GAO says Defense workforce plan insufficient

The Defense Department's human capital plan is inadequate and could hinder its ability to fill certain mission-critical jobs with qualified personnel, according to the Government Accountability Office.

In a letter sent to key members of the House and Senate Armed Services committees on Wednesday, GAO said the Pentagon was not prepared to meet several looming workforce challenges, especially considering half of its civilian personnel are eligible to retire in the next few years.

"This is becoming a long-standing issue," GAO said. "Without a plan that addresses all of the elements essential to a successful workforce plan … DoD's future workforce may not possess the critical skills and competencies needed."

A fiscal 2006 Defense authorization law directed the department to develop and submit to Congress a plan to shape and improve its civilian workforce. The plan was to include several key elements, such as skills required in future Defense employees to support national security, and projected workforce trends based on retirement or attrition. Defense submitted the blueprint to Congress on Nov. 6, 2007.

The law also required GAO to review and report on Defense's plan no later than 90 days after the plan was submitted.

GAO found that Defense's human capital plan did not address six out of the eight congressional reporting requirements. Specifically, GAO said, the plan did not include a required assessment of mission-critical competencies, future critical skills, gaps between current and future needs, or specific recruiting and retention goals.

Moreover, while the plan did address some of the law's requirements, it ignored other mandates. For example, the blueprint did not look at workforce planning over the next decade, GAO found. Specific strategies for training, compensating and motivating employees also were lacking.

Still, Defense has made some notable progress. For example, the department established a Hiring Heroes program and created a Web site to help disabled veterans return to productive employment. Defense also used the Pipeline Employment Program to enable employees with job-related injuries and illnesses to return to work.

Patricia Bradshaw, Defense deputy undersecretary for civilian personnel policy, disagreed with GAO's findings in a written response.

"Our response to the congressional reporting requirement reflected a centralized enterprisewide strategic perspective, which was called for in the report," Bradshaw wrote. "Our plan is to include more compressive documents in our required March 2008 report."

Specifically, Bradshaw said, the department disagreed with GAO's finding that the agency's workforce strategies did not address development, training and compensating employees over the next decade, and cited two examples of such efforts: the National Security Education Program, through which the department grants scholarships for the study of language and cultures, and the Science, Mathematics and Research for Transformation program, which assists students with tuition in the science, technology and mathematics arena in exchange for a service commitment.

Defense also makes use of the student loan repayment benefit, special salary rates, recruitment, retention and relocation incentives, and compensation flexibilities offered by the National Security Personnel System, she added.

GAO recommended that Defense submit to Congress in March an updated human capital plan that addresses all of the statutory requirements in the 2006 law. Otherwise, GAO said, "Congress will not have the information it needs to exercise effective oversight over DoD's efforts to hire, develop and retain the best possible civilian workforce for the 21st century challenges."