Senior Executive Service: Enhanced Agency Efforts Needed to	 
Improve Diversity as the Senior Corps Turns Over (15-OCT-03,	 
GAO-04-123T).							 
                                                                 
The federal government faces large losses in its Senior Executive
Service (SES), primarily through retirement but also because of  
other normal attrition. This presents the government with	 
substantial challenges to ensuring an able management cadre and  
also provides opportunities to affect the composition of the SES.
In a January 2003 report, GAO-03-34, GAO estimated the number of 
SES members who would actually leave service through fiscal year 
2007 and reviewed the implications for diversity, as defined by  
gender, race, and ethnicity of the estimated losses.		 
Specifically, GAO estimated by gender, race, and ethnicity the	 
number of members of the career SES who will leave government	 
service from October 1, 2000, through September 30, 2007, and	 
what the profile of the SES will be if appointment trends do not 
change. GAO made the same estimates for the pool of GS-15s and	 
GS-14s, from whose ranks the vast majority of replacements for	 
departing SES members come, to ascertain the likely composition  
of that pool.							 
-------------------------Indexing Terms------------------------- 
REPORTNUM:   GAO-04-123T					        
    ACCNO:   A08723						        
  TITLE:     Senior Executive Service: Enhanced Agency Efforts Needed 
to Improve Diversity as the Senior Corps Turns Over		 
     DATE:   10/15/2003 
  SUBJECT:   Attrition rates					 
	     Employment of minorities				 
	     Federal employees					 
	     Government job appointments			 
	     Human resources utilization			 
	     Labor force					 
	     Labor statistics					 
	     Personnel management				 
	     Statistical data					 
	     Women						 
	     Diversity						 
	     Employee separation				 
	     Senior Executive Service				 

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GAO-04-123T

United States General Accounting Office

GAO Testimony

Before the Subcommittee on Civil Service and Agency Organization,
Committee on Government Reform, House of Representatives

For Release on Delivery Expected at 2:00 p.m. EDT Wednesday, October 15,
2003

SENIOR EXECUTIVE SERVICE

 Enhanced Agency Efforts Needed to Improve Diversity as the Senior Corps Turns
                                      Over

Statement of George H. Stalcup Director, Strategic Issues

                                       A

GAO-04-123T

                                October 15, 2003

Highlights of GAO-04-123T, a testimony before the Subcommittee on Civil
Service and Agency Organization, Committee on Government Reform, House of
Representatives

The federal government faces large losses in its Senior Executive Service
(SES), primarily through retirement but also because of other normal
attrition. This presents the government with substantial challenges to
ensuring an able management cadre and also provides opportunities to
affect the composition of the SES.

In a January 2003 report, GAO-03-34, GAO estimated the number of SES
members who would actually leave service through fiscal year 2007 and
reviewed the implications for diversity, as defined by gender, race, and
ethnicity of the estimated losses. Specifically, GAO estimated by gender,
race, and ethnicity the number of members of the career SES who will leave
government service from October 1, 2000, through September 30, 2007, and
what the profile of the SES will be if appointment trends do not change.
GAO made the same estimates for the pool of GS-15s and GS-14s, from whose
ranks the vast majority of replacements for departing SES members come, to
ascertain the likely composition of that pool.

SENIOR EXECUTIVE SERVICE

Enhanced Agency Efforts Needed to Improve Diversity as the Senior Corps Turns
Over

More than half of the 6,100 career SES members employed on October 1,
2000, will have left service by October 1, 2007. Using recent SES
appointment trends, the only significant changes in diversity would be an
increase in the number of white women and an essentially equal decrease in
white men. The percentage of GS-15s and GS-14s projected to leave would be
lower (47 percent and 34 percent, respectively), and we project that the
number of minorities still in the GS-15 and GS-14 workforce would provide
agencies sufficient opportunity to select minority members for the SES.

Estimates showed substantial variation in the proportion of SES minorities
leaving between 24 large agencies and in the effect on those agencies'
gender, racial, and ethnic profiles. Minority representation at 10
agencies would decrease and at 12 would increase.

Agencies have an opportunity to affect SES replacement trends by
developing succession strategies that help achieve a diverse workforce.
Along with constructive agency leadership, these strategies could generate
a pool of well-prepared women and minorities to boost the diversity of the
SES ranks.

Projected Changes in the SES from 2000 through 2007 If Recent Appointment
Trends Continue

www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-04-123T.

To view the full testimony, including the scope and methodology, click on
the link above. For more information, contact George H. Stalcup at (202)
512-9490 or [email protected].

Madam Chairwoman and Members of the Subcommittee:

I am pleased to have this opportunity to discuss the anticipated attrition
within the Senior Executive Service (SES) and the challenges and
opportunities that this attrition presents for enhancing the gender,
racial, and ethnic diversity of the federal government's senior executive
corps. Two weeks ago, the Subcommittee held a hearing on succession
planning at the federal level. Our statement at that hearing discussed how
other countries have used succession planning and management to help them
build a more diverse leadership corps. My testimony today underscores the
importance of such an approach to succession planning and management here
in the United States and is based on the findings from our January 2003
report on the SES.1

The SES generally represents the most experienced and senior segment of
the federal workforce. The expected loss of more than half of current
career SES members through fiscal year 2007, as well as significant
attrition in the GS-15 and GS-14 workforce-the key source for SES
appointments-has important implications for federal agencies and
underscores the need for effective succession planning. Demographics of
the public served by the federal government are changing. Representation
by women and minorities in the government's executive corps and succession
pool is crucial if we expect to bring a wider variety of perspectives and
approaches to bear on policy development and implementation, strategic
planning, problem solving, and decision making, and to provide the
organizational strength that contributes to achieving results. A number of
federal organizations have oversight responsibility for federal efforts to
achieve diversity in the workplace. Key among these organizations are the
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the Office of Personnel
Management (OPM), which help to ensure that policies, laws, and
regulations designed to (1) protect federal workers from unlawful
employment discrimination and other unlawful work practices and (2)
promote equal opportunity, fairness, and inclusiveness, are carried out.

With these thoughts in mind, I would like to make three points today:

1U.S. General Accounting Office, Senior Executive Service: Enhanced Agency
Efforts Needed to Improve Diversity as the Senior Corps Turns Over,
GAO-03-34 (Washington, D.C.: Jan. 17, 2003).

First, in our January 2003 report, we estimated that 55 percent of the
career SES members employed by the federal government as of October 1,
2000, will have left the service by October 1, 2007. Our estimates for
attrition among the GS-15 and GS-14 workforce also indicate a significant
number of departures, but a lower proportion will leave because GS-15s and
GS-14s are generally younger and leave for different reasons than SES
members. We estimated that about 47 percent of the GS-15s on board as of
October 2000 will leave by October 2007 and that 34 percent of the GS-14s
will leave. Estimates of attrition showed variations across 24 large
agencies for both the SES and GS-15 and GS-14 workforce but, for most
agencies, with the proportion represented by minorities generally changing
very little.2

Second, while the past is not necessarily prologue, if recent
governmentwide appointment trends were to continue, the only significant
change in diversity by 2007 would be an increase in the number of white
women from 19 percent to 23 percent and an essentially equal decrease in
the number of white men from 67 percent to 62 percent. Because minorities
will be leaving at about the same rate as nonminorities, the current
proportion of racial and ethnic minorities in the SES would change very
little if agencies replace SES members who leave with the same mix of
appointments as they did during fiscal years 1995 through 2000. Our
estimates by agencies varied. For 10 of the 24 large agencies, future
trends, based on recent projections, show less minority representation for
SES in 2007 than in 2000, while 12 agencies show increases. At most
agencies, the diversity picture for the GS-15 and GS-14 workforce is
better than that for the SES. Even with variations by agency, if recent
promotion trends continue for the succession pool of GS-15s and GS-14s, by
October 2007, this workforce would experience a slight increase in the
percentage of minorities governmentwide. The increase, coupled with the
residual population left after attrition, indicate that significant
numbers of minority candidates for appointment to SES should be available.

Third, the wave of near-term retirements and other attrition will provide
the federal government with both a challenge and an opportunity. The
challenge will be to develop succession plans based on inclusive
strategies

2The 24 large agencies also are referred to as the 24 Chief Financial
Officer agencies. These agencies are covered by the Chief Financial
Officers Act, 31 U.S.C. S: 901. Together, the 24 agencies account for
about 96 percent of federal employees. Under H.R. 2886, the Department of
Homeland Security would be designated as a CFO Act agency and the Federal
Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) would no longer be considered a CFO Act
agency.

to help ensure that sufficient numbers of senior executives are in place
to develop and implement the policies and programs of the federal
government. The opportunity will be to use new appointments to enhance the
diversity of the SES corps and the succession pool from which SES members
are selected. Based in part on our work on the SES corps and in other
human capital areas, we have seen a positive response on the part of OPM,
EEOC, and other agencies. Continued leadership from OPM and EEOC, coupled
with a strong commitment on the part of agency managers-through such
actions as holding executives accountable for the diversity in the
workforces they manage-would help ensure the diversity of senior
leadership.

  Over the Next Several Years the Federal Government Faces Significant Losses of
  Its Most Senior Executives

The federal government's civilian workforce faces large losses over the
next several years, primarily through retirements. Expected retirements in
the SES, which generally represents the most senior and experienced
segment of the workforce, are expected to be even higher than the
governmentwide rates. In our January 2003 report, we estimated that more
than half of the government's 6,100 career SES members on board as of
October 2000 will have left the service by October 2007. Estimates for SES
attrition at 24 large agencies showed substantial variations in both the
proportion that would be leaving and the effect of those losses on the
gender, racial, and ethnic profile. We estimated that most of these
agencies would lose at least half of their corps.

The key source of replacements for the SES-the GS-15 and GS-14
workforce-also showed significant attrition governmentwide and at the 24
large agencies by fiscal year 2007. While this workforce is generally
younger, and those who leave do so for somewhat different reasons than SES
members, we estimate that almost half, 47 percent, of the GS-15s on board
as of October 2000 will have left federal employment by October 2007 and
about a third, 34 percent, of the GS-14s will have left.

If Past Appointment While past appointment trends may not continue, they
do present a

window into how the future might look. In developing our estimates
ofTrends Continue, the future diversity of the SES corps, we analyzed
appointment trends for the Diversity of the SES federal government and at
24 large agencies to determine the gender, racial, Corps Would Remain and
ethnic representation of the SES corps in 2007 if appointment trends

that took place from fiscal years 1995 through 2000 continued. We
foundVirtually Unchanged that, governmentwide, the only significant change
in diversity by 2007

would be an increase in the number of white women, from 19.1 to 23.1
percent, and a corresponding decrease in white men, from 67.1 to 62.1
percent. The proportion of the SES represented by minorities would change
very little, from 13.8 to 14.5 percent.

Table 1 presents the results by gender, racial, and ethnic groups of our
simulation of SES attrition and projection of SES appointments using
recent trends. The table also shows that the racial and ethnic profile of
those current SES members who will remain in the service through the
7-year period will be about the same as it was for all SES members in
October 2000. This is because minorities are projected to be leaving at
essentially the same rate overall as white members. Thus, any change in
minority representation will be the result of new appointments to the SES.
However, as the last columns of table 1 show, if recent appointment trends
continue, the result of replacing over half of the SES will be a corps
whose racial and ethnic profile changes very little. The outlook regarding
gender diversity is somewhat different-while the percentage represented by
SES white women is estimated to increase by 4 percentage points, the
percentage of minority women is estimated to increase by .5 percentage
point-from 4.5 to 5.0 percent. While white men are estimated to decrease
by 5 percentage points, minority men are estimated to increase by .2
percentage point, from 9.3 to 9.5 percent.

Table 1: Gender, Race, and Ethnicity of Career SES Corps, Actual as of
October 1, 2000; Those Estimated to Remain Employed on October 1, 2007,
after Accounting for Attrition; and Estimates for October 1, 2007, If
Those Departing Are Replaced at Actual Rates for Fiscal Years 1995 through
2000

 On board on October 1, 2000 Remaining after estimated attrition on October 1,
 2007 As of October 1, 2007, with replacements at appointment rates for fiscal
                                years 1995-2000

Career SES

                        Number Percentage Number Percentage Number Percentage 
        White men        4,097       67.1  1,704       62.7  3,794 
       White women       1,164       19.1    648       23.9  1,409 
African American men    333        5.5    144        5.3    347 
     African American      179        2.9     85        3.1    205 
          women                                                    
       Hispanic men        112        1.8     48        1.8    123 
      Hispanic women        43        0.7     16        0.6     43 
      Asian/Pacific         70        1.1     26        1.0     65 
       Islander men                                                
      Asian/Pacific         33        0.5     12        0.4     39 
      Islander women                                               
Native American men      54        0.9     21        0.8     47 
     Native American        21        0.3      8        0.3     21 
          women                                                    
         Unknown             4        0.1      4        0.1     17 
          Totala         6,110      100.0  2,716      100.0  6,110      100.0 
           Men           4,666       76.4  1,943       71.5  4,376 
       Minority men        569        9.3    239        8.8    582 
          Women          1,440       23.6    769       28.3  1,717 
      Minority women       276        4.5    121        4.5    308 

Source: GAO.

Note: Information obtained from analysis of OPM's Central Personnel Data
File data. aPercentages may not add to 100 because of rounding.

The results of our simulation of SES attrition and our projection of
appointments to the SES over the 7-year period showed variation across the
24 Chief Financial Officers (CFO) Act agencies, as illustrated in table 2.
However, as with the governmentwide numbers, agencies tend to increase the
proportion of women in the SES, particularly white women, and decrease the
proportion of white men. The proportion represented by minorities tended
to change relatively little. Our estimates of SES attrition at individual
agencies by gender, racial, and ethnic groups are likely to be less
precise than for our overall SES estimates because of the smaller numbers
involved. Nevertheless, the agency-specific numbers should be indicative
of what agency profiles would look like on October 1, 2007, if recent
appointment trends continue.

Table 2: Number of SES, Percentages of Women and Minorities on October 1,
2000, and Percentages of Women and Minorities on October 1, 2007, Assuming
SES Appointment Trends for Fiscal Years 1995 through 2000 Continue, by CFO
Act Agency

Percentage as of October 1, 2000

Percentage on October 1, 2007, using current appointment trends, and
percentage change from October 1, 2000

CFO agency

                 Number                                               
                 of SES Women  Minorities  Women  Change  Minorities   Change 
Agriculture      283   25.4        20.1  30.0     +4.6        23.0    +2.8 
       AID           25   20.0        20.0  20.8     +0.8         4.2 
     Commerce       296   23.3        12.5  30.9     +7.6        15.1    +2.6 
     Defense      1,144   16.3         6.1  20.7     +4.4         6.1 
    Education        60   28.3        21.7  32.3     +3.9        21.0 
      Energy        391   18.9        10.7  25.8     +6.9         9.5 
       EPA          255   29.8        15.3  35.7     +5.9        23.1    +7.8 
      FEMAa          32   21.9         3.1  28.1     +6.3         3.1 
       GSA           84   28.6        14.3  32.9     +4.4        12.9 
       HHS          399   36.1        21.3  41.2     +5.1        22.9    +1.6 
       HUD           73   28.8        35.6  38.2     +9.4        40.8    +5.2 
     Interior       191   31.9        22.0  39.3     +7.3        23.6    +1.6 
     Justice        407   22.6        15.2  25.0     +2.4        16.7    +1.4 
      Labor         132   28.0        21.2  32.8     +4.8        26.0    +4.7 
       NASA         394   19.5        13.2  23.5     +4.0        12.9 
       NRC          139   13.7        11.5  17.3     +3.8         8.6 
       NSF           79   30.4        13.9  35.0     +4.6        10.0 

          OPM           36     41.7    19.4    45.7    +4.0    17.1      -2.3 
          SBA           39     33.3    33.3    36.6    +3.3    34.1      +0.8 
          SSA           118    35.6    33.1    41.0    +5.4    30.8      -2.3 
         State          101    28.7     5.0    30.0    +1.3     3.0      -2.0 
     Transportation     178    27.0    14.5    29.2    +2.2    17.4      +2.8 
        Treasury        537    23.3    12.8    24.3    +1.0    14.2      +1.3 
           VA           247    14.6     9.7    21.4    +6.8    11.7      +2.0 

Source: GAO.

Notes: AID is the Agency for International Development, EPA is the
Environmental Protection Agency, GSA is the General Services
Administration, HHS is the Department of Health and Human Services, HUD is
the Department of Housing and Urban Development, NASA is the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration, NRC is the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission, NSF is the National Science Foundation, SBA is the Small
Business Administration, SSA is the Social Security Administration, and VA
is the Department of Veterans Affairs. Information obtained from analysis
of OPM's Central Personnel Data File data.

aUnder H.R. 2886, the Department of Homeland Security would be designated
as a CFO Act agency and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
would no longer be considered a CFO Act agency.

The gender, racial, and ethnic profiles of the career SES at the 24 CFO
Act agencies varied significantly on October 1, 2000. The representation
of women ranged from 13.7 percent to 36.1 percent with half of the
agencies having 27 percent or fewer women. For minority representation,
rates varied even more and ranged from 3.1 percent to 35.6 percent with
half of the agencies having less than 15 percent minorities in the SES.

Our projection of what the SES would look like if recent appointment
trends continued through October 1, 2007, showed variation, with 12
agencies having increased minority representation and 10 having less.
While projected changes for women are often appreciable, with 16 agencies
having gains of 4 percentage points or more and no decreases, projected
minority representation changes in the SES at most of the CFO Act agencies
are small, exceeding a 2 percentage point increase at only 6 agencies.

At most agencies, the diversity picture for GS-15s and GS-14s is somewhat
better than that for the SES. To ascertain what the gender, racial, and
ethnic profile of the candidate pool for SES replacements would look like,
we performed the same simulations and projections for GS-15s and GS-14s as
we did for the SES. Over 80 percent of career SES appointments of federal
employees come from the ranks of GS-15s.3 Similarly, over 90 percent of
those promoted to GS-15 are from the GS-14 workforce. Table 3 presents the
results of our analysis for GS-15s, and table 4 presents the results for
GS-14s. The results show a somewhat lower proportion of this workforce
will leave.

3A small number of GS-14s are promoted to SES and it is possible for
GS-13s to be promoted to SES, but this is rare. The remaining SES
appointments come from applicants outside of the federal government.

Table 3: Gender, Race, and Ethnicity of GS-15s, Actual as of October 1,
2000; Those Estimated to Remain Employed on October 1, 2007, after
Accounting for Attrition; and Estimates for October 1, 2007, If Those
Departing Are Replaced at Actual Rates for Fiscal Years 1995 through 2000

 On board on October 1, 2000 Remaining after estimated attrition on October 1,
  2007 As of October 1, 2007, with replacements at promotion rates for fiscal
                                years 1995-2000

GS-15

                        Number Percentage Number Percentage Number Percentage 
        White men       33,567       64.8 16,731       61.2 31,383 
       White women      10,062       19.4  5,884       21.5 11,399 
African American men  1,711        3.3    981        3.6  2,004 
     African American    1,500        2.9    909        3.3  1,799 
          women                                                    
       Hispanic men      1,197        2.3    702        2.6  1,375 
      Hispanic women       470        0.9    285        1.0    560 
      Asian/Pacific      2,063        4.0  1,090        4.0  1,872 
       Islander men                                                
      Asian/Pacific        836        1.6    500        1.8    879 
      Islander women                                               
Native American men     278        0.5    152        0.6    352 
     Native American       103        0.2     54        0.2    116 
          women                                                    
         Unknown            39        0.1     39        0.1     88 
          Totala        51,826      100.0 27,327      100.0 51,827      100.0 
           Men          38,816       74.9 19,656       71.9 36,986 
       Minority men      5,249       10.0  2,925       10.7  5,603 
          Women         12,971       25.0  7,632       27.9 14,753 
      Minority women     2,909        5.6  1,748        6.4  3,354 

Source: GAO. Note: Information obtained from analysis of OPM's Central
Personnel Data File data. aPercentages may not add to 100 because of
rounding.

Table 4: Gender, Race, and Ethnicity of GS-14s, Actual as of October 1,
2000; Those Estimated to Remain Employed on October 1, 2007, after
Accounting for Attrition; and Estimates for October 1, 2007, If Those
Departing Are Replaced at Actual Rates for Fiscal Years 1995 through 2000

 On board on October 1, 2000 Remaining after estimated attrition on October 1,
  2007 As of October 1, 2007, with replacements at promotion rates for fiscal
                                years 1995-2000

GS-14

                        Number Percentage Number Percentage Number Percentage 
        White men       49,548       59.6 31,297       57.1 47,799 
       White women      18,759       22.6 12,828       23.4 19,559 
African American men  3,401        4.1 2,365         4.3 3,549  
     African American    4,067        4.9 2,921         5.3 4,293  
          women                                                    
       Hispanic men      2,117        2.5 1,551         2.8 2,374  
      Hispanic women       884        1.1    674        1.2 1,010  
      Asian/Pacific      2,426        2.9 1,696         3.1 2,372  
       Islander men                                                
      Asian/Pacific      1,036        1.2    775        1.4 1,144  
      Islander women                                               
Native American men     579        0.7    385        0.7    615 
     Native American       294        0.4    200        0.4    315 
          women                                                    
         Unknown            75        0.1     75        0.1    156 
          Totala        83,186      100.0 54,767      100.0 83,186      100.0 
           Men          58,071       69.8 37,294       68.1 56,709 
       Minority men      8,523       10.2 5,997        11.0 8,910  
          Women         25,040       30.1 17,398       31.8 26,321 
      Minority women     6,281        7.6 4,570         8.3 6,762  

Source: GAO.

Note: Information obtained from analysis of OPM's Central Personnel Data
File data. aPercentages may not add to 100 because of rounding.

Minority representation among those GS-15s who remain by 2007 will be
about the same as it was at the beginning of fiscal year 2001, indicating
that whites and minorities will leave at about the same rates. However,
the proportion of minority GS-14s would increase somewhat (by 1.5
percentage points) and the proportion of both grades represented by white
and minority women will also increase. Moreover, if recent promotion
trends to GS-15 and GS-14 continue, marginal gains by almost all of the
racial and ethnic groups would result. Our simulation shows that
significant numbers of current minority GS-15s and GS-14s will be employed
through fiscal year 2007, and coupled with our projection of promotions,
shows there will be substantial numbers of minorities at both the GS-15
(8,957) and GS-14 (15,672) levels, meaning that a sufficient

number of minority candidates for appointment to the SES should be
available.

With respect to gender, the percentage of white women at GS-15 is
projected to increase by 2.6 percentage points to 22 percent and at GS-14
by 0.9 percentage point to 23.5 percent. The proportions of minority women
will increase by 0.9 percentage point to 6.5 percent for GS-15s and 0.5
percentage point to 8.1 percent for GS-14s, while those for minority men
will increase 0.8 percentage point to 10.8 percent for GS-15s and 0.5
percentage point to 10.7 percent for GS-14s. At 60.6 percent, white men
will represent 4.2 percentage points less of GS-15s and, at 57.5 percent,
2.1 percentage points less of GS-14s than in fiscal year 2001. Again, our
estimates for the GS-15 and GS-14 populations at individual agencies are
likely to be less precise than our governmentwide figures because of the
smaller numbers involved but should be indicative of what agency profiles
would look like in October 2007.

  Replacing Over Half of the SES Corps Presents a Challenge and an Opportunity
  for Federal Government

During fiscal years 2001 through 2007, the wave of near-term retirements
and normal attrition for other reasons presents the federal government
with the challenge and opportunity to replace over half of its career SES
corps. The response to this challenge and opportunity will have enormous
implications for the government's ability to transform itself to carry out
its current and future responsibilities rather than simply to recreate the
existing organizational structures.

With respect to the challenge, the federal government and governments
around the world are faced with losses that have a direct impact on
leadership continuity, institutional knowledge, and expertise. Focusing on
succession planning, especially at the senior levels, and developing
strategies that will help ensure that the SES corps reflects diversity
will be important. We have gained insights about selected succession
planning and management practices used by other countries that may be
instrumental for U.S. agencies as they adopt succession planning and
management strategies.4 We found that leading organizations engage in
broad, integrated succession planning and management efforts that focus on
strengthening both current and future organizational capacity. As part

4U.S. General Accounting Office, Human Capital: Insights for U.S. Agencies
from Other Countries' Succession Planning and Management Initiatives,
GAO-03-914 (Washington, D.C.: Sept. 15, 2003).

of this approach, these organizations identify, develop, and select their
people to ensure an ongoing supply of successors who are the right people,
with the right skills, at the right time for leadership and other key
positions.

Succession planning is also tied to the federal government's opportunity
to change the diversity of the SES corps through new appointments. Leading
organizations recognize that diversity can be an organizational strength
that contributes to achieving results. By incorporating diversity program
activities and objectives into agency succession planning, agencies can
help ensure that the SES corps is staffed with the best and brightest
talent available regardless of gender, race, or ethnicity. As stated
earlier, the succession pool of candidates from the GS-15 and GS-14 levels
should have significant numbers of minority candidates to fill new
appointments to the SES. It will be important to identify and nurture
talent from this workforce and other levels in agencies early in their
careers. Development programs that identify and prepare individuals for
increased leadership and managerial responsibilities will be critical in
allowing these individuals to successfully compete for admission to the
candidate pool for the next level in the organization. Succession planning
and management is starting to receive increased attention from the Office
of Management and Budget (OMB) and OPM, 5 and we have also seen a positive
response from these leadership agencies in developing and implementing
programs that promote diversity.

In commenting on our January 2003 report, OPM concurred with our findings
on SES attrition and diversity and said it welcomed the attention the
report brings to a critical opportunity facing the federal workforce and
federal hiring officials. The Director said that increasing diversity in
the executive ranks continues to be a top priority for OPM and that the
agency has been proactive in its efforts to help federal agencies obtain
and retain a diverse workforce, particularly in the senior ranks.6 Both
OPM and EEOC said that our analysis was an accurate reflection of the
likely future composition of the career SES if recent patterns of
selection and attrition

5OMB revised Circular A-11 to require that federal agencies' fiscal year
2005 annual performance plans prepared under the Government Performance
and Results Act identify specific activities agencies plan to take to
ensure leadership continuity. In addition, as part of the President's
Management Agenda, OPM set the goal that continuity of leadership and
knowledge is assured through succession planning and professional
development programs in 25 percent of all federal agencies by July 2004.

6To promote diversity in succession planning, OPM has unveiled plans for a
Candidate Development Program that targets qualified minorities.

continue. EEOC expressed concern about the trends suggested by our
analyses to the extent that they may point to the presence of arbitrary
barriers that limit qualified members of any group from advancing into the
SES. EEOC also stated that in the years ahead, federal agencies will need
to continue their vigilance in ensuring a level playing field for all
federal workers and should explore proactive strategies, such as
succession planning and SES development and mentoring programs for
midlevel employees, to ensure a diverse group of highly qualified
candidates for SES positions. Other federal agencies told us that they
also have leadership development programs in place or are establishing
agencywide human capital planning and executive succession programs, which
include diversity as an element. They also told us that holding executives
accountable for building a diverse workforce was an element in their
performance evaluation for agency executives. Continued leadership from
these agencies, coupled with a strong commitment from agency management,
will go a long way toward ensuring the diversity of senior leadership.

Chairwoman Davis and Members of the Subcommittee, this concludes my
prepared statement. I would be pleased to answer any questions you may
have.

Contacts and 	For further information, please contact George H. Stalcup on
(202) 512-9490 or at [email protected]. Individuals making key
contributions to this

Acknowledgments	testimony include Steven Berke, Anthony Lofaro, Belva
Martin, and Walter Reed.

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