Off-Base Transition Training

The Dignified Burial Act required DOL to provide TAP to veterans and  their spouses at locations other than military installations for the purposes  of assessing the feasibility and advisability of providing such a program. The act required the workshops to be piloted for 2 years starting in  January 2013:  in three to five states (at least two of which had to have high levels of  veteran unemployment); at a sufficient number of locations to meet the needs of veterans and  spouses within each pilot state; anywhere except military installations (could, however, include  National Guard or reserve facilities not on active duty military  installations); and,  in a manner that generally follows the content of TAP. DOL Used the Same Employment Workshops for Veterans It Provides to Servicemembers, Citing Time and Resource Constraints for Pilot’s Design

In response to the Dignified Burial Act, DOL provided the same  employment workshops—including the same curriculum delivered by the  same contractor—for the veterans’ employment workshop pilot as it uses  for active servicemembers as part of on-base TAP. DOL officials said they selected the  pilot states using a number of factors, including selecting two states with  high veteran unemployment rates—Georgia and West Virginia—as   DOL also considered states’ veteran population,  required by law. While each state held the  workshops at locations other than military installations, the three state  workforce agencies used different approaches in selecting locations for  the workshops. Officials noted that DOL implemented the pilot within its  existing TAP budget and spent about $52,000 on costs for the pilot. State Officials Reported That the Workshops Enhanced Veterans’ Job Search Skills but Attracted Few Participants

		Some Officials Said the Pilot Helped Veterans Write Resumes and Improve Interviewing Skills

Officials in all three pilot states reported that the workshops benefitted  veterans by enhancing their job search capabilities, including helping  them (1) write resumes, (2) build interviewing skills, and (3) translate their  military experience into civilian job skills. In 21 workshops across the three states, a total of 250  veterans participated in the pilot, according to DOL data. DOL instructed  states to have a minimum of 10 participants enrolled in order to schedule  a workshop and a maximum of 50 participants—the same guidelines as  for DOL’s TAP workshops—with a preferred class size of 30-35  participants. DOL’s Design of the Pilot Constrains the Ability to Inform Congressional Deliberation about the Pilot’s Future

		DOL’s Annual Reports Address Attendance, Participant Satisfaction, and Noteworthy State Practices

DOL has published information about the veterans’ employment  workshop pilot in two annual reports required by the Dignified Burial Act. 3. Identifying the Need

Sound pilot design practices call for a needs assessment to better identify  the population best served by the program or services being piloted as  well as those populations that might not need the services. DOL officials also said that there was not enough time and financial  resources to conduct a needs assessment, pointing, as noted earlier, to  the fact that DOL received no additional funding for this pilot and had to  complete it within 2 years.information without expending significant time or resources. For example, officials from two veteran service organizations  said they would have helped DOL market the workshops in an effort to  increase attendance. Conclusions

The federal government has created a number of programs that assist  veterans and servicemembers transitioning to civilian life, including the  employment workshop pilot for veterans and their spouses. Specifically,  questions about the need for offering the workshops to veterans and their  spouses, the program’s role amid other existing federal programs, and  specific goals and objectives against which program performance could  be measured remain unanswered. Recommendation for Executive Action

To inform decisions on any potential future iterations of the veterans’  employment workshop, we recommend that the Secretary of Labor  assess and report to Congress the extent to which further delivery of  employment workshops to veterans and their spouses could fill a niche  not fully served by existing federal programs. Appendix I: Objectives, Scope, and Methodology

The objectives of this report were to examine (1) how the Department of  Labor (DOL) implemented the veterans’ employment workshop pilot  program, (2) what state officials reported regarding the benefits and  challenges of the workshops in the pilots, and (3) how the pilot informs  decisions about its possible expansion. To provide information on how DOL designed the pilot, how it planned to  evaluate it, and the extent to which DOL collaborated with other  organizations during the pilot’s design, we reviewed relevant federal laws  and regulations and e-mail correspondence between DOL officials on the  steps they took to design the pilot and documents describing DOL’s plan  for collecting data to determine the pilot performance. To provide information on how the pilot was implemented and what state  officials reported regarding the benefits and challenges of the workshops  in the pilots, we conducted telephonic interviews with DOL and state  workforce agency officials in each of the pilot states: Georgia,  Washington, and West Virginia. We reviewed guidance from federal  agencies on program design and evaluation found during the course of  our research and guidance identified by subject matter experts.
Why GAO Did This Study

The federal government has long offered programs that assist veterans with finding employment. In 2013, the Dignified Burial and Other Veterans' Benefits Improvement Act of 2012 was enacted, which required DOL to provide employment workshops to veterans and their spouses at locations other than military facilities through a 2-year pilot that ended in January 2015. The act also included a provision for GAO to report on the training and possible expansion of the pilot.
This report addresses: (1) how DOL implemented the pilot, (2) what state officials reported regarding the benefits and challenges of the pilot, and (3) how the pilot informs decisions about its possible expansion.
GAO reviewed relevant federal laws and regulations; identified leading practices on pilot design from federal agencies, subject matter experts, and GAO's standards for internal control; and interviewed officials from DOL, the Department of Veterans Affairs, state workforce agencies in each of the three pilot states, and veteran service organizations. GAO also obtained information on the pilot from DOL data and a DOL survey of workshop participants.

What GAO Found

The Department of Labor (DOL) was required by law to provide employment workshops to veterans and their spouses in a pilot program. In response, DOL used the same 3-day employment workshops for the pilot that it provides to servicemembers on military bases as part of the Transition Assistance Program (TAP) in order to implement the pilot within time and resource constraints, according to DOL officials. DOL selected three states for the pilot—Georgia, Washington, and West Virginia—based on a number of factors, including two states with a high veteran unemployment rate, as required by law. DOL instructed each of the states to conduct five workshops—West Virginia held an additional seven and Washington canceled one—and delegated the responsibility for choosing locations and marketing the pilot to state workforce agencies. States held the workshops at locations other than military facilities and employed different marketing approaches to publicize the workshops, including flyers and e-mail. DOL officials said that time and resource constraints, such as implementing the pilot within its existing TAP budget, influenced the department's pilot implementation, including its decision to use the same TAP workshops, conducted over 3 consecutive days, and to offer five workshops per state.
Officials in all three pilot states reported that the workshops benefitted veterans by enhancing their job search capabilities—including resume writing and interviewing—but states had difficulty attracting participants. The workshops generally fell short of DOL's attendance goals: a minimum of 10 participants and a preferred class size of 30-35 participants. A total of 250 participants attended the workshops and fewer than half of the workshops had 10 or more participants. Several state officials noted that it was difficult for veterans to schedule 3 consecutive business days to attend the workshop, and some suggested that shortening the course or offering night or weekend alternatives could have increased attendance.
DOL's design of the pilot limits the ability to inform Congress about the feasibility and advisability of expanding the pilot. DOL's two annual reports to Congress on the pilot provided information on topics such as workshop attendance, participant demographics and satisfaction with the workshop, and noteworthy state practices and challenges. While such information is useful, DOL's pilot design leaves unanswered key questions about the need for the program, the pilot's role amid other federal programs, and the goals and objectives for measuring its progress. For example, sound pilot design practices call for agencies to conduct a needs assessment, which could have helped DOL identify the population best targeted by the pilot, given veterans' varied employment experience and limited federal resources. DOL officials said that they did not have the time and resources to do such an assessment. Additionally, DOL did not assess the extent to which such a program might fill gaps in existing federal employment programs available to veterans, as sound pilot practices suggest. As a result, it remains unclear whether, as DOL officials contend, this pilot unnecessarily duplicates other programs. Moreover, this type of information could assist congressional deliberation about the need for future employment workshops and leverage the federal investment that has already been made in implementing the now-completed pilot program.

What GAO Recommends

GAO recommends that DOL assess and report to Congress the extent to which further delivery of the employment workshop to veterans and their spouses can fill a niche not fully served by existing federal programs. DOL agreed with GAO's recommendation and noted several actions it plans to take to address the recommendation.