DHS’s Recent Efforts to Manage Strategic Workforce Planning Reflect Leading Principles, but Increased Oversight of Component Planning Would Enhance Efforts

While DHS has recently taken steps that are generally consistent with  leading principles in managing departmental strategic workforce planning,  OCHCO has made limited progress in developing an oversight approach  for monitoring and evaluating component-level efforts. Specifically, since January 2011,  DHS has taken steps to develop and implement strategic workforce  planning efforts that are generally consistent with the leading principles  including involving management and stakeholders, identifying skills and  competencies, developing strategies to fill gaps, and building capability  through training. DHS also included  component input in the development of the DHS Workforce Strategy  Fiscal Years 2011-2016. While DHS has taken relatively recent steps, since January 2011, to  implement strategic workforce planning, recent internal audits, as well as  our previous work, identified challenges related to workforce planning at  the component level. For  example, internal audits and our previous work found challenges related  to the following. In July 2009 we reported that,  among other things, the Federal Protective Service’s (FPS) workforce  planning was limited because FPS headquarters did not collect data  on its workforce’s knowledge, skills, and abilities. We reported that  without such information, FPS was unable to determine what its  optimal staffing levels should be or identify gaps in its workforce  needs, or determine how to modify its workforce planning strategies to  fill these gaps, and we made recommendations that FPS take steps to  address these issues. FPS officials agreed with our recommendations  and in June 2010 drafted a staffing plan consistent with our  recommendations, but as of November 2012, FPS has not gained  approval of its staffing plan. DHS Efforts to Monitor and Evaluate Components Progress

Although the department recently began taking positive steps for  managing strategic workforce planning in 2011, DHS officials have not yet  taken steps to implement an effective oversight approach for monitoring  and evaluating components’ progress in implementing strategic workforce  planning, consistent with strategic workforce planning principles. According to leading principles, agencies should measure the  effectiveness of the workforce plan and help ensure that the strategies  work as intended by evaluating the contributions workforce plans make to  strategic results. To do this, agencies should determine how well the  agency implemented its workforce plan and determine the contribution  that the implementation made toward achieving programmatic goals. Further, OPM’s Human Capital Assessment and Accountability  OCHCO has developed limited performance measures to provide a basis  for monitoring and evaluating departmentwide strategic workforce planning  efforts. Thus, on the basis of our evaluations, OCHCO has established  performance measures that monitor only 2 of the 15 elements in the  department’s workforce planning model. Conclusion

DHS’s ability to successfully meet its multiple, diverse, and essential  missions involves the efforts of more than 240,000 employees, the vast  majority of which work within the seven operational components. Similarly, without policies and procedures  for integrating the results of audits into component workforce plans and  annual reports, DHS lacks reasonable assurance that evaluation of such  efforts will be institutionalized, nor can it provide evidence of component  alignment with departmental strategic workforce planning guidance. Recommendations for Executive Action

To help ensure that DHS strategic workforce planning is effectively  implemented departmentwide, we recommend that the Secretary of  Homeland Security direct the Office of the Chief Human Capital Officer to  take the following three actions to provide a basis to monitor and assess  the effectiveness of departmentwide strategic workforce planning:  identify and document additional performance measures, such as  measures to monitor component efforts to develop and implement  action plans to address workforce supply and demand discrepancies,  and use them to assess and report on components’ progress in  implementing DHS’s strategic workforce planning process; document policies and procedures for the Balanced Workforce  Program Management Office and the Human Capital Policy and  Programs Office to use the results of audits related to component- level workforce planning; and  integrate the results of these audits with components’ annual  operational plans and review the plans and provide timely feedback to  enhance components’ implementation of strategic workforce planning  efforts. Specifically, DHS stated that—-
The department has taken steps to implement an effective oversight  approach for monitoring and evaluating components’ progress in  implementing strategic workforce planning.
Why GAO Did This Study

With more than 240,000 employees doing diverse jobs, DHS's workforce supports the department's multiple missions to prevent terrorism and enhance security, secure and manage the nation's borders, and ensure resilience from disasters, amongst others. Strategic workforce planning focuses on developing long-term strategies for acquiring, developing, and retaining an organization's total workforce, including federal staff and contractors, to meet the needs of the future. GAO has previously identified workforce-related challenges faced by DHS components. In light of these ongoing challenges, GAO was asked to review DHS's strategic workforce planning efforts. This report assesses whether DHS has incorporated strategic workforce planning leading principles into the department's management of strategic workforce planning efforts. GAO reviewed DHS strategies and guidance related to strategic workforce planning, compared them with leading principles identified in previous GAO work, and discussed ongoing strategic workforce planning efforts with officials from the seven components selected because they constitute the majority of DHS personnel.

What GAO Found

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has taken some relatively recent steps to enhance strategic workforce planning across the department. These steps are generally consistent with leading principles, but the department has not yet implemented an effective oversight approach for monitoring and evaluating components' progress. Specifically, recent steps DHS has taken to develop and implement strategic workforce planning efforts are consistent with the leading principles GAO has reported that include involving management and stakeholders, identifying skills and competencies, developing strategies to fill gaps, and building capability through training. For example, the department demonstrated stakeholder involvement by including component-level stakeholders in the development of the DHS Workforce Strategy. Though DHS has taken steps to implement strategic workforce planning, recent internal audits, as well as GAO's previous work, identified challenges related to workforce planning at the component level that could impair the continued implementation of recently initiated strategic workforce planning efforts. For example, GAO reported in July 2009 that the Federal Protective Service's (FPS) workforce planning was limited because FPS headquarters did not collect data on its workforce's knowledge, skills, and abilities and subsequently could not determine optimal staffing levels or determine how to modify its workforce planning strategies accordingly, amongst others. GAO recommended that FPS take steps to address these issues. FPS officials agreed with our recommendations, and in June 2010 drafted a staffing plan consistent with our recommendation, but as of November 2012, FPS has not gained approval of its staffing plan.
Although DHS began taking positive steps for managing strategic workforce planning in 2011, DHS officials have not yet taken steps to implement an effective oversight approach for monitoring and evaluating components' progress in implementing strategic workforce planning. According to this principle, agencies should measure the effectiveness of the workforce plan and help ensure that the strategies work as intended by monitoring and evaluating the contributions workforce plans make to strategic results. To do this, agencies should determine how well the agency implemented its workforce plan and the contribution that its implementation made toward achieving programmatic goals. However, the Office of the Chief Human Capital Officer (OCHCO) has developed limited performance measures to provide a basis for monitoring and evaluating departmentwide strategic workforce planning efforts. GAO's analysis identified performance measures that reported on only 2 of the 15 elements in DHS's strategic workforce planning model. OCHCO relies on an informal process to evaluate component workforce planning, though processes exist that it could leverage to provide oversight. For example, OCHCO performs internal audits and requires components to develop annual operations plans to implement the department's workforce strategy. However, the results of the audits are not used to evaluate components' workforce planning. Without (1) performance measures that more comprehensively address DHS's strategic workforce planning process, and (2) policies and procedures for ensuring monitoring and evaluation of departmentwide workforce planning, DHS's OCHCO does not have reasonable assurance that such efforts will be institutionalized. Further, the department will not be able to produce departmentwide evidence of component alignment with DHS strategic workforce planning guidance.

What GAO Recommends

GAO recommends that, among other actions, the Secretary of Homeland Security (1) identify and document additional performance measures to assess workforce planning efforts and (2) document policies and procedures regarding the use of internal audit results. DHS concurred with our recommendations.