1.) HCAAF is intended to assist federal agencies with their human capital  planning process, including developing strategies that support each  agency’s mission and goals. The CDC Plan Includes Strategies to Address Key Human Capital Challenges, Except for Managing a Workforce with a Large and Growing Number of Contractors

The CDC Plan includes strategies that could help the agency address five  of the six key human capital challenges we identified that it faces in its  efforts to sustain a skilled workforce. These six key challenges are   (1) changing workforce demographics, highlighted by the potential loss of  essential personnel due to retirement; (2) the limited supply of skilled  public health professionals; (3) CDC’s acknowledged need to increase the  diversity of its workforce; (4) changing workforce needs resulting from the  agency’s expanding scope of work and responsibilities; (5) logistical  difficulties involved in acquiring and retaining a skilled workforce; and   (6) difficulties presented by managing a workforce with a large and  growing number of contractors. CDC officials told us they intended to update the CDC Plan annually and  to integrate the plan with these documents as the plan is updated. 2.) The CDC Plan only partially meets the criteria for strategic alignment as  defined by GAO and OPM because the strategies in the CDC Plan are not  integrated with the documents that serve as the agency’s strategic plan, its  performance plan, or its budget. CDC Incorporated Aspects of Our Principles for Strategic Human Capital Planning into the CDC Plan and Has Outlined Further Actions

CDC incorporated aspects of our five principles for strategic human  capital planning into the CDC Plan and has outlined further actions it  intends to take. CDC has also taken steps to incorporate the  fourth principle, which stresses building the capabilities needed to support  the strategies. CDC Involved Top Management and a Stakeholder in Developing Its Plan and Intends to Include Nonsupervisory Employees in Future Implementation and Updates

In development of the CDC Plan, the agency incorporated aspects of our  first principle, which is to involve top management, managers, other  employees, and stakeholders in developing, communicating, and  implementing the human capital plan, but it did not formally involve  nonsupervisory employees. CDC Conducted a Preliminary Workforce Analysis and Is Completing Efforts to Identify Gaps in Skills and Competencies

CDC has begun to incorporate the second principle—determining the  skills and competencies needed to achieve the mission and goals,  including identifying gaps in these skills and competencies—by  conducting a preliminary workforce analysis and is working to complete  analyses to identify gaps in skills and competencies. The CDC Plan thus  incorporates an aspect of our third principle, which is to develop  strategies to acquire, retain, and develop a skilled workforce and to  address skill and competency gaps. Without addressing this challenge  as part of its strategies, the CDC Plan may not be as useful as it could be in  providing the agency with a strategic view of its governmental and  contractor workforce. The strategies in the CDC Plan are linked with the agency’s mission and  goals; however, they are not integrated into a strategic plan, performance  plan, or budget. At CDC, contractors represent more than one-third  of the agency’s workforce and thus are clearly a critical part of the  agency’s human capital. Appendix I: Scope and Methodology

To determine whether the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention  (CDC) 2007 Strategic Human Capital Management Plan (CDC Plan) was  designed to address the challenges CDC faces in sustaining a skilled  workforce, we analyzed interviews we conducted with multiple entities  from CDC, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the  Office of Personnel Management (OPM), and three policy research and  professional associations. For the fifth principle—monitoring and evaluating the contribution that  strategies have made toward achieving the agency’s mission and goals— we reviewed the CDC Plan and related documents and interviewed OWCD  officials in order to determine CDC’s current monitoring efforts and how  CDC planned to monitor and evaluate the agency’s progress toward its  human capital goals.
Why GAO Did This Study

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)--an agency in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)--has experienced an expanding workload due to emerging health threats, such as bioterrorism. Strategic planning helps agencies like CDC sustain a workforce with the necessary education, skills, and competencies--human capital--to fulfill their missions. In September 2007, CDC released its Strategic Human Capital Management Plan (CDC Plan). GAO was asked to review CDC's human capital planning. GAO determined (1) whether the CDC Plan was designed to address the human capital challenges CDC faces; (2) the extent to which the CDC Plan is strategically aligned with agency goals, plans, and budget; and (3) the extent to which CDC incorporated GAO's principles for strategic human capital planning. To do so, GAO interviewed officials and analyzed data and documents.

What GAO Found

GAO identified six key challenges CDC faces in its efforts to sustain a skilled workforce to fulfill its mission and goals, and the CDC Plan includes strategies that could help the agency address five of them. These challenges are (1) changing workforce demographics, highlighted by the potential loss of essential personnel due to retirement; (2) the limited supply of skilled public health professionals; (3) CDC's acknowledged need to increase the diversity of its workforce; (4) changing workforce needs resulting from the agency's expanding scope of work and responsibilities; (5) logistical difficulties involved in acquiring and retaining a skilled workforce; and (6) difficulties presented by managing a workforce with a large and growing number of contractors. While the CDC Plan includes strategies designed to address the first five challenges, it does not address the challenge involving contractors, which represent more than one-third of its workforce. Thus, the CDC Plan may not be as useful as it could be to provide a strategic view of its contractor workforce and to assist the agency with managing all of its human capital. The CDC Plan only partially meets the criteria for strategic alignment: the strategies in it are linked with the agency's mission and goals, but they are not integrated with the documents that serve as the strategic plan, performance plan, or budget. According to CDC officials, the agency will update the CDC Plan annually and will integrate it with these documents as it is updated. CDC incorporated aspects of all of GAO's principles of strategic human capital planning into the CDC Plan and has outlined intended actions that could further incorporate the principles in subsequent updates. CDC partially incorporated the first principle--to involve managers, other employees, and stakeholders in developing, communicating, and implementing the human capital plan--by formally involving management and stakeholders in plan development. CDC intends to involve other employees in implementation and future updates. CDC partially incorporated the second principle--to determine the skills and competencies needed to achieve agency mission and goals, including identifying skill and competency gaps--by conducting a preliminary workforce analysis. The agency had not completed its analyses of skill and competency gaps for the occupations it deemed most critical when the plan was developed, but has now completed an analysis for one critical occupation and is conducting others. The plan partially follows the third principle--to develop strategies to acquire, retain, and develop a skilled workforce and to address gaps. CDC developed strategies for its plan and intends to target gaps once they are identified. CDC has incorporated the fourth principle--to build capabilities to support the strategies--through such activities as ongoing efforts to streamline hiring. The fifth principle is to monitor and evaluate the contribution that strategies have made toward achieving mission and goals. The agency indicated in the CDC Plan that it intends to monitor and evaluate its strategies as part of its implementation activities. Further incorporation of GAO's principles into plan updates could help the agency strengthen its human capital efforts.