FEDERAL 

EMERGENCY 

MANAGEMENT 

AGENCY

Workforce Planning 

and Training Could Be 

Enhanced by 

Incorporating 

Strategic Management 

Principles

Report to Congressional Requesters

April 2012

GAO-12-487

United States Government Accountability Office

GAO
United States Government Accountability Office

Highlights of GAO-12-487, a report to

congressional requesters

April 2012

FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT 

AGENCY

Workforce Planning and Training Could Be 

Enhanced by Incorporating Strategic Management 

Principles 

Why GAO Did This Study

FEMA, within the Department of 

Homeland Security (DHS), employs a 

workforce of over 18,000 people, who 

are responsible for leading and 

supporting the nation in preparing for, 

protecting against, responding to, 

recovering from, and mitigating all 

hazards. GAO reported in 2007 and 

2011 that changes in FEMA's 

workforce, workload, and composition 

have created challenges in FEMA’s 

ability to meet the agency's varied

responsibilities and train its staff 

appropriately. GAO was asked to 

review FEMA’s workforce planning and 

training efforts. This report addresses: 

the extent to which FEMA has (1) 

integrated its workforce planning and 

training efforts, (2) incorporated 

strategic management principles into 

these efforts, and (3) systematically 

gathered workforce and training data to 

inform its human capital decisions.

GAO reviewed relevant documentation 

that describes FEMA’s agencywide 

workforce planning and training efforts, 

such as the agency’s strategic plan,

reviewed and assessed FEMA’s 

strategic planning documents, and 

interviewed DHS and FEMA program 

and regional office officials. 

What GAO Recommends

GAO recommends that FEMA: identify

long-term quantifiable mission-critical 

goals; establish a time frame for 

completing the development of 

quantifiable performance measures; 

establish lines of authority for 

agencywide workforce planning and 

training efforts; and develop systematic 

processes to collect and analyze 

workforce and training data. DHS 

concurred with all recommendations.

What GAO Found

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is taking steps to 

integrate its workforce planning and training efforts across the agency consistent 

with critical success factors for strategic human capital management such as 

initiating working groups to coordinate related activities, but its efforts are in the 

early stages. Until recently FEMA’s efforts related to workforce planning have 

been independently conducted by various offices across the agency. In January 

2012, FEMA human capital officials reported that they began integrating

agencywide workforce planning initiatives underway by other program offices, 

such as FEMA’s Qualification System, which was developed to establish 

qualification requirements for FEMA’s workforce for deployment purposes, 

among other things. Additionally, FEMA’s Human Capital Office plans to release 

a directive that, according to officials, will address the need for integrating the 

agency’s training efforts consistent with critical success factors for strategic 

human capital management. Having integrated workforce planning and training

could help FEMA ensure that it has the properly sized and skilled workforce to 

effectively meet its mission. However, the effectiveness of these integration 

efforts is dependent upon FEMA following through with its plans and it is, 

therefore, too early to assess their impact. 

FEMA has taken steps to incorporate some strategic management principles into 

its workforce planning and training efforts but could incorporate additional 

principles to ensure a more strategic approach is used to address longstanding 

management challenges. Specifically, FEMA’s leadership has demonstrated 

commitment to effectively plan for and train its workforce, but has not established 

specific long-term goals, such as integrating agencywide training efforts, or 

quantifiable annual performance measures for these efforts. Such goals and

metrics could help ensure accountability for FEMA’s workforce planning and 

training. Further, FEMA’s workforce planning and training could be enhanced by 

establishing lines of authority for these efforts. For example, FEMA’s Human 

Capital Office is responsible for providing leadership and direction for the 

agency’s human capital programs, but officials said that they have little authority

over workforce planning efforts across the agency. Identifying lines of authority

could help provide a strategic focus to FEMA’s workforce planning and training 

and ensure the agency is held accountable for the success of these efforts. 

FEMA has not developed processes to systematically collect and analyze 

agencywide workforce and training data that could be used to better inform its

decision making. Specifically, the contractor who conducted a March 2010 

baseline assessment of FEMA’s workforce reported that they gathered workforce 

data from three different databases to conduct their analysis, noting that 

conflicting data from these databases had to be resolved to make the information 

useable for their analysis. Additionally, FEMA has taken steps to track training 

information, but its tracking processes do not provide a reliable account of all 

training activities of FEMA employees. Developing systematic processes to 

collect and analyze its agencywide workforce and training data could help FEMA 

make more informed decisions. View GAO-12-487. For more information, 

contact David C. Maurer at (202) 512-9627 or 

maurerd@gao.gov.
Page i GAO-12-487 FEMA Workforce Planning and Training

Letter 1 

Background 7

Incorporating Strategic Management Principles Could Enhance 

FEMA’s Workforce Planning and Training Efforts 24

FEMA Could Benefit from More Systematically Collecting and 

Analyzing Workforce and Training Data 33

Conclusions 39

Recommendations for Executive Action 40

Agency Comments and Our Evaluation 41

Appendix I Strategic Human Capital Management Critical Success Factors 45

Appendix II FEMA Program Office Responsibilities and Description of Initiatives 

Related to Workforce Planning 46

Appendix III FEMA Program Office Responsibilities Related to Workforce Training 47

Appendix IV Comments from the Department of Homeland Security 48

Appendix V GAO Contact and Staff Acknowledgments 51

Tables

Table 1: Databases that Maintain FEMA Workforce Information 34

Table 2: FEMA Information Systems Used for Collecting and 

Tracking Training 36

Table 3: Strategic Human Capital Management Critical Success 

Factors 45

Figures

Figure 1: Overview of FEMA’s Workforce, Fiscal Years 2005, 2008, 

2012 9

Contents
Page ii GAO-12-487 FEMA Workforce Planning and Training

Figure 2: FEMA Organizational Chart 11

Figure 3: FEMA Program Offices’ Responsibilities and Workforce 

Planning Initiatives 17

Figure 4: FEMA Program Offices’ Workforce Training 

Responsibilities 20

Abbreviations

CORE Cadre of On-Call Response/Recovery 

Employees

DAE Disaster Assistance Employees

DHS Department of Homeland Security

FEMA Federal Emergency Management Agency

FQS FEMA Qualification System

Homeland Security Institute Homeland Security Studies and Analysis 

Institute

Human Capital Office Office of Chief Component Human Capital 

Officer 

Post-Katrina Act Post-Katrina Emergency Management 

Reform Act of 2006

This is a work of the U.S. government and is not subject to copyright protection in the 

United States. The published product may be reproduced and distributed in its entirety 

without further permission from GAO. However, because this work may contain 

copyrighted images or other material, permission from the copyright holder may be 

necessary if you wish to reproduce this material separately.
Page 1 GAO-12-487 FEMA Workforce Planning and Training

United States Government Accountability Office

Washington, DC 20548

April 26, 2012

Congressional Requesters

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), within the 

Department of Homeland Security (DHS), employs a workforce of over 

18,000 people, who are responsible for leading and supporting the nation 

in a risk-based, comprehensive emergency management system of 

preparedness, protection, response, recovery, and mitigation to prepare 

for, protect against, respond to, recover from, and mitigate all hazards. 

FEMA’s workforce includes permanent staff as well as short-term and 

long-term temporary staff who require a variety of specialized skills. In the 

aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Congress passed the Post-Katrina 

Emergency Management Reform Act of 2006 (Post-Katrina Act), 

expanding FEMA’s mission and responsibilities.1 Among other things, the 

Post-Katrina Act required FEMA to develop a strategic human capital plan 

that includes an assessment of the critical skills and competencies of 

FEMA’s workforce and provide an action plan that includes workforce 

planning strategies and program objectives to train employees.2

As we have previously reported, changes in FEMA’s workforce, workload, 

and composition have created challenges in the agency’s ability to meet 

its changing responsibilities and train its staff appropriately even as 

FEMA’s ability to successfully meet its mission of preparing for, 

responding to, and recovering from all hazards has been tested as never 

before.3

 

1

The Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act of 2006 was enacted as Title VI of 

the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2007, Pub. L. No. 109-295, 120 

Stat. 1355 (2006).

In 2011, FEMA responded to more disasters than any other year 

in its history. Specifically, during fiscal year 2011, FEMA responded to 

124 declared major disasters and emergencies, helping thousands of 

individuals and communities reduce the economic loss and human 

suffering associated with disasters. For example, tornadoes devastated 

2

5 U.S.C. § 10102.

3

See GAO, Budget Issues: FEMA Needs Adequate Data, Plans, and Systems to 

Effectively Manage Resources for Day-to-Day Operations, GAO-07-139 (Washington, 

D.C.: Jan. 19, 2007); GAO, FEMA: Action Needed to Improve Administration of the 

National Flood Insurance Program, GAO-11-297 (Washington, D.C.: June 9, 2011).

 
 

Page 2 GAO-12-487 FEMA Workforce Planning and Training

the town of Joplin, Missouri, and severely impacted the Southeast region, 

while Hurricane Irene affected 14 states and more than 35 million people 

along the East Coast. This environment increases the importance of 

FEMA effectively identifying the appropriate size and skills of its

workforce. Recognizing these challenges, FEMA’s administrator identified 

workforce planning and training as one of the agency’s five priorities for 

fiscal years 2012 through 2016 in its strategic plan. A key component of 

the agency’s continuing evolution is the Administrator’s goal of ensuring 

that, in addition to their day-to-day responsibilities, every FEMA employee 

is fully prepared to be deployed as a part of the national disaster 

workforce to more fully embrace the agency’s core mission and meet 

FEMA’s goal to address the needs of survivors within 72 hours, and 

restore basic services and community functionality within 60 days.

We have previously reported on the challenges FEMA faces in 

conducting strategic workforce planning and training activities. For 

example, in 2007 we reported that FEMA needed adequate data, plans, 

and systems to effectively manage resources for its day-to-day 

operations.4 Specifically, we reported that FEMA was conducting its 

workforce planning from the bottom up, office by office, and this approach 

was likely to result in workforce plans that meet the immediate needs of 

individual offices rather than produce an integrated, long-term strategy for 

the entire agency. We also noted that FEMA lacked human capital 

strategies, such as succession planning and a coordinated training effort, 

which are integral to managing resources. We recommended that FEMA 

apply attributes of effective workforce planning, including establishing 

strategic direction, assessing the number and skill sets of its workforce, 

conducting succession planning, and developing training requirements.5

To address this recommendation, in 2008 FEMA issued its Strategic 

Human Capital Plan. More recently, in June 2011 we reported that FEMA 

faced challenges, including the lack of effective collaboration between 

program and support offices, and strategic human capital planning related 

to Post-Katrina Act requirements.6

 

4

As a result, we recommended that 

FEMA develop a comprehensive workforce plan according to the PostKatrina Act that identifies agency staffing and skills requirements, 

GAO-07-139. 

5

DHS did not comment on this recommendation.

6

GAO-11-297.
 

Page 3 GAO-12-487 FEMA Workforce Planning and Training

addresses turnover and staff vacancies, and analyzes FEMA’s use of 

contractors. FEMA concurred, and in responding to this recommendation, 

reported that it had acquired a contractor to conduct a baseline 

assessment of its workforce to inform the agency’s future workforce 

planning efforts. We discuss this baseline assessment later in this report.

In addition, our prior work on strategic human capital management across 

the federal government has identified long-standing concerns in this area. 

For example, in 2001 we designated strategic human capital 

management as a high-risk issue and reported that the government’s 

management of people—its human capital—was the critical missing link 

in reforming and modernizing the federal government’s management 

practices.7 Since that time, the federal government has made progress in 

addressing its human capital challenges and we have, therefore, 

narrowed the scope of this high-risk area to focus on the most significant 

challenges that remain to close current and emerging critical skills gaps in 

vital areas such as acquisition, foreign language capabilities, and oil and 

gas management.8 In June and December 2011, DHS provided us with 

letters documenting actions taken and planned to address its human 

capital challenges, including a lack of integrated strategies, requirements, 

capabilities, and resources as well as a lack of integrated functional 

policies, procedures and internal controls. Specifically, DHS described its 

strategy to transform the department and address the root causes that 

contributed to our initial high-risk designation of implementing and 

transforming DHS. However, we believe that the strategy could be 

strengthened by, for example, DHS more consistently reporting on 

available resources and corrective actions as well as establishing 

measures and report on progress made for all initiatives. These changes, 

if implemented and sustained, provide a path for DHS to address this 

high-risk area. Nevertheless, in March 2012 we reported that in many 

instances, DHS had more work ahead to fully implement the department’s 

strategy and address its human capital challenges.9

 

7

GAO, High Risk Series: An Update, GAO-01-263 (Washington, D.C.: Jan. 2001).

 

8

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

9 GAO, Department of Homeland Security: Continued Progress Made Improving and 

Integrating Management Areas, but More Work Remains, GAO-12-365T (Washington, 

D.C.: Mar. 1, 2012). 
 

Page 4 GAO-12-487 FEMA Workforce Planning and Training

As a tool for addressing human capital challenges governmentwide, we 

have previously identified a model of strategic human capital 

management, which describes strategic human capital planning as a 

cornerstone and identifies critical success factors, including the need for 

the integration of human capital approaches and data-driven human 

capital decisions.10

Due to FEMA’s ongoing strategic workforce planning challenges, you 

asked us to review FEMA’s workforce planning and training efforts. This 

report assesses the extent to which FEMA has: (1) integrated its 

workforce planning and training efforts consistent with strategic human 

capital planning critical success factors; (2) incorporated strategic 

management principles into these efforts; and (3) systematically gathered 

workforce and training data to inform its human capital decisions.

We have also identified strategic management 

principles that incorporate elements of results and accountability to 

facilitate long-term strategic management.

To assess the extent to which FEMA has integrated its workforce 

planning and training efforts, we reviewed relevant documentation that 

describes FEMA’s agencywide and regional workforce planning efforts, 

such as the Homeland Security Studies and Analysis Institute’s 

(Homeland Security Institute) FEMA Workforce Baseline Assessment 

issued in March 2010.11 We also reviewed documentation on FEMA’s 

current and planned training efforts, including a report issued by FEMA’s 

Leadership Training and Development Working Group that documents 

training limitations and planned efforts to address these limitations. We 

compared FEMA’s workforce planning and training efforts against our 

previously identified critical success factors for strategic human capital 

management.12

 

10GAO, A Model of Strategic Human Capital Management, 

We also reviewed relevant documentation on DHS’s 

workforce planning and training guidance to its components, including the 

DHS Workforce Planning Guide, and assessed the extent to which 

GAO-02-373SP (Washington, 

D.C.: Mar. 15, 2002). 

11The Homeland Security Institute is a federally funded research and development center 

that provides independent analysis of homeland security issues. Specifically, the 

Homeland Security Institute provides government the expertise to conduct cross-cutting 

mission analysis, strategic studies and assessments, development of models that baseline 

current capabilities, among other efforts.

12GAO-02-373SP. 
 

Page 5 GAO-12-487 FEMA Workforce Planning and Training

FEMA’s workforce planning and training efforts are in alignment with this 

departmental guidance. We interviewed officials from various FEMA 

program offices, including those from the Office of the Chief Component 

Human Capital Officer (Human Capital Office), the Incident Workforce 

Management Office, the Office of the Chief Financial Officer, the Office of 

Policy and Program Analysis, the Office of the Chief Procurement Officer, 

the Emergency Management Institute, and the Training, Exercise, and 

Doctrine Office to discuss their roles in workforce planning and training 

efforts and how their efforts were integrated on an agencywide level. 

Further, we interviewed and obtained documentation on workforce 

planning and training efforts from FEMA officials in Region IV—selected 

because it is one of the agency’s largest regions—to obtain a regional 

perspective on the integration of these efforts.13

To assess the extent to which FEMA has incorporated strategic 

management principles, we reviewed and assessed FEMA’s strategic 

planning documents, including its Strategic Human Capital Plan, 2008-

2012, and its fiscal years 2009 and 2010 Human Capital Operational 

Plans to determine FEMA’s approach for its workforce planning and 

training efforts. We compared FEMA’s ongoing and planned workforce 

planning and training efforts against strategic management principles we 

have previously identified. We also interviewed officials from FEMA 

program offices, including those from the Human Capital Office, the 

Incident Workforce Management Office, and the Office of Policy and 

Program Analysis to determine the extent to which these officials were 

taking steps to incorporate such principles, including clearly identifying 

lines of authority for the agency’s workforce planning and training efforts.

While we cannot 

generalize the information we obtained from FEMA officials in Region IV, 

it provides important insights. In addition, we interviewed analysts from 

the Homeland Security Institute assisting FEMA with its workforce 

planning efforts, to obtain information on the integration of this 

contractor’s work with other efforts under way across the agency. We also 

interviewed officials from the DHS Office of the Chief Human Capital 

Officer, including the Chief Learning Officer, to discuss its oversight and 

guidance to its component agencies related to workforce planning and 

training to ensure alignment with the department.

 

13Obtaining comprehensive information on the workforce planning and training efforts 

under way at FEMA’s regional offices would have required site visits to each of the 10 

regions. 
 

Page 6 GAO-12-487 FEMA Workforce Planning and Training

To assess the extent to which FEMA has systematically gathered 

workforce and training data to inform its human capital decisions, we 

reviewed relevant documentation related to the agency’s historical efforts 

to gather such data, including our previous reports and FEMA 

documentation such as the FEMA Strategic Plan, Fiscal Years 2011-

2014. We reviewed the methodology and findings of the Homeland 

Security Institute’s FEMA Workforce Baseline Assessment and a report 

by the National Academy of Public Administration, and interviewed 

analysts from the Homeland Security Institute regarding the scope, 

methodology, and findings of their assessment.14 We determined that the 

scope and methodology of the Homeland Security Institute assessment 

and the National Academy of Public Administration audit were sufficient 

for us to rely on the results. We also interviewed officials from the FEMA 

program offices that play a role in tracking workforce and training data, 

including the Human Capital Office, the Incident Workforce Management 

Office, the Office of the Chief Financial Officer, the Office of the Chief 

Procurement Officer, the Office of the Chief Information Officer, and the 

Emergency Management Institute. We also interviewed Region IV FEMA 

officials to obtain information on the regions’ role in gathering workforce 

and training data. We compared FEMA’s efforts to systematically gather 

workforce and training data against our previously identified critical 

success factors for strategic human capital management.15

We conducted this performance audit from August 2011 through April 

2012 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.

 

14National Academy of Public Administration, FEMA’s Integration of Preparedness and 

Development of Robust Regional Offices: An Independent Assessment (Washington, 

D.C.: Oct. 2009).

15GAO-02-373SP. 
 

Page 7 GAO-12-487 FEMA Workforce Planning and Training

FEMA’s workforce is comprised of a combination of permanent full-time 

employees (permanent employees) and temporary employees. 

Permanent employees conduct a wide variety of specialized functions 

including mitigation activities, such as flood mapping and managing the 

National Flood Insurance Program; preparedness activities, such as 

national capabilities assessments; and managing nationwide grant 

programs, among other things. According to FEMA, the agency obligated 

$630,649,000 to fund the salaries and benefits of its permanent 

employees for fiscal year 2012.16 FEMA’s temporary employees are

primarily dedicated to disaster assistance. Disaster-related temporary 

employees with 2- to 4-year appointments are referred to as Cadre of OnCall Response/Recovery Employees (CORE), and Disaster Assistance 

Employees (DAE), who perform disaster-related work for 2-year 

intermittent appointments.17 While permanent employees are hired under 

provisions of Title V of the U.S. Code that govern competitive service, 

disaster relief employees are hired and funded under the authority of the 

Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act.18

As of March 2012, FEMA reported that it had a workforce of over 18,000 

employees, of which approximately 26 percent—or over 4,700—are 

permanent. The remaining 74 percent are comprised of COREs, DAEs, 

Funding for DAEs and COREs varies on an annual basis based on the 

number of declared disasters.

 

16According to FEMA, the agency obligated $558,097,000 to fund the salaries and benefits 

of its permanent employees in fiscal year 2011. 

17CORE positions are temporary, excepted service appointments with specific “Not to 

Exceed” dates. The appointments are two and four-year terms and are typically renewed if 

there is ongoing disaster work and funding is available. DAE’s are activated in direct 

response to a disaster declaration to support the work of FEMA at the disaster site. FEMA 

hires DAEs as 2-year, intermittent employees who are deployed as needed for 

emergencies and/or disasters. 

18See 42 U.S.C. § 5149(b)(1). The Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency 

Assistance Act, as amended, known as the Stafford Act, constitutes the statutory authority 

for most federal disaster response activities, especially as they pertain to FEMA and 

FEMA programs. This act authorizes the President to issue a “major disaster” declaration 

to provide a wide range of federal aid to states determined to be overwhelmed by 

hurricanes or other disasters. 42 U.S.C. § 5170. FEMA is tasked with coordinating the 

response under the Stafford Act.

Background 

Overview of FEMA’s 

Workforce 
 

Page 8 GAO-12-487 FEMA Workforce Planning and Training

and other employees.19

 

19As of February 2011, FEMA employed approximately 991 other employees, including 

other government employees on assignment to FEMA and full-time and part-time FEMA 

staff with a set end date of employment. FEMA also employed approximately 7,892 

contractors.

From fiscal years 2005 through March 2012, 

FEMA’s permanent workforce has increased by approximately 128 

percent (from 2,100 to 4,792) and its disaster-related temporary 

employees (COREs and DAEs) have increased by approximately 146 

percent (from 5,458 to 13,418 employees). Figure 1 illustrates the 

changes in FEMA’s permanent, DAE, and CORE workforce during fiscal 

years 2005, 2008, and 2012.
 

Page 9 GAO-12-487 FEMA Workforce Planning and Training

Figure 1: Overview of FEMA’s Workforce, Fiscal Years 2005, 2008, 2012

Approximately 70 percent of FEMA’s permanent workforce is located at 

its headquarters and the remaining 30 percent are assigned to FEMA’s 

10 regional offices.20

 

20Approximately 60 percent of those working for headquarter components are located 

outside of the immediate Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. FEMA’s 10 regional offices 

are located in Atlanta, Georgia; Boston, Massachusetts; Denton, Texas; Denver, 

Colorado; Chicago, Illinois; Kansas City, Missouri; New York, New York; Oakland, 

California; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Seattle, Washington. 

FEMA disaster response employees also work at 
 

Page 10 GAO-12-487 FEMA Workforce Planning and Training

temporary disaster response/recovery sites established across the 

country. FEMA consists of six primary components: Response and 

Recovery, Federal Insurance and Mitigation, Protection and National 

Preparedness, United States Fire Administration, Regional Operations, 

and Mission Support. See figure 2 for FEMA’s organizational chart, as of 

January 2012.
 

Page 11 GAO-12-487 FEMA Workforce Planning and Training

Figure 2: FEMA Organizational Chart

Note: The bolded program offices above indicate those organizations that play a role in FEMA’s 

workforce planning and training efforts.

Several program offices within FEMA play a role in the agency’s 

workforce planning and training efforts:
 

Page 12 GAO-12-487 FEMA Workforce Planning and Training

• Within FEMA’s Mission Support Bureau in headquarters, the Human 

Capital Office is responsible for providing leadership and direction to 

all stakeholders, including FEMA headquarters and regional offices on 

human capital programs, products, and services.

• Also within the Mission Support Bureau, the Office of the Chief 

Procurement Officer is responsible for overseeing FEMA’s acquisition 

of services.

• Within the Office of the Administrator, the Office of Policy and 

Program Analysis is responsible for reviewing proposed policies and 

programs for agencywide consistency and compliance with 

Departmental guidance.

• Under the Office of Response and Recovery, the Incident Workforce 

Management Office is responsible for the deployment of personnel, 

the management of the surge capacity forces, disaster response 

cadre management, and the implementation of the FEMA 

Qualification System (FQS).21

• The Training, Exercise, and Doctrine office, also within the Office of 

Response and Recovery, develops training requirements and 

agencywide disaster-related doctrine, and funds the development and 

revision of FQS related disaster workforce training, among other 

functions.

• The Emergency Management Institute, under Protection and National 

Preparedness, serves as the agency’s principle component in 

developing and delivering emergency management training—

including courses for employees to certify under FQS—and creates 

and manages courses using an accredited curriculum management 

system. 

The Post-Katrina Act required FEMA to develop, and update annually 

through 2012, a strategic human capital plan that includes an assessment 

of the critical skills and competencies required for its workforce.22

 

21Prior to June 2011, the Incident Workforce Management Office was named the Disaster 

Workforce Division under the Office of the Chief Component Human Capital Officer. FQS 

is a FEMA initiative intended to credential its workforce. FQS is discussed in further detail 

later in this report. 

In May 

2008, FEMA issued its Strategic Human Capital Plan, 2008-2012, which 

presented, among other things, the agency’s plans for a restructured 

workforce and improvements to its training programs. For example, under 

the initiative to train and professionally develop its workforce, the plan 

225 U.S.C. § 10102.

FEMA Workforce 

Strategies
 

Page 13 GAO-12-487 FEMA Workforce Planning and Training

states that FEMA will build a professional leadership program that 

identifies and prepares future leaders to fill projected vacancies. The 

agency is currently drafting an updated strategic human capital plan and 

expects to issue it by the end of fiscal year 2012. FEMA also issued 

human capital operational plans for fiscal years 2009 and 2010 (and 

issued final reports to Congress on these plans), which FEMA is using to 

meet the Post-Katrina Act requirement for annual updates to the strategic 

plan, but did not issue an operational plan for fiscal year 2011. According 

to FEMA officials, the plan is under review by DHS and the agency will 

submit a report to Congress on the plan. However, FEMA did not provide 

a time frame for when the fiscal year 2011 operational plan will be 

submitted.

Our model of strategic human capital management identifies critical 

success factors, including the need for the integration and alignment of 

human capital approaches and data-driven human capital decisions, for 

effective agency planning.23

High-performing organizations identify their current and future human 

capital needs, including the appropriate number of employees, the key 

competencies and skills mix for mission accomplishment, and the 

appropriate deployment of staff across the organization, and then create 

strategies for identifying and filling gaps. Our work has shown that 

attributes of effective workforce planning include coordinating and 

integrating efforts across the organization to develop, communicate, and 

implement a workforce plan that is tailored to address workforce gaps and 

improve the contribution of critical skills and competencies needed for 

mission success.

We designed this model based on the human 

capital practices of leading public and private organizations to help 

agency leaders manage their people and integrate human capital 

considerations into daily decision making to help achieve program results. 

See appendix I for additional details on the cornerstones and critical 

success factors identified in our model.

24

 

23

Effective organizations identify and invest in the needs 

GAO-02-373SP. While our model includes aligning agencies’ human capital approaches 

with current and emerging needs, this attribute is associated with higher levels of strategic 

human capital planning. Reflective of FEMA’s actions in this area, we focused our review 

on FEMA’s efforts to integrate their workforce planning and training efforts. 

24GAO, Human Capital: Key Principles for Effective Workforce Planning, GAO-04-39 

(Washington, D.C.: Dec.11, 2003). 

Critical Success Factors 

for Effective Workforce 

Planning and Training 

Programs
 

Page 14 GAO-12-487 FEMA Workforce Planning and Training

of its workforce through its strategic and annual planning and ensure that 

these strategies are fully integrated. Attributes of effective training 

programs also include developing training goals and related performance 

measures that are consistent with an agency’s overall mission, goals, and 

culture.25

In addition, we have previously reported that maximizing the value of 

human capital is a function not just of specific actions, but of cultural 

transformation.

Similarly, DHS has issued guidance calling for its component 

agencies to develop workforce plans that identify anticipated workforce 

needs including action plans with strategies, performance measures, and 

targets to meet those needs.

26 To achieve such transformation, the development and 

integration of strategic management principles as part of an overall 

management and accountability framework can provide an agency with 

tools to shape not only long-term strategic management, but also 

management infrastructure and controls needed to support organization 

transformation initiatives in the day-to-day business of an agency.27

• demonstrating top leadership commitment to change;

Specifically, these strategic management principles are

• identifying long-term, mission-critical goals through a re-invigorated 

strategic planning process tied to serving Congress;

• developing annual goals and a system for measuring progress; and

• establishing individual accountability and commensurate authority for 

achieving results.

FEMA is taking steps to integrate its workforce planning efforts to help 

ensure the agency has the properly sized and skilled workforce to 

effectively meet its mission, but until recently, its efforts related to 

workforce planning have been independently conducted by various 

offices across the agency. FEMA also has efforts under way to meet the 

different types of training needs of its workforce; however, the agency has 

taken limited steps to integrate its training efforts. As FEMA is in the early 

 

25GAO, Human Capital: A Guide for Assessing Strategic Training and Development Efforts 

in the Federal Government, GAO-04-546G (Washington, D.C.: Mar. 2004).

26GAO-02-373SP. 

27GAO, Architect of the Capitol: Management and Accountability Framework Needed to 

Lead and Execute Change, GAO-02-632T (Washington, D.C.: Apr. 17, 2002) and 

Architect Of The Capitol: Management and Accountability Framework Needed for 

Organizational Transformation, GAO-03-231 (Washington, D.C.: Jan. 17, 2003).

FEMA Is Working to Integrate 

Its Workforce Planning and 

Training Efforts, but Its Efforts 

Are in the Early Stages 
 

Page 15 GAO-12-487 FEMA Workforce Planning and Training

stages of its integration efforts, it will be important for the agency to follow 

through with these efforts to help ensure they address long-standing 

management challenges associated with workforce planning and training.

FEMA has begun to integrate its workforce planning efforts across the 

agency. Integrating workforce planning efforts is an important step for 

helping to ensure that the agency has the appropriate number of staff to 

effectively meet FEMA’s mission of preparing for, responding to, and 

recovering from all hazards. However, as we have previously reported, 

and found during the course of our review, until recently FEMA’s efforts 

related to workforce planning have been independently conducted by 

various offices across the agency with little coordination. For example, in 

2007 we reported that FEMA had not set a strategic vision for its 

workforce planning efforts and therefore these efforts were not being 

conducted in accordance with attributes of effective workforce planning.28

Since this review, FEMA has reported actions to address our finding. For 

example, the conference report accompanying the DHS appropriations 

act for fiscal year 2010 provided that a total of $2 million was for FEMA to 

partner with the Homeland Security Institute to conduct a study of its 

human capital resources.

Specifically, we found that FEMA was conducting its workforce planning 

from the bottom up, office by office, and this approach was likely to result 

in workforce plans that meet the immediate needs of individual offices 

rather than produce an integrated, long-term strategy for the entire 

agency. As a result, we recommended that FEMA apply the key principles 

of strategic workforce planning, including establishing a strategic direction 

and assessing the number of employees and critical skills FEMA needs, 

among other things. DHS did not comment on this recommendation.

29

 

28

FEMA’s Human Capital Office is overseeing 

the institute’s efforts to conduct a baseline assessment of the number, 

responsibilities, and locations of FEMA’s workforce. According to FEMA 

officials, as of January 2012, the agency expended approximately $1.4 

million for this effort, and the results of the baseline assessment will be 

used to compare FEMA’s current workforce to its desired workforce and 

assess the gaps in workforce skills and competencies. FEMA human 

capital officials reported that this assessment and resulting analysis, 

GAO-07-139. 

29H.R. Rep. No. 111-298, at 101-02 (2009) (Conf. Rep.).

Workforce Planning 

Efforts 
 

Page 16 GAO-12-487 FEMA Workforce Planning and Training

referred to as the Strategic Workforce Planning Initiative, will provide a 

basis for developing an agencywide workforce plan to address the 

agency’s future workforce needs for disaster-related and day-to-day 

operations. According to FEMA officials, this initiative will ultimately result 

in a workforce plan for the agency, but they could not provide time frames 

for when such a plan would be issued.

Also, the Office of Policy and Program Analysis has developed a Force 

Planning Model, which is designed to provide an estimate of the number 

of temporary and permanent employees needed to respond to a variety of 

potential disaster scenarios. Although the data behind the Force Planning 

Model was not initially considered or used by the contractor assessing 

FEMA’s current workforce, FEMA’s Human Capital Office and its Office of 

Policy and Program Analysis are working to more closely coordinate their 

efforts. Specifically, when we initially met with FEMA’s Human Capital 

Office in September 2011, they said they had limited awareness of the 

model and its potential usefulness for their workforce planning efforts. 

Since then, human capital officials reported that they have been 

coordinating more closely with the Office of Policy and Program Analysis 

in further developing the Force Planning Model. In January 2012, FEMA 

human capital officials also noted that the results of the Force Planning 

Model will define the size of the future workforce. See figure 3 and 

appendix II for a description of FEMA program office responsibilities and 

initiatives related to workforce planning.
Page 17 GAO-12-487 FEMA Workforce Planning and Training

Source: GAO analysis of FEMA information.

Administrator

Protection and National

Preparedness Chief of Staff

Grant Programs

Directorate

Office of Chief

Financial Officer

Office of External

Affairs

Office of Regional

Operations

Office of Equal 

Rights

Office of Disability

Integration &

Coordination

Law Enforcement

Advisor

Executive

Secretariat

National Advisory

Council National Training,

Education, and

Exercise

Emergency

Management

Institute

Office of Chief

Counsel

DHS Direct Report

Serves all of DHS

DHS Center for

Faith Based and

Neighborhood

Partherships Office of Policy 

and

Program Analysis

Regions I-X

Federal Insurance

and Mitigation

Administration

Office of

Response and 

Recovery

Office of Chief

Security Officer

Office of Chief

Component Human 

Capital Officer

Office of Chief

Procurement 

Officer

Office of Chief

Adminstrative 

Officer

Office of Chief

Information 

Officer

Recovery

Directorate

Incident Workforce 

Management Office 

Response

Directorate

Training, Exercise,

and Doctrine Office

Logistics 

Management

Directorate

Office of Federal 

Coordinating

Officer Operations

Office 

of Readiness and

Assessment

U.S. 

Fire Administration

Mission Support

Bureau

National 

Preparedness

Directorate

Office of National 

Capital

Coordination

National Continuity

Programs

Directorate

Deputy Administrator

Figure 3: FEMA Program Offices’ Responsibilities and Workforce Planning Initiatives

Instructions: Roll over blue highlighted organizations below 

to see individual program office’s responsibilities and workforce 

planning initiatives.

Interactive graphic
 

Page 18 GAO-12-487 FEMA Workforce Planning and Training

For disaster response operations, the Incident Workforce Management 

Office, under the Office of Response and Recovery, is taking steps to 

integrate FQS with other workforce planning efforts under way across the 

agency. According to FEMA, the agency developed FQS to: (1) document 

the disaster response functions and capabilities of its permanent and 

temporary employees; (2) establish consistent and fair qualification 

requirements for all FEMA disaster workforce positions; and (3) ensure a 

qualified disaster workforce based on performance standards, among 

other things.30

Further, FEMA’s Human Capital Office and the Office of the Chief 

Procurement Officer within the Mission Support Bureau are coordinating 

to integrate their efforts related to the agency’s implementation of DHS’s 

Balanced Workforce Strategy, which is aimed at determining the proper 

balance of contractors and federal employees needed to support daily 

operations.

While FEMA human capital officials said in September 

2011 that they had little involvement with the implementation of FQS, in 

January 2012 they reported that they had begun participating in an 

agency wide working group dedicated to the FQS to help ensure its 

integration with other agency wide workforce planning efforts. Further, in 

January 2012 FEMA also reported on the relationship between FQS and 

the Force Structure effort, led by the Office of Recovery and Response, 

which is based on the Force Planning Model. According to FEMA, the 

Force Structure effort will use the data provided by the Force Planning 

Model to set target disaster staffing levels by position, based on historical 

data, to ensure that the agency has enough trained and experienced 

disaster personnel to accomplish its mission.

31

 

30 The Incident Workforce Management Office assumed responsibility in June 2011 for 

FEMA’s longstanding efforts to implement an agencywide credentialing program for its 

disaster workforce, now referred to as FQS. 

Specifically, FEMA human capital officials said in 

September 2011 that they were not involved with the agency’s 

implementation of the Balanced Workforce Strategy and in November 

2011, they stated that data gathered by the Office of the Chief 

Procurement Officer were not used for their workforce planning efforts. In 

January 2012 human capital officials stated that they did not have policies 

or procedures in place to ensure integration of agency wide workforce 

planning initiatives, but they were working with the Office of the Chief 

Procurement Officer to determine how to integrate the Balanced 

31 DHS announced its Balanced Workforce Strategy in July 2010.
 

Page 19 GAO-12-487 FEMA Workforce Planning and Training

Workforce Strategy and Strategic Workforce Planning Initiative efforts.32

These actions, if implemented effectively, could help ensure an integrated 

approach for FEMA’s workforce planning efforts; however, it is too early 

to assess the extent to which these efforts are effective in meeting overall 

agency workforce needs as they have been recently initiated and are 

dependent upon FEMA following through with its plans.

FEMA has efforts under way to meet the different types of training needs 

of its workforce; however, the agency has taken limited steps to integrate 

its training efforts. We identified four broad categories of training FEMA 

conducts: (1) disaster response-related training, (2) Human Capital Office 

required training, (3) leadership development training, and (4) 

professional development training. See figure 4 and appendix III for a 

description of the various program offices with training responsibilities 

throughout FEMA.

 

32 We discuss the authority of the Human Capital Office in more detail later in this report.

Training Efforts
Page 20 GAO-12-487 FEMA Workforce Planning and Training

Source: GAO analysis of FEMA information.

Administrator

Protection and National

Preparedness Chief of Staff

Grant Programs

Directorate

Office of Chief

Financial Officer

Office of External

Affairs

Office of Regional

Operations

Office of Equal 

Rights

Office of Disability

Integration &

Coordination

Law Enforcement

Advisor

Executive

Secretariat

National Advisory

Council National Training,

Education, and

Exercise

Emergency

Management

Institute

Office of Chief

Counsel

DHS Direct Report

Serves all of DHS

DHS Center for

Faith Based and

Neighborhood

Partherships Office of Policy 

and

Program Analysis

Regions I-X

Federal Insurance

and Mitigation

Administration

Office of

Response and 

Recovery

Office of Chief

Security Officer

Office of Chief

Component Human 

Capital Officer

Office of Chief

Procurement 

Officer

Office of Chief

Adminstrative 

Officer

Office of Chief

Information 

Officer

Recovery

Directorate

Incident Workforce 

Management Office 

Response

Directorate

Training, Exercise,

and Doctrine Office

Logistics 

Management

Directorate

Office of Federal 

Coordinating

Officer Operations

Office 

of Readiness and

Assessment

U.S. 

Fire Administration

Mission Support

Bureau

National 

Preparedness

Directorate

Office of National 

Capital

Coordination

National Continuity

Programs

Directorate

Deputy Administrator

Figure 4: FEMA Program Offices’ Workforce Training Responsibilities

Instructions: Roll over blue highlighted organizations 

below to see individual program office’s workforce 

training responsibilities.

Interactive graphic

Requirement for all program offices.
 

Page 21 GAO-12-487 FEMA Workforce Planning and Training

• Disaster Response-Related Training: The Incident Workforce 

Management Office coordinates disaster response-related training 

within FEMA, including developing the budget and recommending 

allocations of training funds from the disaster relief fund.33

Specifically, the Incident Workforce Management Office leads the 

coordination of disaster response-related training efforts and the 

Training, Exercise, and Doctrine office, another office in the Office of 

Response and Recovery, creates and validates training requirements 

for disaster response occupations developed under FQS.34 In 

implementing this system, FEMA identified 322 separate position task 

books for responding to disasters.35

 

33The disaster relief fund is appropriated funding separate from FEMA’s salaries and 

expenses account, through which most of FEMA’s other training efforts are funded. For 

fiscal year 2012, the Incident Workforce Management Office provided $6 million for 

disaster response training courses conducted by the Emergency Management Institute for 

all FEMA employees. Prior to fiscal year 2012, FEMA’s Emergency Management Institute 

was responsible for coordinating disaster response training.

According to FEMA officials, for 

each of these task books FEMA developed qualifications sheets that 

list the requirements to become qualified in each of the 322 positions. 

For instance, through the FQS process, FEMA developed the position 

task book for a hazardous materials specialist. Skills required to 

qualify for this position include demonstrating proper use of personal 

protective equipment, knowledge of decontamination procedures, and

operation of monitoring and detection equipment, among other things. 

The Administrator’s new Disaster Workforce Transformation, initiated 

in December 2011, is intended to focus on training and certifying the 

entire workforce for incident management and incident support 

positions in the field. However, during a February 2012 meeting with 

FEMA officials overseeing the implementation of the Disaster 

Workforce Transformation, they stated that the agency had not yet 

decided how disaster response-related training would be revised to 

reflect the workforce transformation because it was too soon in the 

process to make such decisions.

34According to FEMA, the Training, Exercise, and Doctrine office is responsible for funding 

the development and revision of FQS-related courses. Also, FEMA officials stated that 

disaster response-related training will consist mainly of FQS-related training once FQS is 

fully implemented.

35Position task books are issued to employees in training for disaster-related occupations 

and describe all activities, minimal skill sets, and tasks that are necessary for successful 

performance in a given position. 
 

Page 22 GAO-12-487 FEMA Workforce Planning and Training

• Human Capital Office Required Training: The Human Capital Office 

is responsible for ensuring that all permanent employees and COREs 

complete training required by statute, DHS, and FEMA.36 In March 

2012, FEMA’s Human Capital Office announced the mandatory 

courses required of its permanent employees and COREs for 

calendar year 2012. These courses are required to be taken on a 

schedule established by the agency. Specifically, FEMA has 

developed a series of more than 20 training courses covering topics 

such as ethics, safety orientation, and information security.37

• Leadership Development Training: FEMA has not yet identified the 

office responsible for leadership development training, but in 

November 2011, the agency designated an individual within the 

Protection and National Preparedness Directorate to create a 

leadership development training program.

According to human capital officials, the Human Capital Office must 

report this training information to DHS throughout the year. The 

Human Capital Office collects training records from various sources, 

including training management information systems and data calls 

from individual program offices.

38

 

36In January 2012 DHS released its Orientation Facilitation Guide to its components, 

containing the core topics that must be included in every new employee orientation effort.

These topics include, among other things, an orientation of the department and ethics 

training.

Specifically, this individual 

is using the findings gathered during an internal review conducted by 

a FEMA working group on the current leadership development 

activities, limitations, and suggestions to develop this program. This 

individual is coordinating with other FEMA officials to develop time 

frames for completing development of the program and fully 

implementing it. A key component of FEMA’s leadership developing 

training is to be the Future Leaders Program, creating an annual 

cohort of nonsupervisory employees who are participating in a yearlong pilot program. According to FEMA officials, the Future Leaders 

37FEMA has also developed a list of 15 mandatory courses that all employees must take 

in order to deploy to a disaster. Several mandatory deployment courses overlap with 

required training for all permanent employees and COREs, such as basic records 

management, diversity awareness, and disaster-related training including disaster 

management training. However, required training must be taken by permanent employees 

and COREs regardless of whether they deploy. Further, the Human Capital Office is not 

responsible for ensuring that employees are deployable, which is the responsibility of 

disaster occupation managers and field office training officials.

38According to FEMA, the agency has committed $2 million through the end of fiscal year 

2013 to fund leadership development efforts. 
 

Page 23 GAO-12-487 FEMA Workforce Planning and Training

Program will be one mechanism to provide development training for 

employees at different levels of experience and pay grades in the 

agency. FEMA also established a Leadership Development Council in 

February 2011 to, among other things, prepare potential candidates to 

fill leadership positions. Until a comprehensive leadership 

development program is fully developed, FEMA plans to continue to 

use courses and offerings already in place to provide some leadership 

tools to prospective and current managers.

• Professional Development Training: FEMA also offers training 

opportunities to permanent employees through opportunities provided 

by or approved by their respective offices. According to FEMA 

officials, professional development training is independently defined 

by each program office and the training may be offered from several 

sources. For instance, FEMA training officials stated that an individual 

employee may identify a need for training on a particular topic through 

his or her individual development plan. In addition to individuals 

requesting training, a program office may sponsor training. For 

example, a program office with budgeting responsibilities may 

sponsor a class on federal appropriations law. Such training may be 

conducted either within FEMA—for example at the Emergency 

Management Institute—or from an external source, such as another 

federal agency, a conference, or a private sector organization.

FEMA has efforts under way to meet the different types of training needs 

of its workforce, but the integration of these efforts has been limited, 

although the Human Capital Office reported that it plans to implement a 

policy to address the need for integration. Currently, different program 

offices throughout FEMA are responsible for planning training activities. 

For instance, two offices within the Office of Response and Recovery—

the Incident Workforce Management Office and the Training, Exercise, 

and Doctrine Office—are responsible for the planning, development, and 

implementation of disaster-response training. Moreover, the Emergency 

Management Institute is responsible for, among other things, ensuring 

that all disaster-response training meets the qualifications needed for 

classes to be accredited, while the Human Capital Office ensures that 

permanent employees and COREs take required training courses. 

Further, every program office is separately responsible for managing 

professional development training, and FEMA has not assigned planning 

responsibilities for leadership development training to any program office. 

In general, there is no one office or individual overseeing training 

activities to ensure they are integrated throughout the agency.
 

Page 24 GAO-12-487 FEMA Workforce Planning and Training

According to human capital officials, the offices responsible for the 

different types of training will need to integrate their planning and 

development of training programs to respond to a new policy they plan to 

implement. Doing so could help FEMA prioritize training funding and 

ensure that the most important needs for developing mission-critical skills 

and competencies are addressed first. Human capital officials said they 

are drafting a new agencywide directive on employee training and 

development to help standardize training employee efforts across the 

agency. According to human capital officials, this directive will provide a 

basis for prioritizing training management decisions for mission-critical 

positions, and increase their oversight of agencywide training programs. 

However, as of March 2012, this directive was still in draft form. This new 

directive, if it appropriately addresses the need to integrate training efforts 

across the agency, could help FEMA enhance the effectiveness of its 

training. However, this outcome is contingent upon FEMA following 

through with its plans to enhance its workforce training, and it is, 

therefore, too early to assess the effectiveness of FEMA’s planned 

actions.

FEMA efforts to integrate its workforce planning and training are positive 

steps, but FEMA has not used a strategic approach to identify and 

mitigate longstanding management challenges in workforce planning and 

training that impact the agency as a whole. Our work has shown that 

incorporating strategic management principles can help provide 

accountability for producing results. We have previously reported that to 

build the capability to lead and execute change, an agency should (1) 

demonstrate top leadership commitment to change; (2) identify long-term, 

mission-critical goals through its strategic planning process; (3) develop 

annual goals and a system for measuring progress; and (4) establish 

accountability and commensurate authority for achieving results. These 

principles are also reflected in the Human Capital Assessment and 

Accountability Framework issued by the Office of Personnel Management 

in March 2006 that calls for human capital planning that includes 

leadership, goals, objectives and strategies; a workforce plan; and 

performance measures and milestones for annual assessments of 

Incorporating 

Strategic Management 

Principles Could 

Enhance FEMA’s 

Workforce Planning 

and Training Efforts
 

Page 25 GAO-12-487 FEMA Workforce Planning and Training

agencies’ human capital management for accountability in achieving 

results.39

FEMA leadership’s continued commitment to effectively plan for and train 

its workforce is in alignment with attributes of effective workforce planning 

and training and critical to the agency’s success in executing the agency’s 

efforts in these areas. Our assessment of leading organizations’ success 

in management reforms found successful leaders create processes and 

systems within which to operate, but give managers the authority to 

pursue their organizational goals while using those processes and 

systems. They also integrate the implementation of separate 

organizational improvement efforts into a coherent unified effort. The 

commitment of FEMA’s leadership to enhancing and integrating 

agencywide strategic workforce planning and training reflects these 

principles in the agency’s strategic planning documents. For example, the 

FEMA Administrator’s Intent for Building the FY 2012-2016 Future Year 

Homeland Security Program, issued in February 2010, lays out the 

agency’s priorities that include improving FEMA’s workforce capabilities 

and notes that the integration between mission support activities, such as 

human capital and procurement, must be improved, simplified, and 

streamlined to better enable FEMA to execute the programs and policies 

used to achieve its mission. The document calls for a unity of effort within 

the agency to build, sustain, and improve its capabilities by ensuring that 

responsibility and authority for its mission support programs is placed 

appropriately. Similarly, the FEMA Strategic Plan, Fiscal Years 2011-

2014 states that FEMA must build, sustain, and improve its workforce and 

develop its current and future leadership. The plan also identifies FEMA’s 

ability to develop its workforce as the single most important driver of the 

agency’s future success. Finally, FEMA’s Human Capital Office has 

drafted a directive establishing a FEMA Human Capital Accountability 

System intended to provide a systematic approach to overseeing human 

capital operations agencywide, assess accountability results, and improve 

performance on all aspects of human capital management policies, 

programs, and activities. According to human capital officials, this 

directive was expected to be finalized at the end of February 2012, but as 

of March 2012, it was still in draft form.

 

39Office of Personnel Management, Human Capital Assessment and Accountability 

Framework (Washington, D.C.: Mar. 2006).

Demonstrating Top 

Leadership Commitment 
 

Page 26 GAO-12-487 FEMA Workforce Planning and Training

As discussed above, FEMA has developed initiatives and defined related 

outcomes for the management of its workforce, but neither the current 

Strategic Human Capital Plan nor the current FEMA strategic plan identify 

long-term, specific mission critical goals related to the agency’s on-going 

workforce planning and training efforts. Specifically, the current Strategic 

Human Capital Plan, issued in May 2008, has not yet been updated to 

align with the FEMA Strategic Plan, Fiscal Years 2011-2014, issued in 

February 2011. Rather, the Strategic Human Capital Plan is aligned with 

the former version of the agency’s Strategic Plan, issued in January 2008. 

In addition, the Strategic Human Capital Plan does not contain specific 

quantifiable goals for its workforce planning and training efforts that reflect 

the end result FEMA wishes to achieve. Further, the current FEMA 

strategic plan does not provide mission critical goals specific to the 

agency’s ongoing workforce planning and training efforts. In particular, 

the FEMA Strategic Plan, Fiscal Years 2011-2014 documents four 

initiatives for the agency—(1) foster a whole community approach to 

emergency management nationally; (2) build the nation’s capacity to 

stabilize and recover from a catastrophic event; (3) build unity of effort 

and common strategic understanding among the emergency 

management team; and (4) enhance FEMA’s ability to learn and innovate 

as an organization. Related to each of these initiatives, FEMA outlines the 

key outcomes it would like to achieve. For example, under its second 

initiative FEMA reports that it will implement a performance-based 

qualification requirements system for all FEMA personnel participating in 

disaster response and recovery activities and a dynamic readiness 

measurement system for FEMA teams and deployable assets. Under its 

fourth initiative, FEMA states that it will create a collaborative 

infrastructure to support learning and innovation across the emergency 

management enterprise. However, the FEMA Strategic Plan, Fiscal Years 

2011-2014 does not discuss how these initiatives will incorporate 

agencywide workforce planning and training efforts under way, such as 

the Strategic Workforce Planning Initiative or the development of a 

leadership development program. In addition, the initiatives describe 

broad goals that lack specificity to link their achievement to actual 

performance. Such initiatives are related to the agency’s priorities of 

improving workforce capabilities and human capital activities, as 

documented in the FEMA Administrator’s Intent for Building the FY 2012-

2016 Future Year Homeland Security Program. According to FEMA 

human capital officials, the agency is updating its Strategic Human 

Capital Plan that will be in alignment with the agency’s broader Strategic 

Plan, and may consider developing long-term, specific mission-critical 

goals related to ongoing workforce planning and training efforts as part of 

this updated Strategic Human Capital Plan. FEMA human capital officials 

Identifying Long-Term, 

Specific Mission-Critical 

Goals
 

Page 27 GAO-12-487 FEMA Workforce Planning and Training

stated that they plan to issue the updated Strategic Human Capital Plan 

by the end of fiscal year 2012.

We have previously reported that agencies can encourage greater use of 

performance information by aligning agencywide goals and objectives.40

We have also reported that agencies should develop associated 

performance goals that are objective and quantifiable to allow a 

comparison of programs’ actual results with the desired results.41

Developing long-term mission critical goals is also one strategic 

management principle. For example, FEMA’s strategic mission-critical 

goals could include integrating agencywide training efforts or the effective 

implementation of FQS within established time frames. The agency’s 

efforts to update its Strategic Human Capital Plan provide FEMA with an 

opportunity to identify and document long-term and specific mission 

critical goals that reflect the agency’s current priorities for workforce 

planning and training over the next four fiscal years and provide a road 

map for meeting those goals. Until FEMA determines what it would like to 

accomplish through its workforce planning and training efforts and 

develops related goals, the agency will be limited in its ability to gauge its 

success in these two areas.

FEMA’s workforce planning and training efforts could also benefit from 

the development of specific and quantifiable performance measures 

aligned with annual performance goals. FEMA’s Fiscal Year 2010 Human 

Capital Operational Plan documents the agency’s strategic initiatives, 

priorities, related deliverables, and target deadlines, but does not identify 

outcome-oriented measures to assess the agency’s progress in meeting 

its workforce planning and training goals.42

 

40GAO, Managing for Results: Enhancing Agency Use of Performance Information for 

Management Decision Making, 

For example, under its 

Rightsizing the Agency Strategic Initiative, FEMA notes that it will conduct 

GAO-05-927 (Washington, D.C.: Sept. 9, 2005).

41GAO, Department of Energy: Further Actions Are Needed to Improve DOE’s Ability to 

Evaluate and Implement the Loan Guarantee Program, GAO-10-627 (Washington, D.C.: 

July 12, 2010).

42Performance measures can be classified as output, process/input, or outcome oriented. 

Output measures focus on the quantity of direct products and services a program delivers. 

Process/input measures address the type or level of program activity an organization 

conducts and the resources used by the program. Outcome measures offer information on 

the results of the direct products and services a program has delivered.

Developing a System for 

Measuring Annual 

Progress
 

Page 28 GAO-12-487 FEMA Workforce Planning and Training

a bottom-up rightsizing analysis and discusses its Strategic Workforce 

Planning Initiative as a related effort. However, the human capital 

operational plan does not include measures for assessing the agency’s 

progress in addressing this initiative. Similarly, under its training and 

professional development of the workforce initiative, reported in its fiscal 

year 2010 human capital operational plan, the agency states that building 

a comprehensive leadership development program and integrating it with 

agency succession planning is a priority for the agency. However, metrics 

to gauge the agency’s progress in addressing this initiative were not 

established in this plan. Further, more recent annual operational plans 

have not been completed in a timely manner. For example, according to 

FEMA human capital officials, as of March 2012, its annual human capital 

operational plan for fiscal year 2011 was still in draft form and they and 

they could not provide time frames for when the agency would issue an 

operational plan for fiscal year 2012. Because the fiscal year 2011 human 

capital operational plan was not issued in a timely manner, any measures 

developed in association with this plan could not be used to gauge the 

impact of their ongoing workforce planning and training efforts.

Developing quantifiable performance measures aligned with annual 

performance goals could also help ensure that FEMA is held accountable 

for addressing long-standing workforce challenges. For example, in 2007 

we reported that FEMA lacked a business continuity plan for its day-today operations, did not have guidelines on what constitutes a missioncritical position, and had not conducted an assessment of what minimum 

level of support is necessary.43 As a result, we recommended that FEMA 

develop business continuity plans for the day-to-day operations to ensure 

that critical program functions are maintained at a sufficient level when 

permanent employees are called to respond to a disaster.44

 

43

We specified 

that these plans should include clear guidelines on who holds a missioncritical position at headquarters and, therefore, either cannot be deployed 

for disaster-relief efforts or needs to have alternates designated to 

provide backup in their absence. FEMA’s Strategic Human Capital Plan, 

2008-2012 identified the development of continuity programs as one of 

the agency’s core competencies to support the vision of FEMA, but the 

agency’s annual operational plans did not establish related milestones or 

measures, or identify which office(s) in FEMA were responsible for 

GAO-07-139. 

44DHS did not comment on this recommendation.
 

Page 29 GAO-12-487 FEMA Workforce Planning and Training

managing these programs. According to FEMA officials, the Office of 

Policy and Program Analysis’ Force Planning Model calculates the 

number of non-deployed employees needed to maintain agency 

operations during a disaster and has developed guidelines on who holds 

a mission-critical position at headquarters. However, FEMA has not 

developed quantifiable performance measures that would hold the 

agency responsible for accomplishing this task and has therefore not yet 

identified those positions that either cannot be deployed for disaster-relief 

efforts or needs to have alternates designated to provide backup in their 

absence. Although FEMA’s Strategic Human Capital Plan, 2008-2012

specifically states that FEMA will analyze its occupational series to better 

identify its mission critical positions, agency officials stated that 

organizational and staffing changes have limited their ability to ensure 

continued management focus on identifying these positions and 

developing a business continuity plan. Without measures and milestones 

for developing business continuity plans needed to effectively implement 

the Administrator’s vision that every FEMA employee can be deployed, 

the agency may face difficulties in achieving its fundamental strategic 

goals. 

As we have previously reported, leading organizations we have studied 

that were successful in measuring their performance generally had 

applied two practices.45

 

45

First, they developed measures that were (1) tied 

to program goals and demonstrated the degree to which the desired 

results were achieved, (2) limited to the vital few that were considered 

essential to producing data for decision making, (3) responsive to multiple 

priorities, and (4) responsibility-linked to establish accountability for 

results. Second, the agencies recognized the cost and effort involved in 

gathering and analyzing data and made sure that the data they collected 

were sufficiently complete, accurate, and consistent to be useful in 

decision making. In its report on the results of its audit of FEMA’s human 

resources operations, DHS’s Office of the Chief Human Capital Officer 

recognized the need for FEMA to develop performance measures to 

gauge the effectiveness of its human capital efforts, including those 

related to its workforce planning and training efforts. In FEMA’s response 

to this audit, the agency indicated that it has efforts under way to develop 

performance measures. However, as of March 2012, the agency has yet 

to complete this effort. According to standard program management 

GAO-02-632T. 
 

Page 30 GAO-12-487 FEMA Workforce Planning and Training

principles, time frames or milestones should typically be incorporated as 

part of a road map to achieve a specific desired outcome or result.46 As 

FEMA continues its efforts to provide annual updates on its

implementation of the Strategic Human Capital Plan through its 

operational plans, establishing a time frame for developing quantifiable 

performance measures could ensure that the agency is held accountable 

for following through with this important effort. The development of these 

metrics could help FEMA obtain more meaningful information from which 

to gauge the effectiveness of its workforce planning and training efforts 

and take corrective action, if needed.

According to its mission statement, FEMA’s Human Capital Office is 

responsible for providing leadership and direction on human capital 

programs and developing and managing policies, programs, and activities 

designed to ensure the strategic management of FEMA’s workforce, 

among other things. However, officials from the Human Capital Office told 

us that their office has little authority over workforce planning efforts 

across the agency because the agency does not require program and 

regional offices to report on such efforts. Specifically, their office does not 

have operational authority over program and regional offices to require 

that they report on such efforts. As a result, despite FEMA’s efforts to 

integrate its workforce planning, as discussed earlier, accountability and 

commensurate authority have not been established to oversee the 

implementation of these efforts.

In January 2012 the FEMA Deputy Administrator released a memo to 

agency personnel documenting the Human Capital Office’s role and 

responsibilities related to assigning many FEMA employees, including its 

permanent staff, to either a disaster response or a disaster support 

position within FQS. The Human Capital Office, in coordination with other 

FEMA program offices, was delegated responsibility for, among other 

things, issuing an interim directive requiring employees conducting hiring 

 

46The Project Management Institute, The Standard for Program Management© (Newton 

Square, PA.: 2006).

Establishing 

Accountability and 

Commensurate Authority 

Workforce Planning Efforts
 

Page 31 GAO-12-487 FEMA Workforce Planning and Training

interviews to explain and reiterate the agency’s vision using a set of 

standard questions and briefing points. However, this memo does not 

establish the authority of the Human Capital Office related to the 

implementation and oversight of FQS or the extent to which FQS will 

impact this office’s implementation of the Strategic Workforce Planning 

Initiative. Rather, the memo documents tasks that the Human Capital 

Office is required to complete, such as conducting an agencywide 

inventory of all currently filled and vacant positions and identify those 

positions and employees for which the office does not have a position 

description.

In addition, during initial meetings with Human Capital Office officials in 

September 2011, they stated that they were not overseeing the Office of 

the Chief Procurement Officer’s implementation of the Balanced 

Workforce Strategy or assessing its impact on agencywide workforce 

planning efforts. During a follow-up meeting in January 2012, human 

capital officials stated that their office planned to play a more active role in 

the implementation of this strategy by overseeing the determination of the 

agency’s contractor positions. However, according to FEMA human 

capital officials, the agency has not established the authority of the 

Human Capital Office related to FEMA’s on-going implementation of the 

Balanced Workforce Strategy because the two offices have not 

historically conducted their efforts in an integrated manner. Establishing 

authority for agencywide workforce planning efforts could help ensure that 

the agency is held accountable for addressing long-standing 

management challenges, such as credentialing its disaster workforce and 

developing a process to systematically track workforce data.

Similarly, while FEMA’s Strategic Human Capital Plan identifies the need 

for effective leadership, lines of authority for overseeing agencywide 

training efforts have not been established. Specifically, while the Human 

Capital Office oversees mandatory training for permanent employees and 

CORE, human capital officials play a limited role in the development or 

management of disaster-related training through their involvement in an 

agencywide FQS working group. For instance, FEMA officials stated that 

the Human Capital Office does not have any authority or oversight of the 

FQS or the disaster-related training that will be required under this 

system. Instead, the Incident Workforce Management Office and the 

Training, Exercise, and Doctrine office under the Response Directorate 

develop and manage disaster response-related training programs, 

including leading the development and implementation of the FQS. 

Further, individual program offices are responsible for managing their own 

office-related professional development training activities, and human 

Training Efforts
 

Page 32 GAO-12-487 FEMA Workforce Planning and Training

capital officials said they have limited visibility over what training activities 

individual program offices have implemented and, therefore, cannot 

ensure that these training activities are effectively prioritized to meet 

agencywide training objectives. In addition, FEMA has not yet identified 

an organization to lead the implementation of leadership development 

training. Clearly establishing lines of authority from a central body to 

those program offices involved in workforce training could help ensure 

that the agency takes steps to address long-standing challenges, such as 

tracking the training of its workforce to help prioritize resources.

Strategic management principles include establishing individual 

accountability and commensurate authority for achieving results. We have 

also previously identified establishing a leadership position as being in 

alignment with attributes of effective training programs.47

Clearly identifying lines of authority, through its Strategic Human Capital 

Plan or other strategic planning documents, could provide a strategic 

focus to FEMA’s workforce planning and training efforts and could help 

ensure the agency is held accountable for the success of these efforts. 

Until such action takes place, it will be difficult for FEMA to provide 

For instance, a 

chief learning officer has an important role in maximizing an agency’s 

investments in workforce development programs by conducting activities 

such as developing training based on strategic initiatives, among other 

things. According to FEMA human capital officials, the integration of 

workforce training management functions into a centralized office is 

complicated by FEMA’s mission to provide external training to state and 

local first responders. In addition, human capital officials expressed 

concern regarding their limited role in agencywide workforce training 

activities. To address this concern, human capital officials stated that they 

planned to issue a directive in January 2012 that would, among other 

things, clarify roles and responsibilities with respect to employee training. 

However, as of March 2012, this directive was not yet issued. Human 

capital officials also said they have proposed that the agency establish a 

chief learning officer or a similar position to oversee training efforts across 

the agency, but FEMA management has not determined whether to 

create such a position or identified the responsibilities for this position. 

FEMA officials could not provide a time frame for when this position would 

be created.

 

47GAO-04-546G. 
 

Page 33 GAO-12-487 FEMA Workforce Planning and Training

reasonable assurance that it is managing its workforce and training 

programs in an integrated manner to help fulfill the mission of the agency.

FEMA has not developed an integrated process to systematically collect 

and analyze agencywide workforce and training data that could be used 

to better inform FEMA’s decision making.

In June 2011, we reported that FEMA lacked accurate data on its current 

staffing levels, largely because of technology issues, exacerbating the 

difficulties of workforce planning.48 Similarly, analysts from the Homeland 

Security Institute responsible for conducting FEMA’s baseline 

assessment said that to obtain a complete picture of FEMA’s workforce 

they requested data from three different databases, which are 

characterized in table 1, and developed a separate database to conduct 

their analysis.

 

48GAO-11-297. 

FEMA Could Benefit 

from More 

Systematically 

Collecting and 

Analyzing Workforce 

and Training Data 

Workforce-Related Data
 

Page 34 GAO-12-487 FEMA Workforce Planning and Training

Table 1: Databases that Maintain FEMA Workforce Information 

Name Description 

Automated Deployment Database Maintained by the Incident Workforce Management Office, this database tracks all FEMA 

deployable employees, permanent and temporary. This database includes information such as 

employee name, contact information, job title, and specialty such as foreign language skills. 

Tracking also includes an employee’s cadre readiness, initial disaster site location (duty 

station), and training. According to FEMA officials, the Automated Deployment Database 

receives data feeds from the National Finance Center every two weeks.

Manpower Maintained by the Office of the Chief Financial Officer, this database contains data on the 

number of authorized FEMA positions, including permanent and CORE positions. It also 

compiles each position’s associated data, such as program office, level, and staffing status. 

Data are entered manually into Manpower and are not integrated with any other database. 

National Finance Center FEMA’s workforce information within this database is maintained by the Human Capital Office. 

The National Finance Center provides employee-focused systems and services to federal 

organizations, which include personnel action processing and administration of payroll 

changes, among other actions. 

Source: GAO analysis of FEMA information.

Within the baseline assessment, the Homeland Security Institute reported 

that FEMA did not have the integrated data needed to assess 

agencywide workforce needs, raising concerns that queries of existing 

FEMA workforce databases will, in some cases, produce questionable 

results. Specifically, for the baseline assessment, analysts from the 

institute identified inconsistencies in the spelling of FEMA’s job titles, 

outdated position descriptions, and differences between the numbers of 

employees paid compared to the number of authorized positions among 

FEMA’s three databases. As a result, the institute recommended that the 

agency develop a systematic process to collect and analyze such data to 

better inform its future workforce planning efforts. FEMA officials stated 

that they were aware of these inconsistencies and were working to 

resolve them as well as to improve their efforts to request workforce data 

from their existing databases. We also cited this issue in our 2007 report 

on FEMA’s management of resources for day-to-day operations.49

 

49

Specifically, we reported that FEMA lacked data on staffing levels 

because, in lieu of an integrated data collection process, the agency used 

multiple and disparate systems managed by different offices to gather 

data. As a result, we recommended that FEMA collect sufficient data to 

enable the agency to monitor its progress and support resource priorities 

for its operations. DHS did not comment on this recommendation.

GAO-07-139. 
 

Page 35 GAO-12-487 FEMA Workforce Planning and Training

Similarly, in 2009 the National Academy of Public Administration reported 

that a lack of a single system to track and account for the workforce, 

complexities associated with tracking multiple workforce categories, and 

problems with FEMA’s human resource management system, had 

hindered efforts to obtain complete and accurate human capital data for 

review.50 According to the Academy, these shortcomings had significant 

consequences in 2009, when FEMA established a hiring freeze because 

the number of staff hired exceeded authorized levels. Acknowledging this 

challenge, in March 2010, the FEMA Administrator noted that without 

institutional controls, the agency was hiring at rates that could not be 

sustained and there was no way to track these positions. FEMA, 

however, has not yet developed a systematic process for collecting and 

analyzing its workforce data to inform its workforce planning efforts. 

Instead, FEMA officials stated that their current efforts to improve how 

they request workforce data from the agency’s existing databases have 

helped to resolve issues identified by the Homeland Security Institute. 

Nonetheless, in our discussions with analysts from the institute, they said 

that the challenges they identified in their baseline assessment will likely 

continue to hinder FEMA’s ability to obtain accurate data until FEMA 

develops a systematic process to collect and analyze workforce data. Our 

model of strategic human capital management provides that decisions 

involving human capital management and their link to agency results 

should be routinely informed by complete, valid, and reliable data; and 

that data gathered should be kept current.51 The DHS Workforce Planning 

Guide also notes that as part of component agencies’ workforce planning 

efforts, they should collect and analyze data on their workforce 

capabilities. Developing a systematic process to collect and analyze 

workforce data could help provide FEMA with key information on its 

workforce and help provide the agency with reasonable assurance that 

staffing discrepancies do not occur again.

Similarly in 2007, we reported that while agencies need to invest 

resources, including time and money, to ensure that employees have the 

information, skills, and competencies they need to work effectively in a 

 

50National Academy of Public Administration, FEMA’s Integration of Preparedness and 

Development of Robust Regional Offices: An Independent Assessment (Washington, 

D.C.: Oct. 2009).

51GAO-02-373SP. 

Training-Related Data
 

Page 36 GAO-12-487 FEMA Workforce Planning and Training

rapidly changing and complex environment, FEMA did not have an 

integrated system to track employee training and, therefore, no way of 

reliably tracking the cost of training, who has received it, or how 

successful it has been.52

Table 2: FEMA Information Systems Used for Collecting and Tracking Training

We recommended that FEMA, among other 

things, establish training requirements and tracking systems for its 

workforce, and that the agency collect sufficient data in a way that 

enables managers to monitor progress and support resource priorities for 

day-to-day operations that are linked to its disaster relief mission. DHS 

did not comment on this recommendation, but in 2008, FEMA issued its 

Strategic Human Capital Plan, 2008-2012, in part, to address it. However, 

the agency has not developed an integrated process to track and analyze 

information on agencywide training activities, including training 

completions and training costs. Specifically, we identified five different 

systems that collect information on various workforce training activities 

throughout FEMA, which are characterized in table 2.

Name Description of training information collected

FEMA Employee Knowledge Center 

System

Collects information on FEMA intranet courses such as DHS and FEMA required courses, 

as well as Emergency Management Institute-developed independent study courses. The 

FEMA Employee Knowledge Center system is also the primary interface for the FEMA 

workforce to take online courses, and provides information on some classroom training 

course schedules.

Independent Study Database System Collects information on FEMA emergency management courses online, but offered 

outside of the FEMA Employee Knowledge Center system and available to the general 

public.

National Emergency Training Center 

Admission System

Collects applications and admissions information about classroom courses offered at 

Emergency Management Institute-sponsored locations and used to determine attendance 

of courses.

Automated Deployment Database Collects training records of courses taken while deployed to a disaster that were offered 

through the disaster field training office, which are then manually uploaded to the FEMA 

Employee Knowledge Center system.

Training Information Access System

a

Collects and reports information on completed training, receiving intermittent updates of 

training records from the FEMA Employee Knowledge Center, the Independent Study 

Database, and the National Emergency Training Center Admission System. 

Source: GAO analysis of FEMA information.

Note: a

 

52

Some historical training records are not available through the Automated Deployment 

Database and may only be obtained through a disaster employee’s home regional occupational

manager.

GAO-07-139.
 

Page 37 GAO-12-487 FEMA Workforce Planning and Training

FEMA has taken steps to consolidate and collect training information 

through the Training Information Access System, but the system does not 

provide a comprehensive or accurate account of all training activities of 

FEMA employees. For instance, Emergency Management Institute 

officials responsible for system maintenance stated that these information 

systems do not automatically download information with the Training 

Information Access System, and may have information that the Training 

Information Access System does not have to determine training 

completion. A regional training manager also said that to report back to 

FEMA headquarters on course completions, multiple databases must be 

accessed and disaster employees’ occupational managers must also be 

consulted to obtain an accurate account of an employee’s training record. 

Further, although FEMA’s Human Capital Office must report on the 

completion of courses required by the department, FEMA human capital 

officials reported that they must access the Training Information Access 

System or the FEMA Employee Knowledge Center and reach out to 

FEMA’s program offices to obtain information on the completion of its 

required courses. They added that a lack of policies and procedures for 

tracking and analyzing training data limits their ability to verify the 

accuracy or comprehensiveness of the information provided by other 

program offices. In addition, none of the five information systems track 

data related to the completion of leadership or professional development 

courses.

Officials from the Emergency Management Institute stated that their office 

is responsible for implementing upgrades to the FEMA Employee 

Knowledge Center system, and the planned upgrades will collect some 

professional development training information in the future. However, 

these officials stated that FEMA does not have plans to collect 

information related to leadership development with its current upgrades, 

although officials have discussed intentions to use the FEMA Employee 

Knowledge Center system to do this in the future.53

 

53According to Emergency Management Institute officials, FEMA implemented its first 

phase of the FEMA Employee Knowledge Center system updates in February 2012. They 

stated that this update allows FEMA managers to track additional information related to 

training, including the type of employee (permanent, DAE, or CORE) completing the 

training.

Moreover, FEMA has 

plans to implement a new information system for FQS, but the agency 

has not yet developed plans to integrate this system with FEMA’s other 

training information systems, citing that it was too early in the process to 
 

Page 38 GAO-12-487 FEMA Workforce Planning and Training

determine how such an integration may occur. However, until FEMA 

develops a plan to integrate its systems that track and analyze training, 

including the new information system for FQS, the agency will not have a 

complete picture of how training programs across the agency are being 

utilized, the effectiveness of these programs, or the costs associated with 

this training.

In our prior work related to strategic workforce planning, we concluded 

that staffing decisions, including needs assessments, should be based on 

valid and reliable data.54 We have also reported that developing and 

implementing a training management information system is a key element 

for the strategic management of training and an attribute of effective 

training programs, and we note the importance of analyzing the results of 

training provided.55

According to officials from FEMA’s Human Capital Office, DHS has efforts 

under way to review its human capital systems across the department, 

and FEMA is awaiting guidance from the department before developing 

new processes, systems or consolidating databases. In the absence of 

integrated systems, FEMA officials reported that they plan to continue 

gathering workforce data from FEMA’s various databases to inform their 

workforce planning efforts. While FEMA began implementing a phased-in 

upgrade to the FEMA Employee Knowledge Center system in February 

2012, Emergency Management Institute officials stated additional 

enhancements to this system, such as collecting information on 

completed leadership development training, could not be considered until 

initial upgrades were complete. In February 2012, FEMA released a 

directive that clarifies the role of FEMA’s Chief Information Officer and a 

newly established governance board to lead and integrate FEMA’s 

information technology role to consolidate duplicative investments and 

Further, an integrated training management 

information system can provide a more efficient means of ensuring 

quality, administrative efficiency, economy, or adequacy to meet 

requirements and can help agencies realize cost savings through 

standardization of record keeping and simplified and more accurate 

reporting on courses, certifications, educational attainment, costs, or 

standards.

 

54GAO, DHS Immigration Attorneys: Workload Analysis and Workforce Planning Efforts 

Lack Data and Documentation, GAO-07-206 (Washington, D.C.: Apr. 17, 2007).

55GAO-04-546G. 
 

Page 39 GAO-12-487 FEMA Workforce Planning and Training

applications, among other things. Such an integrated approach could 

provide FEMA’s program offices the opportunity to develop systematic 

processes to track training information. Developing systematic processes 

to collect and analyze its agencywide workforce and training data could 

help the agency make more informed decisions about how to enhance its 

workforce planning and training efforts in an efficient and effective 

manner.

FEMA’s ability to successfully meet its mission of preparing for, 

responding to, and recovering from all hazards has been tested as never 

before as FEMA responded to more disasters than any year in its history 

in 2011. To effectively respond to disasters, FEMA personnel must make 

the best decisions under extreme pressure inherent during large-scale 

disasters. Agency personnel are also required to work in dynamic 

environments characterized by rapidly changing priorities and ground 

rules to help communities respond and recover from disasters.

According to FEMA, the agency is taking steps to strengthen the nation’s 

capacity to respond to and recover from large-scale disasters, such as 

those experienced in 2011. Since the enactment of the Post-Katrina Act 

in October 2006, FEMA has attempted to address historical workforce 

planning and training challenges. For instance, FEMA’s Strategic 

Workforce Planning Initiative represents a commitment by the agency to 

determine the current workforce composition, what the workforce needs 

to be in the future, and how the gaps between the two may be overcome. 

Likewise, FEMA’s workforce training programs address the challenge of 

meeting agency needs for implementing uniform credentialing for disaster 

response and providing leadership development opportunities for all fulltime employees. FEMA is also taking steps to integrate its workforce 

planning and training efforts across the agency. For example, FEMA has 

established a working group to facilitate the implementation of the FEMA 

Qualification System that provides a venue for stakeholders from across 

the agency to provide input on its implementation and the training 

programs associated with this system’s new disaster occupation. 

However, the effectiveness of these integration efforts is dependent upon 

FEMA following through with its plans and it is, therefore, too early to 

assess their impact.

As FEMA moves forward with its efforts to integrate its workforce planning 

and training programs, these efforts could be better guided by 

incorporating strategic management principles, to help ensure the agency 

is held accountable for producing results. For example, as part of the 

Conclusions 
 

Page 40 GAO-12-487 FEMA Workforce Planning and Training

agency’s work to update its Strategic Human Capital Plan, FEMA could 

benefit from identifying and documenting long-term and quantifiable 

mission critical goals that provide a road map for meeting the agency’s 

intended outcomes of its workforce planning and training efforts. In 

addition, establishing time frames for completing the development of 

quantifiable performance measures related to the agency’s workforce 

planning and training efforts could help ensure that FEMA is held 

accountable for establishing measures that would assist the agency in 

gauging its progress implementing these efforts. These measures could, 

for example, be documented in its annual updates on its implementation 

of the Strategic Human Capital Plan. Such metrics could help ensure that 

the agency is held accountable for meeting the goals established for its 

workforce planning and training efforts. Moreover, explicitly establishing 

lines of authority among FEMA’s program offices could help the agency 

ensure that workforce planning and training efforts address agency 

needs, and that appropriate decision makers are held accountable for 

implementing these programs in alignment with FEMA goals and 

objectives.

Moreover, we continue to believe that FEMA’s workforce-related 

decisions could be enhanced by developing systematic processes to 

collect and analyze its agencywide workforce and training data. FEMA 

acknowledges the value of developing such processes, but the agency 

has not yet taken action to do so. Without systematically collecting and 

analyzing workforce and training data, FEMA will be limited in its 

understanding of its workforce and training needs.

To help ensure that FEMA’s agencywide workforce planning and training 

efforts are conducted in a comprehensive and integrated manner, we 

recommend that the FEMA Administrator take the following three actions:

1. identify and document long-term and quantifiable mission critical goals 

that reflect the agency’s priorities for workforce planning and training;

2. establish a time frame for completing the development of quantifiable 

performance measures related to workforce planning and training 

efforts; and

3. clearly establish lines of authority for agencywide workforce planning 

and training efforts.

To better inform FEMA’s decision-making related to agencywide 

workforce planning and training efforts we recommend that the FEMA 

Recommendations for 

Executive Action
 

Page 41 GAO-12-487 FEMA Workforce Planning and Training

Administrator develop systematic processes to collect and analyze 

workforce and training data.

We provided a draft of this report to DHS for comment. We received 

written comments from DHS on the draft report, which are summarized 

below and reproduced in full in appendix IV. DHS concurred with the 

report and recommendations and indicated that it is taking steps to 

address the recommendations. In commenting on the draft report, DHS 

described the efforts the department has underway or planned to address 

our recommendations to improve FEMA’s workforce planning and training 

efforts. The actions DHS reported are important first steps; however, 

additional efforts are needed to help ensure that our recommendations 

are fully implemented, as discussed below. 

In regards to our recommendation that FEMA identify and document longterm and quantifiable mission critical goals that reflect the agency’s 

priorities for workforce planning and training, DHS agreed and stated that 

FEMA is working with the Office of Personnel Management and other 

federal agencies to establish an emergency management occupational

series that will assist FEMA in building its future workforce. Moreover, 

DHS stated that FEMA’s updated Strategic Human Capital Plan for fiscal 

years 2012 through 2016 will specifically identify goals that move the 

agency closer to its priorities related to employees training. FEMA’s 

stated plan for identifying goals that reflect its priorities for employee 

training is a positive step. DHS’s response did not indicate whether FEMA 

intends to identify long-term and quantifiable mission critical goals related

to its workforce planning efforts. Taking such action would more fully 

address our recommendation.

Regarding our recommendation that FEMA establish a timeframe for 

completing the development of quantifiable performance measures 

related to workforce planning and training efforts, DHS agreed and stated 

that in the spring of fiscal year 2012, the Homeland Security Institute will 

report its FEMA workforce planning study findings that will include 

strategies and recommendations to address identified workforce issues. 

On the basis of these strategies and recommendations, FEMA will 

establish timeframes for their implementation through the fiscal year 2012 

through 2016 Strategic Human Capital Plan. The Strategic Human Capital 

Plan for fiscal years 2012 through 2016 will have milestones and metrics 

for addressing key workforce planning efforts and will align workforce 

planning and training to DHS guidance and FEMA doctrine. FEMA’s 

reported efforts to address workforce planning are noteworthy. In order to 

Agency Comments 

and Our Evaluation 
 

Page 42 GAO-12-487 FEMA Workforce Planning and Training

meet the full intent of our recommendation, FEMA should establish 

timeframes for completing the development of quantifiable performance 

measures related to workforce planning and training efforts.

In regards to our recommendation that FEMA clearly establish lines of 

authority for agencywide workforce planning and training efforts, DHS 

agreed and stated that in December 2010, FEMA on-boarded a Chief 

Component Human Capital Officer, a Deputy Component Human Capital 

Officer, and a Human Resources Officer who will have overall 

responsibility for the FEMA workforce planning initiative. According to 

DHS, in August 2011, the FEMA Human Capital Office reorganized to 

create the Workforce Effectiveness Division responsible for coordinating 

and managing this initiative. As a result of the Strategic Workforce 

Planning Initiative, the Workforce Effectiveness Division will develop 

agency procedures regarding the development of workforce plans. In 

addition, DHS stated that in 2011, the FEMA Deputy Administrator 

instituted FEMAStat, an agencywide data-driven review process where 

FEMA leadership evaluates performance against objectives, identifies 

barriers to success, agrees on actions to eliminate barriers, and hold 

leaders of FEMA programs accountable for implementation. Through 

FEMAStat, the FEMA Deputy Administrator required the Mission Support 

Bureau, the Office of Response and Recovery, and Protection and 

National Preparedness to develop an agreed upon approach with respect 

to employee training, management, and coordination throughout the 

agency. As such, DHS noted that FEMA, through FEMAStat will clearly 

establish lines of authority for training. FEMA’s planned efforts to assign 

responsibility for its Strategic Workforce Planning Initiative and establish 

lines of authority for training efforts are important steps. DHS’s response

did not indicate how FEMA will establish lines of authority for its other 

workforce planning efforts underway across the agency. Identifying and 

implementing such action would be necessary to fully address the intent 

of our recommendation.

With regard to our recommendation that FEMA develop systematic 

processes to collect and analyze workforce and training data, DHS 

agreed and noted that FEMA is implementing several initiatives that will 

increase the capacity to collect and analyze workforce planning and 

training data. For example, FEMA is in the process of implementing 

EmpowHR, which is an integrated suite of applications that will support a 

single system providing comprehensive employee information. According 

to DHS, EmpowHR will enable FEMA to (1) make critical decisions 

regarding workforce utilization, (2) forecast workforce turnover and 

placement, and (3) project future resource budget allocations on a fiscal 
 

Page 43 GAO-12-487 FEMA Workforce Planning and Training

year basis to achieve mission goals. DHS also stated that FEMA is 

developing a human capital data warehouse that will provide the capacity 

to comprehensively report and analyze employee pay and training data. 

FEMA also recently implemented an upgrade to its learning management 

system, which will allow for scheduling and training employee training and 

provide reporting capabilities allowing for skill and competencies gap 

closing analysis. These actions, if implemented effectively, would address 

the intent of our recommendation.

DHS also provided technical comments that we incorporated, where 

appropriate.

We are sending copies of this report to the Secretary of Homeland 

Security, appropriate congressional committees, and other interested 

parties. This report will also be available at no charge on GAO’s website 

at http://www.gao.gov. 

If you or your staffs have any questions about this report, please contact 

me at (202) 512-9627 or maurerd@gao.gov. Contact points for our Office 

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 V.

David C. Maurer

Director, Homeland Security and Justice Issues
 

Page 44 GAO-12-487 FEMA Workforce Planning and Training

List of Congressional Requesters

The Honorable Joseph I. Lieberman

Chairman

Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs

United States Senate

The Honorable Susan M. Collins

Ranking Member

Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs

United States Senate

The Honorable Daniel K. Akaka 

Chairman

Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management, the Federal 

Workforce, and the District of Columbia

Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs

United States Senate

The Honorable Gus M. Bilirakis

Chairman

Subcommittee on Emergency Preparedness, Response, and 

Communications

Committee on Homeland Security

House of Representatives

The Honorable Bennie G. Thompson

Ranking Member

Committee on Homeland Security

House of Representatives
Appendix I: Strategic Human Capital 

Management Critical Success Factors

Page 45 GAO-12-487 FEMA Workforce Planning and Training

Our model of strategic human capital management identifies four 

cornerstones and eight critical success factors for managing human 

capital strategically, which embody an approach to human capital 

management that is fact-based, focused on strategic results, and 

incorporates merit principles and other national goals.1

Table 3: Strategic Human Capital Management Critical Success Factors 

We noted that 

when considering the human capital cornerstones and the critical success 

factors, it is important to remember that they are interrelated and mutually 

reinforcing. Table 3 identifies the critical success factors for managing 

human capital strategically.

Cornerstone Critical success factors

Leadership Commitment to Human Capital Management: 

Demonstrated commitment of senior leadership to 

develop more effective ways of doing business, 

accomplishing results, and investing in human capital. 

Role of the Human Capital Function:

Utilization of human capital professionals to 

contribute in management decisions to support 

the long-term accomplishment of the agency’s 

mission. 

Strategic Human Capital 

Planning

Integration and Alignment:

Development of human capital strategies that 

effectively accomplish mission and programmatic goals 

and results.

Data-Driven Human Capital Decisions:

Development of human capital management 

decisions using fact-based, performanceoriented approaches.

Acquiring, Developing, and 

Retaining Talent

Targeted Investments in People:

Providing resources and incentives that support and 

encourage employees to attain agency goals and 

objectives. 

Human Capital Approaches Tailored to 

Meet Organizational Needs:

Utilization of flexibilities in human capital 

strategies that are appropriate to meet 

organizational requirements. 

Results-Oriented 

Organizational Cultures

Empowerment and Inclusiveness:

Involvement of employees and employee organizations 

in the planning process to develop agency goals, 

insights, and foster employee understanding and 

acceptance of organizational goals and objectives. 

Unit and Individual Performance Linked to 

Organizational Goals: 

Alignment of individual employee performance 

expectations with agency goals so that 

individuals understand the connection between 

their daily activities and their organization’s 

success. 

Source: GAO.

 

1 GAO-02-373SP. 

Appendix I: Strategic Human Capital 

Management Critical Success Factors
Appendix II: FEMA Program Office 

Responsibilities and Description of Initiatives 

Related to Workforce Planning

Page 46 GAO-12-487 FEMA Workforce Planning and Training

Program office Responsibilities Initiative related to workforce planning

Office of Chief Component 

Human Capital Officer

Is to provide leadership and direction to the 

agency concerning human capital programs; 

develops and manage policies, programs, and 

activities designed to ensure the strategic 

management of the agency’s human capital 

assets; and ensure that strategic management 

of human capital is integrated into all aspects of 

the agency’s operations. 

Strategic Workforce Planning Initiative

Aimed at identifying the gaps in current workforce 

based upon identified requirements, as well as human 

capital requirements to achieve required operational 

capabilities. This initiative is to result in the 

development of workforce plans, strategies, and tools 

to transform the current posture into the workforce of 

the future.

Incident Workforce 

Management Office

Is responsible for coordinating strategic 

priorities for FEMA’s disaster workforce and 

strengthening partnerships and processes that 

qualify, prepare, support, and deploy the right 

disaster workers with the right skills at the right 

time. 

FEMA Qualification System

FEMA created this system to establish minimum, 

consistent, and fair qualification requirements for all 

FEMA employees; and for deployment purposes, to 

help ensure a qualified disaster workforce based on 

performance standards. 

Office of Policy and 

Program Analysis

Is to guide and coordinate the policies, 

strategic planning, and analysis of FEMA 

programs.

Force Planning Model

Designed to provide FEMA with the number of 

employees, broken out by permanent full-time 

employees, Cadre of On-Call Response/Recovery 

Employees, and Disaster Assistance Employees 

needed to effectively respond to a disaster dependent 

on its severity, and to sustain day-to-day operations. 

Office of Chief Procurement 

Officer

Is responsible for overseeing FEMA’s 

acquisition mission, providing customer support 

in acquisition planning, and developing and 

monitoring the agency’s acquisition policy, 

among other things.

Balanced Workforce Strategy

Gathers the results of program offices’ use of DHS’s 

Balanced Workforce Strategy tool. DHS established 

the Balanced Workforce Strategy as a departmentwide 

initiative to assist the department and its component 

agencies in determining the appropriate balance of 

federal employees and contractors. 

Source: GAO analysis of FEMA information

Appendix II: FEMA Program Office 

Responsibilities and Description of Initiatives 

Related to Workforce Planning
Appendix III: FEMA Program Office 

Responsibilities Related to Workforce Training

Page 47 GAO-12-487 FEMA Workforce Planning and Training

Program office Responsibilities

Office of Chief Component Human Capital 

Officer

Is to provide leadership and direction to the agency concerning human capital programs, 

including workforce training. Tracks human capital training information on permanent 

full-time employees and the Cadre of On-Call Response/Recovery Employees.

Incident Workforce Management Office Is responsible for defining and coordinating the strategic priorities for FEMA’s response

workforce training programs, including the implementation of training requirements 

associated with new occupations under the FEMA Qualification System. Is also to work 

with other disaster-response stakeholders, such as the Emergency Management 

Institute and disaster occupation managers, to ensure that standards for training are 

implemented broadly throughout the workforce.

Training, Exercise, and Doctrine Office Is to develop and validate training requirements for disaster response occupations under 

the FEMA Qualification System certification. Is responsible for working with 

stakeholders, such as disaster occupation managers, to develop requirements and 

courses for each disaster-related occupation. Annually evaluates courses to ensure that 

the meet expectations for preparing the workforce for disaster deployment.

Emergency Management Institute Is responsible for supporting the creation and delivery of disaster response-related 

courses for FEMA’s workforce, including providing classroom courses, and ensures that 

all disaster-related courses meet accreditation requirements. Is also responsible for 

working with officials responsible for training deployed personnel to properly staff 

courses with subject matter experts. Responsible for managing training information 

management systems that provide online training and track training information.

Protection and National Preparedness Appointed an individual to lead the creation of a comprehensive FEMA workforce 

leadership development training program with direction from the Leadership 

Development Council. However, FEMA has not yet delegated which program office is 

responsible for the implementation.

Individual Program Offices Professional Development Training: Initiated or authorized by program management for 

individual employees. May be identified through employee individual development plans 

or through program office needs. This training is provided by both internal and external 

sources.

Source: GAO analysis of FEMA information.

Appendix III: FEMA Program Office 

Responsibilities Related to Workforce 

Training
Appendix IV: Comments from the Department 

of Homeland Security

Page 48 GAO-12-487 FEMA Workforce Planning and Training

Appendix IV: Comments from the 

Department of Homeland Security
Appendix IV: Comments from the Department 

of Homeland Security

Page 49 GAO-12-487 FEMA Workforce Planning and Training
Appendix IV: Comments from the Department 

of Homeland Security

Page 50 GAO-12-487 FEMA Workforce Planning and Training
Appendix V: GAO Contact and Staff 

Acknowledgments

Page 51 GAO-12-487 FEMA Workforce Planning and Training

David C. Maurer, (202) 512-9627 or maurerd@gao.gov

In addition to the contact named above, Christopher Keisling, Assistant 

Director, managed this assignment. Vanessa Dillard, Jeremy Manion, and 

Meg Ullengren made significant contributions to the work. Tracey King 

provided significant legal support and analysis. Cynthia Saunders 

assisted with design and methodology. Linda Miller and Debbie Sebastian 

provided assistance in report preparation. Robert Robinson developed 

the report graphics.

Appendix V: GAO Contact and Staff 

Acknowledgments 

GAO Contact

Acknowledgments: 

(440997)
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