United States Government Accountability Office

GAO Testimony before the Subcommittee on 

Oversight of Government Management, the 

Federal Workforce, and the District of 

Columbia, Committee on Homeland Security 

and Governmental Affairs, U.S. Senate 

HUMAN CAPITAL 

Transforming Federal 

Recruiting and Hiring 

Efforts 

Statement of Robert N. Goldenkoff 

Director, Strategic Issues 

For Release on Delivery

Expected at 10:00 a.m. EDT 

Thursday, May 8, 2008

 

GAO-08-762T 
What GAO Found

United States Government Accountability Office

Why GAO Did This Study

Highlights

Accountability Integrity Reliability

May 8, 2008

HUMAN CAPITAL

Transforming Federal Recruiting and Hiring Efforts

Highlights of GAO-08-762T, a testimony 

before the Subcommittee on Oversight of 

Government Management, the Federal 

Workforce, and the District of Columbia, 

Committee on Homeland Security and 

Governmental Affairs, U.S. Senate 

To address the challenges that the

nation faces, it will be important 

for federal agencies to change their 

cultures and create the institutional 

capacity to become highperforming organizations. This 

includes recruiting and retaining a 

federal workforce able to create, 

sustain, and thrive in organizations

that are flatter, results-oriented,

and externally focused. 

In 2001, GAO identified strategic

human capital management as a 

governmentwide high-risk area

because federal agencies lacked a 

strategic approach to human

capital management that integrated 

human capital efforts with their 

missions and program goals. 

Although progress has been made

since that time, strategic human 

capital management still remains a

high-risk area. 

This testimony, based on a large

body of completed work issued

from January 2001 through April 

2008, focuses on (1) challenges that

federal agencies have faced in

recruiting and hiring talented

employees, (2) progress in

addressing these challenges, and 

(3) additional actions that are

needed to strengthen recruiting and 

hiring efforts. In its prior reports, 

GAO has made a range of

recommendations to the Office of

Personnel Management (OPM)—

the government’s personnel

agency—and to agencies in such

areas as hiring, workforce

planning, and diversity 

management; a number of these 

recommendations have since been

implemented. GAO is making no 

new recommendations at this time. 

Numerous studies over the years have identified a range of problems and 

challenges with recruitment and hiring in the federal government. Some of 

these problems and challenges include passive recruitment strategies, unclear 

job vacancy announcements, and manual processes that are time consuming 

and paperwork intensive. In recent years, Congress, OPM, and agencies have

made important strides in improving federal recruitment and hiring. For 

example, Congress has provided agencies with hiring flexibilities that could 

help to streamline the hiring process. OPM has sponsored job fairs and 

developed automated tools. Individual agencies have developed targeted 

recruitment strategies to identify and help build a talented workforce. 

Building on the progress that has been made, additional efforts are needed in 

the following areas. 

Human capital planning: Federal agencies will have to bolster their efforts 

in strategic human capital planning to ensure that they are prepared to meet 

their current and emerging hiring needs. Agencies must determine the critical

skills and competencies necessary to achieve programmatic goals and develop 

strategies that are tailored to address any identified gaps. 

Diversity management: Developing and maintaining workforces that reflect

all segments of society and our nation’s diversity is another significant aspect 

of agencies’ recruitment challenges. Recruitment is a key first step toward 

establishing a diverse workforce. Agencies must consider active recruitment 

strategies, such as building formal relationships with targeted schools and 

colleges, and partnering with multicultural professional organizations. 

Use of existing flexibilities: Agencies need to reexamine the flexibilities

provided to them under current authorities, including monetary recruitment 

and retention incentives, special hiring authorities, and work-life programs. 

Agencies can then identify those existing flexibilities that could be used more 

extensively or more effectively to meet their workforce needs. 

OPM leadership: OPM has taken significant steps in fostering and guiding 

improvements in recruiting and hiring in the executive branch. For example,

OPM, working with and through the Chief Human Capital Officers Council, 

has moved forward in compiling information on effective and innovative 

practices and sharing this information with agencies. Still, OPM must continue 

to work to ensure that agencies take action on this information. Also, OPM 

needs to make certain that it has the internal capacity to guide agencies’ 

readiness to implement change and achieve desired outcomes. 

OPM and agencies should be held accountable for the ongoing monitoring and 

refinement of human capital approaches to recruit and hire a capable and 

committed federal workforce. With continued commitment and strong 

leadership, the federal government can indeed be an employer of choice. 

To view the full product, including the scope 

and methodology, click on GAO-08-762T. 

For more information, contact Robert 

Goldenkoff at (202) 512-6806 or 

goldenkoffr@gao.gov. 
Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee: 

Thank you for the opportunity to be here today to discuss recruiting and 

hiring of the next generation of federal employees. Today’s hearing 

coincides with Public Service Recognition Week, which honors the men 

and women who serve America as federal, state, and local government 

employees. We commend the subcommittee for this opportunity to 

highlight the progress that the federal government has made in improving 

its recruitment and hiring practices over the past few years as well as draw 

attention to the continued challenges and opportunities facing federal 

agencies in acquiring capable and committed employees. 

The importance of a top-notch federal workforce cannot be overstated. 

The nation is facing new and more complex challenges in the 21st century

as various forces are reshaping the United States and its place in the 

world. These forces include a large and growing long-term fiscal 

imbalance, evolving national and homeland security threats, increasing 

global interdependence, and a changing economy. Further, as we have 

pointed out in our High-Risk Series and other reports for Congress, some 

federal agencies continue to face persistent performance and 

accountability problems at a time when taxpayers have come to expect—

and need—higher levels of performance and greater responsiveness by 

public officials and programs. 

To address these challenges, it will be important for federal agencies to 

change their cultures and create the institutional capacity to become highperforming organizations. This includes recruiting and retaining 

employees able to create, sustain, and thrive in organizations that are 

flatter, results-oriented, and externally focused and that collaborate with 

other governmental entities as well as with the private and nonprofit 

sectors to achieve desired outcomes. 

As you are aware, in 2001, we identified federal human capital

management as a governmentwide high-risk area because federal agencies

lacked a strategic approach to human capital management that integrated 

human capital efforts with their missions and program goals.1

 Although 

progress has been made since that time, strategic human capital 

management still remains on our high-risk list.2

 As we have previously 

 1

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

2

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

Page 1 GAO-08-762T 
reported in our work on human capital issues, federal agencies do not 

consistently have the modern human capital programs and policies needed

to ensure that they have the right people in the right jobs at the right time 

to meet the challenges they face.3

Exacerbating this problem, governmentwide, about one-third of federal 

employees on board at the end of fiscal year 2007 will become eligible to 

retire by 2012. Proportions of workers eligible to retire are projected to be

especially high in certain occupations—some of them mission critical—as 

well as in key leadership positions. Indeed, as we recently reported, about

51 percent of customs and border protection agents, 58 percent of air 

traffic controllers, 85 percent of administrative law judges, and 64 percent

of career executives may be eligible to retire by 2012.

4

That said, the way forward is not gloomy. In many ways, the federal 

government is well positioned to acquire, develop, and retain the people it

needs to carry out its diverse roles and responsibilities. Importantly, 

federal employment offers rewards, such as interesting work and 

opportunities to make a difference in the lives of others, as well as a 

variety of tangible benefits and work-life flexibilities that make an 

organization an employer of choice.5 Moreover, the Office of Personnel 

Management (OPM) and agencies have made noteworthy progress in 

addressing the various human capital challenges they face, often in 

response to our findings and recommendations. For example:

• OPM identified additional human capital flexibilities and worked to 

build consensus for legislative change; 

• the Office of Management and Budget directed agencies to adopt a 

strategic approach to acquisition workforce planning; and 

• the Department of Housing and Urban Development prepared a 

strategic workforce plan to be better prepared to recruit and hire the 

people it needs to fulfill its mission. 

 3

GAO, Human Capital: Federal Workforce Challenges in the 21st Century, GAO-07-556T 

(Washington, D.C.: Mar. 6, 2007). 

4

GAO, Older Workers: Federal Agencies Face Challenges, but Have Opportunities to Hire 

and Retain Experienced Employees, GAO-08-630T (Washington, D.C.: Apr. 30, 2008). 

5

As reported in the Merit Systems Protection Board’s Merit Principles Survey 2005, which 

obtained federal employees’ views on how well the workforce is being managed. 

Page 2 GAO-08-762T 
As requested, my testimony today will focus on (1) challenges that federal 

agencies have faced in recruiting and hiring talented employees, (2) the 

progress that has been made to date in addressing these challenges, and 

(3) additional actions that are needed moving forward to strengthen the

government’s recruiting and hiring efforts. My remarks today will 

underscore the following: Improving the federal recruiting and hiring 

process to attract the next generation of federal employees is a shared 

responsibility between the federal government’s central personnel 

agency—OPM, individual agencies, and Congress. With sustained and 

committed leadership, innovation, and planning, the federal government 

can brand itself as an employer of choice and successfully compete in the 

labor market for its fair share of the nation’s best and brightest individuals. 

This testimony is based on a large body of our completed work issued 

from January 2001 through April 2008. Our previous work included 

reviews of OPM and agency documents related to federal hiring, studies on 

recruiting and hiring that were completed by other organizations in recent 

years, as well as data from OPM’s central database of governmentwide 

personnel information. We also interviewed various officials from OPM, 

the interagency Chief Human Capital Officers Council, and selected 

federal agencies. We performed our performance audits 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. 

For years it has been widely recognized that the federal hiring process all

too often does not meet the needs of (1) agencies in achieving their 

missions; (2) managers in filling positions with the right talent; and (3) 

applicants for a timely, efficient, transparent, and merit-based process. In 

short, the federal hiring process is often an impediment to the very 

customers it is designed to serve in that it makes it difficult for agencies 

and managers to obtain the right people with the right skills, and 

applicants can be dissuaded from public service because of the complex 

and lengthy procedures. 

Federal Recruiting 

and Hiring Has Been a 

Long-standing 

Challenge 

Numerous studies over the past decade by OPM, the Merit Systems 

Protection Board (MSPB), the National Academy of Public Administration, 

the Partnership for Public Service, the National Commission on the Public

Page 3 GAO-08-762T 
Service, and GAO have identified a range of problems and challenges with

recruitment and hiring in the federal government, including the following:6

• Passive recruitment strategies. 

• Poor and insufficient workforce planning. 

• Unclear job vacancy announcements. 

• Time-consuming and paperwork-intensive manual processes. 

• Imprecise candidate assessment tools. 

• Ineffective use of existing hiring flexibilities. 

These problems put the federal government at a serious competitive 

disadvantage in acquiring talent. For example, passive recruitment 

strategies, such as infrequent or no outreach to college campuses, miss 

opportunities to expose potential employees to information about federal 

jobs. Unclear and unfriendly vacancy announcements can cause confusion 

for applicants, delay hiring, and serve as poor recruiting tools. Weak 

candidate assessment tools can inadequately predict future job 

performance and result in the hiring of individuals who do not fully 

possess the appropriate skills for the job. As evidence of these and other 

problems, MSPB’s most recently published Merit Principles Survey results 

found that only 5 percent of federal managers and supervisors said that 

they faced no significant barriers to hiring employees for their agencies.7

In recent years, Congress, OPM, and agencies have taken a series of 

important actions to improve recruiting and hiring in the federal sector. 

For example, Congress has provided agencies with hiring flexibilities that 

could help agencies streamline their hiring processes and give agency 

managers more latitude in selecting among qualified job candidates. 

Congress has also provided several agencies with exemptions from the pay 

and classification restrictions of the General Schedule. Other examples of 

congressional action related to recruitment and hiring follow. 

Congress, OPM, and 

Agencies Have Taken 

Significant Steps to 

Help Improve 

Recruiting and Hiring 

 6

See, for example, GAO, Human Capital: Opportunities to Improve Executive Agencies’ 

Hiring Processes, GAO-03-450 (Washington, D.C.: May 30, 2003); Human Capital: 

Additional Collaboration Between OPM and Agencies Is Key to Improved Federal Hiring, 

GAO-04-797 (Washington, D.C.: June 7, 2004); and Human Capital: Status of Efforts to 

Improve Federal Hiring, GAO-04-796T (Washington, D.C.: June 7, 2004). Also, see Merit 

Systems Protection Board, Reforming Federal Hiring: Beyond Faster and Cheaper 

(Washington, D.C.: September 2006). 

7

Merit Systems Protection Board, Accomplishing Our Mission: Results of the Merit 

Principles Survey 2005 (Washington, D.C.: February 2007).

Page 4 GAO-08-762T 
• Dual compensation waivers to rehire federal retirees. OPM may grant 

waivers allowing agencies to fill positions with rehired federal 

annuitants without offsetting the salaries by the amount of the 

annuities.8

 Agencies can request waivers on a case-by-case basis for 

positions that are extremely difficult to fill or for emergencies or other 

unusual circumstances. Agencies can also request from OPM a 

delegation of authority to grant waivers for emergencies or other 

unusual circumstances. 

• Special authority to hire for positions in contracting. Agencies can 

rehire federal annuitants to fill positions in contracting without being 

required to offset the salaries. Agencies are required only to notify and 

submit their hiring plans to OPM.9

• Enhanced annual leave computation. Agencies may credit relevant 

private sector experience when computing annual leave amounts.10

As the federal government’s central personnel management agency, OPM 

has a key role in helping agencies acquire, develop, retain, and manage 

their human capital. In the areas of recruiting and hiring, OPM has, for 

example, done the following. 

• Sponsored job fairs across the country and produced television 

commercials to make the public more aware of the work that federal 

employees do. 

• Developed a 45-day hiring model to help agencies identify the steps in 

their processes that tend to bog them down, and created a detailed 

checklist to assist agencies in undertaking a full-scale makeover of 

their hiring process from beginning to end. 

• Developed a Hiring Tool Kit on its Web site that is to aid agencies in 

improving and refining their hiring processes and that includes a tool to 

assist agency officials in determining the appropriate hiring flexibilities 

to use given their specific situations. 

 8

See 5 U.S.C. § 8344 and § 8468, 5 C.F.R. part 553. 

9

This authority expires December 31, 2011. 

10See 5 U.S.C. § 6303(e) and 5 C.F.R. 630.205.

Page 5 GAO-08-762T 
• Updated and expanded its report Human Resources Flexibilities and 

Authorities in the Federal Government, which serves as a handbook 

for agencies in identifying current flexibilities and authorities and how 

they can be used to address human capital challenges. 

• Established standardized vacancy announcement templates for 

common occupations, such as secretarial, accounting, and accounting 

technician positions, into which agencies can insert summary 

information concerning their specific jobs prior to posting for public 

announcement. 

Individual federal agencies have also taken actions to meet their specific 

recruitment and hiring needs. For example: 

• The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has used a 

combination of techniques to recruit workers with critical skills, 

including targeted recruitment activities, educational outreach

programs, improved compensation and benefits packages, professional 

development programs, and streamlined hiring authorities.11 Many of 

NASA’s external hires have been for entry-level positions through the 

Cooperative Education Program, which provides NASA centers with 

the opportunity to develop and train future employees and assess the 

abilities of potential employees before making them permanent job 

offers. 

• The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has endeavored to align its 

human capital planning framework with its strategic goals and has 

identified the activities needed to achieve a diverse, skilled workforce 

and an infrastructure that supports the agency’s mission and goals.12

NRC has used various flexibilities in recruiting and hiring new 

employees, and it has tracked the frequency and cost associated with 

the use of some flexibilities. While there was room for further 

improvement, NRC has been effective in recruiting, developing, and 

retaining a critically skilled workforce. 

 11GAO, NASA: Progress Made on Strategic Human Capital Management, but Future 

Program Challenges Remain, GAO-07-1004 (Washington, D.C.: Aug. 8, 2007). 

12GAO, Human Capital: Retirements and Anticipated New Reactor Applications Will 

Challenge NRC’s Workforce, GAO-07-105 (Washington, D.C.: Jan. 17, 2007).

Page 6 GAO-08-762T 
While these actions are all steps in the right direction, our past work has 

found that additional efforts are needed in the areas of strategic human 

capital planning, diversity management, and the use of existing 

flexibilities. In addressing these areas, agency managers need to be held

accountable for maximizing the efficiency and effectiveness of their 

recruiting efforts and hiring processes. In addition, OPM, working with 

and through the Chief Human Capital Officers Council, must use its 

leadership position to vigorously and convincingly encourage continuous 

improvement in agencies and provide appropriate assistance to support 

agencies’ recruitment and hiring efforts. In carrying out its important role, 

OPM will need to ensure that it has the internal capacity to assist and 

guide agencies’ readiness to implement needed improvements. I will 

discuss each one of these areas in turn. 

Additional Actions 

Are Needed to 

Strengthen Recruiting 

and Hiring 

Human Capital Planning First and foremost, federal agencies will have to bolster their efforts in 

strategic human capital planning to ensure that they are prepared to meet

their current and emerging hiring needs. To build effective recruiting and 

hiring programs, agencies must determine the critical skills and 

competencies necessary to achieve programmatic goals and develop 

strategies that are tailored to address any identified gaps. For example, an

agency’s strategic human capital plan should address the demographic 

trends that the agency faces with its workforce, especially pending 

retirements. We have found that leading organizations go beyond a 

succession planning approach that focuses on simply replacing 

individuals; instead, agencies should consider their future mission 

requirements and the knowledge, skills, and abilities needed to meet those 

requirements.13

Recruiting and hiring for the acquisition workforce is a prime example of 

the government’s strategic human capital planning challenges. Acquisition 

of products and services from contractors consumes about a quarter of 

discretionary spending governmentwide and is a key function in many 

federal agencies. We have reported that many acquisition professionals 

need to acquire a new set of skills focusing on business management 

because of a more sophisticated business environment.14 At a GAO-

 13GAO, Human Capital: Succession Planning and Management Is Critical Driver of 

Organizational Transformation, GAO-04-127T (Washington, D.C.: Oct. 1, 2003). 

14GAO, Acquisition Workforce: Status of Agency Efforts to Address Future Needs, 

GAO-03-55 (Washington, D.C.: Jan. 17, 2003).

Page 7 GAO-08-762T 
sponsored forum in July 2006, acquisition experts reported that agency 

leaders had not recognized or elevated the importance of the acquisition 

profession within their organizations, and a strategic approach had not 

been taken across government or within agencies to focus on workforce 

challenges, such as creating a positive image essential to successfully 

recruiting and retaining a new generation of talented acquisition 

professionals.15

Diversity Management Developing and maintaining workforces that reflect all segments of society 

and our nation’s diversity is another significant aspect of agencies’ 

recruitment challenges. As we have previously reported, recruitment is a 

key first step toward establishing a diverse workforce.16 To ensure that 

they are reaching out to diverse pools of talent, agencies must consider 

active recruitment strategies, such as the following: 

• Widening the selection of schools from which they recruit to include, 

for example, historically Black colleges and universities, Hispanicserving institutions, women’s colleges, and schools with international 

programs. 

• Building formal relationships with targeted schools and colleges to 

ensure the cultivation of talent for future applicant pools. 

• Partnering with multicultural professional organizations and speaking 

at their conferences to communicate their commitment to diversity to 

external audiences and strengthen and maintain relationships. 

For these types of recruitment strategies, agencies can calculate the cost 

of recruiting channels and cross-reference those costs with the volume 

and quality of candidates yielded in order to reallocate funds to the most 

effective recruiting channels. 

Several agencies have taken steps toward developing and implementing 

active recruitment strategies that take into account a diverse pool of job 

candidates. For example: 

 15GAO, Highlights of a GAO Forum: Federal Acquisition Challenges and Opportunities 

in the 21st Century, GAO-07-45SP (Washington, D.C.: Oct. 6, 2006). 

16GAO, Diversity Management: Expert-Identified Leading Practices and Agency 

Examples, GAO-05-90 (Washington, D.C.: Jan. 14, 2005). 

Page 8 GAO-08-762T 
• NASA developed a strategy for recruiting Hispanics that focuses on 

increasing educational attainment, beginning in kindergarten and 

continuing into college and graduate school, with the goal of attracting 

students into the NASA workforce and aerospace community. NASA 

said it must compete with the private sector for the pool of Hispanics 

qualified for aerospace engineering positions, which is often attracted 

by more-lucrative employment opportunities in the private sector in 

more preferable locations.17 NASA centers sponsored, and its

employees participated in, mentoring, tutoring, and other programs to 

encourage Hispanic and other students to pursue careers in science, 

engineering, technology, and mathematics. 

• An official with the National Institute of Standards and Technology 

(NIST) said that when NIST hosted recruitment or other programs, it 

made use of relationships the agency had with colleges, universities, 

and other groups to inform students about internship or employment 

opportunities.18 One group that helped to arrange such recruitment 

efforts was the National Organization of Black Chemists and Black 

Chemical Engineers. The NIST official said that NIST had been active 

in the professional organization’s leadership for years and that NIST 

employees had served on its executive board. Another NIST official 

said that the professional organization had helped with NIST’s efforts 

to recruit summer interns. 

• The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) developed internship 

opportunities designed to recruit a diverse group of future candidates 

for the agency.19 Its Minority-Serving Institutions Internship Program 

was designed to provide professional knowledge and experience at 

FAA or firms in the private sector for minority students and students 

with disabilities who are enrolled in a college or university, major in 

relevant fields and related disciplines, and have a minimum of a 3.0 

grade point average. Students in the internship program could earn 

academic credit for their participation during the fall or spring 

semesters or over the summer. 

 17GAO, The Federal Workforce: Additional Insights Could Enhance Agency Efforts Related

to Hispanic Representation, GAO-06-832 (Washington, D.C.: Aug. 17, 2006).

18GAO-05-90. 

19GAO-05-90. 

Page 9 GAO-08-762T 
Additionally, the appropriate use of human capital flexibilities is crucial to

making further improvements in agencies’ efforts to recruit, hire, and 

manage their workforces. Federal agencies often have varied statutory 

authorities related to workforce management.20 These authorities provide 

agencies with flexibility in helping them manage their human capital 

strategically to achieve results. In previous reports and testimonies, we 

have emphasized that in addressing their human capital challenges, federal 

agencies should first identify and use the flexibilities already available 

under existing laws and regulations and then seek additional flexibilities 

only when necessary and based on sound business cases. Our work has 

found that the insufficient and ineffective use of these existing flexibilities 

can significantly hinder the ability of federal agencies to recruit, hire, 

retain, and manage their human capital.21

Use of Existing 

Flexibilities 

The ineffective use of available hiring flexibilities represents a lost 

opportunity for agencies to effectively manage human capital. In 2002, 

Congress provided agencies with two new hiring flexibilities.22 One of 

these hiring flexibilities, known as category rating, permits an agency to 

select best-qualified job candidates for a position rather than being limited 

to the three top-ranked job candidates. The other hiring flexibility, often 

referred to as direct hire, allows an agency to appoint people to positions 

without adherence to certain competitive examination requirements when 

there is a severe shortage of qualified candidates or a critical hiring need.

However, we have found that agencies were making limited use of these 

available flexibilities.23 Various agency officials from across the federal 

government often had previously cited both of these hiring flexibilities as

needed tools to help in improving the federal hiring process. 

Agencies need to reexamine the flexibilities provided to them under 

current authorities and identify those that could be used more extensively 

or more effectively to meet their workforce needs. Our prior work has 

 20GAO, Human Capital: Selected Agencies’ Statutory Authorities Could Offer Options in 

Developing a Framework for Governmentwide Reform, GAO-05-398R (Washington, D.C.: 

Apr. 21, 2005). 

21GAO, Human Capital: Effective Use of Flexibilities Can Assist Agencies in Managing 

Their Workforces, GAO-03-2 (Washington, D.C.: Dec. 6, 2002). 

22These hiring flexibilities are contained in the Chief Human Capital Officers Act of 2002,

Title XIII of the Homeland Security Act of 2002. Pub. L. No. 107-296 (Nov. 25, 2002). 

23GAO, Human Capital: Increasing Agencies’ Use of New Hiring Flexibilities, 

GAO-04-959T (Washington, D.C.: July 13, 2004). 

Page 10 GAO-08-762T 
identified several human capital flexibilities that agency officials and 

union representatives frequently cited as most effective for managing their 

workforces.24 These flexibilities encompass broad areas of personnelrelated actions that could be especially beneficial for agencies’ recruiting 

and hiring efforts. They include monetary recruitment and retention 

incentives; special hiring authorities, such as student employment 

programs; and work-life programs, such as alternative work schedules, 

child care assistance, and transit subsidies. 

OPM Leadership As part of its key leadership role, OPM has taken significant steps in 

fostering and guiding improvements in recruiting and hiring in the 

executive branch. Still, OPM must continue to assist—and as appropriate, 

require—the building of the infrastructures within agencies needed to

successfully implement and sustain human capital reforms to strengthen 

recruitment and hiring. OPM can do this in part by encouraging 

continuous improvement and providing appropriate assistance to support 

agencies’ recruitment and hiring efforts. Innovative and best practices of 

model agencies need to be made available to other agencies in order to 

facilitate the transformation of agency hiring practices from compliance 

based to agency mission based. OPM, working with and through the Chief 

Human Capital Officers Council, has made progress in compiling 

information on effective and innovative practices and distributing this 

information to help agencies in determining when, where, and how the 

various flexibilities are being used and should be used. OPM must 

continue to work to ensure that agencies take action on this information. 

Moreover, in leading governmentwide human capital reform, OPM has 

faced challenges in its internal capacity to assist and guide agencies’ 

readiness to implement change. In October 2007, we issued a report on the 

extent to which OPM has (1) addressed key internal human capital 

management issues identified through employee survey responses and (2) 

put in place strategies to ensure that it has the mission-critical talent it 

needs to meet current and future strategic goals.25 We found that OPM has 

taken positive actions to address specific concerns raised by its employees 

and managers in the employee surveys. We also found that OPM has 

strategies in place, such as workforce and succession management plans, 

 24GAO-03-2. 

25GAO, Office of Personnel Management: Opportunities Exist to Build on Recent Progress 

in Internal Human Capital Capacity, GAO-08-11 (Washington, D.C.: Oct. 31, 2007). 

Page 11 GAO-08-762T 
that are aligned with selected leading practices relevant to the agency’s 

capacity to fulfill its strategic goals. However, OPM lacks a welldocumented agencywide evaluation process of some of its workforce 

planning efforts. In a relatively short time, there will also be a presidential 

transition, and well-documented processes can help to ensure a seamless 

transition that builds on the current momentum. 

Equally important is OPM’s leadership in federal workforce diversity and 

oversight of merit system principles. In our review of how OPM and the 

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) carry out their 

mutually shared responsibilities for helping to ensure a fair, inclusive, and 

nondiscriminatory federal workplace, we found limited coordination 

between the two agencies in policy and oversight matters.26 The lack of a 

strategic partnership between the two agencies and an insufficient 

understanding of their mutual roles, authority, and responsibilities can 

result in a lost opportunity to realize consistency, efficiency, and public 

value in federal equal employment opportunity and workplace diversity 

human capital management practices. We recommended that OPM and 

EEOC regularly coordinate in carrying out their responsibilities under the 

equal employment opportunity policy framework and seek opportunities 

for streamlining like reporting requirements. Both agencies acknowledged 

that their collaborative efforts could be strengthened but took exception

to the recommendation to streamline requirements. We continue to believe 

in the value of more collaboration. 

Finally, OPM and agency leaders need to be held accountable and should 

hold others accountable for the ongoing monitoring and refinement of 

human capital approaches to recruit and hire a capable and committed 

federal workforce. Leadership is critical for agencies to overcome their 

natural resistance to change, to marshal the resources needed in many 

cases to improve management, to build and maintain organizationwide 

commitment to improving their ways of doing business, and to create the 

conditions for effectively improving human capital approaches. Some 

agency officials have told us that OPM rules and regulations are rigid, yet

agency officials are also often hesitant to implement new approaches 

without specific guidance. It will be important for agencies and OPM to 

define their appropriate roles and day-to-day working relationships as they 

 26GAO, Equal Employment Opportunity: Improved Coordination Needed between EEOC 

and OPM in Leading Federal Workplace EEO, GAO-06-214 (Washington, D.C.: June 16,

2006). 

Page 12 GAO-08-762T 
collaborate on developing and implementing innovative and more effective 

recruitment efforts and hiring processes. 

In conclusion, OPM and agencies have made progress in addressing the 

impediments to effective recruitment and hiring since we first designated

strategic human capital management as a high-risk area in 2001. Still, as I 

have discussed today, more can be done. Faced with a workforce that is 

becoming more retirement eligible and finding gaps in talent because of 

changes in the knowledge, skills, and competencies in occupations needed 

to meet their missions, agencies must strengthen their recruiting and 

hiring efforts. Moreover, human capital expertise within the agencies must 

be up to the challenge for this transformation to be successful and 

enduring. With an ongoing commitment to continuous improvement and 

strong leadership in Congress, OPM, and the agencies, the federal 

government can indeed be an employer of choice.

Mr. Chairman and members of the subcommittee, this completes my 

prepared statement. I would be pleased to respond to any questions you 

may have at this time. 

For further information regarding this statement, please contact Robert N. 

Goldenkoff, Director, Strategic Issues, at (202) 512-6806 or 

goldenkoffr@gao.gov. Individuals making key contributions to this 

testimony include K. Scott Derrick, Assistant Director; Steven Berke; 

Janice Latimer; Sabrina Streagle; and Jessica Thomsen. 

Contacts and 

Acknowledgments 

Page 13 GAO-08-762T (450677) 
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