Follow the leader

With changes to the Defense Department's civilian personnel system seemingly inevitable at this point, it may be time for Pentagon officials to look at how best to make those changes happen.

Last week, Comptroller General David Walker submitted written responses to questions Senate Governmental Affairs Committee members posed during a June 4 hearing on the Defense Department's proposal to overhaul the civilian personnel system, which includes getting rid of automatic pay raises and tying salary increases to performance appraisal ratings.

Walker, who seeks some added personnel flexibilities at his own agency, stressed the need for a strong human capital infrastructure and safeguards as the basis for reform at the Defense Department.

"Based on our experience, while DoD's leadership has the intent and the ability to transform the department, the needed institutional infrastructure is not in place in a vast majority of DoD organizations," Walker wrote. "In the absence of the right institutional infrastructure, granting additional human capital authorities will provide little advantage and could actually end up doing damage if the authorities are not implemented properly by the respective department or agency."

Walker suggested Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and his cadre of leaders adopt the Homeland Security Department's strategy for developing its personnel system. Homeland Security leaders, working closely with the Office of Personnel Management, created a design team that included employees and union representatives. Officials conducted town hall meetings around the country and held focus groups, recently winning the praise of American Federation of Government Employees Union President Bobby Harnage for the inclusiveness of the planning process.

"DoD, as any organization seeking to transform, needs to ensure that employees are involved in order to obtain their ideas and gain adequate 'buy-in' for any related transformational efforts," Walker wrote.

Rumsfeld might also consider phasing in the changes as opposed to making wholesale changes, Walker suggested.

"However, as we have noted, in the human capital area, how you do something and when you do it, can be as important as what you do." Walker wrote.

Language Skills

Last week Office of Personnel Management Director Kay Coles James extended agencies' direct hiring authority for people fluent in Arabic to help with rebuilding efforts in Iraq.

"These flexibilities will help agencies move more quickly in their efforts to assist in the reconstruction of Iraq," James said.

Agencies can only hire American citizens under the new authority, with the exception of the Defense Department, which was given permission to hire non-U.S. citizens for positions involved in the reconstruction of Iraq. The authority expires July 1, 2004.

Government-wide direct hiring authority was included in the 2002 Homeland Security Act (H.R. 5005). Now OPM can grant agencies special hiring authority to fill critical positions whenever there is a critical need to fill specific jobs.

In the past few weeks James has used the authority to give agencies permission to skip the standard hiring process for information technology specialists, doctors, nurses and pharmacists. The Securities and Exchange Commission also received direct hiring authority to help recruit more accountants, economists and securities compliance examiners.