Phase 4: Includes implementing a new case management system to replace  ACS. Sentinel Short-Term Staffing Needs Largely Met, but Strategic Approach to Managing Program Human Capital Needs Is Lacking

To its credit, the FBI has moved quickly to staff its Sentinel program  office, following what the Sentinel program manager describes as a  meticulous series of actions to determine staffing needs, develop position  descriptions, review resumes and reassess program needs. During the last  year, it has also filled most of the positions in the plan primarily by using  contractors. Nevertheless, a few key positions remain unfilled. Moreover,  the staffing plan addressed only the program’s immediate staffing needs; it  does not provide for the kind of strategic human capital planning and  management that our research has shown to be critical to the success of  any organization, such as inventorying the knowledge and skills of existing  staff, forecasting knowledge and skill needs over the life of the program,  and formulating explicit strategies for filling gaps. Exacerbating this lack  of a strategic approach to human capital management is that the program’s  inventory of risks does not include human capital as a program risk, and  thus steps are not planned to proactively address these risks. In  contrast, other program documentation cites human capital as a program  challenge and risk. Available Sentinel program  documentation and other statements by program officials, however,  suggest otherwise. Notwithstanding the FBI’s considerable efforts to  quickly staff-up the Sentinel program office, it has not adopted the kind of  strategic management approach needed to effectively leverage Sentinel  human capital throughout the life of the program, in part because the FBI’s  IT program management policies and procedures do not require it. Unless the FBI adopts a more strategic and proactive approach  to managing Sentinel human capital and treats it as a program risk, the  chances of the program delivering required intelligence and investigative  capabilities and mission value in a timely and cost effective manner are  diminished. Appendix I: Scope and Methodology

Our objective was to determine whether the Federal Bureau of  Investigation (FBI) has adequately provided for the human capital needs  of its Sentinel program. To address our objective, we focused on three  areas: FBI’s efforts to date in staffing the Sentinel program office, the  bureau’s plans to address gaps between the program’s human capital  needs and existing FBI capabilities, and the extent to which FBI is  proactively treating and managing human capital as a program risk.
Why GAO Did This Study

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) recently began a 6-year, $425 million program called Sentinel to replace and expand on both its failed Virtual Case File (VCF) project and its antiquated, paper-based, legacy system for supporting mission-critical intelligence analysis and investigative case management activities. Because of the FBI's experience with VCF and the importance of Sentinel, GAO was requested to address a number of program management issues associated with acquiring Sentinel via a prime development contractor. This report focuses on one of these issues: whether the FBI is adequately providing for the program's human capital needs. The findings are based on GAO's review of relevant program documentation, interviews with program officials, and human capital management guidance.

What GAO Found

To its credit, the FBI has moved quickly to staff its Sentinel program office. During the last year, it created a staffing plan for Sentinel, which defines the positions needed for the program, and it has filled most of the positions in the plan, primarily by using contract staff (77 percent). However, a few key program management positions remain to be filled. More importantly, the Sentinel staffing plan addresses only the program office's immediate staffing needs. It does not provide for the kind of strategic human capital management focus that GAO's research and evaluations have shown to be essential to the success of any organizational entity. For example, the staffing plan was not derived using a documented, data-driven methodology and does not provide for inventorying the knowledge and skills of existing staff, forecasting future knowledge and skill needs, analyzing gaps in capabilities between the existing staff and future workforce needs, (including consideration of expected succession needs), and formulating strategies for filling expected gaps. Exacerbating this situation is that the FBI is not proactively managing Sentinel human capital availability as a program risk; it has not included human capital in the program's risk inventory nor has it developed and implemented a proactive risk mitigation strategy, even though program documents cite human capital as both a challenge and a risk. According to program officials, they plan to manage their human capital needs in the same way as when they initially staffed the program office, in part because the bureau's IT system life cycle management policies and procedures do not require them to do otherwise. Unless the FBI adopts a more strategic approach to managing human capital for the Sentinel program and treats human capital as a program risk, the chances of delivering required intelligence and investigative support capabilities in a timely and cost-effective manner are reduced.