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Testimony: 

Before the Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government, 
Committee on Appropriations, House of Representatives: 

United States Government Accountability Office: 

GAO: 

For Release on Delivery Expected at 10:00 a.m. EDT: 

Tuesday, March 6, 2007: 

Human Capital: 

Federal Workforce Challenges in the 21st Century: 

Statement of J. Christopher Mihm: 
Managing Director, Strategic Issues: 

GAO-07-556T: 

GAO Highlights: 

Highlights of GAO-07-556T, a testimony before the Subcommittee on 
Financial Services and General Government, Committee on Appropriations, 
House of Representatives 

Why GAO Did This Study: 

The federal government is facing new and more complex challenges in the 
21st century because of long-term fiscal constraints, changing 
demographics, evolving governance models, and other factors. Strategic 
human capital management, which remains on GAO’s high-risk list, must 
be the centerpiece of any serious change management and transformation 
effort to meet these challenges. However, federal agencies do not 
consistently have the modern, effective, economical, and efficient 
human capital programs, policies, and procedures needed to succeed in 
their transformation efforts. In addition, the Office of Personnel 
Management (OPM) must have the capacity to successfully guide human 
capital transformations. This testimony, based on a large body of GAO 
work over many years, focuses on strategic human capital management 
challenges that many federal agencies continue to face. 

What GAO Found: 

Federal agencies continue to face strategic human capital challenges 
in: 

Leadership: Top leadership in agencies across the federal government 
must provide committed and inspired attention needed to address human 
capital and related organizational transformation issues. However, 
slightly less than half of respondents to the 2006 Federal Human 
Capital Survey reported a high level of respect for senior leaders 
while only 38 percent agreed or strongly agreed that leaders in their 
organizations generate high levels of motivation and commitment in the 
workforce. 

Strategic Human Capital Planning: Strategic human capital planning that 
is integrated with broader organizational strategic planning is 
critical to ensuring agencies have the talent they need for future 
challenges, especially as the federal government faces a retirement 
wave. Too often, agencies do not have the components of strategic human 
capital planning needed to address their current and emerging human 
capital challenges. 

Acquiring, Developing, and Retaining Talent: Faced with a workforce 
that is becoming more retirement eligible and finding gaps in talent, 
agencies need to strengthen their efforts and use of available 
flexibilities to acquire, develop, motivate, and retain talent. 
Agencies are not uniformly using available flexibilities to recruit and 
hire top talent and to address the current and emerging demographic 
challenges facing the government. 

Results-Oriented Organizational Culture: Leading organizations create a 
clear linkage—“line of sight”—between individual performance and 
organizational success and, thus, transform their cultures to be more 
results-oriented, customer-focused, and collaborative. However, in many 
cases, the federal government does not have these linkages and has not 
transformed how it classifies, compensates, develops, and motivates its 
employees to achieve maximum results within available resources and 
existing authorities. 

Agencies are facing strategic human capital challenges in a period of 
likely sustained budget constraints. Budget constraints will require 
agencies to plan their transformations more strategically, prioritize 
their needs, evaluate results, allocate their resources more carefully, 
and react to workforce challenges more expeditiously in order to 
achieve their missions economically, efficiently, and effectively. 

OPM will continue to play a key role in fostering and guiding strategic 
human capital management improvements in the executive branch and in 
helping agencies meet transformation challenges. Although making 
commendable efforts in transforming itself to more a consultant, 
toolmaker, and strategic partner in leading and supporting agencies’ 
human capital management systems, OPM has itself faced challenges in 
its capacity to assist, guide, and certify agencies’ readiness to 
implement reforms. 

What GAO Recommends: 

This testimony underscores recommendations made to OPM in January 2007 
to improve its capacity for future reforms. OPM has said it has made 
progress toward achieving its operational and strategic goals. In 
addition, this testimony serves as a guide to Congress as it 
scrutinizes agencies’ transformation plans, capabilities, and 
measurable results to make informed funding decisions during a period 
of likely sustained budget constraints. 

[Hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-07-556T]. 

To view the full product, including the scope and methodology, click on 
the link above. For more information, contact J. Christopher Mihm at 
(202) 512-6806 or mihmj@gao.gov. 

[end of section] 

Chairman Serrano and Members of the Subcommittee: 

Thank you for the opportunity to be here today to discuss challenges in 
the management of today's federal workforce. Driven by long-term fiscal 
constraints, changing demographics, evolving governance models, and 
other factors, the federal government is facing new and more complex 
challenges in the 21st century and federal agencies must transform 
their organizations to meet these challenges. Strategic human capital 
management must be the centerpiece of any serious change management 
strategy. In 2001, we identified human capital management as a 
governmentwide high-risk area because federal agencies lacked a 
strategic approach to human capital management that integrated human 
capital efforts with their missions and program goals.[Footnote 1] 
Although progress has been made, the area remains on our most recent 
high-risk list because there is still the need for a governmentwide 
framework to advance human capital reform. This framework is essential 
to avoid further fragmentation within the civil service, ensure 
management flexibility as appropriate, allow a reasonable degree of 
consistency, provide adequate safeguards, and maintain a level playing 
field among agencies competing for talent.[Footnote 2] 

Federal agencies do not always have the right people in the right jobs 
at the right time to meet the challenges they face. Today and in the 
near term, the federal government is facing a retirement wave and with 
it the loss of leadership and institutional knowledge at all levels. 
Agencies not only face a fiercely competitive market for talent but 
hiring is also affected by uncompetitive salaries in some critical 
occupations and lengthy hiring processes. Federal employees also 
operate in a culture where there is often not a clear line of sight 
between individual effort and organization results. Of particular 
concern, federal agencies do not consistently have the modern, 
effective, economical, and efficient human capital programs, policies, 
and procedures they need to succeed in their transformation efforts. As 
the government's human capital leader, the Office of Personnel 
Management (OPM) has a key role in helping executive branch agencies 
build the needed infrastructure to support their transformation 
efforts. At the request of the Chairman and Ranking Minority Member of 
the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and 
the Chairman and Ranking Minority Member of the Subcommittee on 
Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce, and the 
District of Columbia, Senate Committee on Homeland Security and 
Governmental Affairs, we are undertaking a body of work examining OPM's 
internal capacity to lead and implement governmentwide human capital 
reform. 

My remarks today, based on a large body of GAO work over many years, 
will focus on the strategic human capital management challenges that 
agencies continue to face in four key areas: 

* Leadership: Top leadership in the agencies must provide the committed 
and inspired attention needed to address human capital and related 
organization transformation issues. In addition, OPM, as the 
government's human capital leader, must have the internal capacity to 
lead agencies' efforts. 

* Strategic Human Capital Planning: Agencies' human capital planning 
efforts need to be fully integrated with mission and critical program 
goals. Too often, agencies do not have the components of strategic 
human capital planning needed to address their current and emerging 
challenges. 

* Acquiring, Developing, and Retaining Talent: Augmented efforts are 
needed to improve recruiting, hiring, professional development, and 
retention strategies to ensure that agencies have the needed talent. 
Agencies need to ensure that they are using flexibilities available to 
them to recruit and hire top talent and to address the current and 
emerging demographic challenges facing the government. 

* Results-Oriented Organizational Cultures: Organizational cultures 
need to promote high performance and accountability and empower and 
include employees in setting and accomplishing programmatic goals. In 
many cases, the federal government has not transformed how it 
classifies, compensates, develops, and motivates its employees to 
achieve maximum results within available resources and existing 
authorities. Congress has recently taken important steps in this 
direction by providing the Departments of Defense (DOD) and Homeland 
Security (DHS) with authorities intended to help them manage their 
people more strategically. 

Agencies not only face these challenges in moving forward but do so 
during a period of likely sustained budget constraints. However, budget 
constraints should not be viewed as an insurmountable obstacle to 
needed human capital reform. Rather, tighter budgets will require 
agencies to plan their transformations more strategically, prioritize 
their needs, evaluate results, allocate their resources more carefully, 
and react to workforce challenges more expeditiously in order to 
achieve their missions economically, efficiently, and effectively. 
Although human capital reforms often require an investment of budgetary 
resources, many of these costs are one-time in nature that can pay 
future dividends through more efficient agency operations. In the 
current fiscal environment, Congress will need to scrutinize agencies' 
transformation plans, capabilities, and measurable results to make 
informed funding decisions. 

Sustained Leadership Is Essential to Successful Transformations: 

Leadership in agencies across the federal government is essential to 
providing the accountable, committed, consistent, and sustained 
attention needed to address human capital and related organization 
transformation issues. Leaders must not only embrace reform, they must 
integrate the human capital function into their agencies' core planning 
and business activities. Senior executive leadership is especially key 
today as the federal government faces significant reform challenges. 
OPM's 2006 Federal Human Capital Survey (FHCS) results showed that the 
government needs to establish a more effective leadership 
corps.[Footnote 3] For example, slightly less than half of employees 
responding to the survey reported a high level of respect for their 
senior leaders or are satisfied with the information they receive from 
management on what is going on in the organization. Similarly, only 38 
percent of respondents agreed or strongly agreed with the statement 
that leaders in their organization generate high levels of motivation 
and commitment in the workforce. This represents little change from the 
2004 survey when 37 percent of respondents had positive responses to 
this question. However, a majority of respondents, 58 percent, agreed 
or strongly agreed that managers communicate the goals and priorities 
of the organization. This level of response is essentially the same as 
the 2004 survey when 59 percent of respondents provided a positive 
response to this item. 

OPM plays a key role in fostering and guiding improvements in all areas 
of strategic human capital management in the executive branch. As part 
of its key leadership role, OPM can assist--and as appropriate, 
require--the building of the infrastructures within agencies needed to 
successfully implement and sustain human capital reforms and related 
initiatives. OPM can do this in part by encouraging continuous 
improvement and providing appropriate assistance to support agencies' 
efforts. For example, OPM has exerted human capital leadership through 
its Human Capital Scorecard of the President's Management Agenda to 
assist agencies in improving strategic management of their human 
capital. Also, OPM has developed the governmentwide FHCS to assist 
agencies and OPM in better understanding specific and governmentwide 
agency workforce management conditions and practices in the areas of 
leadership, performance culture, and talent. Most recently, OPM began a 
television campaign to promote federal employment and has undertaken a 
greater focus on succession planning to respond to the forthcoming 
federal retirement wave. 

However, in leading governmentwide human capital reform, OPM has itself 
faced challenges in its capacity to assist, guide, and certify 
agencies' readiness to implement reforms. We recently reported that OPM 
has made commendable efforts in transforming itself from less a 
rulemaker, enforcer, and independent agent to more a consultant, 
toolmaker and strategic partner in leading and supporting executive 
agencies' human capital management systems.[Footnote 4] We also 
reported on OPM's leadership of transformation efforts. Using the new 
senior executive performance-based pay system and other recent human 
capital reform initiatives as a model for understanding OPM's capacity 
to lead and implement future human capital reforms, we identified seven 
key lessons learned, which are (1) ensure internal OPM capacity to lead 
and implement reform, (2) ensure that executive branch agencies' 
infrastructures support reform, (3) collaborate with the Chief Human 
Capital Officer (CHCO) council, (4) develop clear and timely guidance, 
(5) share best practices, (6) solicit and incorporate feedback, and (7) 
track progress to ensure accountability. In addition to the lessons 
learned that can be applied to future human capital reforms, we 
recommended, among other things, that OPM (1) improve its capacity for 
future reforms by reexamining its own agencywide skills and (2) address 
issues specific to senior executive pay systems, such as sharing best 
practices and tracking progress towards goals. OPM has said that it has 
made progress toward achieving its operational and strategic 
goals.[Footnote 5] 

Equally important is OPM's leadership in federal workforce diversity 
and oversight of merit system principles. In our review of how OPM and 
the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) carry out their 
mutually shared responsibilities for helping to assure a fair, 
inclusive, and nondiscriminatory federal workplace, we found limited 
coordination between the two agencies in policy and oversight 
matters.[Footnote 6] The lack of a strategic partnership between the 
two agencies and an insufficient understanding of their mutual roles, 
authority, and responsibilities can result in a lost opportunity to 
realize consistency, efficiency, and public value in federal equal 
employment opportunity and workplace diversity human capital management 
practices. We recommended that OPM and EEOC regularly coordinate in 
carrying out their responsibilities under the equal employment 
opportunity policy framework and seek opportunities for streamlining 
like reporting requirements. Both agencies acknowledged that their 
collaborative efforts could be strengthened but took exception to the 
recommendation to streamline requirements. We continue to believe in 
the value of more collaboration. As of August of last year, the two 
agencies had begun discussions on ways to increase coordination. 

Strategic Human Capital Planning Is Critical to Agencies' 
Transformation: 

Strategic human capital planning is the centerpiece of federal 
agencies' efforts to transform their organizations to meet the 
governance challenges of the 21st century. Generally, strategic 
workforce planning addresses two critical needs: (1) aligning an 
organization's human capital program with its current and emerging 
mission and programmatic goals and (2) developing long-term strategies 
for acquiring, developing, motivating, and retaining staff to achieve 
programmatic goals. The long-term fiscal outlook and challenges to 
governance in the 21st century are prompting fundamental reexaminations 
of what government does, how it does it, and who does it. Strategic 
human capital planning that is integrated with broader organizational 
strategic planning is critical to ensuring agencies have the talent 
they need for future challenges. 

An agency's strategic human capital plan should address the demographic 
trends that the agency faces with its workforce, especially pending 
retirements. In 2006, OPM reported that approximately 60 percent of the 
government's 1.6 million white-collar employees and 90 percent of about 
6,000 federal executives will be eligible for retirement over the next 
10 years. We have found that leading organizations go beyond a 
succession planning approach that focuses on simply replacing 
individuals and engage in broad, integrated succession planning and 
management efforts that focus on strengthening both current and future 
organizational capacity to obtain or develop the knowledge, skills, and 
abilities they need to meet their missions.[Footnote 7] For example, 
about one third of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) workforce 
with mission-critical skills will be eligible to retire by 
2010.[Footnote 8] At the same time, NRC's workforce needs to expand 
because NRC expects to receive applications for new nuclear power 
reactors beginning in October 2007. Although there is room for further 
improvement, we found that NRC's human capital planning framework is 
generally aligned with its strategic goals and coherently identifies 
the activities needed to achieve a diverse, skilled workforce and an 
infrastructure that fully supports the agency's mission and goals. The 
agency's framework included using its human capital authorities, 
developing a critical skills and gaps inventory tool, and using targets 
and measures to monitor the composition of its hires and separations. 
NRC has been effective in recruiting, developing, and retaining a 
critically skilled workforce, though it is unclear if this trend will 
continue in the next few years. 

We also have reported in recent years on a number of human capital 
issues that have hampered the Department of State's ability to carry 
out U.S. foreign policy priorities and objectives, particularly at 
posts central to the war on terror.[Footnote 9] For example, the 
department initiated a number of efforts to improve its foreign 
language capabilities. However, it has not systematically evaluated the 
effectiveness of these efforts, and it continues to experience 
difficulties filling its language-designated positions with language 
proficient staff. We reported that these gaps in language proficiency 
can adversely affect the department's ability to communicate with 
foreign audiences and execute critical duties. 

Another example of the government's strategic human capital planning 
challenges involves its acquisition workforce. The government 
increasingly relies on contractors for roles and missions previously 
performed by government employees. Acquisition of products and services 
from contractors consumes about a quarter of discretionary spending 
governmentwide and is a key function in many federal agencies. We 
reported in 2003 that because of a more sophisticated business 
environment, most acquisition professionals would need to acquire a new 
set of skills focusing on business management.[Footnote 10] In a forum 
hosted by the Comptroller General in July 2006, acquisition experts 
reported that agency leaders have not recognized or elevated the 
importance of the acquisition profession within their organizations, 
and a strategic approach has not been taken across government or within 
agencies to focus on workforce challenges, such as creating a positive 
image essential to successfully recruit and retain a new generation of 
talented acquisition professionals.[Footnote 11] 

Acquiring, Developing, and Retaining Talent Remains a Federal Workforce 
Challenge: 

Faced with a workforce that is becoming more retirement-eligible and 
finding gaps in talent because of changes in the knowledge, skills, and 
competencies in occupations needed to meet their missions, agencies 
need to strengthen their efforts and use of available flexibilities to 
acquire, develop, motivate, and retain talent. 

A chronic complaint about the federal hiring process is its lengthy 
procedures, which puts the federal government at a competitive 
disadvantage. In recent years, Congress, OPM, and agencies have taken 
significant steps to streamline the hiring process. For example, 
Congress has provided agencies with flexibilities such as the use of 
categorical rating and exemptions from the pay and classification 
restrictions of the General Schedule. OPM's efforts included 
improvements to the USAJOBS Web site as well as other measures, such as 
job fairs and television commercials, to make the public more aware of 
the work federal employees do. OPM has also established a model 45-day 
hiring program--the time-to-hire period from the date a vacancy 
announcement closes to the date a job offer is extended. In addition, 
OPM has developed a Hiring Tool Kit on its website to help agencies 
improve their hiring processes. Moreover, OPM assists agencies on the 
use of student employment program flexibilities, which can expedite the 
hiring process and lead to noncompetitive conversion to permanent 
employment. Our work, however, has found that agencies' use of the 
tools and flexibilities that Congress has provided has been 
uneven.[Footnote 12] OPM has made some progress in assessing how 
agencies are using their hiring flexibilities and authorities. For 
example, in January of this year, we reported that OPM began working 
with a contractor in 2005 to review hiring flexibilities and 
authorities to determine which ones are used and not used, who is using 
them, and when and how they are being used.[Footnote 13] As a result of 
its work with the contractor, OPM plans to survey eight CHCO Council 
agencies to evaluate the use and effectiveness of hiring authorities 
and flexibilities and use the results to improve policies in these 
areas. This is a positive step on OPM's part as we continue to believe 
that more needs to be done to provide information to help agencies meet 
these human capital needs. 

Developing and maintaining workforces that reflect all segments of 
society and our nation's diversity is a key part of agencies' 
recruitment challenge. For example, the National Aeronautics and Space 
Administration (NASA) said it must compete with the private sector for 
the pool of Hispanics qualified for aerospace engineering positions, 
which is often attracted by more-lucrative employment opportunities in 
the private sector in more preferable locations.[Footnote 14] To 
address the situation, part of NASA's strategy in recruiting Hispanics 
focuses on increasing educational attainment, beginning in kindergarten 
and continuing into college and graduate school, with the goal of 
attracting students into the NASA workforce and aerospace community. 
NASA centers sponsor, and its employees participate in, mentoring, 
tutoring, and other programs to encourage Hispanic and other students 
to pursue careers in science, engineering, technology, and math. NASA 
also developed a scholarship program designed to stimulate a continued 
interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Another 
example is the U.S. Air Force "Grow Your Own" aircraft maintenance 
program at three of its Texas bases. In partnership with vocational- 
technical schools, the program includes both on-the-job training and 
classroom education to provide a pool of trained candidates, including 
Hispanics, to replace retiring federal civilian aircraft maintenance 
workers. 

In addition to hiring, agencies need to have effective training and 
development programs to address gaps in the skills and competencies 
that they identified in their workforces. We have issued guidance that 
introduces a framework, consisting of a set of principles and key 
questions that federal agencies can use to ensure that their training 
and development investments are targeted strategically and are not 
wasted on efforts that are irrelevant, duplicative, or 
ineffective.[Footnote 15] Training and developing new and current staff 
to fill new and different roles will play a crucial part in the federal 
government's endeavors to meet its transformation challenges. Of some 
concern, however, is the 2006 FHCS, which showed about half, or 54 
percent, of respondents were very satisfied or satisfied with the 
training they receive on their current jobs, little change from the 
2004 survey, which showed 55 percent had positive responses to this 
question. 

Results-Oriented Organizational Culture Is Key to High-Performing 
Agencies: 

High-performing organizations have found that to successfully transform 
themselves they must often fundamentally change their cultures so that 
they are more results-oriented, customer-focused, and collaborative in 
nature. An effective performance management system is critical to 
achieving this vital cultural transformation. Effective performance 
management systems are not merely used for once-or twice-yearly 
individual expectation setting and rating processes, but are tools to 
help the organization manage on a day-to-day basis. These systems are 
used to achieve results, accelerate change, and facilitate two-way 
communication throughout the year so that discussions about individual 
and organizational performance are integrated and ongoing. Moreover, 
leading public sector organizations both in the United States and 
abroad create a clear linkage--line of sight--between individual 
performance and organizational success and, thus, transform their 
cultures to be more results-oriented, customer-focused, and 
collaborative in nature.[Footnote 16] 

The government's senior executives need to lead the way in transforming 
their agencies' cultures. Credible performance management systems that 
align individual, team, and unit performance with organizational 
results can help manage and direct this process. The performance-based 
pay system that Congress established in November 2003 for members of 
the senior executive service (SES) seeks to provide a clear and direct 
linkage between performance and pay for the government's senior 
executives and is an important step toward governmentwide 
transformation.[Footnote 17] Under this performance based pay system, 
senior executives no longer receive annual across-the-board pay 
increases or locality-pay adjustments. Executive branch agencies are to 
now base pay adjustments for senior executives on individual 
performance and contributions to agency performance through an 
evaluation of their skills, qualifications, or competencies as well 
their current responsibilities.[Footnote 18] 

Just as it has for senior executives, the federal government needs to 
fundamentally rethink its current approach to paying nonexecutive 
employees by better linking their pay to individual and organizational 
performance. Today's jobs in knowledge-based organizations require a 
much broader array of tasks that may cross the narrow and rigid 
boundaries of job classifications of the General Schedule system. Since 
being exempted from the General Schedule system, DOD and DHS have been 
moving toward occupational clusters and pay bands that better define 
occupations and facilitate movement toward performance management 
systems that create a line of sight between performance and 
organizational results, make meaningful differences in performance, and 
appropriately reward those who perform at the highest levels. 

The results of the 2006 FHCS underscore the need for serious attention 
to the way federal employees are assessed and compensated. About a 
third, or 34 percent, of the respondents strongly agreed or agreed with 
the statement that promotions in their work units are based on merit. 
When respondents were asked if pay raises in their work units depend on 
how well employees perform their jobs, only 22 percent responded 
positively. These responses are consistent with past survey results. 
Further, somewhat less than a third of the survey respondents had a 
positive response to the question about whether their leadership and 
management recognized differences in performance in a meaningful way. 
High-performing organizations have found that actively involving 
employees and key stakeholders, such as unions and other employee 
associations, helps gain ownership of new performance management 
systems and improves employees' confidence and belief in the fairness 
of the systems. In addition, adequate safeguards need to be built into 
the performance management system to ensure fairness and to guard 
against abuse. Using safeguards, such as having an independent entity 
conduct reasonableness reviews of performance management decisions can 
help allay concerns and build a fair, credible, and transparent system. 

In summary, Mr. Chairman, we need to continue to move forward with 
appropriate human capital reforms. But how reform is done, when it is 
done, and the basis on which it is done can make all the difference in 
whether such efforts are successful. Before implementing significant 
human capital reforms, especially reforms that make stronger links 
between employee pay and performance, executive branch agencies should 
follow a phased approach that meets a "show me" test. That is, each 
agency should be authorized to implement reform only after it has shown 
that it has met certain conditions, including having the institutional 
infrastructure to effectively and fairly implement any new authorities. 

Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee, this completes my 
prepared statement. I would be pleased to respond to any questions you 
or others may have at this time. 

Contact and Acknowledgments: 

For further information regarding this statement, please contact J. 
Christopher Mihm, Managing Director, Strategic Issues, at (202) 512- 
6806, or mihmj@gao.gov. Individuals making key contributions to this 
testimony include Anthony P. Lofaro, Assistant Director; Ami J. 
Ballenger; Thomas M. Beall; Crystal M. Bernard; William Doherty; Karin 
K. Fangman; and Anthony R. Patterson. 

FOOTNOTES 

[1] GAO, High-Risk Series: An Update, GAO-01-263 (Washington, D.C.: 
January 2001). 

[2] GAO, High-Risk Series: An Update, GAO-07-310 (Washington, D.C.: 
January 2007). 

[3] Office of Personnel Management, 2006 Federal Human Capital Survey: 
Results from the 2006 Federal Human Capital Survey (Washington, D.C.: 
Jan. 17, 2007). The survey involved a sample of full-time, permanent 
employees from agencies making up 97 percent of the executive branch 
workforce, with the results generalizable to the population covered by 
the survey. 

[4] GAO, Office of Personnel Management: Key Lessons Learned to Date 
for Strengthening Capacity to Lead and Implement Human Capital Reforms, 
GAO-07-90 (Washington, D.C.: Jan. 19, 2007). 

[5] GAO-07-90. 

[6] GAO, Equal Employment Opportunity: Improved Coordination Needed 
between EEOC and OPM in Leading Federal Workplace EEO, GAO-06-214 
(Washington, D.C.: June 16, 2006). 

[7] GAO, Human Capital: Succession Planning and Management Is Critical 
Driver of Organizational Transformation, GAO-04-127T (Washington, D.C.: 
Oct. 1, 2003). 

[8] GAO, Human Capital: Retirements and Anticipated New Reactor 
Applications Will Challenge NRC's Workforce, GAO-07-105 (Washington, 
D.C.: Jan. 17, 2007). 

[9] GAO, Department of State: Staffing and Foreign Language Shortfalls 
Persist Despite Initiatives to Address Gaps, GAO-06-894 (Washington, 
D.C.: Aug. 4, 2006). 

[10] GAO, Acquisition Workforce: Status of Agency Efforts to Address 
Future Needs, GAO-03-55 (Washington, D.C.: Jan. 17, 2003). 

[11] GAO, Highlights of a GAO Forum: Federal Acquisition Challenges and 
Opportunities in the 21st Century, GAO-07-45SP (Washington, D.C.: Oct. 
6, 2006). 

[12] GAO, Human Capital: Increasing Agencies' Use of New Hiring 
Flexibilities, GAO-04-959T (Washington, D.C.: July 13, 2004). 

[13] GAO-07-90. 

[14] GAO, The Federal Workforce: Additional Insights Could Enhance 
Agency Efforts Related to Hispanic Representation, GAO-06-832 
(Washington, D.C.: Aug. 17, 2006). 

[15] GAO, Human Capital: A Guide for Assessing Strategic Training and 
Development Efforts in the Federal Government, GAO-04-546G (Washington, 
D.C.: Mar. 1, 2004). 

[16] GAO, Results-Oriented Cultures: Creating a Clear Linkage between 
Individual Performance and Organizational Success, GAO-03-488 
(Washington, D.C.: Mar. 14, 2003). 

[17] Pub. L. No. 108-136, § 1125, 117 Stat. 1392, 1638 (Nov. 24, 2003). 

[18] GAO, Human Capital: Aligning Senior Executives' Performance with 
Organizational Results Is an Important Step Toward Governmentwide 
Transformation, GAO-06-1125T (Washington, D.C.: Sept. 26, 2006). 

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Washington, D.C. 20548: 

To order by Phone: Voice: (202) 512-6000 TDD: (202) 512-2537 Fax: (202) 
512-6061: 

To Report Fraud, Waste, and Abuse in Federal Programs: 

Contact: 

Web site: www.gao.gov/fraudnet/fraudnet.htm E-mail: fraudnet@gao.gov 
Automated answering system: (800) 424-5454 or (202) 512-7470: 

Congressional Relations: 

Gloria Jarmon, Managing Director, JarmonG@gao.gov (202) 512-4400 U.S. 
Government Accountability Office, 441 G Street NW, Room 7125 
Washington, D.C. 20548: 

Public Affairs: 

Paul Anderson, Managing Director, AndersonP1@gao.gov (202) 512-4800 
U.S. Government Accountability Office, 441 G Street NW, Room 7149 
Washington, D.C. 20548: