DOD Personnel: DOD Comments on GAO's Report on DOD's Civilian
Human Capital Strategic Planning (18-APR-03, GAO-03-690R).
In response to a Congressional request, we issued a report in
March 2003 on the Department of Defense's (DOD) strategic
planning efforts for civilian personnel at DOD and selected
defense components, including the four military services and two
defense agencies. In that report we made recommendations to the
Secretary of Defense to strengthen civilian human capital
planning, including integration with military personnel and
sourcing initiatives. DOD's response to our March 2003 report and
recommendations were received too late to be included in that
report. To provide our perspective on DOD's comments, we briefly
summarize our March 2003 report's objectives, results, and
recommendations and DOD's comments, along with our evaluation of
the comments. DOD's civilian employees play key roles in such
areas as defense policy, intelligence, finance, acquisitions, and
weapon systems maintenance. Although downsized 38 percent between
fiscal years 1989 and 2002, this workforce has taken on greater
roles as a result of DOD's restructuring and transformation.
Responding to congressional concerns about the quality and
quantity of, and the strategic planning for, the civilian
workforce, we determined the following for DOD, the military
services, and selected defense agencies (the Defense Contract
Management Agency and the Defense Finance and Accounting
Service): (1) the extent of top-level leadership involvement in
civilian strategic planning; (2) whether elements in civilian
strategic plans are aligned to the overall mission, focused on
results, and based on current and future civilian workforce data;
and (3) whether civilian and military personnel strategic plans
or sourcing initiatives were integrated.
-------------------------Indexing Terms-------------------------
REPORTNUM: GAO-03-690R
ACCNO: A06693
TITLE: DOD Personnel: DOD Comments on GAO's Report on DOD's
Civilian Human Capital Strategic Planning
DATE: 04/18/2003
SUBJECT: Agency missions
Civilian employees
Human resources utilization
Labor force
Performance measures
Personnel management
Strategic planning
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GAO-03-690R
GAO- 03- 690R DOD Personnel United States General Accounting Office
Washington, DC 20548
April 18, 2003 The Honorable Solomon P. Ortiz Ranking Minority Member
Subcommittee on Readiness Committee on Armed Services House of
Representatives
Subject: DOD Personnel: DOD Comments on GAO*s Report on DOD*s Civilian
Human Capital Strategic Planning Dear Mr. Ortiz:
In response to your request, we issued a report in March 2003 to you on
the Department of Defense*s (DOD) strategic planning efforts for civilian
personnel at DOD and selected defense components, including the four
military services and two defense agencies. 1 In that report we made
recommendations to the Secretary of Defense to strengthen civilian human
capital planning, including integration with military personnel and
sourcing initiatives. 2 DOD*s response to our March 2003 report and
recommendations were received too late to be included in that report. To
provide our perspective on DOD*s comments, we briefly summarize our March
2003 report*s objectives, results, and recommendations and DOD*s comments,
along with our evaluation of the comments. DOD*s comments provided by the
Under Secretary for Personnel and Readiness are included as an enclosure
to this report.
Summary of Objectives, Results, and Recommendations
DOD*s civilian employees play key roles in such areas as defense policy,
intelligence, finance, acquisitions, and weapon systems maintenance.
Although downsized 38 percent between fiscal years 1989 and 2002, this
workforce has taken on greater roles as a result of DOD*s restructuring
and transformation. Responding to congressional concerns about the quality
and quantity of, and the strategic planning for, the civilian
1 U. S. General Accounting Office, DOD Personnel: DOD Actions Needed to
Strengthen Civilian Human Capital Strategic Planning and Integration with
Military Personnel and Sourcing Decisions, GAO- 03- 475 (Washington, D.
C.: Mar. 28, 2003). 2 Sourcing initiatives, which are undertaken to
achieve greater operating efficiencies, include such
efforts as public- private competitions under the Office of Management and
Budget (OMB) Circular A76 for commercial activities and functions; direct
conversions (converting positions from one sector to another without
public- private competition); public- private partnerships; and
privatization, divestiture, and reengineering.
GAO- 03- 690R DOD Personnel 2 workforce, we determined the following for
DOD, the military services, and selected
defense agencies (the Defense Contract Management Agency and the Defense
Finance and Accounting Service): 3 (1) the extent of top- level leadership
involvement in civilian strategic planning; (2) whether elements in
civilian strategic plans are aligned to the overall mission, focused on
results, and based on current and future civilian workforce data; and (3)
whether civilian and military personnel strategic plans or sourcing
initiatives were integrated.
We found that generally civilian personnel issues appear to be an emerging
priority among top leaders in DOD and the defense components. Although DOD
began downsizing its civilian workforce more than a decade ago, it did not
take action to strategically address challenges affecting the civilian
workforce until it issued its civilian human capital strategic plan in
April 2002. Top- level leaders in the Air Force, the Marine Corps, the
Defense Contract Management Agency, and the Defense Finance and Accounting
Service have initiated planning efforts and are working in partnership
with their civilian human capital professionals to develop and implement
civilian strategic plans; such leadership, however, was increasing in the
Army and not as evident in the Navy. High- level leadership is critical to
directing reforms and obtaining resources for successful implementation.
Moreover, DOD has not provided guidance on how to align the components*
plans with the department- level plan. Without this alignment, DOD*s and
its components* planning may lack the focus and coordination needed (1) to
carry out the Secretary of Defense*s transformation initiatives in an
effective manner and (2) to mitigate risks of not having human capital
ready to respond to national security events at home and abroad.
We also found that the human capital strategic plans we reviewed for the
most part lacked key elements found in fully developed plans. Most of the
civilian human capital goals, objectives, and initiatives were not
explicitly aligned with the overarching missions of the organizations.
Consequently, DOD and the components cannot be sure that strategic goals
are properly focused on mission achievement. Also, none of the plans
contained results- oriented performance measures to assess the impact of
their civilian human capital initiatives (i. e., programs, policies, and
processes). Thus, DOD and the components cannot gauge the extent to which
their human capital initiatives contribute to achieving their
organizations* mission. Finally, the plans did not contain data on the
skills and competencies needed to successfully accomplish future missions;
therefore, DOD and the components risk not being able to put the right
people, in the right place, and at the right time, which can result in
diminished accomplishment of the overall defense mission.
Moreover, the civilian strategic plans did not address how the civilian
workforce will be integrated with their military counterparts or sourcing
initiatives. DOD*s three human capital strategic plans* two military and
one civilian* were prepared separately and were not integrated to form a
seamless and comprehensive strategy and did not address how DOD plans to
link its human capital initiatives with its sourcing plans, such as
efforts to outsource non- core responsibilities. The
3 Throughout this report, the term *component* refers to all services and
agencies in DOD. The term *service* refers to the Air Force, the Army, the
Marine Corps, and the Navy. The term *agency* refers to the Defense
Contract Management Agency and the Defense Finance and Accounting Service.
GAO- 03- 690R DOD Personnel 3 components* civilian plans acknowledge a
need to integrate planning for civilian and
military personnel* taking into consideration contractors* but have not
yet done so. Without an integrated strategy, DOD may not effectively and
efficiently allocate its scarce resources for optimal readiness.
To improve human capital strategic planning for the DOD civilian
workforce, we recommended in our March 2003 report that the Secretary of
Defense direct the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness
to undertake the following:
Improve future revisions and updates to the DOD departmentwide strategic
human capital plan by more explicitly aligning with DOD*s overarching
mission, including results- oriented performance measures, and focusing on
future workforce needs. To accomplish this, the revisions and updates
should be developed in collaboration with top DOD and component officials
and civilian and military human capital leaders.
Direct the military services and the defense agencies to align their
strategic human capital plans with the mission, goals, objectives, and
measures included in the departmentwide strategic human capital plan and
provide guidance to these components on this alignment.
Define the future civilian workforce, identifying the characteristics
(i. e., the skills and competencies, number, deployment, etc.) of
personnel needed in the context of the total force and determine the
workforce gaps that need to be addressed through human capital
initiatives. Assign a high priority to and set a target date for
developing a departmentwide
human capital strategic plan that integrates both military and civilian
workforces and takes into account contractor roles and sourcing
initiatives.
Agency Comments And Our Evaluation
DOD*s comments on a draft of the March 2003 report are summarized below
and reproduced in enclosure I. DOD stated that it appreciated the
perspectives provided in that report and intended to address the
recommendations. Regarding our four recommendations, however, DOD
concurred with one, partially concurred with another, and nonconcurred
with two. In its comments, DOD pointed out that its strategic planning
activities are in the earliest stages of development. We acknowledge this
and, moreover, note in our March 2003 report that strategic planning is a
continuous process. Our recommendations to the Secretary of Defense, thus,
focus on steps the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness
should take to strengthen DOD*s overall strategic perspective as DOD
continues to develop planning initiatives for its civilian human capital.
Our evaluation of DOD*s comments on these recommendations follows: DOD
concurred with our recommendation to direct the military services and the
defense agencies to align their strategic human capital plans with the
departmentwide plan. DOD stated that it is the component*s responsibility
to ensure that its strategic plan and outcomes dovetail with the
departmentwide plan.
GAO- 03- 690R DOD Personnel 4 DOD partially concurred with our
recommendation to improve future revisions and
updates to the departmentwide strategic human capital plan by more
explicitly aligning its elements (including performance measures) with
DOD*s overarching mission and by focusing the plan more directly on future
workforce needs. DOD stated the recommendation did not recognize the
involvement in and the impact of DOD*s Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) on
the development of the departmentwide plan. As we note in our March 2003
report, the departmentwide civilian plan was directed in the QDR and
Defense Planning Guidance and by the Under Secretary of Defense for
Personnel and Readiness; we also note that such a plan had been
recommended, as well, in the Defense Science Board 2000 report. Our
analysis found, however, that the plan did not fully demonstrate alignment
with DOD*s overall mission in that the plan lacked explicit information
about how the civilian workforce contributes to accomplishing DOD*s
overall mission and how the achievement of human capital initiatives will
improve DOD*s performance in meeting that mission. DOD also noted that the
plan contains detailed performance indicators and measures that are
reported quarterly to OMB. In reviewing these indicators, we found, for
the most part, they are necessary measures relevant to task accomplishment
but not oriented to assessing results. In addition, DOD noted that the
plan recognizes the need for results- oriented performance measures; we
believe that our recommendation highlights the importance of developing
such measures.
DOD did not concur with our recommendation to define its future civilian
personnel needs in a total force context, including identifying the
workforce gaps that need to be addressed through human capital
initiatives. DOD stated this action was already being accomplished through
information provided to OMB and the Office of Personnel Management for the
President*s Management Agenda Scorecard. We recognize that OMB requires
workforce information, however, we cannot comment on the completeness of
the data being supplied because we were not permitted to review recent DOD
submissions to OMB. Complying with OMB requirements is important but does
not fully address the intent of our recommendation that is to ensure that
workforce data, which identify necessary future skill sets and potential
gaps that might occur in force- shaping, be compiled and analyzed as an
integral part of the strategic planning process and factored into planning
for human capital initiatives. As we note in our March 2003 report, this
information is highly important in targeting the initiatives to address
the gaps and to provide the rationale* that is, the business case* for
obtaining the resources or authorities to carry out initiatives.
Also, DOD did not concur with our recommendation to assign a high priority
to and set a target date for developing an integrated departmentwide plan
for both military and civilian workforces that takes into account
contractor roles and sourcing initiatives. DOD stated it presently has
both a military and civilian plan; the use of contractors is just another
tool to accomplish the mission, not a separate workforce, with separate
needs, to manage. The intent of our recommendation (and the one above on
workforce planning) is that strategic planning for the civilian workforce
be undertaken in the context of the total force* civilian, military, and
contractors* because the three workforces are expected to perform their
responsibilities in a seamless manner to accomplish DOD*s mission.
Integrated planning could also facilitate achieving a goal in the QDR to
focus DOD*s resources (personnel) in those areas that directly contribute
to warfighting and to rely on the private sector for non-
GAO- 03- 690R DOD Personnel 5 core functions. The need for total force
integration has been advocated in the QDR,
DOD*s response to OMB regarding a restructuring plan, the Defense Science
Board 2000 report, National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA)
studies, and the Commercial Activities Panel report. We believe strategic
planning in a total force context is especially important because the
trend toward greater reliance on contractors requires a critical mass of
civilian and military personnel with the expertise necessary to protect
the government*s interest and ensure effective oversight of contractors*
work. Workforce planning should be implemented using a coordinated and
integrated approach to determine the proper roles and mix of military,
civilian, and contractor employees within the context of mission
objectives that are essential to national security.
We continue to believe that our recommendations have merit and will
strengthen the department*s strategic planning efforts for the civilian as
well as the overall workforce; consequently, we are not revising them. DOD
also provided technical comments, which we incorporated, as appropriate,
into our March 2003 report.
Finally, we want to emphasize that we recognize a point made by the Under
Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness that DOD is in the early
stages of its strategic planning efforts. We believe that DOD has made
progress in establishing a foundation for strategically addressing
civilian human capital issues by developing its departmentwide civilian
human capital strategic plan. Opportunities exist, however, to strengthen
the planning efforts. Our March 2003 report and its recommendations should
be viewed in that light.
We are sending copies of this report to the appropriate congressional
committees; the Secretary of Defense; the Secretaries of the Air Force,
Army, and Navy; the Commandant of the Marine Corps; and the Directors of
the Defense Contract Management Agency and the Defense Finance and
Accounting Service. We will also make copies available to others upon
request. In addition, this report will be available at no charge on the
GAO Web site at http:// www. gao. gov.
If you or your staff have any questions concerning this report, please
contact me at (202) 512- 5559 or Christine Fossett at (202) 512- 2956.
Sincerely yours, Derek B. Stewart Director, Defense Capabilities and
Management
Enclosure
GAO- 03- 690R DOD Personnel 6 Enclosure I
Comments from the Department of Defense
GAO- 03- 690R DOD Personnel 7
GAO- 03- 690R DOD Personnel 8 (350366)
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