The Navy's Shore Requirements, Standards, and Manpower Planning System (Shorstamps)--Does the Navy Really Want It?

Congressional committees have criticized the Navy for its lack of an acceptable manpower planning program for shore establishments which use over half the Navy's personnel. The Navy recognized the need for such a program in 1972, and began work on a new system called SHORSTAMPS (Shore Requirements, Standards, and Manpower Planning System). SHORSTAMPS is a comprehensive functional approach for determining manpower needs. The purpose of SHORSTAMPS is to determine the minimum quantity and quality of positions each shore activity needs to accomplish its assigned mission. SHORSTAMPS has four specific objectives: (1) determine, document, and maintain quantitative and qualitative manpower requirements necessary to perform Navy support missions ashore; (2) relate manpower requirements with a high degree of credibility; (3) redistribute manpower resources according to variations in the kind and amount of work to be done; and (4) provide management capability to assist major users of manpower in their planning and programming. Congress has continually expressed its interest in SHORSTAMPS. In June 1976, the House and Senate Armed Services Committees directed the Navy to accelerate the program and to periodically report on its progress. As a result, the Navy established a new time schedule, and estimated that 70 percent of the shore population would be under SHORSTAMPS standards by the end of the fiscal year 1987.

If additional resources are not provided, it is unlikely that SHORSTAMPS standards development and implementation will be completed within the Navy's time frame. SHORSTAMPS' slow progress is the result of a lack of top Navy management's commitment. This lack of commitment is apparent by the Navy's failure to develop and approve a comprehensive plan for administering and integrating SHORSTAMPS into Navy practice. Moreover, continuity of effort and program accountability are burdened by obstructions to manpower and personnel manager professionalism caused by Navy's personnel rotation practices and deficiencies in its civilian career management program. Consequently, SHORSTAMPS has been beset by critical problems that have hindered its development and implementation, including: (1) inadequate program accountability and decisionmaking stability; (2) insufficient funds and people; (3) high turnover of trained and experienced personnel; (4) major problems in the shore-required operational capability subsystem; (5) inadequate training and assistance for users; and (6) lack of tested and approved implementation procedures. The key to SHORSTAMPS' implementation is the development and approval of a comprehensive plan which should aid Navy headquarters and the Congress in: defining short-term and long-term goals and the necessary resources; identifying the magnitude and priorities of program activities; measuring the program's progress; identifying problem areas early and resolving them; establishing accountability at all management levels; and evaluating the program's effectiveness.

Recommendations

Our 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.

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