goal of 75 percent after 3 years. DOL also tracks SES "bench strength,"
a ratio of senior executives who are in training or have completed
training to those projected to leave. DOL reported a 96 percent "bench
strength" for its senior executives in FY 2004, exceeding its goal of
70 percent. The Census Bureau, VHA, and EPA could better demonstrate
their programs' value in providing future talent by identifying outcome-
oriented measures and evaluating the extent to which these programs
enhance their organizations' capacity.
Agencies Use Succession Efforts to Enhance Workforce Diversity:
Leading organizations recognize that diversity, ways in which people in
a workforce are similar and different from one another, is an
organizational strength and that succession planning is a leading
diversity management practice.[Footnote 22] Given the retirement
projections for the federal government that could create vacancies,
agencies can use succession planning and management as a critical tool
in their efforts to enhance diversity in their leadership positions.
All of the selected agencies have recognized the importance of
diversity to a successful workforce and use succession planning and
management efforts to enhance their workforce diversity.
VA requires all of its administrative staff offices to produce
workforce and succession plans aligned with overall VA strategic
planning. VHA states that although its overall workforce is fairly
diverse, women and minorities are not well represented in leadership
positions nor are they well represented in the pipeline to such
positions. We have reported that VHA has integrated diversity planning
into its succession efforts.[Footnote 23] As part of their regional
succession plans, VISNs submit diversity information to VHA for
national planning. VHA then analyzes the diversity of its top-priority
occupations, highlights underrepresentation of certain demographic
groups in specific mission-critical occupations, and provides guidance
to focus recruiting efforts to enhance diversity. For example, VHA
states that White females and American Indian/Alaskan Native females
are underrepresented in the nurse occupation and advises that
recruitment efforts should focus on them. In addition, VHA tracks
applicant diversity for the Executive Career Field Candidate
Development Program, one of:
VHA's core succession training and development programs, and reports
that applicants to this program are drawn from a diverse pool.
EPA has stated in its human capital plan that a diverse workforce makes
the agency a more effective and healthy organization that is better
able to relate to the American people and develop more creative and
workable solutions. EPA credits its Intern Program, one of its core
succession training and development programs, with attracting and
retaining a diverse group of employees based on a 2003 assessment of
the program. For example, the assessment found that EPA interns were
more ethnically diverse than other comparable groups of hires. As part
of its diversity action plan, EPA reports that it is expanding targeted
recruitment initiatives to identify well-qualified candidates for
mission-critical occupations. In addition, regional offices report
succession-related efforts intended to enhance diversity initiatives,
such as mentoring, leadership, and career development programs, and
workforce demographic analyses, among other activities.
DOL identifies a strategic initiative to enhance diversity in
management and mission-critical occupations in its human capital plan.
To help it achieve this initiative, DOL monitors and evaluates
diversity information for its mission-critical occupations annually,
and has identified "pockets of low participation" for certain minority
groups, such as Hispanics. In addition, DOL has reported a higher
percentage of women and Hispanics in its three core succession training
and development programs than in its general workforce.
The Census Bureau has established a diversity program office to manage
the Bureau's diversity efforts. Bureau officials stated that because of
the highly specialized nature of the Bureau's work, such as the use of
statistics and mathematics, and the relatively small pool of people
trained in these areas, it is difficult to enhance diversity in several
critical occupation categories. As part of its combined diversity and
recruiting initiative, the Bureau has established a specific recruiting
team for mathematical statisticians, one of its highlighted mission-
critical occupations. The Bureau also has various targeted recruiting
efforts at academic institutions and community organizations with high
Hispanic and other minority enrollment, and various Hispanic or Latino
Chambers of Commerce.
Conclusions:
The Census Bureau, DOL, EPA, and VHA have all implemented succession
planning and management efforts that collectively are intended to
strengthen organizational capacity. Generally, these efforts receive
top leadership support, link with strategic planning, identify critical
skills gaps and strategies to fill them, offer training and development
programs for high-potential employees, and enhance diversity.
Nevertheless, given the nation's large current budget deficit and long-
range fiscal imbalance, Congress is likely to place increasing emphasis
on agencies to exercise fiscal restraint.
Given this environment, these agencies can look for opportunities to
coordinate and share their succession training and development programs
to achieve economies of scale, limit duplication of efforts, increase
efficiency, and enhance the effectiveness of their programs. For
example, all four agencies emphasize rotational or developmental
assignments and formal training, and they may have opportunities to
coordinate and share these assignments and training with each other or
other federal agencies or departments. Agencies can also work with OPM
and the CHCO Council to determine how they can better leverage other
agencies' succession training and development programs.
Furthermore, it is increasingly important for agencies to evaluate
their training and development programs to be able to demonstrate how
these efforts enhance organizational capacity. While the Census Bureau,
EPA, and VHA have some information on their succession training and
development programs, such as participation and cost, they can take
additional steps, such as enhanced evaluations, to justify these
programs' value. DOL has identified measures intended to provide an
understanding of these programs' effects on organizational capacity.
Finally, although the Census Bureau has identified and is recruiting
for its mission-critical occupations, it can better monitor its mission-
critical workforce. By not monitoring more closely and at a higher
level than line managers, the Bureau may not know how to best focus its
succession planning efforts, and ultimately how well it is prepared for
major tasks, such as the 2010 Decennial Census.
Recommendations for Executive Action:
To help agencies reinforce their succession planning and management
efforts, and make well informed planning decisions, we recommend a
number of actions.
The Secretary of Commerce should ensure that the Director of Census
takes the following three actions:
* Strengthen the monitoring of its mission-critical workforce by
identifying mission-critical workforce gaps, developing strategies to
address gaps, evaluating progress toward closing gaps, and adjusting
strategies accordingly.
* Seek appropriate opportunities to coordinate and share core
succession training and development programs with other outside
agencies to achieve economies of scale, limit duplication of efforts,
benchmark with high-performing agencies, keep abreast of current
practices, enhance efficiency, and increase the effectiveness of its
programs.
* Evaluate core succession training and development programs to assess
the extent to which programs contribute to enhancing organizational
capacity. When deciding the appropriate analytical approach and level
of evaluation, the Bureau should consider factors such as estimated
costs of training efforts, size of training audience, and program
visibility, among other things.
The Administrator of EPA should take the following two actions:
* Seek appropriate opportunities to coordinate and share core
succession training and development programs with other outside
agencies to achieve economies of scale, limit duplication of efforts,
benchmark with high-performing agencies, keep abreast of current
practices, enhance efficiency, and increase the effectiveness of its
programs.
* Evaluate core succession training and development programs to assess
the extent to which programs contribute to enhancing organizational
capacity. When deciding the appropriate analytical approach and level
of evaluation, EPA should consider factors such as estimated costs of
training efforts, size of training audience, and program visibility,
among other things.
The Secretary of Labor should take the following action:
* Seek appropriate opportunities to coordinate and share core
succession training and development programs with other outside
agencies to achieve economies of scale, limit duplication of efforts,
benchmark with high-performing agencies, keep abreast of current
practices, enhance efficiency, and increase the effectiveness of its
programs.
The Secretary of VA should take the following two actions:
* Seek appropriate opportunities to coordinate and share core
succession training and development programs with other outside
agencies to achieve economies of scale, limit duplication of efforts,
benchmark with high-performing agencies, keep abreast of current
practices, enhance efficiency, and increase the effectiveness of its
programs.
* Evaluate core succession training and development programs to assess
the extent to which programs contribute to enhancing organizational
capacity. When deciding the appropriate analytical approach and level
of evaluation, VHA should consider factors such as estimated costs of
training efforts, size of training audience, and program visibility,
among other things.
Agency Comments and Our Evaluation:
We provided a draft of this report to the Secretaries of Commerce,
Labor, and VA and the Administrator of EPA for their review and
comment. In addition, we provided a draft of this report to the Acting
Director of OPM and the CHCO Council's Leadership and Succession
Planning Subcommittee for their information.
VA agreed with our findings and recommendations. In response to our
recommendation to seek opportunities to coordinate and share core
succession training and development programs, VA suggested that OPM
could act as a "clearinghouse" by gathering and publishing curricula
and other relevant training information from agencies, thus enabling
agencies to identify existing training programs across the government.
We present VA's written comments in appendix II. DOC and the Census
Bureau agreed with our findings and our recommendations to seek
opportunities to coordinate core succession training and development
programs and to evaluate the extent to which these programs enhance
organizational capacity. In response to our recommendation to
strengthen the monitoring of its mission-critical workforce, the Census
Bureau stated that its existing approach is effective in meeting its
needs. However, as we discussed earlier, the Census Bureau acknowledges
that reengineering the 2010 Decennial Census requires new competencies.
By not strengthening the monitoring of its mission-critical workforce,
the Census is at increased risk that it will not have the skills it
needs to be prepared to conduct the 2010 Census as efficiently or
effectively as possible. For example, a lesson from the 2000 Census was
that while contracts for various projects supported decennial census
operations, they did so in many instances at a higher cost than
necessary because the Census Bureau did not have sufficient contracting
and program staff with the training and experience to manage
them.[Footnote 24] We present DOC's and the Census Bureau's written
comments in appendix III. DOL did not take issue with our findings,
stated that it will consider our recommendations, and provided
technical comments, which we incorporated as appropriate. EPA did not
comment on our recommendations, but provided a technical comment, which
we incorporated.
As agreed with your offices, unless you publicly announce its contents
earlier, we plan no further distribution of this report until 30 days
after its date. At that time, we will provide copies of this report to
other interested congressional parties; the Secretaries of Commerce,
Labor, and VA; the Administrator of EPA; the Director of Census; the
Acting Director of OPM; and the CHCO Council's Leadership and
Succession Planning Subcommittee. We will also make this report
available at no charge on the GAO Web site at [Hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov].
If you or your staff have any questions about this report, please
contact me on (202) 512-6806 or at [Hyperlink, larencee@gao.gov].
Contact points for our Offices of Congressional Relations and Public
Affairs may be found on the last page of this report. GAO staff who
made major contributions to this report are listed in appendix IV.
Signed by:
Eileen Larence:
Director, Strategic Issues:
[End of section]
Appendixes:
Appendix I: Objectives, Scope, and Methodology:
To review how federal agencies are implementing succession planning and
management efforts, we selected the Department of Labor (DOL), the
Veterans Health Administration (VHA), the Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA), and the Census Bureau for our review. We considered the
nature of their succession challenges, agency missions, and prior GAO
human capital work conducted at these agencies. These agencies
represent an array of organizational structures, missions, and
succession challenges.
We analyzed strategic, human capital, workforce, succession, and
training and development plans, performance contracts, human capital
team charters, and diversity information from the selected agencies. In
addition, we reviewed policies and guidance on succession-related
issues from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), the Equal
Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), and the Merit Systems
Protection Board (MSPB) because of their responsibilities for ensuring
the fair application of personnel decisions, such as selection for
training and development programs. We also interviewed agency, OPM,
EEOC, and MSPB officials involved with strategic, human capital, and
succession planning and management.
The scope of our work did not include independent evaluation or
verification of the effectiveness of the succession planning and
management initiatives used in the four agencies, including any
performance results that agencies attributed to specific practices or
aspects of their programs. We assessed the reliability of staffing and
projection data provided to us by the Census Bureau, DOL, EPA, VHA, and
OPM to ensure the data we used in this report were complete and
accurate by (1) interviewing agency officials knowledgeable about the
data and (2) performing manual and electronic testing, when applicable.
We determined that these data were sufficiently reliable for the
purposes of this engagement.
To get the varied perspectives of agencies' staff located in
headquarters and regional offices, we interviewed agency officials in
Washington, D.C; Charlotte, North Carolina; and Los Angeles and San
Francisco, California. We conducted our study from June 2004 through
April 2005.
[End of section]
Appendix II: Comments from the Department of Veterans Affairs:
The Deputy Secretary Of Veterans Affairs:
Washington:
June 13, 2005:
Ms. Eileen Larence:
Director:
Strategic Issues:
U. S. Government Accountability Office:
441 G Street, NW:
Washington, DC 20548:
Dear Ms. Larence:
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has reviewed the Government
Accountability Office's (GAO) draft report, HUMAN CAPITAL: Selected
Agencies Have Opportunities to Enhance Existing Succession Planning and
Management Efforts, (GAO-05-585). The Department agrees with GAO's
overall conclusions and concurs with the recommendations. The
enclosures provide additional discussion on the recommendations.
VA appreciates the opportunity to comment on your draft report.
Sincerely yours,
Signed by:
Gordon H.Mansfield
Enclosure:
The Department Of Veterans Affairs (Va) Comments To Government
Accountability Office (GAO) Draft Report:
Human Capital: Selected Agencies Have Opportunities to Enhance Existing
Succession Planning and Management Efforts (GAO-05-585):
* To help agencies reinforce their succession planning and management
efforts, and make well informed planning decisions, we recommend a
number of actions. Specifically, the Secretary of VA should take the
following actions:
Seek appropriate opportunities to coordinate and share core succession
training and development programs with other outside agencies to
achieve economies of scale, limit duplication of efforts, benchmark
with high-performing agencies, keep abreast of current practices,
enhance efficiency, and increase the effectiveness of its programs.
Concur-The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) agrees with GAO's
underlying rationale that improved coordination among and between
federal agencies would strengthen training programs across the federal
sector. As an alternative means of implementation, the Department
suggests that the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) serve as a
clearinghouse for information sharing. For example, VA could provide
information to OPM on the target audience, a description of its
training programs, and the curricula. OPM, in turn, would publicize
such information, allowing other agencies to pick and choose best
practices for adoption into their own organizations. This would
maximize each agency's ability to identify existing training programs
throughout the government that might provide targeted training content
for occupational, professional, technical or supervisory skills, and
would achieve the objectives contemplated in the recommendation
efficiently and effectively.
Evaluate core succession training and development programs to assess
the extent to which programs contribute to enhancing organizational
capacity. When deciding the appropriate analytical approach and level
of evaluation, VHA should consider factors such as estimated costs of
training efforts, size of training audience, and program visibility,
among other things.
Concur-In January 2005, the Veterans Health Administration (VHA)
established a method for evaluating its succession planning and
leadership development programs. A detailed action plan describing this
evaluation process, as well as other actions being taken to implement
the recommendation, is included as an enclosure to this response.
Veterans Health Administration (VHA) Action Plan:
GAO Draft Report: Human Capital: Selected Agencies Have Opportunities
to Enhance Existing Succession Planning and Management Efforts, (GAO-
05-585):
Recommended Improvement Action(s): The Secretary of VA should take the
following action to evaluate core succession training and development
programs to assess the extent to which programs contribute to enhancing
organizational capacity. When deciding the appropriate analytical
approach and level of evaluation, VHA should consider factors such as
estimated costs of training, size of training audience, and program
visibility, among other things.
Concur:
Goal: To ensure VHA's succession training and development plans enhance
the organization's ability to face current and future organization
challenges.
Strategy:
Detailed information concerning VHA's workforce planning efforts,
including the VHA succession strategic planning guidance and Veterans
Integrated Service Network (VISN) plans for 2006-2010, and the VHA 2005-
2009 workforce succession strategic plans is available to the
Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) entities on the VHA Succession
Planning Web Site. Enhancements to this website are continually being
made and information is updated on an ongoing basis. VHA's three major
succession training and development programs are: the Executive Career
Field (ECF) Development program, the VISN Leadership Effectiveness
Accountability and Development (LEAD) program, and the facility LEAD
program.
In May 2005, VHA's National Leadership Board (NLB) began reviewing the
fiscal year (FY) cost proposals and mid-year status of the national
programs on a bi-annual basis. These are reported to NLB by the VHA
Succession and Workforce Development Management Subcommittee through
the VHA Human Resource Committee (HRC). Also in May 2005, VHA initiated
bi-annual reviews of the participant size and scope, based on
retirement and other losses. The findings are also reported to NLB by
the VHA Succession and Workforce Development Management Subcommittee
through VHA HRC.
The ECF Candidate Development program uses the eight VHA core High
Performance Development Model (HPDM) competencies as a framework for
VHA to develop a highly skilled, customer-centered workforce. Research
was implemented in January 2005 by the Management Support Office in
collaboration with the VHA Center for Organization Leadership and
Management Research (COLMR) to establish criteria to evaluate the
mentoring and precepting process of the candidate's development program
(CDP). The research will be completed in the summer of 2005 and
presented to the VHA Succession and Workforce Development Management
Subcommittee and forwarded on to HRC and NLB for feedback and approval.
The Management Support Office and COLMR are also researching the ECF
CDP rating and selection process (to validate the selection process),
the ECF CDP's acceptance to the program with the HPDM 360 degree
assessment of their critical core competencies/critical skills set, and
the effects of ECF CDP on their manager's evaluation, their career
advancement and turnover rates. Results of this research will be
completed in summer 2006, although elements of it will be completed
sooner. The results will be forwarded to the NLB for feedback and
approval prior to implementation. When possible, research findings
associated with the VHA leadership Development and Succession Planning
program will be published.
The VISN LEAD program is based on six key elements designed to
establish criteria for a successful leadership development program that
will develop leaders and meet VHA's organizational goals for succession
and diversity. The criteria were defined by the VHA LEAD steering
committee that consists of all the VISN education coordinators. Annual
assessment against these criteria served as a national performance
measure for each VISN in FY 2004 and FY 2005 and will continue. Status
and progress of the program is reported to the VHA Succession &
Workforce Development Subcommittee by the VHA LEAD steering committee
and Management Support Office. Attached are the criteria VISNs are
measured on for the performance measure (Attachment A). A report
summarizing findings of the LEAD assessment goes to the VHA Succession
& Workforce Development Subcommittee. The VHA LEAD Steering Committee
holds quarterly meetings to coordinate and share training information
and programs. Since the establishment of this committee in 2004, VISNs
across the system have partnered in the management of leadership
development and this is ongoing. Participants in VISN LEAD programs are
entered into the VHA Leadership and Workforce Development database for
succession planning purposes.
The VHA LEAD Steering Committee also oversees the guidance and
monitoring of the facility level LEAD programs. Status and progress is
reported by the VHA LEAD Steering committee and Management Support
Office to the VHA Succession & Workforce Development Subcommittee. An
annual national performance measure for the facility level LEAD will be
established for the FY 2006 performance cycle. Similar criteria as
those used in the VISN LEAD program are being developed and are
expected to be ready for use in the FY 2006 performance cycle. Sharing
of information across the system concerning this program is already
ongoing. Participants in facility LEAD programs will be entered into
the VHA Leadership and Workforce Development Database for succession
planning purposes.
Attachment A: Lead Program Certification:
[See PDF for Image]
Footnote:
The ECF application is structured on VHA's HPDM eight core competencies
and requires applicants to describe their experience in a performance-
based interviewing (PBI) format. It also includes a history of
educational and work experience. Applications require management
endorsement and are rated and ranked by a diverse panel of VHA senior
executives. All applicants receive timely feedback on their application
including areas of improvement.
[End of table]
[End of section]
Appendix III: Comments from the Department of Commerce:
The Deputy Secretary Of Commerce:
Washington, D.C. 20230:
June 7, 2005:
Ms. Eileen Larence:
Director:
Strategic Issues:
U.S. Government Accountability Office:
Washington, DC 20548:
Dear Ms. Larence:
The U.S. Department of Commerce appreciates the opportunity to comment
on the Government Accountability Office draft report entitled Human
Capita/: Selected Agencies Have Opportunities to Enhance Existing
Succession Planning and Management Efforts (GAO-05-585).
I enclose the Department of Commerce's comments on this report.
Sincerely,
Signed by:
David A. Sampson:
(Acting Deputy Secretary)
Enclosure:
U.S. Department of Commerce Comments on Government Accountability
Office Draft Report, Human Capital. Selected Agencies Have
Opportunities to Enhance Existing Succession Planning and Management
Efforts (GAO-05-585):
The U.S. Department of Commerce thanks the Government Accountability
Office for the opportunity to review the draft report, Human Capital.
Selected Agencies Have Opportunities to Enhance Existing Succession
Planning and Management Efforts (GAO-05-585). This report discusses an
important issue of concern to the Census Bureau --human capital
management and in particular succession management.
General Comments:
Since 2000, the U.S. Census Bureau has carefully studied and improved
its approaches to succession management. The report highlights some of
the critical succession management practices the Census Bureau is
employing. These, as well as other key practices, need to be seen
within the broader context of the Census Bureau's succession management
framework. Understanding this framework is important because it is the
diversity and adaptability of approaches as a whole, rather than
individual techniques, that have been the key to the Census Bureau's
success in planning and meeting succession challenges.
The Census Bureau has created a matrix of broad succession planning
practices that is used to structure succession management efforts,
disseminate best practices across the organization, and provide a point
of reference for gauging progress in succession management practices.
The matrix consists of 13 categories: (1) setting strategic goals; (2)
collecting and analyzing work force data; (3) assessing employees for
management and leadership; (4) orienting new employees at junior, mid-
and senior levels; (5) mentoring; (6) continuous career-long learning
based on individual development plans; (7) rotational assignments; (8)
stretch assignments; (9) formal and informal training (particularly in
terms of technical and core competencies); (10) formal management and
leadership development programs integrated with on-the-job training;
(11) individual development plans and critical performance elements;
(12) use of management flexibilities; and (13) knowledge management,
including the use of transition positions to allow for overlapping
periods of transition for critical retirements.
The Census Bureau refined its recruitment, development, training, and
human capital management programs to support a strategic approach to
succession management. These refinements included different approaches
to meet the varied succession challenges relating to senior management,
mathematical statisticians, information technology specialists, and
other mission-critical job categories.
Succession management programs are critical for senior executives and
other key staff who, as the federal civil service continues to age, are
projected to retire in large numbers. The Census Bureau's strategy for
succession, particularly for key staff, focuses on building a solid
pool of candidates from which to select. This strategy also focuses on
building external relationships and outreach to attract diverse and
well-qualified applicants. The Census Bureau recognizes the constraints
placed on agencies and bureaus by not knowing when people will actually
retire and the inability to preselect successors. The individuals
themselves cannot commit to a certain retirement date very far in
advance of actual retirement. Personal circumstances change and with
them, retirement decisions. Unlike private sector positions, the merit
system limits the designation of an "heir apparent" as a tool for
making smoother leadership transitions.
For mathematical statisticians, the pool of highly qualified applicants
in the marketplace is diminishing. The report mentions one tool used by
the Census Bureau to address this issue, which is the mathematical
statisticians recruiting team. The recruiting team is part of the
Methodology and Standards Council which, in addition to recruiting,
leads the management and development of critical technical and
leadership talent for mathematical statisticians across the entire
organization. The efforts of the Council in building recruiting
relationships; attracting candidates; and then selecting, developing,
and retaining leading professionals, are critical and could serve as a
useful model for other bureaus or agencies facing similar challenges
for highly technical professionals.
The field of information technology changes rapidly and affects the
competencies and work methods that are needed. To meet this challenge,
the Census Bureau uses a strategy of hiring and developing
professionals and complementing the capabilities of that work force by
acquiring specialized skills and expertise through contracts.
Contracting is used in areas where it has been determined, after an
assessment of internal resources and capabilities, to be more effective
than developing in-house talent. On a much broader scale, the Census
Bureau is making the most extensive use of contracting in its history
for the 2010 Census. The Census Bureau is contracting for data capture
and processing services, geographic systems and support, as well as
support for field automation systems. Collectively, these are very
large contracts that represent strategic decisions to `buy' rather than
`build.':
Specific Comments On The Report's Text And Recommendations:
P. 15, para. 2 "According to an agency human capital official,."
The Census Bureau's strategy for ensuring its mission-critical
capabilities is an anticipatory one. As the report correctly states, it
focuses on building infrastructure by recruiting and developing
competencies.
The "delegation of line managers to fill vacancies" refers to the
ability of managers to use a proven electronic hiring system that
allows them to identify and request a unique blend of competencies for
each vacancy. This approach allows the organization to continuously
update the competencies it seeks and select staff for competencies that
match emerging, as well as established, needs. Front-line managers are
engaged in a continuing dialogue with senior managers and
interdirectorate councils (e.g., Hiring Coordinators Group and Human
Capital Management Council) to identify, plan for, and address skill
and competency needs at all organizational levels. The line managers
use the flexibility and precision of the hiring system (and the robust
pool of applicants who have been recruited) to address both their
specific hiring needs, as well as select for competencies that are of
increasing importance to the Census Bureau as a whole.
The report recommends that the Secretary of Commerce should ensure that
the Director of the Census take three actions. The Census Bureau's
comments on each of these recommendations follow.
Recommendation I--"Strengthen the monitoring of its mission critical
workforce by identifying mission critical workforce gaps, developing
strategies to address gaps, evaluating progress toward closing gaps,
and adjusting strategies accordingly."
The Census Bureau agrees that monitoring and assuring the necessary
competencies of its mission-critical work force is essential and
requires close and continuing attention. The Census Bureau has found
that its existing approach to succession management is effective in
meeting mission-critical requirements. The practices described in the
general comments section above are designed to anticipate skill needs
and ensure that those needs are met through diverse and flexible
approaches. Contracting is also used strategically to meet mission-
critical objectives. The Census Bureau has found that its present
methods of assessing and ensuring appropriate levels of critical work
force capabilities are more efficient and effective than attempting to
categorize and quantify `gaps' within mission-critical occupations.
Recommendation 2--`Seek appropriate opportunities to coordinate and
share core succession training and development programs with other
outside agencies to achieve economies of scale, limit duplication of
efforts, benchmark with high-performing agencies, keep abreast of
current practices, enhance efficiency, and increase the effectiveness
of its programs."
The Census Bureau agrees with this recommendation. As described in the
report, the Census Bureau takes advantage of opportunities to partner
and participate in succession development programs with its parent
organization, the Department of Commerce. The Census Bureau will
continue to explore opportunities to join with other bureaus and
agencies in designing and conducting cost-effective training and
development programs.
Recommendation 3--"Evaluate core succession training and development
programs to assess the extent to which programs contribute to enhancing
organizational capacity. When deciding the appropriate analytical
approach and level of evaluation, the Bureau should consider factors
such as estimated costs of training efforts, size of training audience,
and program visibility, among other things."
The Census Bureau agrees with this recommendation. While, as the report
notes, the Census Bureau tracks training and development program
participation rates, costs, and outcome measures, a more comprehensive
approach to evaluations is being planned. The Census Bureau has aligned
its Planning and Evaluation Branch, along with its Work Force
Development Branch, under the direction of a single Assistant Division
Chief in its Human Resources Division. The report's recommendation
reinforces the importance of these organizations working closely
together to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the Census
Bureau's training and development programs.
[End of section]
Appendix IV: GAO Contact and Staff Acknowledgments:
GAO Contact:
Eileen Larence (202) 512-6806:
Acknowledgments:
In addition to the contact named above, Lisa Shames, Naved Qureshi,
Peter Rumble, Jennifer Cooke, Erin Murello, and Elena Lipson made key
contributions to this report.
(450332):
FOOTNOTES
[1] GAO, 21ST Century Challenges: Reexamining the Base of the Federal
Government, GAO-05-325SP (Washington, D.C.: February 2005).
[2] GAO, High-Risk Series: An Update, GAO-05-207 (Washington, D.C.:
January 2005).
[3] 5 U.S.C. §4121.
[4] 5 U.S.C. §1401.
[5] GAO, Human Capital: Insights for U.S. Agencies from Other
Countries' Succession Planning and Management Initiatives, GAO-03-914
(Washington, D.C.: Sept. 15, 2003).
[6] For more information on transformation, see GAO, Forum: High-
Performing Organizations: Metrics, Means, and Mechanisms for Achieving
High Performance in the 21ST Century Public Management Environment, GAO-
04-343SP (Washington, D.C.: Feb. 13, 2004).
[7] GAO, Results-Oriented Cultures: Insights for U.S. Agencies from
Other Countries' Performance Management Initiatives, GAO-02-862
(Washington, D.C.: Aug. 2, 2002).
[8] GAO-03-914.
[9] GAO, Management Reform: Elements of Successful Improvement
Initiatives, GAO/T-GGD-00-26 (Washington, D.C.: Oct. 15, 1999).
[10] GAO-03-914.
[11] GAO, Results-Oriented Cultures: Using Balanced Expectations to
Manage Senior Executive Performance, GAO-02-966 (Washington, D.C.:
Sept. 27, 2002).
[12] GAO-03-914.
[13] GAO, Human Capital: A Self-Assessment Checklist for Agency
Leaders, GAO/OCG-00-14G (Washington, D.C.: September 2000).
[14] GAO, Human Capital: Implementing an Effective Workforce Strategy
Would Help EPA to Achieve Its Strategic Goals, GAO-01-812 (Washington,
D.C.: July 31, 2001).
[15] GAO, Human Capital: Key Principles for Effective Strategic
Workforce Planning, GAO-04-39 (Washington, D.C.: Dec. 11, 2003).
[16] GAO-01-812.
[17] GAO-03-914.
[18] EPA's Mid-level Development Programs do not offer formal
rotational assignments but rotations are available to all employees.
[19] GAO, Human Capital: A Guide for Assessing Strategic Training and
Development Efforts in the Federal Government, GAO-04-546G (Washington,
D.C.: March 2004).
[20] GAO, Human Capital: Observations on Agencies' Implementation of
the Chief Human Capital Officers Act, GAO-04-800T (Washington, D.C.:
May 18, 2004) and Posthearing Questions Related to Agencies'
Implementation of the Chief Human Capital Officers (CHCO) Act, GAO-04-
897R (Washington, D.C.: June 18, 2004).
[21] GAO-04-546G.
[22] GAO, Diversity Management: Expert-Identified Leading Practices and
Agency Examples, GAO-05-90 (Washington, D.C.: Jan. 14, 2005).
[23] GAO-05-90.
[24] U.S. Department of Commerce's Office of Inspector General, What
Census 2000 Can Teach Us in Planning for 2010, Report No. OIG-14431
(Spring 2002).
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