FEDERAL 

WORKFORCE

OPM and Agencies 

Need to Strengthen 

Efforts to Identify and 

Close Mission-Critical 

Skills Gaps

Report to Congressional Requesters

January 2015

GAO-15-223

United States Government Accountability Office
United States Government Accountability Office

Highlights of GAO-15-223, a report to 

Congressional Requesters

January 2015

FEDERAL WORKFORCE 

OPM and Agencies Need to Strengthen Efforts to

Identify and Close Mission-Critical Skills Gaps

Why GAO Did This Study

Mission-critical skills gaps both within 

federal agencies and across the 

federal workforce pose a high risk to 

the nation because they impede the 

government from cost-effectively 

serving the public and achieving 

results. 

GAO was asked to review progress

OPM has made in closing governmentwide skills gaps, achieving its crossagency priority goal, and additional 

steps needed to better identify and 

address skills gaps. This report 

assesses (1) lessons learned from 

initial efforts to close critical skills gaps 

and how they can inform future 

initiatives, (2) what progress OPM has 

made in building a predictive capacity 

to identify future mission-critical skills 

gaps, and (3) how OPM and agencies

are using HRstat to identify and close 

skills gaps. To address these 

objectives, GAO reviewed 

documentation; interviewed OPM 

officials; and reviewed the 

implementation of HRstat meetings at 

Commerce, DOE, and USAID. 

What GAO Recommends

GAO recommends that OPM (1) 

strengthen its methodology for 

identifying and addressing skills gaps, 

(2) establish a schedule and process 

for collecting government-wide staffing 

and competency data, and (3) develop 

a core set of metrics for use in 

agencies’ HRstat reviews. OPM 

generally concurred with the first and 

third recommendations but did not 

concur with the second 

recommendation because of funding 

implications. GAO acknowledges there 

may be funding constraints; however, 

GAO’s recommendation may help 

OPM address these constraints. 

What GAO Found

Lessons learned from initial efforts to try to close skills gaps could strengthen 

future approaches. For example, the Chief Human Capital Officer (CHCO) Council

Working Group (Working Group) identified skills gaps in six government-wide 

occupations, such as cybersecurity and auditors. Although this effort was an 

important step forward, GAO’s work has identified skills gaps in nearly two dozen 

occupations with significant programmatic impact. In some cases, such as 

cybersecurity, the skills gaps GAO identified were consistent with the Working 

Group’s findings. But GAO’s work has also identified additional skills gaps. For 

example, a decline in telecommunication expertise at multiple agencies 

contributed to delays and cost overruns of 44 percent when those agencies were 

transitioning to a new network of telecommunications services. The Working 

Group did not address a more comprehensive list of skills gaps because of 

various methodological shortcomings that included insufficient analysis of 

workforce data early in the process. In 2015, the Office of Personnel 

Management (OPM) and the CHCO Council plan to identify and address a new 

set of government-wide skills gaps. It will be important that key lessons learned 

from the initial efforts to identify skills gaps inform this next round of work, 

including the need to (1) use a data-driven approach early in the process, (2) 

prioritize occupations using criteria that consider programmatic impact, and (3) 

consult with subject matter experts and other stakeholders prior to the 

identification of skills gaps in occupations. 

Key features of OPM’s efforts to predict emerging skills gaps are in the early 

planning stages. GAO has previously reported that further progress in closing 

skills gaps will depend on, among other things, the extent to which OPM 

develops a capacity to predict emerging skills gaps beyond those areas already 

identified. A re-named interagency group, known as the Federal Agency Skills 

Team, plans to strengthen the methodology used to identify emerging skills gaps. 

Additionally, OPM officials are discussing plans to modify OPM’s workforce 

database to capture government-wide staffing data. However, OPM will need to 

establish a schedule for modifying this database to ensure its implementation.

OPM officials also stated that because agencies’ capacity to assess workforce 

competencies varies, OPM does not have government-wide data on competency 

gaps, which is needed to identify emerging cross-agency skills gaps. In 

conjunction with agencies’ CHCOs, OPM will need to strengthen agencies’ ability 

to assess their competency needs that are critical to successfully achieving their 

mission and goals. 

OPM and selected agencies that GAO reviewed—the Departments of Commerce 

(Commerce) and Energy (DOE), and the U.S. Agency for International 

Development (USAID)—could improve efforts to address skills gaps by 

strengthening their use of quarterly data-driven reviews, known as HRstat 

meetings. Specifically, the metrics used by the selected agencies during their 

HRstat meetings vary from agency to agency, making it difficult for OPM to 

assess agencies’ progress in closing skills gaps government-wide. Although it is 

important for agencies to have their own HRstat metrics, OPM should work with 

the CHCO Council to develop a core set of HRstat metrics that all agencies use

so that OPM may have the ability to analyze skills gap data across the 

government. 

View GAO-15-223. For more information, 

contact Robert Goldenkoff at (202) 512-2757

or goldenkoffr@gao.gov. 
Page i GAO-15-223 Federal Workforce

Letter 1 

Background 4

Lessons Learned From Initial Efforts to Close Mission-Critical 

Skills Gaps Could Strengthen Future Approaches 8

OPM’s Efforts to Predict Emerging Mission-Critical Skills Gaps Are 

in the Early Planning Stages 20

OPM and Selected Agencies Could Improve Efforts to Address 

Skills Gaps by Strengthening Data-Driven Reviews 24

Conclusions 27

Recommendations for Executive Action 28

Agency Comments and Our Evaluation 29

Appendix I Objectives, Scope, and Methodology 32

Appendix II Comments from the Office of Personnel Management 35

Appendix III GAO Contact and Staff Acknowledgments 38

Tables

Table 1: Sub-goal Groups’ Plans Generally Met Three of Six Key 

Practices for Project Planning 19

Table 2: Metrics Reported during HRstat in Quarter 3 of Fiscal 

Year 2014 That Are Relevant to Closing Skills Gaps - 

Across All Selected Agencies 25

Figure

Figure 1: Percentage of Career Permanent Employees on Board 

as of September 30, 2013, Eligible to Retire by 2018 by 

Agency 6

Contents
Page ii GAO-15-223 Federal Workforce

Abbreviations

CAP Cross-Agency Priority

CHCO Chief Human Capital Officer

Commerce Department of Commerce

DOE Department of Energy

EHRI Enterprise Human Resources Integration

FAST Federal Agency Skills Team

GPRAMA GPRA Modernization Act of 2010

GSA General Services Administration

Interior Department of Interior

IT information technology

MCO mission-critical occupation

OMB Office of Management and Budget

OPM Office of Personnel Management

SHCM strategic human capital management

STEM science, technology, engineering, and mathematics

USAID U.S. Agency for International Development

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Page 1 GAO-15-223 Federal Workforce

441 G St. N.W.

Washington, DC 20548

January 30, 2015

The Honorable Elijah E. Cummings

Ranking Member 

Committee on Oversight and Government Reform

House of Representatives

The Honorable Stephen Lynch

Ranking Member

Subcommittee on National Security

Committee on Oversight and Government Reform

House of Representatives

Skills gaps within the federal workforce can significantly impact agencies’ 

ability to serve the public and achieve their missions. For example, a lack 

of seasoned acquisition staff—whose responsibilities include procuring 

services, evaluating price proposals, and administering contracts—may 

contribute to significant delays in purchasing mission-critical goods and 

services, such as medical supplies, engineering support, and program 

management.1 Likewise, as we noted in our earlier work, an information 

technology (IT) workforce without the appropriate competencies could 

impede the development of the multimillion-dollar information systems 

needed to conduct federal IT projects.2

An agency’s skills gap can manifest itself in a variety of ways. For the 

purposes of this report, a skills gap may consist of one or more of the 

following: a (1) “staffing gap,” in which an agency has an insufficient 

number of individuals to complete its work, such as a lack of contracting 

officers within its workforce; and/or a (2) “competency gap,” in which an 

agency has individuals without the appropriate skills, abilities, or 

 

1

U.S. Department of State and U.S. Agency for International Development, FY 2015 

Annual Performance Plan, (Washington D.C.: Apr. 2, 2014). 

2

See GAO, Information Technology: Census Bureau Needs to Implement Key 

Management Practices, GAO-12-915 (Washington, D.C.: Sept. 18, 2012).
 

Page 2 GAO-15-223 Federal Workforce

behaviors to successfully perform the work, such as an information 

technology workforce without up-to-date cybersecurity skills.3

Because skills gaps within individual federal agencies—as well as across 

the federal workforce—can lead to costly, less-efficient government, we 

designated addressing agencies’ mission-critical skills gaps as a high-risk 

area in February 2011.4

In response, OPM and agencies launched several initiatives. For 

example, in September 2011, OPM and the Chief Human Capital Officer 

(CHCO) Council established an interagency working group (Working 

Group) to identify and mitigate selected skills gaps in mission-critical 

occupations (MCO) and has thus far identified skills gaps in six areas: 

information technology/cybersecurity, contract specialist/acquisition, 

economist, human resource specialist, auditor, and the science, 

technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) functional community. 

At that time, we noted that strategic human 

capital management—a GAO high-risk issue since 2001—seemed to be 

improving in some respects because of actions taken by Congress, the 

Office of Personnel Management (OPM), and individual agencies. 

However, we also noted that considerable work was still needed going 

forward to identify and address skills gaps.

In the President’s Fiscal Year 2013 budget, released in February 2012, 

the Working Group’s efforts were designated as an interim, two-year 

Cross-Agency Priority (CAP) goal.5

 

3

Definition based on the Strategic Human Capital Management (SHCM) High Risk 

Initiative’s definition of “skills gap,” as outlined in its July 2012 status report. The SHCM 

High Risk Initiative was an 18 month joint initiative launched in September 2011 by the 

Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and the Chief Human Capital Officers Council to 

address critical skills gaps in the federal government. Additionally, we will use OPM’s 

definition of a competency which refers to the knowledge, skills, abilities, behaviors, and 

other characteristics needed by an individual to successfully perform their work or 

occupation.

More recently, the President’s Fiscal 

Year 2015 budget established closing skills gaps in the government-wide 

human resource workforce an OPM Agency Priority Goal. In addition, to 

promote agency leadership’s use of data to improve human capital 

4

GAO, High-Risk Series: An Update, GAO-13-283 (Washington, D.C.: February 2013).

5

The interim CAP goal was established to close critical skills gaps in the federal workforce 

to improve mission performance. The CAP goal expired as planned at the end of fiscal 

year 2013.
 

Page 3 GAO-15-223 Federal Workforce

management, in May 2012, OPM launched HRstat—a quarterly datadriven review led by each agency’s CHCO—to review performance 

metrics related to human resource goals, such as goals for closing skills 

gaps.6

You asked us to review the progress made by OPM in closing 

government-wide skills gaps and achieving its CAP goal, as well as what 

additional steps, if any, are needed to better identify and address skills 

gaps. This report assesses (1) lessons learned from initial efforts to close 

critical skills gaps and how they can inform future initiatives; (2) what 

progress OPM has made in building a predictive capacity to identify future 

mission-critical skills gaps; and (3) how OPM and selected agencies are 

using HRstat to identify and close skills gaps.

OPM expects to implement HRstat government-wide in 2015.

To accomplish the first objective, we observed the Working Group’s 

meetings from July 2011 to August 2012 to understand the process it 

used to identify government-wide skills gaps in MCOs. We also reviewed 

documentation, such as status reports, that described the Working 

Group’s activities, and our reports from October 2010 to May 2014 to 

identify skills gaps that we determined were causing programmatic 

impacts at agencies across the federal government.7 Moreover, we 

reviewed planning documents for addressing skills gaps in the six MCOs 

identified by the Working Group for such things as their alignment with 

key practices for project planning that we identified through a literature 

review. The criteria were drawn from our prior work assessing project 

planning, our guide for key practices in project schedules, and our criteria 

for removing issues from our high-risk list.8

 

6

According to OPM’s HRstat guidance, agency Performance Improvement Officers and 

Chief Operating Officers should support HRstat reviews. 

In particular, we assessed 

whether the planning documents included the following elements relevant 

to closing skills gaps: (1) identifying root causes, (2) establishing 

7

We chose October 2010 (the start of fiscal year 2011) as the start date of our literature 

search because OPM and the CHCO Council formed the Working Group to close skills 

gaps in fiscal year 2011. 

8

See GAO, Federal Employees: Opportunities Exist to Strengthen Performance 

Management Pilot, GAO-13-755 (Washington, D.C.: Nov. 14, 2013); GAO, GAO Schedule 

Assessment Guide: Best Practices for Project Schedules—Exposure Draft, GAO-12-120G 

(Washington, D.C.: May 30, 2012); and GAO, Government Operations: Determining 

Performance and Accountability Challenges and High Risks, GAO-01-159SP 

(Washington, D.C.: Nov. 1, 2000). 
 

Page 4 GAO-15-223 Federal Workforce

objectives, (3) developing specific actions, (4) assigning roles and 

responsibilities, (5) planning duration of actions, and (6) using outcomeoriented performance metrics. To determine progress made toward the 

interim CAP goal for closing skills gaps, we reviewed documentation, 

such as quarterly status updates. We also interviewed OPM and agency 

officials who design strategies to close skills gaps that OPM and the 

Office of Management and Budget (OMB) designated as the focus of the 

CAP goal.

To accomplish the second objective, we reviewed documentation, such 

as strategic plans, containing information about ongoing OPM initiatives 

that could build the predictive capacity within OPM to identify future 

mission-critical skills gaps. We also interviewed OPM officials who were 

implementing these initiatives to learn more about the status of OPM’s 

efforts.

To accomplish the third objective, we selected a nongeneralizable sample 

of three agencies— the Departments of Commerce (Commerce) and 

Energy (DOE), and the U.S. Agency for International Development 

(USAID)—from among the 24 agencies that had implemented HRstat at 

the time of our review. We selected these agencies because they had 

one or more of the following: (1) multiple skills gaps that we and the 

Working Group identified; (2) skills gaps in any of the four occupations 

that we or the Working Group most frequently identified (STEM, 

acquisition, human resources, and cybersecurity); and (3) large 

proportions of their workforces in each of those occupations. Also, the 

selected agencies were among the first to implement HRstat and 

therefore had the most experience implementing the HRstat process at 

the time of our review.

We conducted this performance audit from March 2014 to January 2015 

in accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards. 

Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain 

sufficient, appropriate evidence to provide a reasonable basis for our 

findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives. We believe that 

the evidence obtained provides a reasonable basis for our findings and 

conclusions based on our audit objectives.

Mission-critical skills gaps within specific federal agencies as well as 

across the federal workforce pose a high risk to the nation because they 

impede the government from cost effectively serving the public and 

achieving results. We first designated strategic human capital 

Background
 

Page 5 GAO-15-223 Federal Workforce

management across the government as a high-risk issue in 2001 

because of the federal government’s long-standing lack of a consistent 

approach to human capital management. In February 2011, we narrowed 

the focus of this high-risk issue to the need for agencies to close missioncritical skills gaps. At that time, we noted that agencies faced challenges 

effectively and efficiently meeting their missions across a number of 

areas, including acquisition management and foreign language 

capabilities.9

Trends in federal workforce retirement threaten to aggravate the problem 

of skills gaps. As Figure 1 shows, 30 percent of all career permanent 

employees who were on board as of September 30, 2013, will be eligible 

to retire by 2018. Moreover, some agencies such as the Department of 

Housing and Urban Development and the Small Business Administration 

will have particularly high retirement eligibility rates by 2018.

 

9

GAO, High-Risk Series: An Update, GAO-11-278 (Washington, D.C.: February 2011). 
 

Page 6 GAO-15-223 Federal Workforce

Figure 1: Percentage of Career Permanent Employees on Board as of September 30, 2013, Eligible to Retire by 2018 by 

Agency

Various factors affect when eligible individuals actually retire, which can 

be seen in the number of new retirement claims received by OPM each 

month. In October 2014, OPM was hit with a surge in new retirement 

claims—10,155, the highest number since February 2014. However, in 

the intervening months, there was considerable fluctuation in new claims. 

Some amount of retirement and other forms of attrition can be beneficial 

because it creates opportunities to bring fresh skills on board and allows 

organizations to restructure themselves to better meet program goals and 

fiscal realities.10

 

10GAO, Federal Workforce: Recent Trends in Federal Civilian Employment and 

Compensation, 

Nevertheless, if turnover is not strategically managed 

GAO-14-215 (Washington, D.C.: Jan. 29, 2014). 
 

Page 7 GAO-15-223 Federal Workforce

and monitored and succession plans are not in place, gaps can develop 

in an agency’s institutional knowledge and leadership as experienced 

employees retire.

In addition to a potential wave of employee retirements, other humancapital related risks are threatening the performance of federal agencies, 

including current budget and long-term fiscal pressures, declining levels 

of employee satisfaction, and the changing nature of federal work with an 

increasing number of positions requiring advanced degrees and other 

skills.

Effectively addressing mission-critical skills gaps requires a multi-faceted 

response from OPM and agencies. In February 2013, we noted that OPM 

and agencies would need to use a strategic approach that (1) involves top 

management, employees, and other stakeholders; (2) identifies the 

critical skills and competencies that will be needed to achieve current and 

future programmatic results; (3) develops strategies that are tailored to 

address skills gaps; (4) builds the internal capability needed to address 

administrative, training, and other requirements important to support 

workforce planning strategies; and (5) includes plans to monitor and 

evaluate progress toward closing skills gaps and meeting other human 

capital goals using a variety of appropriate metrics.11 We also noted that 

further progress in closing skills gaps will depend on, among other things, 

the extent to which OPM develops a predictive capacity to identify newly 

emerging skills gaps beyond those areas already identified.

 

11GAO-13-283. 
 

Page 8 GAO-15-223 Federal Workforce

Based on its deliberations from September 2011 through March 2012, the 

CHCO Council Working Group (Working Group) identified skills gaps in 

six government-wide, mission-critical occupations (MCO): cybersecurity, 

auditor, human resources specialist, contract specialist, economist, and 

the STEM family. It also identified mission-critical competencies, including 

data analysis, strategic thinking, influencing and negotiating, problem 

solving, and grants management competencies. As part of these 

deliberations, individual agencies identified agency-specific MCOs and 

were responsible for designing strategies to close skills gaps in those 

occupations.

Although this effort was an important step forward, because of various 

methodological shortcomings, the Working Group did not address a more 

comprehensive list of mission-critical skills gaps. As we discuss later in 

this report, in 2015, OPM plans to identify a new set of MCOs. Going 

forward, it will be important for OPM and the CHCO Council to use 

lessons learned from its initial efforts to inform this next round of work. 

Specifically, the Working Group’s experience underscores the importance 

of (1) using a robust, data-driven approach to identify potential MCOs 

early in the process; (2) prioritizing occupations using criteria that 

consider programmatic impact; and (3) consulting with subject matter 

experts and other stakeholders prior to identifying MCOs.

Since 2011, our work has identified skills gaps in nearly two dozen 

occupations across the government. In some cases, such as 

cybersecurity, the gaps we identified were affecting multiple agencies and 

were consistent with the Working Group’s findings.12

 

12GAO, Cybersecurity Human Capital: Initiatives Need Better Planning and Coordination, 

But our work also 

GAO-12-8 (Washington, D.C.: Nov. 29, 2011). 

Lessons Learned 

From Initial Efforts to 

Close Mission-Critical 

Skills Gaps Could 

Strengthen Future 

Approaches

Working Group’s Effort 

Yields Three Key Lessons 

for Identifying Skills Gaps
 

Page 9 GAO-15-223 Federal Workforce

identified additional skills gaps, both government-wide and agency 

specific, that were having a significant programmatic impact, such as:

• Oil and Gas Management. In January 2014, we found that hiring and 

retention challenges at the Department of Interior (Interior) have 

resulted in fewer inspections of oil and gas facilities, which according 

to officials results in an increased risk to human health and safety due 

to a spill or accident.13

• Telecommunications. In December 2013, we found that a decline in 

telecommunication expertise across multiple agencies compounded 

the General Services Administration’s (GSA) challenges in 

transitioning those agencies to a new network of telecommunications 

services, contributing to delays and cost overruns of 44 percent.

In 2012, Interior’s Bureau of Land 

Management had an attrition rate among petroleum engineers that, 

according to OPM data, is more than double the average federal 

attrition rate. Although Congress has provided Interior with the 

authority to establish higher minimum rates of basic pay for key 

inspection occupations, we noted in January 2014 that it was 

uncertain how Interior would address staffing shortfalls over time. 

Interior generally agreed with our recommendation that it should 

systematically collect data on hiring times for key oil and gas 

positions, ensure the accuracy of the data, analyze the data to identify 

the causes of delays, and expedite the hiring process. In response to 

our recommendation, Interior stated that its bureaus have begun a 

more systematic collection and analysis of hiring data to identify the 

causes of delays and to help expedite the hiring process.

14

 

13GAO, Oil and Gas: Interior Has Begun to Address Hiring and Retention Challenges but 

Needs to Do More, 

Moreover, according to GSA, customer agencies are concerned that 

the shortage of telecommunications specialists will get worse because 

there are not enough to replace experienced workers nearing 

retirement. GSA has yet to fully study the issue of addressing missioncritical skills gaps and agreed that understanding expertise shortfalls 

would be useful for future transition planning purposes. Officials from 

GSA and OPM agreed with our recommendation on the need to better 

examine potential government-wide telecommunications expertise 

shortfalls and have agreed to coordinate on efforts to do so. While this

recommendation was still open at the time of our review, GSA’s Office 

GAO-14-205 (Washington, D.C.: Jan. 31, 2014). 

14GAO, Telecommunications: GSA Needs to Share and Prioritize Lessons Learned to 

Avoid Future Transition Delays, GAO-14-63 (Washington, D.C.: Dec. 5, 2013).
 

Page 10 GAO-15-223 Federal Workforce

of Human Resources Management plans to take several actions such 

as identifying and validating technical competencies, developing 

competency models, and performing a workforce assessment against 

the models.

Working Group officials observed that a lesson learned from their MCO 

selection process was that they did not use workforce information and 

data analytics sufficiently early in the process. Instead, to identify an initial 

list of MCOs, the Working Group started with an environmental scan that 

consisted of our reports and academic studies. The Working Group used 

data analytics, such as the levels of attrition within an occupation, only 

after it had identified the initial set of MCOs.15 This approach only 

supported the selection of MCOs the Working Group already made and 

did not subject the full range of federal occupations to the same analytical 

criteria. As part of our development of our 2013 High-Risk report, we 

discussed this approach with the Working Group’s leadership, specifically 

questioning why the Working Group did not use workforce data as the 

starting point for its selection process.16

In February 2012, to help prioritize their efforts, Working Group officials 

limited the scope of their work by creating criteria that at least half of the 

24 CHCO Council agencies needed to report having a skills gap in that 

occupation, and that those agencies collectively needed to employ at 

least 95 percent of the occupation’s workforce. Working Group officials 

explained that limiting the number of MCOs using these criteria enabled 

them to focus on occupations found in most agencies. The officials also 

noted that it was important to establish a threshold for the number of 

agencies with a given skills gap so that the Working Group could focus 

resources on addressing skills gaps that had the greatest reach across 

Subsequently, as part of a June 

2013 discussion of lessons learned, Working Group officials concluded 

that the MCO selection process would have benefitted from analyzing 

staffing gap data and associated trends prior to identifying an initial set of 

MCOs. These officials determined that using these workforce data would 

have given the Working Group a better sense of which occupations had 

the biggest skills gaps.

 

15The Working Group analyzed a series of retention and recruitment metrics to assess 

staffing gaps. These included the attrition/turnover rate, retirement eligibility trends, 

quantity and quality of applicants, and time to hire. The Working Group also assessed the 

environmental conditions, such as budget availability, for hiring in the occupations. 

16GAO-13-283. 

A Data-Driven Approach Could 

Help OPM and Agencies 

Identify a More Complete Set 

of Mission-Critical Occupations

Prioritization Criteria Should 

Consider Potential 

Programmatic Impact
 

Page 11 GAO-15-223 Federal Workforce

the government. Officials added that skills gaps that existed at only a few 

agencies were the agencies’ responsibility to address.

While we recognize the importance of prioritizing MCOs to a manageable 

number, the Working Group’s approach overlooked skills gaps that may 

not have met the criteria but still had the potential for significant 

programmatic impact. For example, in August 2014, we found that, in part 

because of staffing shortages, the Department of Justice’s Bureau of 

Prisons was not activating new prison facilities in a timely manner, 

thereby aggravating the problem of prison overcrowding.17 Additionally, 

we found in December 2013 that the Department of Transportation’s 

Federal Railroad Administration lacked a plan to have sufficient safety 

inspectors to carry out oversight of such initiatives as positive train 

control—a communications system designed to prevent events like trainto-train collisions.18

Our principles for effective strategic workforce planning note that 

agencies should involve stakeholders in developing and implementing 

future workforce strategies.

Indeed, Working Group officials later recognized that 

establishing such a strict standard for a government-wide MCO resulted 

in eliminating from consideration other important occupations, such as 

nurses and financial analysts. Because the Working Group’s selection 

criteria created such a strict and narrow standard for government-wide 

skills gaps, its efforts failed to capture the broader range of skills gaps 

that were affecting agencies’ abilities to meet their missions. As we note 

later in this report, OPM’s proposed methodology for selecting a new set 

of MCOs does not include such a strict definition for government-wide 

skills gaps.

19

 

17GAO, Bureau of Prisons: Management of New Prison Activations Can Be Improved, 

However, the Working Group did not 

thoroughly consult occupational experts from other interagency councils 

or organizations prior to identifying MCOs. Instead, Working Group 

officials only considered consulting relevant stakeholders to discuss 

strategies for addressing skills gaps at a March 2012 meeting—after the 

Working Group had already identified preliminary MCOs for selection. As 

GAO-14-709 (Washington, D.C.: Aug. 22, 2014). 

18GAO, Rail Safety: Improved Human Capital Planning Could Address Emerging Safety 

Oversight Challenges, GAO-14-85 (Washington, D.C.: Dec. 9, 2013). 

19GAO, Human Capital: Key Principles for Effective Strategic Workforce Planning, 

GAO-04-39 (Washington, D.C.: Dec. 11, 2003). 

Early Stakeholder Input Can 

Help Improve the Identification 

of Skills Gaps
 

Page 12 GAO-15-223 Federal Workforce

a result, stakeholders could only provide advice on decisions already 

made rather than help with the initial screening of MCOs. As one 

example, members of the Council of Inspectors General on Integrity and 

Efficiency—an Executive Branch interagency council devoted, in part, to 

providing training for federal auditors—told us that they had not been 

consulted about the existence of skills gaps in the auditor occupation and 

were initially unsure why the auditor occupation was designated by the 

Working Group as an MCO for skills gap closure.20 A Working Group 

official indicated at a January 2012 meeting that the Working Group had 

sufficient subject matter experts internally, and verification of MCO 

selection with outside experts could lead to competing lists of MCOs and 

could expend significant resources. As a result of this limited outreach, 

however, the Working Group missed an opportunity to leverage the 

expertise of key outside stakeholders to get a more complete assessment 

of the need to close skills gaps. As we describe later in this report, OPM 

has recognized this deficiency and is proposing a methodology for a new 

interagency working group that incorporates more input from subject 

matter experts when identifying emerging skills gaps.

OPM and the Working Group have made important progress in creating 

an infrastructure to address the six mission-critical skill gaps they 

identified. The GPRA Modernization Act of 2010 (GPRAMA) requires 

OMB to coordinate with agencies to develop cross-agency priority (CAP) 

goals to improve the performance and management of the federal 

government in several areas, including human capital management.21

 

20The Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency is an independent 

entity within the Executive Branch established by the Inspector General Reform Act of 

2008, Pub. L. No. 110-409, § 7, 122 Stat. 4302, 4305 (Oct. 14, 2008) codified at 5 U.S.C. 

App. 3, § 11. Among the Council’s missions is to aid in the establishment of a well-trained 

and highly skilled workforce in the offices of Inspectors General.

The fiscal year 2013 budget—released in February 2012—designated 

21Pub. L. No. 111-352, § 5, 124 Stat. 3866, 3873 (Jan. 4, 2011) codified at 31 U.S.C. § 

1120(a). GPRAMA significantly enhanced the performance planning and reporting 

framework originally put into place by the Government Performance and Results Act of 

1993, Pub. L. No. 103-62, 107 Stat. 285 (Aug. 3, 1993).

Efforts to Address Skills 

Gaps Are Underway with 

Mixed Results

OPM Provided Resources and 

Visibility to Efforts to Close 

Skills Gaps
 

Page 13 GAO-15-223 Federal Workforce

OPM as leader of a two-year interim CAP goal to close skills gaps by 50 

percent in three-to-five MCOs by September 30, 2013.22

In working within their occupational communities, the sub-goal leaders 

selected specific strategies to decrease skills gaps in the occupational 

communities they represent. Multiple sub-goal leaders indicated that the 

quarterly meetings and availability of OPM staff and their human 

resources expertise provided visibility and resources to sub-goal leaders’ 

efforts to close skills gaps in their MCOs. For example, Auditor sub-goal 

leaders told us that the OPM Director assisted in conducting a study of 

government-wide recruitment and hiring of auditors. In partnership with

OPM and stakeholders from the federal audit community, Auditor subgoal leaders found that the current qualifications for federal auditors do 

not align with the nature of federal audit work. To address this challenge, 

OPM is studying how to change the qualifications for federal auditor 

positions to improve agencies’ experiences with recruiting and hiring 

qualified candidates for that occupation. 

As goal leader, 

the Director of OPM appointed key federal officials from each of the six 

government-wide mission-critical occupations to serve as sub-goal 

leaders for each of the six MCOs identified by the Working Group. At the 

time of our review, the sub-goal co-leaders for the cybersecurity 

workforce, for example, were the Assistant Director for Cybersecurity at 

the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and the Lead 

for the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education within the 

Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and 

Technology. Likewise, the sub-goal leader for the economist workforce is 

the Assistant Secretary for Economic Policy and Chief Economist at the 

U.S. Department of the Treasury.

The meetings and performance reviews by OPM and sub-goal groups 

demonstrate high-level leadership commitment to address mission-critical 

skills gaps. We have maintained that removing skills gaps as a high-risk 

issue across the government will depend in part on the extent to which 

OPM and agencies involve top management and include plans to monitor 

 

22In June 2010, we reported on the quarterly review process required under GPRAMA and 

the overall progress made towards each interim CAP goal, including the skills gap CAP 

goal. For additional information see GAO, Managing for Results: OMB Should Strengthen 

Reviews of Cross-Agency Goals, GAO-14-526 (Washington, D.C.: June 10, 2014). Prior 

to full implementation of GPRAMA, OMB was to coordinate with agencies to develop 

interim CAP goals. Pub. L. No. 111-352, § 14(a)(1). 
 

Page 14 GAO-15-223 Federal Workforce

and evaluate progress toward closing skills gaps.23

Throughout the time period when closing skills gaps was an explicit CAP 

goal, top officials at OPM held the sub-goal groups accountable for 

making progress by holding quarterly performance review meetings. OPM 

also used these meetings to discuss challenges the sub-goal leaders 

were facing and to field requests from sub-goal leaders for how they 

could better facilitate sub-goal groups’ efforts. Now that the fiscal year 

2013 CAP goal expired and was replaced with a fiscal year 2015 human 

capital management CAP goal that did not have explicit targets for closing 

skills gaps, OPM officials have told us that they intend to continue 

meeting with current sub-goal leaders through a community of practice. 

OPM has also worked with agencies to develop occupation-specific 

communities of practice within the science, technology, engineering, and 

mathematics (STEM) and Economist sub-goal groups. In addition, OPM 

has indicated that it intends to hold quarterly performance review 

sessions with officials in charge of efforts to close skills gaps in emerging 

government-wide occupations in a similar format to what was done during 

the prior CAP goal.

The President’s fiscal 

year 2015 budget, released in March 2014, includes a four-year human 

capital management CAP goal to (1) create a culture of excellence and 

engagement to enable higher performance, (2) build a world-class federal 

management team starting with the Senior Executive Service, and (3) 

enable agencies to hire the best talent from all segments of society. While 

these CAP goal elements contain workforce planning strategies and 

metrics relevant to closing skills gaps, there are no overall performance 

targets for closing skills gaps, and closing skills gaps is no longer an 

explicit goal.

These are all important steps in the right direction and highlight OPM’s 

commitment to addressing skills gaps going forward. Still, the CAP goal to 

address skills gaps gave the entire effort government-wide focus and 

visibility, and provided OPM a mechanism to hold agencies accountable 

for results. It will be important for OPM to continue its leadership on this 

high-risk issue by holding occupational leaders accountable for 

implementing their strategies to close skills gaps and sustaining the 

visibility of the issue among agency officials across the government. Key 

focus areas include using (1) better defined, more measurable goals, (2) 

 

23GAO-13-283. 
 

Page 15 GAO-15-223 Federal Workforce

outcome-oriented performance metrics that align with activities to close 

skills gaps, and (3) key practices for project planning.

The CAP goal target to close skills gaps was vague and difficult to 

measure. The fiscal year 2013 human capital CAP goal’s target was to 

close skills gaps by 50 percent by the end of fiscal year 2013 in three-tofive of the six MCOs for which OPM appointed sub-goal leaders and 

groups of officials from across the government. Because the CAP goal 

target was difficult to measure, however, there is no clear basis for 

determining whether the CAP goal was met.

Our prior work on performance goals has indicated that setting ambitious 

but realistic goals is one of the factors that can influence whether goalsetting and performance measurement efforts will be successful.24

• An OPM official told us that the 50 percent target was not set 

appropriately and that, rather than have a single, overarching 

performance target, sub-goal groups needed individualized targets to 

allow for greater measurability.

However, sub-goal leaders and OPM officials leading the effort stated that 

the 50 percent skills gap closure target was difficult to measure. 

Specifically:

• Similarly, the STEM sub-goal co-leader told us that the CAP goal 

target was not designed in a way that could facilitate a sophisticated 

measurement of progress by the various sub-goal groups.

• The Cybersecurity sub-goal leader indicated that the group’s efforts 

were at such an early stage of maturity that it could not gauge a 50 

percent skills gap closure because it had not fully determined the 

nature of its skills gap. The Cybersecurity sub-goal group, therefore, 

did not have an effective baseline from which to measure 50 percent 

progress.

Of the six sub-goal groups (Acquisition, Cybersecurity, Economist, 

Human Resources, STEM, and Auditor), three—the Cybersecurity, 

Economist, and Human Resources sub-goal groups—used performance 

metrics that either did not align with outcomes for closing skills gaps or 

did not represent their activities for closing skills gaps (the STEM and 

 

24GAO, Government Reform: Goal-Setting and Performance, GAO/AIMD/GGD-95-130R 

(Washington, D.C.: Mar. 27, 1995).

Use of Better Defined, 

Measurable Goals Enhances 

Monitoring on Closure of Skills 

Gaps

Align Performance Metrics with 

Targets and Activities for 

Closing Skills Gaps
 

Page 16 GAO-15-223 Federal Workforce

Auditor sub-goal groups did not establish metrics at all).25 Our prior work 

has outlined the importance of developing outcome-oriented performance 

metrics that clearly and sufficiently relate to the performance they are 

meant to assess.26 Our prior work has also discussed the importance of 

using performance metrics to link agencies’ goals and priorities with the 

actions that they are taking so that leaders can hold their organizations 

accountable for progress.27

For example, the Acquisition sub-goal group aligned its metrics with 

activities and overall targets. Sub-goal leaders indicated that they focused 

their efforts to close skills gaps on maintaining federal acquisition 

competencies. To do so, the sub-goal group set a performance metric of 

increasing the certification rate among civilian contract specialists and 

produced guidance on revising agencies’ certification curricula. Sub-goal 

leaders indicated that increasing the certification rate among civilian 

contract specialists by 10 percentage points—from 75 percent to 85 

percent—was adequate for the occupation’s long-term needs. To make 

50 percent progress toward this target by the end of fiscal year 2013, they 

worked toward a metric of an 80 percent certification rate. The Acquisition 

sub-goal group’s efforts resulted in a 6 percentage point increase in the 

civilian contract specialist certification rate—to 81 percent—which 

surpassed its CAP goal metric and was aligned with such actions as 

producing guidance on reforming agencies’ certification curricula.

 

25In this report we define targets as the overall standard for progress for an entire goal, 

such as the CAP goal’s target for closing skills gaps by 50 percent. We define metrics as 

the indicators that agencies and sub-goal groups used to represent a 50 percent skills gap 

closure, such as the Acquisition sub-goal group’s metric to increase the civilian contract 

specialist certification rate from 75 percent to 80 percent. 

26The Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 (GPRA) defined “outcome 

measure” as an assessment of the results of a program activity compared to its intended 

purpose. 31 U.S.C. § 1115(h)(7). We have noted the importance of using meaningful, 

outcome-oriented performance goals and measures. See: GAO, Results-Oriented 

Government: Using GPRA to Address 21st Century Challenges ̧GAO-03-1166T 

(Washington, D.C.: Sept. 18, 2003); Managing for Results: An Agenda to Improve the 

Usefulness of Agencies’ Annual Performance Plans, GAO/GGD/AIMD-98-228 

(Washington, D.C.: Sept. 8, 1998); and The Results Act: An Evaluator’s Guide to 

Assessing Agency Annual Performance Plans, GAO/GGD-10.1.20 (Washington, D.C.: 

Apr. 1, 1998).

27GAO/AIMD/GGD-95-130R and Executive Guide: Effectively Implementing the 

Government Performance and Results Act, GAO/GGD-96-118 (Washington, D.C.: June 1, 

1996). 
 

Page 17 GAO-15-223 Federal Workforce

In contrast, the Cybersecurity sub-goal group is an example of a sub-goal 

group that did not fully align its performance metric with the sub-goal 

group’s activities. For instance, officials began an initiative in 2013 to 

categorize the cybersecurity specialty areas for the various occupations 

involved in federal cybersecurity work. This initiative, which operated 

through the end of fiscal year 2014, will allow managers to better assess 

what cybersecurity work needs to be done at agencies, and where there 

are gaps preventing agencies from accomplishing their cybersecurity 

missions. The Cybersecurity sub-goal leader noted that using the updated 

classifications to identify skills gaps is necessary before those skills gaps 

can be addressed. Officials did not, however, include a publicly-reported 

metric in fiscal year 2013 to track how many of the cybersecurity-related 

classifications had been updated.

Moreover, the Human Resources sub-goal group is an example of a subgoal group that did not align its metric with the outcome of closing skills 

gaps. The Human Resources sub-goal group tracked the percentage of 

federal human resources personnel who registered for and completed a 

single course on HR University—a centralized online suite of courses and 

curricula managed by OPM that agencies can use for training purposes. 

OPM officials said that they tracked these indicators because they 

perceived the need to standardize human resources training curricula 

across agencies as a first step to closing the skills gap. OPM officials told 

us, however, that they are still striving to develop more outcome-oriented 

measures from the use of HR University. We agree that while ensuring 

that human resources professionals receive proper training is vital, relying 

on a metric of how many people register for and complete a single online 

course is not the most effective way to assess the outcome of closing skill 

gaps within the human resource occupation. OPM officials also noted that 

a 2014 data clean-up of HR University detected erroneous information 

that made the fiscal year 2013 registration and course completion rates 

unreliable as reported.28

 

28OPM officials elaborated in an interview with us that the initial HR University data 

included numerous “dummy” accounts that had been established during simulated testing 

of the HR University platform. Additionally, the HR University site was mistakenly enabling

registrants to identify multiple HR specialty areas, preventing HR University from tracking 

course completion in users’ primary specialty area. Officials told us that these data flaws 

have been corrected as of the second quarter of fiscal year 2014. 

OPM has continued to use the course 

registration performance metric as part of its fiscal year 2015 Agency 

Priority Goal to close skills gaps in the federal HR workforce. OPM 
 

Page 18 GAO-15-223 Federal Workforce

officials told us that data flaws on HR University have been corrected. 

However, because this metric does not measure an outcome, it does not 

provide quality information toward goals to close skills gaps.

Sub-goal groups’ planning documents for efforts to address skills gaps in 

fiscal year 2014 generally met three of six key practices for project 

planning. As we have noted, a well-developed and documented project 

plan can help ensure that agencies are able to gauge progress, identify 

and resolve potential problems, and promote accountability at all levels of 

the project.29 Project plans can also encourage agency managers and 

stakeholders to systematically consider what is to be done, when and 

how it will be done, and what skills will be needed.30 We identified the 

following six key practices from our prior work: (1) identifying root causes 

of issues, (2) establishing objectives, (3) developing specific actions, (4) 

assigning roles and responsibilities, (5) establishing the duration of 

actions, and (6) using outcome-oriented performance metrics.31

Table 1 lists each of the sub-goal groups and our evaluation of their 

planning documents against each of the key practices for project 

planning. For plans that included some information relevant to a key 

practice but did not provide sufficient detail nor fully addressed the key 

practice, we gave partial credit.

 

29GAO-12-120G. 

30GAO, Securities and Exchange Commission: Some Progress Made on Strategic Human 

Capital Management, GAO-06-86 (Washington, D.C.: Jan.10, 2006). 

31We identified these key practices from multiple previous GAO reports on schedule 

assessment, removing issues from GAO’s high risk list, and strengthening the federal 

human capital performance management pilot. See: GAO-12-120G, Federal Employees: 

Opportunities Exist to Strengthen Performance Management Pilot, GAO-13-755 

(Washington, D.C.: Sept. 12, 2013); and Government Operations: Determining 

Performance and Accountability Challenges and High Risks, GAO-01-159SP 

(Washington, D.C.: Nov. 1, 2000). 

Key Project Planning Practices 

Could Improve Efforts to 

Address Skills Gaps
 

Page 19 GAO-15-223 Federal Workforce

Table 1: Sub-goal Groups’ Plans Generally Met Three of Six Key Practices for Project Planning

Key Practice Acquisition Cybersecurity Economist STEM 

Human 

Resources Auditora

Identifying Root Causes of Issues ○ ○ ○ ● ○ ●

Establishing Objectives ● ● ● ● ● ●

Developing Specific Actions ● ● ● ● ● ●

Assigning Roles and 

Responsibilities 

◑ ◑ ◑ ◑ ◑ ●

Establishing the Duration of 

Actions

● ◑ ● ◑ ● ●

Using Outcome-Oriented 

Performance Metrics

● ● ● ◑ ◑ ○

Legend:●= Yes ◑=Partially ○=No

Source: GAO Analysis of Sub-goal Groups’ Planning Documents. | GAO-15-223

a

The Auditor sub-goal group did not submit a formal plan for fiscal year 2014. However, OPM officials 

involved with the CAP goal indicated to us that the sub-goal group’s project plan for its Classification 

Exploratory Study contained the entirety of the sub-goal group’s efforts for the year. OPM officials, in 

partnership with the Auditor sub-goal group, are conducting the Classification Exploratory Study to 

examine ways in which OPM can alter the federal auditor job series classification to address issues 

experienced in identifying qualified applicants for agencies’ auditor positions.

Some key practices were used consistently by sub-goal groups. As 

shown above, sub-goal groups’ plans generally met some of our key 

practices. For instance, all of the sub-goal groups structured their plans 

by listing specific actions for addressing skills gaps. Our prior work states 

that it is important to identify the specific actions necessary to achieve a 

plan’s objectives.32 By doing so, managers can properly assess the risk of 

not achieving the plan’s objectives.33

Some key practices were generally absent from sub-goal group 

project planning. Sub-goal groups’ plans were less effective in meeting 

other key practices for project planning. For instance, only the STEM and 

For example, the plan for the 

Acquisition sub-goal group listed a clear division of actions—such as 

publishing a revised certification curriculum and increasing the 

government-wide use of an acquisition workforce management system—

that addressed objectives that included strengthening civilian contracting

certification standards.

 

32GAO-13-755. 

33GAO, Internal Control: Standards for Internal Control in the Federal Government, 

GAO/AIMD-00-21.3.1 (Washington, D.C.: Nov. 1, 1999). 
 

Page 20 GAO-15-223 Federal Workforce

Auditor sub-goal groups’ plans discussed the root causes of their skills 

gaps and the purpose for their actions.

Additionally, sub-goal groups did not consistently identify roles and 

responsibilities for actions to address skills gaps. While all sub-goal 

groups listed agencies that would be responsible for accomplishing 

actions, only the Auditor sub-goal group identified individual officials 

charged with specific actions.

Three of six sub-goal groups did not always track outcome-oriented 

performance metrics in their plans. For instance, the STEM sub-goal 

group’s plan tracked such items as the number of STEM hiring reforms 

that had been approved by OPM. While gaining OPM approval of hiringpolicy changes is important in attracting more qualified workforce 

candidates, the STEM sub-goal group’s plan did not track outcomes that 

might result from approving such policy changes, such as the number and 

quality of applicants and hires for STEM positions.

The interagency working group that identified the list of skills gaps in six 

government-wide mission-critical occupations (MCO) was re-named the 

Federal Agency Skills Team (FAST). OPM has tasked the group—

composed of agency officials with workforce planning and data analysis 

skills—with implementing a standard and repeatable methodology that 

identifies and addresses government-wide skills gaps as well as missioncritical competencies over a 4-year cycle. In the first year, OPM officials 

stated that FAST intends to meet regularly until it identifies a new set of 

government-wide skills gaps, which OPM officials expect will occur by 

June 2015. Our analysis of FAST’s proposed methodology identified 

three features that incorporate lessons learned from the Working Group’s 

initial efforts, which were described earlier. First, FAST is to use a datadriven approach as the initial step for identifying a broad list of skills gaps. 

Specifically, officials from the 27 Chief Human Capital Officers (CHCO) 

Council agencies will be expected to compare their agency’s missionOPM’s Efforts to 

Predict Emerging 

Mission-Critical Skills 

Gaps Are in the Early 

Planning Stages

OPM Plans to Strengthen 

the Methodology Used to 

Identify Emerging Skills 

Gaps
 

Page 21 GAO-15-223 Federal Workforce

critical or priority occupations against several factors. According to OPM 

officials, those factors include: 

• 2-year retention rate,

• quit rate, 

• retirement rate, and

• applicant quality.

34

Second, in addition to being more data-driven, FAST will use a multifaceted approach to identify a select number of government-wide MCOs. 

This is to be achieved by using teams of at least three to four individuals 

to monitor internal and external environments using various sources—

including news articles, reports, and interviews with public and private 

sector subject matter experts—to detect trends that may influence an 

agency’s current and future workforce needs.

Third, our analysis determined that the proposed methodology does not 

have a strict numerical standard for what constitutes a government-wide 

skills gap. This could allow for more discretion to address occupations 

with the potential for significant programmatic impacts even though an 

absolute majority of agencies may not have skills gaps in those areas.

After this identification process, FAST is to develop strategies to address 

the new set of skills gaps during the remaining years of the 4-year cycle. 

In years two and three, OPM—in conjunction with FAST—is to designate 

leaders from within the selected government-wide occupations who will 

develop and implement plans to address those skills gaps. Finally, in year 

four, FAST plans to evaluate and monitor outcomes to determine the 

effectiveness of those strategies. In addition, during the fourth year FAST 

plans to incorporate lessons learned into a revised process for identifying 

skills gaps at the federal level. 

 

34The Chief Human Capital Officers’ Managers’ Satisfaction Survey asks managers to rate 

their perception of workforce planning, interaction with and levels of support from Human 

Resources, involvement with reviewing applications, interviewing applicants and selecting 

final candidates, applicant quality, and their knowledge and use of hiring flexibilities. There 

is also a follow up six month satisfaction survey. 
 

Page 22 GAO-15-223 Federal Workforce

OPM’s plan to capture staffing data for select occupations using a 

database is still under development. Each year, OPM collects staffing 

data through a reporting process where the CHCO Council agencies are 

required to provide OPM with information—such as the target number of 

employees and projected attrition—for five government-wide MCOs 

(cybersecurity, human resources specialist, economist, contract 

specialist, auditor), and three-to-five agency-specific or STEM MCOs. 

Among other things, OPM uses these data to determine if an agency’s 

workforce has a staffing gap in any of those occupations.

In response to an administration initiative directed, in part, to reduce the 

human resources reporting burden on agencies, OPM is exploring how it 

can replace this annual reporting process by using its database 

containing federal workforce information—known as the Enterprise 

Human Resources Integration (EHRI)—to capture the same agency 

staffing data.35 However, an OPM official stated that no timeframe 

currently exists for using EHRI to capture agencies’ MCO staffing data. In 

the interim, an OPM official stated that they will continue collecting MCO 

staffing data until OPM can make the necessary investments in EHRI. 

Our schedule assessment guide has noted that a well-planned schedule 

is a fundamental management tool that can (among other things) help 

government agencies specify when work will be performed in the future.36

Moreover, our schedule assessment guide states that a consistent 

methodology for developing, managing, and evaluating cost estimates for 

certain types of programs includes the concept of scheduling the 

necessary work to a timeline. By establishing a schedule specifying when 

EHRI will be modified to capture government-wide staffing data, OPM 

officials will have a road map for gauging progress, identifying and 

resolving potential problems, promoting accountability at all levels of the 

agency, and determining the amount and timing of the funding needed.

 

35Exec. Order No. 13583, Establishing a Coordinated Government-Wide Initiative to 

Promote Diversity and Inclusion in the Federal Workforce, 76 Fed. Reg. 52847 (Aug. 18, 

2011). In connection with establishing this coordinated initiative, the Director of OPM, 

along with other officials, was directed to review applicable directives to agencies and 

develop a strategy for consolidating agency plans and reports.

36GAO-12-120G. 

OPM’s Plan to Capture 

Staffing Data Using Its 

Database Lacks a 

Schedule
 

Page 23 GAO-15-223 Federal Workforce

According to an OPM official, there is no process, using EHRI or another 

system, for collecting consistent data on the competencies of the federal 

workforce, which is needed to effectively predict future mission-critical 

skills gaps. According to an OPM official, federal agencies’ ability to 

assess workforce competencies varies, which makes collection of 

government-wide data on competency gaps difficult. As one example, we 

have found that the Census Bureau has started to assess the 

competencies needed to carry out its future work. In contrast, Department 

of Commerce (Commerce) human capital officials stated that they do not 

conduct a Department-wide competency assessment of Commerce’s 

workforce. Moreover, the Department of Energy (DOE) has conducted a 

competency assessment for a number of engineering occupations such 

as nuclear engineers. DOE officials have also developed a model for 

conducting a Department-wide competency assessment. Key principles 

for effective workforce planning that we developed note that agencies 

must determine the competencies that are critical to successfully 

achieving their mission and goals. Doing so can help agencies to 

effectively meet demographic, technological, and other forces that are 

challenging government agencies to change the activities they perform 

and the goals that they must achieve, how they do their business, and 

even who does the government’s business.37 Therefore, as OPM 

develops its process for using EHRI to collect agencies’ skills gaps data, 

it will be important for OPM to also work with agency CHCOs to bolster 

the ability of agencies to assess workforce competencies by sharing 

competency surveys, lessons learned, and other tools and resources—

and to ensure that such information can be stored in the EHRI database 

for government-wide workforce analysis.

 

37GAO-04-39. 

OPM Lacks a Process for 

Collecting Governmentwide Competency Data
 

Page 24 GAO-15-223 Federal Workforce

Data-driven reviews—commonly referred to as “stat” meetings—are 

regularly scheduled, structured meetings used by organizations to review 

performance metrics with department or program personnel to drive 

progress on agency priorities and goals. Conducting frequent stat 

meetings is a leadership strategy proven to help agency officials achieve 

results by focusing on an identified set of priorities, diagnosing problems, 

and deciding on the next steps to increase performance. The GPRA 

Modernization Act of 2010 required agencies to conduct data-driven 

quarterly progress reviews with key personnel responsible for the 

accomplishment of agency priority goals.38

Building on this statutory model, OPM created HRstat, which is a CHCOled review of the key metrics that contribute to agencies’ human 

resources goals, such as closing mission-critical skills gaps.

 

39 OPM 

launched HRstat as a 3-year pilot program in May 2012, with an initial 

group of eight agencies that included Commerce, DOE, and the U.S. 

Agency for International Development (USAID)—the three agencies we 

selected for our illustrative case studies. In 2013 and 2014, OPM chose 

eight agencies per year for successive pilots. As a result, all 24 agencies 

subject to the Chief Financial Officers Act of 1990, as amended, had at 

least one year of HRstat implementation by the end of 2014.40

OPM’s HRstat pilot gives agencies the discretion to select which human 

resources goals to track during HRstat meetings and the metrics used to 

 

3831 U.S.C. § 1121(b).

39According to OPM guidance, agency Performance Improvement Officers and Chief 

Operating Officers should support HRstat reviews. 

40The 24 agencies are listed at 31 U.S.C. § 901(b). 

OPM and Selected 

Agencies Could 

Improve Efforts to 

Address Skills Gaps 

by Strengthening 

Data-Driven Reviews

OPM Developed HRstat 

Data-Driven Reviews to 

Help Agencies Regularly 

Track Their Progress in 

Achieving Their Human 

Resources Goals
 

Page 25 GAO-15-223 Federal Workforce

assess them. The three agencies we selected all have closing critical 

skills gaps as one of their agency-wide human resource goals.

Based on our assessment of the HRstat reviews of our selected agencies 

(using agency material from the third quarter of fiscal year 2014), we 

identified those metrics most relevant to tracking progress on closing 

skills gaps.41

Table 2: Metrics Reported during HRstat in Quarter 3 of Fiscal Year 2014 That Are 

Relevant to Closing Skills Gaps - Across All Selected Agencies

As illustrated in table 2 below, we found considerable 

variation in the number and types of metrics agencies were using to track 

skills gaps. 

Metric Commerce DOE USAID

Time to Hire    

Staffing Number Completeda  

Priority Staffingb  

Percentage of Completed Individual Learning and 

Training Plans  

Percent of Human Resources Staff Registered for 

Human Resources University (HRU)c  

Percent of Human Resources Staff Completing At 

Least One HRU Course  

Mission-Critical Occupation Staffing Targetsd  

Permanent Attritione  

Candidate Qualityf  

Actual Retirements  

Retirements (projected and eligibility)  

Source: GAO analysis of Commerce, DOE, and USAID data. | GAO-15-223 

a

USAID tracks the staffing number completed for Foreign Service positions, Civil Service positions, 

Civil Service vacancies, personal services contractors, Foreign Service nationals, independent 

contractors, administratively determined positions, and individuals employed through inter-agency 

service agreements.

b

USAID tracks the percentage of staffing in its priority Africa missions.

c

HRU is the federal government’s “one stop” human resources career development center. HRU is 

aimed at professionalizing the federal human resources career field and is designed to, among other 

things, address competency and skills gaps within the human resources community.

 

41We reviewed the selected agencies HRstat materials from the third quarter of fiscal year 

2014 because that was the most recent data available for all three agencies as of the time 

of our review. 

Selected Agencies Are Using 

Different Metrics to Track Skills 

Gaps under Their HRstat 

Reviews
 

Page 26 GAO-15-223 Federal Workforce

d

Commerce tracks staffing targets for the government-wide and its Agency Priority Goal missioncritical occupations, including patent examiners.

e

Commerce defines permanent attrition as the percentage of permanent employees that separated 

who were not subject to voluntary early retirement authority, voluntary separation incentive payments, 

or reduction in force.

f

Commerce tracks candidate quality as measured by the Chief Human Capital Officers’ Managers’ 

Satisfaction Survey. Commerce defines the candidate quality metric as the percent of managers that 

provided a rating of 8 or higher on a scale of 1-10 to the question “Applicants referred had the skills to 

perform the job.” 

As shown above, only DOE was tracking retirement eligibility and 

projected retirements, which are key indicators of where agencies might 

be at risk for future skills gaps. Likewise, only Commerce was tracking 

candidate quality, which provides an indication of whether applicants had 

the skills needed to perform the work. While some amount of variation is 

both desirable and expected given the different missions of the agencies 

and the flexibility OPM gave agencies in selecting metrics, the variation 

shown above has at least two significant downsides. First, the variation in 

number and types of metrics agencies are tracking suggest that some 

agencies’ HRstat reviews are more robust and well rounded than others 

in that they are measuring factors affecting skills gaps from a more 

complete perspective. Indeed, each metric may tell a different story about 

the extent and nature of current and emerging skills gaps. This could lead 

to different remedial actions on the part of agencies. 

A second downside in the variation in numbers and types of metrics is 

that it limits OPM and the CHCO Council’s ability to track agencies’ 

progress in closing skills gaps government-wide. Our February 2013 

report noted that a leading practice for successful data-driven reviews, 

such as HRstat, is to ensure alignment between goals, program activities, 

and resources.42

OPM officials stated that they knew of the various metrics used by 

agencies during their HRstat reviews. They noted that the HRstat pilot 

program was intended to be “agency-centric” and not a data-collection 

tool for OPM. While we agree that agencies should continue to have 

However, because our selected agencies are using 

different metrics, it is difficult for OPM to assess where agencies are 

making progress, where additional efforts are needed, and how OPM 

might be able to help them, if at all. It also limits the ability of agencies 

and OPM to discuss and share lessons learned in identifying and 

addressing skills gaps.

 

42GAO-13-228. 
 

Page 27 GAO-15-223 Federal Workforce

flexibility in choosing and “owning” metrics for their HRstat reviews that 

best meet their particular needs, a core set of metrics—while still allowing 

agencies discretion to include metrics that meet their specific 

requirements—could help strengthen the quality and consistency of the 

HRstat reviews from a government-wide perspective.

Moreover, a core set of metrics could foster collaboration between 

agencies’ use of HRstat reviews and the efforts envisioned under FAST. 

As we noted earlier, FAST is to use a data-driven approach as an initial 

step for identifying a range of skills gaps, such as a survey of hiring 

managers’ satisfaction with job applicants’ skills. As shown above, 

Commerce already tracks this same survey of hiring managers’ 

satisfaction during its HRstat reviews. A core set of metrics could 

integrate the work done by FAST with HRstat reviews.

Going forward, OPM, in conjunction with the CHCO Council, plans to 

identify key strategic and operational HR metrics all agencies will collect

through HRstat and share with OPM.

43 As part of that effort, it will be 

important for OPM and the CHCO Council to develop a core set of valid 

metrics that are directly aligned with the goal of identifying and 

addressing agency skills gaps.

Closing workforce skills gaps is critical for agencies to better achieve a 

wide range of missions, from purchasing mission-critical goods and 

services to carrying out the Decennial Census. While efforts to close 

mission-critical skills gaps are couched in discussions about staffing 

numbers, competencies, metrics, and similar technical terms, the ultimate 

goal is higher-performing, cost-effective government. However, the 

challenges that agencies face are diverse and were not fully captured by 

the CHCO Council Working Group’s first efforts to identify skills gaps in 

government-wide, mission-critical occupations. Although these initial 

efforts created an infrastructure for addressing skills gaps, to date, overall 

progress remains mixed. At times, goals have suffered from having 

targets that are difficult to measure. Likewise, agency officials have 

chosen to track metrics that often do not allow for an accurate 

assessment of progress made toward these goals for closing skills gaps.

 

43U.S. Office of Personnel Management, Memorandum for Chief Human Capital Officers, 

Update: Revising the Human Capital, Reviews, and Reporting Framework (May 13, 2014). 

Conclusions
 

Page 28 GAO-15-223 Federal Workforce

Building the predictive capacity to identify emerging mission-critical skills 

gaps is also critical to making further progress in addressing this issue. 

Realizing this, OPM has established an interagency working group known 

as FAST, which is responsible for identifying and addressing current and 

emerging skills gaps. OPM also intends to replace its annual reporting 

process for collecting agency staffing data by modifying its workforce 

database to capture the same data. These are important steps forward. 

However, we are concerned about these efforts for two reasons. First, 

OPM has not established a time frame for modifying its workforce 

database to capture the same agency staffing data that it currently 

collects through an annual reporting process—which will reduce the 

human capital reporting burden on federal agencies. Second, OPM 

officials stated that there is no process for collecting data on the 

competencies of the federal workforce because agencies’ ability to 

assess workforce competencies varies. Helping agencies determine the 

competencies that are critical to successfully achieving their mission and 

goals will help them respond to external factors, such as changes in 

national security, technology, or budget constraints.

At the agency level, the use of HRstat meetings is a proven leadership 

strategy that could help agency officials monitor their progress toward 

closing skills gaps. However, OPM should take a greater leadership role 

in helping agencies include a core set of metrics in their HRstat reviews 

so that OPM and agency leaders can have a clear view of progress made 

closing skills gaps. While it is important for agencies to have ownership 

over their HRstat reviews, OPM should also maximize its opportunity to 

use HRstat to gain greater visibility over the federal workforce.

To assist the interagency working group, known as FAST, to better 

identify government-wide skills gaps having programmatic impacts and 

measure its progress towards closing them, we recommend that the 

Director of OPM—in conjunction with the CHCO Council—strengthen its 

approach and methodology through the following actions:

• Assist FAST in developing goals for closing skills gaps with targets 

that are both clear and measurable.

• Work with FAST to design outcome-oriented performance metrics that 

align with overall targets for closing skills gaps and link to the activities 

for addressing skills gaps. 

• Incorporate greater input from subject matter experts, as planned. 

• Ensure FAST consistently follows key practices for project planning.

Recommendations for 

Executive Action
 

Page 29 GAO-15-223 Federal Workforce

To ensure that OPM builds the predictive capacity to identify emerging 

skills gaps across the government—including the ability to collect and use 

reliable information on the competencies of the federal workforce for 

government-wide workforce analysis—we recommend that the Director of 

OPM take the following two actions:

• Establish a schedule specifying when OPM will modify its EHRI

database to capture staffing data that it currently collects from 

agencies through its annual workforce data reporting process.

• Work with agency CHCOs to bolster the ability of agencies to assess 

workforce competencies by sharing competency surveys, lessons 

learned, and other tools and resources. 

To help agencies and OPM better monitor progress toward closing skills 

gaps within agencies and government-wide, we recommend that the 

Director of OPM:

• Work with the CHCO Council to develop a core set of metrics that all 

agencies should use as part of their HRstat data-driven reviews.

• Coordinate with FAST personnel and explore the feasibility of 

collecting information needed by FAST as part of agencies’ HRstat 

reviews.

We provided a draft of this report for review and comment to the Directors 

of OPM and OMB; the Secretaries of the Departments of Defense, 

Energy, and Treasury; the Administrators of the National Aeronautics and 

Space Administration (NASA) and USAID; the Chief Financial Officer and 

Assistant Secretary for Administration at the Department of Commerce; 

and the Special Assistant to the President and Associate Counsel to the 

President in the Executive Office of the President. 

The following agencies had no comments on the draft report: the 

Departments of Defense, Energy, and Treasury, NASA, OMB, USAID, 

and the Office of Science and Technology Policy in the Executive Office 

of the President; as well as Commerce’s Bureau of the Census and 

National Institute of Standards and Technology. 

OPM and Commerce’s Office of Human Resources Management 

provided technical comments that were incorporated, as appropriate. 

In its written comments, reproduced in appendix II, OPM partially 

concurred with one recommendation, did not concur with one 

recommendation, and concurred with one recommendation. Specifically, 

Agency Comments 

and Our Evaluation
 

Page 30 GAO-15-223 Federal Workforce

OPM stated that it partially concurred with our recommendation to 

strengthen the approach and methodology used by the interagency 

working group, known as FAST, to better identify skills gaps. OPM noted

it agreed with, and planned to implement, the principles of each 

recommended action. However, OPM said it needed to clarify how its 

terminology and planned process differs from the description in our 

recommendation. In particular, OPM stated its process will identify 

government-wide rather than agency-specific skills gaps as it believes our 

draft recommendation suggests. We recognize that FAST was 

established to address government-wide skills gaps and have clarified the 

language in our recommendation accordingly. 

OPM stated that it does not concur with our recommendation to: (1) 

establish a schedule specifying when it will modify its EHRI database to 

automatically capture staffing data that it currently collects from agencies 

through its annual workforce data reporting process, and (2) work with 

agency CHCOs to bolster agencies’ ability to assess workforce 

competencies by sharing competency surveys, lessons learned, and 

other tools and resources. Regarding EHRI, OPM maintained that it is 

impossible for the EHRI database to automatically capture staffing data 

currently included in MCO Resource Charts because some of these data 

includes specific agency projections and targets, which are provided via a 

manual data feed. OPM stated that it is assessing whether EHRI can be 

modified to allow agencies to supply these manual feed data into the 

database system. We have modified our report to recognize that EHRI 

cannot automatically capture the same agency staffing data that are

captured through the MCO Resource Charts.

In addition, OPM noted that there are funding implications associated with 

its ability to anticipate whether and when a modification schedule to the 

EHRI online database could be established. While we appreciate OPM’s 

funding concerns, as we mention in the report, a well-planned schedule is 

a fundamental management tool that can (among other things) help 

government agencies specify when work will be performed in the future. 

Moreover, scheduling the necessary work to a timeline is important for 

developing, managing, and evaluating cost estimates for certain types of 

programs. As such, a schedule, as we recommend, would help OPM 

determine the amount and timing of the funding needed, and help OPM 

identify the competing priorities that need to be balanced due to resource 

constraints. We therefore continue to believe OPM would benefit by 

implementing our recommendation. 
 

Page 31 GAO-15-223 Federal Workforce

Regarding workforce competencies, OPM noted that funding and 

resource constraints negatively affect its ability to support agencies’ 

efforts to address their workforce competencies. While funding limitations 

could affect OPM’s ability to take these actions, our recommendation 

would help OPM and agencies stretch resources by leveraging their 

knowledge and experience. We therefore continue to believe OPM would 

benefit by implementing our recommendation. 

OPM concurred with our recommendation to work with the CHCO Council 

to develop a core set of metrics that all agencies should use as part of 

their HRstat data-driven reviews, and explore the feasibility of collecting 

information needed by FAST as part of agencies’ HRstat reviews.

We are sending copies of this report to the appropriate congressional 

committees, the Director of OPM, the Secretaries of Commerce and 

Energy, the Administrator of USAID, and other interested parties. In 

addition, the report is available at no charge on the GAO website at 

http://www.gao.gov. 

If you or your staff have any questions concerning this report, please 

contact me at (202) 512-2757 or goldenkoffr@gao.gov. Contact points for 

our Offices of Congressional Relations and Public Affairs may be found 

on the last page of this report. Key contributors to this report are listed in 

appendix III.

Robert Goldenkoff

Director

Strategic Issues
Appendix I: Objectives, Scope, and 

Methodology

Page 32 GAO-15-223 Federal Workforce

This report assesses (1) lessons learned from initial efforts to close 

critical skills gaps and how they can inform future initiatives, (2) what 

progress the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has made in 

building a predictive capacity to identify future mission-critical skills gaps, 

and (3) how OPM and agencies are using HRstat to identify and close 

skills gaps.

To assess lessons learned from initial efforts to close critical skills gaps 

and how they can inform future initiatives, we took the following steps.

• We observed the Chief Human Capital Officer (CHCO) Council skills 

gaps working group’s (Working Group) meetings from July 2011 to 

August 2012 to understand the process it used to identify 

government-wide skills gaps in mission-critical occupations (MCO).

• We reviewed documentation, such as status reports, that described 

the Working Group’s activities. Furthermore, we reviewed our reports 

from October 2010 to May 2014 to identify skills gaps that we 

determined were causing programmatic impacts at agencies across 

the federal government.1

• We reviewed planning documents for addressing skills gaps in the six 

MCOs identified by the Working Group for such things as their 

consistency with key practices for project planning. We identified 

To identify our reports that identified skills 

gaps at agencies across the federal government, we searched

through our Engagement Reporting System, our external database, 

and our Engagement Results Phase internal database. Reports were 

selected if they included references to skill gaps or related workforce 

conditions that might produce skill gaps (workforce shortages, 

competency gaps, training deficits) that were primary objective 

findings issued since the start of fiscal year 2011, updates on skill 

gaps identified since the beginning of fiscal year 2011, or updates on 

skill gaps identified in our 2011 and 2013 High Risk Series reports. 

Reports were not selected if they found skills gaps at agencies prior to 

fiscal year 2011, or if they referenced skills gaps that were not part of 

the engagement’s findings. Private sector skills gaps were also 

excluded because the scope of this engagement was limited to OPM’s 

and agencies’ progress closing skills gaps across the federal 

government.

 

1

We chose October 2010 (the start of fiscal year 2011) as the start date of our literature 

search because OPM and the CHCO Council formed the Working Group to close skills 

gaps in fiscal year 2011. 

Appendix I: Objectives, Scope, and 

Methodology
Appendix I: Objectives, Scope, and 

Methodology

Page 33 GAO-15-223 Federal Workforce

project planning key practices from our prior work assessing project 

planning, our guide for key practices in project schedules, and our

criteria for removing issues from our high-risk list.2

• We reviewed documentation such as quarterly status updates to 

determine what progress had been made toward the interim crossagency priority (CAP) goal for closing skills gaps. We also interviewed 

OPM and agency officials who are responsible for designing 

strategies to close skills gaps that OPM, in coordination with, the 

Office of Management and Budget, designated as the focus of the 

CAP goal.

In particular, we 

assessed whether each planning document included the following 

elements relevant to closing skills gaps: (1) identifying root causes, (2) 

establishing plan objectives, (3) developing specific actions needed to 

accomplish objectives, (4) assigning roles and responsibilities to all 

actions, (5) establishing the durations of actions, and (6) using

outcome-oriented performance metrics. Two analysts independently 

assessed each planning document to determine the extent to which 

information that was included met all six key practices and rated each 

plan using a three-level scale of yes, partially, or no, and reached a 

level of inter-rater agreement of 100 percent. For plans that included 

some information relevant to a key practice but did not provide 

sufficient detail or did not fully address the key practice, we gave 

partial credit.

To assess what progress OPM has made in building a predictive capacity 

to identify future government-wide mission-critical skills gaps, we 

reviewed documentation, such as OPM strategic plans and meeting 

minutes from the CHCO Council Executive Steering Committee, 

containing information about ongoing OPM initiatives that could build the 

predictive capacity within OPM to identify future mission-critical skills 

gaps. We also interviewed OPM officials who were implementing these 

initiatives to learn more about their status.

To assess how OPM and agencies are using HRstat to identify and close 

skills gaps, we selected a nongeneralizable sample of three agencies—

 

2

See GAO, Federal Employees: Opportunities Exist to Strengthen Performance 

Management Pilot, GAO-13-755 (Washington, D.C.: Sept. 12, 2013); GAO Schedule 

Assessment Guide: Best Practices for Project Schedules, Exposure Draft, GAO-12-120G 

(Washington, D.C.: May 30, 2012); and Government Operations: Determining 

Performance and Accountability Challenges and High Risks, GAO-01-159SP 

(Washington, D.C.: Nov. 1, 2000). 
Appendix I: Objectives, Scope, and 

Methodology

Page 34 GAO-15-223 Federal Workforce

the Departments of Commerce and Energy, and the U.S. Agency for 

International Development—from among the 24 agencies that had at 

least begun implementing HRstat at the time of our review. We selected 

these agencies because they had one or more of the following: (1) 

multiple skills gaps that we and the Working Group identified; (2) skills 

gaps in any of the four occupations that we or the Working Group most 

frequently identified (STEM (science, technology, engineering, and 

mathematics), acquisition, human resources, and cybersecurity); and (3) 

large proportions of their workforces in each of those occupations. Also, 

the selected agencies were among the first to implement HRstat and 

therefore had the most experience with the HRstat process at the time of 

our review. To assess how our selected agencies were using HRstat to 

address skills gaps, we also reviewed memorandums, internal briefings, 

and other material that agencies used to prepare for the reviews, and 

interviewed officials involved in each agency’s HRstat review process.

We conducted this performance audit from March 2014 to January 2015 

in accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards. 

Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain 

sufficient, appropriate evidence to provide a reasonable basis for our 

findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives. We believe that 

the evidence obtained provides a reasonable basis for our findings and 

conclusions based on our audit objectives.
Appendix II: Comments from the Office of 

Personnel Management

Page 35 GAO-15-223 Federal Workforce

Appendix II: Comments from the Office of 

Personnel Management
Appendix II: Comments from the Office of 

Personnel Management

Page 36 GAO-15-223 Federal Workforce
Appendix II: Comments from the Office of 

Personnel Management

Page 37 GAO-15-223 Federal Workforce
Appendix III: GAO Contact and Staff 

Acknowledgments

Page 38 GAO-15-223 Federal Workforce

Robert Goldenkoff, (202) 512-2757 or goldenkoffr@gao.gov

In addition to the individual named above, Steven Lozano, Assistant 

Director; Don Kiggins, Analyst-in-Charge; Devin Braun; Deirdre Duffy; 

Karin Fangman; Donna Miller; and Rebecca Shea made major 

contributions to this report.

Appendix III: GAO Contact and Staff 

Acknowledgments

GAO Contact

Staff 

Acknowledgments

(451094)
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