Human Capital: Transforming Federal Recruiting and Hiring Efforts
(08-MAY-08, GAO-08-762T).					 
                                                                 
To address the challenges that the nation faces, it will be	 
important for federal agencies to change their cultures and	 
create the institutional capacity to become high-performing	 
organizations. This includes recruiting and retaining a federal  
workforce able to create, sustain, and thrive in organizations	 
that are flatter, results-oriented, and externally focused. In	 
2001, GAO identified strategic human capital management as a	 
governmentwide high-risk area because federal agencies lacked a  
strategic approach to human capital management that integrated	 
human capital efforts with their missions and program goals.	 
Although progress has been made since that time, strategic human 
capital management still remains a high-risk area. This 	 
testimony, based on a large body of completed work issued from	 
January 2001 through April 2008, focuses on (1) challenges that  
federal agencies have faced in recruiting and hiring talented	 
employees, (2) progress in addressing these challenges, and (3)  
additional actions that are needed to strengthen recruiting and  
hiring efforts. In its prior reports, GAO has made a range of	 
recommendations to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM)--the 
government's personnel agency--and to agencies in such areas as  
hiring, workforce planning, and diversity management; a number of
these recommendations have since been implemented. GAO is making 
no new recommendations at this time.				 
-------------------------Indexing Terms------------------------- 
REPORTNUM:   GAO-08-762T					        
    ACCNO:   A82021						        
  TITLE:     Human Capital: Transforming Federal Recruiting and Hiring
Efforts 							 
     DATE:   05/08/2008 
  SUBJECT:   Accountability					 
	     Diversity management				 
	     Employee retention 				 
	     Employees						 
	     Employment 					 
	     Federal agencies					 
	     Federal employees					 
	     Hiring policies					 
	     Human capital					 
	     Human capital management				 
	     Human capital planning				 
	     Human capital policies				 
	     Personnel recruiting				 
	     Program evaluation 				 
	     Program management 				 
	     Risk assessment					 
	     Risk management					 
	     Skilled labor					 
	     Staff utilization					 
	     Strategic planning 				 
	     program goals or objectives			 
	     GAO High Risk Series				 

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GAO-08-762T

   

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Testimony before the Subcommittee on Oversight of Government 
Management, the Federal Workforce, and the District of Columbia, 
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, U.S. Senate: 

United States Government Accountability Office: 

GAO: 

For Release on Delivery Expected at 10:00 a.m. EDT: 

Thursday, May 8, 2008: 

Human Capital: 

Transforming Federal Recruiting and Hiring Efforts: 

Statement of Robert N. Goldenkoff Director, Strategic Issues: 

GAO-08-762T: 

GAO Highlights: 

Highlights of GAO-08-762T, a testimony before the Subcommittee on 
Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce, and the 
District of Columbia, Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental 
Affairs, U.S. Senate. 

Why GAO Did This Study: 

To address the challenges that the nation faces, it will be important 
for federal agencies to change their cultures and create the 
institutional capacity to become high-performing organizations. This 
includes recruiting and retaining a federal workforce able to create, 
sustain, and thrive in organizations that are flatter, results-
oriented, and externally focused. 

In 2001, GAO identified strategic human capital management as a 
governmentwide high-risk area because federal agencies lacked a 
strategic approach to human capital management that integrated human 
capital efforts with their missions and program goals. Although 
progress has been made since that time, strategic human capital 
management still remains a high-risk area. 

This testimony, based on a large body of completed work issued from 
January 2001 through April 2008, focuses on (1) challenges that federal 
agencies have faced in recruiting and hiring talented employees, (2) 
progress in addressing these challenges, and (3) additional actions 
that are needed to strengthen recruiting and hiring efforts. In its 
prior reports, GAO has made a range of recommendations to the Office of 
Personnel Management (OPM)ï¿½the governmentï¿½s personnel agencyï¿½and to 
agencies in such areas as hiring, workforce planning, and diversity 
management; a number of these recommendations have since been 
implemented. GAO is making no new recommendations at this time. 

What GAO Found: 

Numerous studies over the years have identified a range of problems and 
challenges with recruitment and hiring in the federal government. Some 
of these problems and challenges include passive recruitment 
strategies, unclear job vacancy announcements, and manual processes 
that are time consuming and paperwork intensive. In recent years, 
Congress, OPM, and agencies have made important strides in improving 
federal recruitment and hiring. For example, Congress has provided 
agencies with hiring flexibilities that could help to streamline the 
hiring process. OPM has sponsored job fairs and developed automated 
tools. Individual agencies have developed targeted recruitment 
strategies to identify and help build a talented workforce. 

Building on the progress that has been made, additional efforts are 
needed in the following areas. 

Human capital planning: Federal agencies will have to bolster their 
efforts in strategic human capital planning to ensure that they are 
prepared to meet their current and emerging hiring needs. Agencies must 
determine the critical skills and competencies necessary to achieve 
programmatic goals and develop strategies that are tailored to address 
any identified gaps. 

Diversity management: Developing and maintaining workforces that 
reflect all segments of society and our nationï¿½s diversity is another 
significant aspect of agenciesï¿½ recruitment challenges. Recruitment is 
a key first step toward establishing a diverse workforce. Agencies must 
consider active recruitment strategies, such as building formal 
relationships with targeted schools and colleges, and partnering with 
multicultural professional organizations. 

Use of existing flexibilities: Agencies need to reexamine the 
flexibilities provided to them under current authorities, including 
monetary recruitment and retention incentives, special hiring 
authorities, and work-life programs. Agencies can then identify those 
existing flexibilities that could be used more extensively or more 
effectively to meet their workforce needs. 

OPM leadership: OPM has taken significant steps in fostering and 
guiding improvements in recruiting and hiring in the executive branch. 
For example, OPM, working with and through the Chief Human Capital 
Officers Council, has moved forward in compiling information on 
effective and innovative practices and sharing this information with 
agencies. Still, OPM must continue to work to ensure that agencies take 
action on this information. Also, OPM needs to make certain that it has 
the internal capacity to guide agenciesï¿½ readiness to implement change 
and achieve desired outcomes. 

OPM and agencies should be held accountable for the ongoing monitoring 
and refinement of human capital approaches to recruit and hire a 
capable and committed federal workforce. With continued commitment and 
strong leadership, the federal government can indeed be an employer of 
choice. 

To view the full product, including the scope and methodology, click on 
[hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-08-762T]. For more 
information, contact Robert Goldenkoff at (202) 512-6806 or 
[email protected]. 

[End of section] 

Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee: 

Thank you for the opportunity to be here today to discuss recruiting 
and hiring of the next generation of federal employees. Today's hearing 
coincides with Public Service Recognition Week, which honors the men 
and women who serve America as federal, state, and local government 
employees. We commend the subcommittee for this opportunity to 
highlight the progress that the federal government has made in 
improving its recruitment and hiring practices over the past few years 
as well as draw attention to the continued challenges and opportunities 
facing federal agencies in acquiring capable and committed employees. 

The importance of a top-notch federal workforce cannot be overstated. 
The nation is facing new and more complex challenges in the 21st 
century as various forces are reshaping the United States and its place 
in the world. These forces include a large and growing long-term fiscal 
imbalance, evolving national and homeland security threats, increasing 
global interdependence, and a changing economy. Further, as we have 
pointed out in our High-Risk Series and other reports for Congress, 
some federal agencies continue to face persistent performance and 
accountability problems at a time when taxpayers have come to expect-- 
and need--higher levels of performance and greater responsiveness by 
public officials and programs. 

To address these challenges, it will be important for federal agencies 
to change their cultures and create the institutional capacity to 
become high-performing organizations. This includes recruiting and 
retaining employees able to create, sustain, and thrive in 
organizations that are flatter, results-oriented, and externally 
focused and that collaborate with other governmental entities as well 
as with the private and nonprofit sectors to achieve desired outcomes. 

As you are aware, in 2001, we identified federal human capital 
management as a governmentwide high-risk area because federal agencies 
lacked a strategic approach to human capital management that integrated 
human capital efforts with their missions and program goals.[Footnote 
1] Although progress has been made since that time, strategic human 
capital management still remains on our high-risk list.[Footnote 2] As 
we have previously reported in our work on human capital issues, 
federal agencies do not consistently have the modern human capital 
programs and policies needed to ensure that they have the right people 
in the right jobs at the right time to meet the challenges they 
face.[Footnote 3] 

Exacerbating this problem, governmentwide, about one-third of federal 
employees on board at the end of fiscal year 2007 will become eligible 
to retire by 2012. Proportions of workers eligible to retire are 
projected to be especially high in certain occupations--some of them 
mission critical--as well as in key leadership positions. Indeed, as we 
recently reported, about 51 percent of customs and border protection 
agents, 58 percent of air traffic controllers, 85 percent of 
administrative law judges, and 64 percent of career executives may be 
eligible to retire by 2012.[Footnote 4] 

That said, the way forward is not gloomy. In many ways, the federal 
government is well positioned to acquire, develop, and retain the 
people it needs to carry out its diverse roles and responsibilities. 
Importantly, federal employment offers rewards, such as interesting 
work and opportunities to make a difference in the lives of others, as 
well as a variety of tangible benefits and work-life flexibilities that 
make an organization an employer of choice.[Footnote 5] Moreover, OPM 
and agencies have made noteworthy progress in addressing the various 
human capital challenges they face, often in response to our findings 
and recommendations. For example: 

* OPM identified additional human capital flexibilities and worked to 
build consensus for legislative change; 

* the Office of Management and Budget directed agencies to adopt a 
strategic approach to acquisition workforce planning; and: 

* the Department of Housing and Urban Development prepared a strategic 
workforce plan to be better prepared to recruit and hire the people it 
needs to fulfill its mission. 

As requested, my testimony today will focus on (1) challenges that 
federal agencies have faced in recruiting and hiring talented 
employees, (2) the progress that has been made to date in addressing 
these challenges, and (3) additional actions that are needed moving 
forward to strengthen the government's recruiting and hiring efforts. 
My remarks today will underscore the following: Improving the federal 
recruiting and hiring process to attract the next generation of federal 
employees is a shared responsibility between the federal government's 
central personnel agency--the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), 
individual agencies, and Congress. With sustained and committed 
leadership, innovation, and planning, the federal government can brand 
itself as an employer of choice and successfully compete in the labor 
market for its fair share of the nation's best and brightest 
individuals. 

This testimony is based on a large body of our completed work issued 
from January 2001 through April 2008. Our previous work included 
reviews of OPM and agency documents related to federal hiring, studies 
on recruiting and hiring that were completed by other organizations in 
recent years, as well as data from OPM's central database of 
governmentwide personnel information. We also interviewed various 
officials from OPM, the interagency Chief Human Capital Officers 
Council, and selected federal agencies. We performed our performance 
audits in accordance with generally accepted government auditing 
standards. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit 
to obtain sufficient, appropriate evidence to provide a reasonable 
basis for our findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives. 
We believe that the evidence obtained provides a reasonable basis for 
our findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives. 

Federal Recruiting and Hiring Has Been a Long-standing Challenge: 

For years it has been widely recognized that the federal hiring process 
all too often does not meet the needs of (1) agencies in achieving 
their missions; (2) managers in filling positions with the right 
talent; and (3) applicants for a timely, efficient, transparent, and 
merit-based process. In short, the federal hiring process is often an 
impediment to the very customers it is designed to serve in that it 
makes it difficult for agencies and managers to obtain the right people 
with the right skills, and applicants can be dissuaded from public 
service because of the complex and lengthy procedures. 

Numerous studies over the past decade by OPM, the Merit Systems 
Protection Board (MSPB), the National Academy of Public Administration, 
the Partnership for Public Service, the National Commission on the 
Public Service, and GAO have identified a range of problems and 
challenges with recruitment and hiring in the federal government, 
including the following:[Footnote 6] 

* Passive recruitment strategies. 

* Poor and insufficient workforce planning. 

* Unclear job vacancy announcements. 

* Time-consuming and paperwork-intensive manual processes. 

* Imprecise candidate assessment tools. 

* Ineffective use of existing hiring flexibilities. 

These problems put the federal government at a serious competitive 
disadvantage in acquiring talent. For example, passive recruitment 
strategies, such as infrequent or no outreach to college campuses, miss 
opportunities to expose potential employees to information about 
federal jobs. Unclear and unfriendly vacancy announcements can cause 
confusion for applicants, delay hiring, and serve as poor recruiting 
tools. Weak candidate assessment tools can inadequately predict future 
job performance and result in the hiring of individuals who do not 
fully possess the appropriate skills for the job. As evidence of these 
and other problems, MSPB's most recently published Merit Principles 
Survey results found that only 5 percent of federal managers and 
supervisors said that they faced no significant barriers to hiring 
employees for their agencies.[Footnote 7] 

Congress, OPM, and Agencies Have Taken Significant Steps to Help 
Improve Recruiting and Hiring: 

In recent years, Congress, OPM, and agencies have taken a series of 
important actions to improve recruiting and hiring in the federal 
sector. For example, Congress has provided agencies with hiring 
flexibilities that could help agencies streamline their hiring 
processes and give agency managers more latitude in selecting among 
qualified job candidates. Congress has also provided several agencies 
with exemptions from the pay and classification restrictions of the 
General Schedule. Other examples of congressional action related to 
recruitment and hiring follow. 

* Dual compensation waivers to rehire federal retirees. OPM may grant 
waivers allowing agencies to fill positions with rehired federal 
annuitants without offsetting the salaries by the amount of the 
annuities.[Footnote 8] Agencies can request waivers on a case-by-case 
basis for positions that are extremely difficult to fill or for 
emergencies or other unusual circumstances. Agencies can also request 
from OPM a delegation of authority to grant waivers for emergencies or 
other unusual circumstances. 

* Special authority to hire for positions in contracting. Agencies can 
rehire federal annuitants to fill positions in contracting without 
being required to offset the salaries. Agencies are required only to 
notify and submit their hiring plans to OPM.[Footnote 9] 

* Enhanced annual leave computation. Agencies may credit relevant 
private sector experience when computing annual leave amounts.[Footnote 
10] 

As the federal government's central personnel management agency, OPM 
has a key role in helping agencies acquire, develop, retain, and manage 
their human capital. In the areas of recruiting and hiring, OPM has, 
for example, done the following. 

* Sponsored job fairs across the country and produced television 
commercials to make the public more aware of the work that federal 
employees do. 

* Developed a 45-day hiring model to help agencies identify the steps 
in their processes that tend to bog them down, and created a detailed 
checklist to assist agencies in undertaking a full-scale makeover of 
their hiring process from beginning to end. 

* Developed a Hiring Tool Kit on its Web site that is to aid agencies 
in improving and refining their hiring processes and that includes a 
tool to assist agency officials in determining the appropriate hiring 
flexibilities to use given their specific situations. 

* Updated and expanded its report Human Resources Flexibilities and 
Authorities in the Federal Government, which serves as a handbook for 
agencies in identifying current flexibilities and authorities and how 
they can be used to address human capital challenges. 

* Established standardized vacancy announcement templates for common 
occupations, such as secretarial, accounting, and accounting technician 
positions, into which agencies can insert summary information 
concerning their specific jobs prior to posting for public 
announcement. 

Individual federal agencies have also taken actions to meet their 
specific recruitment and hiring needs. For example: 

* The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has used a 
combination of techniques to recruit workers with critical skills, 
including targeted recruitment activities, educational outreach 
programs, improved compensation and benefits packages, professional 
development programs, and streamlined hiring authorities.[Footnote 11] 
Many of NASA's external hires have been for entry-level positions 
through the Cooperative Education Program, which provides NASA centers 
with the opportunity to develop and train future employees and assess 
the abilities of potential employees before making them permanent job 
offers. 

* The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has endeavored to align its 
human capital planning framework with its strategic goals and has 
identified the activities needed to achieve a diverse, skilled 
workforce and an infrastructure that supports the agency's mission and 
goals.[Footnote 12] NRC has used various flexibilities in recruiting 
and hiring new employees, and it has tracked the frequency and cost 
associated with the use of some flexibilities. While there was room for 
further improvement, NRC has been effective in recruiting, developing, 
and retaining a critically skilled workforce. 

Additional Actions Are Needed to Strengthen Recruiting and Hiring: 

While these actions are all steps in the right direction, our past work 
has found that additional efforts are needed in the areas of strategic 
human capital planning, diversity management, and the use of existing 
flexibilities. In addressing these areas, agency managers need to be 
held accountable for maximizing the efficiency and effectiveness of 
their recruiting efforts and hiring processes. In addition, OPM, 
working with and through the Chief Human Capital Officers Council, must 
use its leadership position to vigorously and convincingly encourage 
continuous improvement in agencies and provide appropriate assistance 
to support agencies' recruitment and hiring efforts. In carrying out 
its important role, OPM will need to ensure that it has the internal 
capacity to assist and guide agencies' readiness to implement needed 
improvements. I will discuss each one of these areas in turn. 

Human Capital Planning: 

First and foremost, federal agencies will have to bolster their efforts 
in strategic human capital planning to ensure that they are prepared to 
meet their current and emerging hiring needs. To build effective 
recruiting and hiring programs, agencies must determine the critical 
skills and competencies necessary to achieve programmatic goals and 
develop strategies that are tailored to address any identified gaps. 
For example, an agency's strategic human capital plan should address 
the demographic trends that the agency faces with its workforce, 
especially pending retirements. We have found that leading 
organizations go beyond a succession planning approach that focuses on 
simply replacing individuals; instead, agencies should consider their 
future mission requirements and the knowledge, skills, and abilities 
needed to meet those requirements.[Footnote 13] 

Recruiting and hiring for the acquisition workforce is a prime example 
of the government's strategic human capital planning challenges. 
Acquisition of products and services from contractors consumes about a 
quarter of discretionary spending governmentwide and is a key function 
in many federal agencies. We have reported that many acquisition 
professionals need to acquire a new set of skills focusing on business 
management because of a more sophisticated business 
environment.[Footnote 14] At a GAO-sponsored forum in July 2006, 
acquisition experts reported that agency leaders had not recognized or 
elevated the importance of the acquisition profession within their 
organizations, and a strategic approach had not been taken across 
government or within agencies to focus on workforce challenges, such as 
creating a positive image essential to successfully recruiting and 
retaining a new generation of talented acquisition 
professionals.[Footnote 15] 

Diversity Management: 

Developing and maintaining workforces that reflect all segments of 
society and our nation's diversity is another significant aspect of 
agencies' recruitment challenges. As we have previously reported, 
recruitment is a key first step toward establishing a diverse 
workforce.[Footnote 16] To ensure that they are reaching out to diverse 
pools of talent, agencies must consider active recruitment strategies, 
such as the following: 

* Widening the selection of schools from which they recruit to include, 
for example, historically Black colleges and universities, Hispanic- 
serving institutions, women's colleges, and schools with international 
programs. 

* Building formal relationships with targeted schools and colleges to 
ensure the cultivation of talent for future applicant pools. 

* Partnering with multicultural professional organizations and speaking 
at their conferences to communicate their commitment to diversity to 
external audiences and strengthen and maintain relationships. 

For these types of recruitment strategies, agencies can calculate the 
cost of recruiting channels and cross-reference those costs with the 
volume and quality of candidates yielded in order to reallocate funds 
to the most effective recruiting channels. 

Several agencies have taken steps toward developing and implementing 
active recruitment strategies that take into account a diverse pool of 
job candidates. For example: 

* NASA developed a strategy for recruiting Hispanics that focuses on 
increasing educational attainment, beginning in kindergarten and 
continuing into college and graduate school, with the goal of 
attracting students into the NASA workforce and aerospace community. 
NASA said it must compete with the private sector for the pool of 
Hispanics qualified for aerospace engineering positions, which is often 
attracted by more-lucrative employment opportunities in the private 
sector in more preferable locations.[Footnote 17] NASA centers 
sponsored, and its employees participated in, mentoring, tutoring, and 
other programs to encourage Hispanic and other students to pursue 
careers in science, engineering, technology, and mathematics. 

* An official with the National Institute of Standards and Technology 
(NIST) said that when NIST hosted recruitment or other programs, it 
made use of relationships the agency had with colleges, universities, 
and other groups to inform students about internship or employment 
opportunities.[Footnote 18] One group that helped to arrange such 
recruitment efforts was the National Organization of Black Chemists and 
Black Chemical Engineers. The NIST official said that NIST had been 
active in the professional organization's leadership for years and that 
NIST employees had served on its executive board. Another NIST official 
said that the professional organization had helped with NIST's efforts 
to recruit summer interns. 

* The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) developed internship 
opportunities designed to recruit a diverse group of future candidates 
for the agency.[Footnote 19] Its Minority-Serving Institutions 
Internship Program was designed to provide professional knowledge and 
experience at FAA or firms in the private sector for minority students 
and students with disabilities who are enrolled in a college or 
university, major in relevant fields and related disciplines, and have 
a minimum of a 3.0 grade point average. Students in the internship 
program could earn academic credit for their participation during the 
fall or spring semesters or over the summer. 

Use of Existing Flexibilities: 

Additionally, the appropriate use of human capital flexibilities is 
crucial to making further improvements in agencies' efforts to recruit, 
hire, and manage their workforces. Federal agencies often have varied 
statutory authorities related to workforce management.[Footnote 20] 
These authorities provide agencies with flexibility in helping them 
manage their human capital strategically to achieve results. In 
previous reports and testimonies, we have emphasized that in addressing 
their human capital challenges, federal agencies should first identify 
and use the flexibilities already available under existing laws and 
regulations and then seek additional flexibilities only when necessary 
and based on sound business cases. Our work has found that the 
insufficient and ineffective use of these existing flexibilities can 
significantly hinder the ability of federal agencies to recruit, hire, 
retain, and manage their human capital.[Footnote 21] 

The ineffective use of available hiring flexibilities represents a lost 
opportunity for agencies to effectively manage human capital. In 2002, 
Congress provided agencies with two new hiring flexibilities.[Footnote 
22] One of these hiring flexibilities, known as category rating, 
permits an agency to select best-qualified job candidates for a 
position rather than being limited to the three top-ranked job 
candidates. The other hiring flexibility, often referred to as direct 
hire, allows an agency to appoint people to positions without adherence 
to certain competitive examination requirements when there is a severe 
shortage of qualified candidates or a critical hiring need. However, we 
have found that agencies were making limited use of these available 
flexibilities.[Footnote 23] Various agency officials from across the 
federal government often had previously cited both of these hiring 
flexibilities as needed tools to help in improving the federal hiring 
process. 

Agencies need to reexamine the flexibilities provided to them under 
current authorities and identify those that could be used more 
extensively or more effectively to meet their workforce needs. Our 
prior work has identified several human capital flexibilities that 
agency officials and union representatives frequently cited as most 
effective for managing their workforces.[Footnote 24] These 
flexibilities encompass broad areas of personnel-related actions that 
could be especially beneficial for agencies' recruiting and hiring 
efforts. They include monetary recruitment and retention incentives; 
special hiring authorities, such as student employment programs; and 
work-life programs, such as alternative work schedules, child care 
assistance, and transit subsidies. 

OPM Leadership: 

As part of its key leadership role, OPM has taken significant steps in 
fostering and guiding improvements in recruiting and hiring in the 
executive branch. Still, OPM must continue to assist--and as 
appropriate, require--the building of the infrastructures within 
agencies needed to successfully implement and sustain human capital 
reforms to strengthen recruitment and hiring. OPM can do this in part 
by encouraging continuous improvement and providing appropriate 
assistance to support agencies' recruitment and hiring efforts. 
Innovative and best practices of model agencies need to be made 
available to other agencies in order to facilitate the transformation 
of agency hiring practices from compliance based to agency mission 
based. OPM, working with and through the Chief Human Capital Officers 
Council, has made progress in compiling information on effective and 
innovative practices and distributing this information to help agencies 
in determining when, where, and how the various flexibilities are being 
used and should be used. OPM must continue to work to ensure that 
agencies take action on this information. 

Moreover, in leading governmentwide human capital reform, OPM has faced 
challenges in its internal capacity to assist and guide agencies' 
readiness to implement change. In October 2007, we issued a report on 
the extent to which OPM has (1) addressed key internal human capital 
management issues identified through employee survey responses and (2) 
put in place strategies to ensure that it has the mission-critical 
talent it needs to meet current and future strategic goals.[Footnote 
25] We found that OPM has taken positive actions to address specific 
concerns raised by its employees and managers in the employee surveys. 
We also found that OPM has strategies in place, such as workforce and 
succession management plans, that are aligned with selected leading 
practices relevant to the agency's capacity to fulfill its strategic 
goals. However, OPM lacks a well-documented agencywide evaluation 
process of some of its workforce planning efforts. In a relatively 
short time, there will also be a presidential transition, and well- 
documented processes can help to ensure a seamless transition that 
builds on the current momentum. 

Equally important is OPM's leadership in federal workforce diversity 
and oversight of merit system principles. In our review of how OPM and 
the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) carry out their 
mutually shared responsibilities for helping to ensure a fair, 
inclusive, and nondiscriminatory federal workplace, we found limited 
coordination between the two agencies in policy and oversight 
matters.[Footnote 26] The lack of a strategic partnership between the 
two agencies and an insufficient understanding of their mutual roles, 
authority, and responsibilities can result in a lost opportunity to 
realize consistency, efficiency, and public value in federal equal 
employment opportunity and workplace diversity human capital management 
practices. We recommended that OPM and EEOC regularly coordinate in 
carrying out their responsibilities under the equal employment 
opportunity policy framework and seek opportunities for streamlining 
like reporting requirements. Both agencies acknowledged that their 
collaborative efforts could be strengthened but took exception to the 
recommendation to streamline requirements. We continue to believe in 
the value of more collaboration. 

Finally, OPM and agency leaders need to be held accountable and should 
hold others accountable for the ongoing monitoring and refinement of 
human capital approaches to recruit and hire a capable and committed 
federal workforce. Leadership is critical for agencies to overcome 
their natural resistance to change, to marshal the resources needed in 
many cases to improve management, to build and maintain 
organizationwide commitment to improving their ways of doing business, 
and to create the conditions for effectively improving human capital 
approaches. Some agency officials have told us that OPM rules and 
regulations are rigid, yet agency officials are also often hesitant to 
implement new approaches without specific guidance. It will be 
important for agencies and OPM to define their appropriate roles and 
day-to-day working relationships as they collaborate on developing and 
implementing innovative and more effective recruitment efforts and 
hiring processes. 

In conclusion, OPM and agencies have made progress in addressing the 
impediments to effective recruitment and hiring since we first 
designated strategic human capital management as a high-risk area in 
2001. Still, as I have discussed today, more can be done. Faced with a 
workforce that is becoming more retirement eligible and finding gaps in 
talent because of changes in the knowledge, skills, and competencies in 
occupations needed to meet their missions, agencies must strengthen 
their recruiting and hiring efforts. Moreover, human capital expertise 
within the agencies must be up to the challenge for this transformation 
to be successful and enduring. With an ongoing commitment to continuous 
improvement and strong leadership in Congress, OPM, and the agencies, 
the federal government can indeed be an employer of choice. 

Mr. Chairman and members of the subcommittee, this completes my 
prepared statement. I would be pleased to respond to any questions you 
may have at this time. 

Contacts and Acknowledgments: 

For further information regarding this statement, please contact Robert 
N. Goldenkoff, Director, Strategic Issues, at (202) 512-6806 or 
[email protected]. Individuals making key contributions to this 
testimony include K. Scott Derrick, Assistant Director; Steven Berke; 
Janice Latimer; Sabrina Streagle; and Jessica Thomsen. 

[End of section] 

Footnotes: 

[1] GAO, High-Risk Series: An Update, GAO-01-263 (Washington, D.C.: 
January 2001). 

[2] GAO, High-Risk Series: An Update, GAO-07-310 (Washington, D.C.: 
January 2007). 

[3] GAO, Human Capital: Federal Workforce Challenges in the 21st 
Century, GAO-07-556T (Washington, D.C.: Mar. 6, 2007). 

[4] GAO, Older Workers: Federal Agencies Face Challenges, but Have 
Opportunities to Hire and Retain Experienced Employees, GAO-08-630T 
(Washington, D.C.: Apr. 30, 2008). 

[5] As reported in the Merit Systems Protection Board's Merit 
Principles Survey 2005, which obtained federal employees' views on how 
well the workforce is being managed. 

[6] See, for example, GAO, Human Capital: Opportunities to Improve 
Executive Agencies' Hiring Processes, GAO-03-450 (Washington, D.C.: May 
30, 2003); Human Capital: Additional Collaboration Between OPM and 
Agencies Is Key to Improved Federal Hiring, GAO-04-797 (Washington, 
D.C.: June 7, 2004); and Human Capital: Status of Efforts to Improve 
Federal Hiring, GAO-04-796T (Washington, D.C.: June 7, 2004). Also, see 
Merit Systems Protection Board, Reforming Federal Hiring: Beyond Faster 
and Cheaper (Washington, D.C.: September 2006). 

[7] Merit Systems Protection Board, Accomplishing Our Mission: Results 
of the Merit Principles Survey 2005 (Washington, D.C.: February 2007). 

[8] See 5 U.S.C. ï¿½ 8344 and ï¿½ 8468, 5 C.F.R. part 553. 

[9] This authority expires December 31, 2011. 

[10] See 5 U.S.C. ï¿½ 6303(e) and 5 C.F.R. 630.205. 

[11] GAO, NASA: Progress Made on Strategic Human Capital Management, 
but Future Program Challenges Remain, GAO-07-1004 (Washington, D.C.: 
Aug. 8, 2007). 

[12] GAO, Human Capital: Retirements and Anticipated New Reactor 
Applications Will Challenge NRC's Workforce, GAO-07-105 (Washington, 
D.C.: Jan. 17, 2007). 

[13] GAO, Human Capital: Succession Planning and Management Is Critical 
Driver of Organizational Transformation, GAO-04-127T (Washington, D.C.: 
Oct. 1, 2003). 

[14] GAO, Acquisition Workforce: Status of Agency Efforts to Address 
Future Needs, GAO-03-55 (Washington, D.C.: Jan. 17, 2003). 

[15] GAO, Highlights of a GAO Forum: Federal Acquisition Challenges and 
Opportunities in the 21st Century, GAO-07-45SP (Washington, D.C.: Oct. 
6, 2006). 

[16] GAO, Diversity Management: Expert-Identified Leading Practices and 
Agency Examples, GAO-05-90 (Washington, D.C.: Jan. 14, 2005). 

[17] GAO, The Federal Workforce: Additional Insights Could Enhance 
Agency Efforts Related to Hispanic Representation, GAO-06-832 
(Washington, D.C.: Aug. 17, 2006). 

[18] GAO-05-90. 

[19] GAO-05-90. 

[20] GAO, Human Capital: Selected Agencies' Statutory Authorities Could 
Offer Options in Developing a Framework for Governmentwide Reform, GAO-
05-398R (Washington, D.C.: Apr. 21, 2005). 

[21] GAO, Human Capital: Effective Use of Flexibilities Can Assist 
Agencies in Managing Their Workforces, GAO-03-2 (Washington, D.C.: Dec. 
6, 2002). 

[22] These hiring flexibilities are contained in the Chief Human 
Capital Officers Act of 2002, Title XIII of the Homeland Security Act 
of 2002. Pub. L. No. 107-296 (Nov. 25, 2002). 

[23] GAO, Human Capital: Increasing Agencies' Use of New Hiring 
Flexibilities, GAO-04-959T (Washington, D.C.: July 13, 2004). 

[24] GAO-03-2. 

[25] GAO, Office of Personnel Management: Opportunities Exist to Build 
on Recent Progress in Internal Human Capital Capacity, GAO-08-11 
(Washington, D.C.: Oct. 31, 2007). 

[26] GAO, Equal Employment Opportunity: Improved Coordination Needed 
between EEOC and OPM in Leading Federal Workplace EEO, GAO-06-214 
(Washington, D.C.: June 16, 2006). 

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