BOP is responsible for incarcerating all federal offenders sentenced to  prison. Central Office. BOP Increased Its Use of Retention Incentives and Used Them Primarily to Retain Staff in California and for Medical Professionals Nationwide

		BOP’s Total Retention Incentive Expenditures and the Number of Employees Receiving Retention Incentives Generally Increased from Fiscal Year 2012 through Fiscal Year 2016

BOP retention incentive expenditures generally increased from $10.7  million in fiscal year 2012 to $14.0 million in fiscal year 2016. BOP Used Retention Incentives Primarily at Four California Institutions and for Medical Professionals Nationwide

From fiscal years 2012 through 2016, BOP spent more than 97 percent of  its total retention incentive expenditures on employees at four California  institutions and for medical professionals nationwide. From fiscal years 2012 through 2016, BOP  retention incentive expenditures for medical professionals increased by  an average of approximately 21 percent per year. According to BOP officials, BOP primarily uses retention incentives for  medical professionals in an effort to retain these employees by  supplementing BOP salaries which are generally lower than salaries  offered to medical professionals in the private sector. BOP Has a Variety of Internal Controls in Place throughout the Retention Incentive Process

		BOP’s Internal Controls Are Intended to Ensure That Retention Incentive Applications and Approvals Meet Requirements

BOP has a number of internal controls in place to ensure that retention  incentive applications meet BOP and other requirements. DOJ’s Justice Management Division (JMD) audits BOP’s  human resources programs. BOP Conducts Limited Planning and Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Retention Incentives

		BOP’s Planning for the Use of Retention Incentives is Limited

While BOP takes a number of steps to determine current workforce needs  and how to fill those needs, BOP does not strategically plan for how  retention incentives can be used to meet long-term human capital goals. BOP officials stated that planning for human capital needs is conducted at  institutions during quarterly workforce utilization meetings or manpower  salary meetings. According to these officials and our review  of meeting minutes from the four institutions, discussions about retention  incentives respond to each institution’s short-term staffing situation rather  than address future staffing needs based on an overall strategic human  capital plan. Including retention  incentives in BOP’s strategic human capital operating plan would create a  roadmap for the agency and the institutions to use to move from being  reactive in their current workforce needs—for example, awarding  retention incentives on an ad hoc basis when funds are available—to  being strategic in how retention incentives are used and to ensure that  these and other flexibilities help the agency achieve its long-term  workforce goals. However, BOP also uses other human capital flexibilities  along with retention incentives to help retain staff. However, BOP has not studied  whether or how retention incentives have contributed to employees’  retention in relation to other incentives such as physician and dental  comparability allowances. (Recommendation 1)  2. Appendix I: Objectives, Scope, and Methodology

This report examines (1) how BOP has used its authority to pay retention  incentives; (2) what internal controls are in place for the use of retention  incentives; and (3) the extent to which BOP plans for and evaluates the  use of retention incentives. These institutions were selected to ensure variation in the  number and types of employees receiving retention incentives, BOP  region, and security-level. To determine the extent to which BOP plans for and evaluates the use of  retention incentives, we interviewed BOP officials regarding their  experiences with retention incentives, how they use retention incentives  to strategically manage their workforce needs, how the agency evaluates  the effectiveness of retention incentives, and how retention incentives  contribute to BOP’s broader human capital goals.
Why GAO Did This Study

BOP is the largest employer within DOJ and is responsible for the care and custody of an inmate population of about 186,000. BOP has faced challenges retaining staff at correctional facilities, although it has used retention incentives, along with other human capital flexibilities. GAO was asked to review BOP's use of retention incentives.
This report addresses: (1) how BOP used its authority to pay retention incentives; (2) internal controls BOP has in place for the use of retention incentives; and (3) the extent to which BOP plans for and evaluates the use of retention incentives. GAO obtained employee-level retention incentive expenditure data from DOJ's Justice Management Division for fiscal years 2012 through 2016. GAO also reviewed agency documentation, such as policy statements and 40 randomly selected retention incentive application packet case files from fiscal years 2014 through 2016. GAO also interviewed officials from BOP's Central Office and four correctional facilities that use retention incentives, selected to reflect variation in the number and types of employees receiving retention incentives, BOP regions, and BOP institution security levels.

What GAO Found

From fiscal years 2012 to 2016, the Department of Justice's (DOJ) Federal Bureau of Prisons' (BOP) total retention incentive expenditures generally increased from $10.7 to $14.0 million and the number of employees receiving retention incentives increased from 2,024 to 2,460. During those five years, BOP spent more than 97 percent of its total retention incentive expenditures on employees at four BOP institutions in California and for medical professionals nationwide. Further, total retention incentive expenditures for medical professionals increased by an average of 21 percent per year (see figure). According to BOP officials, BOP uses retention incentives, for example, to supplement BOP's medical professionals' salaries which are generally lower than private sector salaries.
BOP has a variety of internal controls in place throughout the retention incentive process that help ensure retention incentive applications and approvals meet requirements. For example, each application goes through multiple levels of review to verify its accuracy and completeness.
BOP takes steps to determine workforce needs and how to fill those needs, but has not strategically planned for and evaluated its use of retention incentives. According to BOP, planning for human capital needs is conducted at institutions during quarterly meetings, but discussions about these incentives respond to short-term staffing situations rather than proactively addressing future staffing needs. Including human capital goals and strategies in BOP's human capital plan would create a roadmap so the agency could move from being reactive to its current workforce needs to being strategic in trying to achieve its long-term workforce goals. Additionally BOP has not evaluated the effectiveness of its use of retention incentives in retaining staff. As a result, BOP does not know whether retention incentives have contributed to employees' retention in relation to other incentives used by BOP. Consistent with key principles for strategic human capital planning, planning for and evaluating the use of retention incentives could help BOP better determine if these incentives are an efficient and effective means by which to retain staff.

What GAO Recommends

GAO recommends that BOP (1) include human capital goals and how retention incentives will be used to achieve these goals in its human capital plan; and (2) evaluate the use of retention incentives. BOP concurred with GAO's recommendations.