National Weather Service: Actions Have Been Taken to Fill Increasing Vacancies, but Opportunities Exist to Improve and Evaluate Hiring
Released: 2017-05-24T00:00:00


Highlights: section_title: Why GAO Did This Study
paragraphs: NWS has the critical responsibility of issuing weather forecasts and warnings to help protect life and property, especially as severe weather unfolds. Most NWS operational units across the nation operate 24 hours every day to issue forecasts and warnings. NOAA's WFMO processes NWS hiring requests and other actions related to human capital.

GAO was asked to review vacancies and hiring at NWS operational units. This report examines (1) information available on vacancies at NWS operational units for fiscal years 2010 through 2016, (2) any steps NWS operational unit management and staff have taken to address the impact of vacancies at their units, (3) the extent to which NOAA's WFMO makes information available to managers on the status of hiring requests, and (4) the extent to which NOAA's WFMO and NWS are taking actions to address the hiring backlog at operational units. GAO analyzed available vacancy data for fiscal years 2010 through 2016 and assessed the data's reliability; examined relevant documentation and interviewed NOAA, WFMO, and NWS officials; and visited a nongeneralizable sample of nine units selected to reflect geographic diversity and varying vacancy levels.

section_title: What GAO Found
paragraphs: Available data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) National Weather Service (NWS) indicate that the number of vacancies across its operational units has increased since fiscal year 2010. Specifically, agency data show that vacancies—unfilled positions at a point in time—increased from about 5 percent of the total number of positions at the end of fiscal year 2010 to about 11 percent in 2016. NWS officials reported that they did not have the resources to fill all of these vacancies and therefore developed additional data that factored in available resources. Based on these data, the vacancy rate across operational units was approximately 0.6 percent in fiscal year 2010 and increased to about 7 percent in fiscal year 2016.

NWS operational unit managers and staff GAO interviewed said they had taken several steps to address the impact of vacancies that remained unfilled for months, and in some cases, more than a year. These steps included managers and staff performing additional tasks to ensure forecasts and warnings were issued, staff adjusting their work and leave schedules, and managers requesting temporary staff from other units. However, taking these steps, according to managers and staff, at times led to their inability to complete other key tasks, such as providing severe weather information support to state and local emergency managers.

NOAA's Workforce Management Office (WFMO) makes limited information available to NWS managers on the status of their hiring requests. NWS managers said such information was critical for allocating resources and managing work, particularly in light of the length of the NWS hiring process. For example, agency data show that filling hiring requests selected for processing ranged from 64 to 467 days in fiscal year 2016. GAO found that complete information was often not available to managers, such as when the processing of a new hiring request was scheduled to begin. This is not consistent with federal internal control standards that call for management to communicate necessary quality information to achieve an entity's objectives. A WFMO official said the agency is working with the Department of Commerce to develop a new department-wide data system, potentially in 2017 that could provide improved tracking and reporting capabilities, but the design of the new system has not been finalized. In the interim, without complete information on the status of their requests, NWS operational unit managers are limited in their ability to plan for and distribute their unit's workload in the most efficient and effective manner.

NOAA's WFMO and NWS have taken some actions to help address NWS's hiring backlog. For example, NWS has combined job announcements for similar positions into one announcement. NWS officials said they believe such actions have allowed them to streamline hiring, but they have not evaluated the extent to which their actions have achieved expected results, consistent with federal internal control standards. NWS intends to develop a strategic human capital plan, which officials said could provide a framework for evaluating its hiring actions, but does not have a time frame for its development. In the interim, by evaluating whether its actions are reducing the hiring backlog, NWS would have better assurance that its actions were achieving expected results, and the agency could better determine where to devote resources.

section_title: What GAO Recommends
paragraphs: GAO recommends that NOAA (1) ensure that complete information on hiring requests is routinely communicated to NWS managers and (2) evaluate whether NWS actions to reduce the hiring backlog are achieving expected results. NOAA agreed with GAO's recommendations.

section_title: Letter
paragraphs: The United States regularly faces a variety of severe weather events,  including tornadoes, hurricanes, winter storms, and flooding, all of which  can have major economic, environmental, health, and safety impacts— and the potential to devastate communities. In 2015, for example, severe  weather events adversely affected agriculture, manufacturing, and energy  production, resulting in at least $15 billion dollars in damages.

The National Weather Service (NWS), an agency within the Department  of Commerce’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration  (NOAA), is the nation’s official government authority charged with issuing  weather forecasts and warnings for the protection of life and property.  NWS does so, in part, through its 168 operational units, including local  weather forecast offices, river forecast centers, tsunami warning centers,  and the National Hurricane Center, among others. Most of NWS’s  operational units operate 24 hours a day, every day, with at least two staff—generally meteorologists—working each forecasting shift. In  response to severe weather events, additional staff may also be called in  to provide forecasting support and to work with NWS’s core partners,  including state and federal emergency managers and the media, to help  ensure that the public takes appropriate precautions. Most NWS  employees are considered essential emergency employees, meaning that  they must report to work during severe weather, emergency events, or  when the government might otherwise be shutdown.

Several studies have highlighted concerns with staffing levels and  vacancies at NWS’s operational units. For instance, a 2012 review by the  National Academy of Sciences concluded that “the quality of the NWS’s  warning capability corresponds with its capability to muster an ample, fully  trained local staff at its  as severe weather  unfolds.” The review identified several challenges facing the NWS  workforce, such as meeting the expanding public need to access weather  information through mobile technology, and recommended actions related  to “evolving” the NWS workforce to ensure that it is fully able to respond  to changing needs. In 2013, the National Academy of Public  Administration published a report assessing NWS operations that found  that, among other things, for 3 consecutive years NWS had experienced  staffing losses at a greater rate than that at which it had been hiring. The  report went on to state that, should the trend continue, NWS will be “in  danger of losing a significant segment of the workforce and will not be  able to renew itself at a sustainable rate unless it revises staff functions  and allocations across programs and offices.” The report also made  several recommendations, including that NWS conduct a workforce  analysis and assess staff alignment and functions across the agency.

In part to address the National Academy of Public Administration’s  recommendations, NWS hired a contractor in 2015 to conduct a  comprehensive analysis of the size, location, and skillsets of its  workforce. The contractor analyzed, among other things, the skills  meteorologists need to communicate the risks and potential impacts of  severe weather in ways the public can understand and respond to  appropriately. The contractor’s analysis found that the agency’s workforce  structure did not always allow operational unit staff sufficient time to  deliver “impact-based decision support services” to their core partners.

On the basis of this analysis, NWS developed a strategy in September  2016 for “evolving” the NWS. As part of this strategy, NWS is exploring,  among other things, ways to utilize new technologies, including nationally  integrated weather prediction computer models, to develop forecasts to  free up operational unit staff so they can spend more time delivering  impact-based decision support services to core partners. NWS began  testing and evaluating such ways to optimize staff time in fiscal year  2017. NWS officials said that they do not plan to make any changes until  testing and evaluation are complete, which could extend beyond 2018.  Additionally,  officials said that any proposed changes will involve input  from stakeholders, including NWS’s core partners, the NWS Employees  Organization, and Congress. In the interim, questions continue to be  raised about staffing and vacancies at NWS’s operational units.

Addressing complex challenges, such as responding to disasters,  incorporating changing technologies, and accurately identifying and  preparing for severe weather events, requires a high-quality  federal  workforce able to work seamlessly with other agencies and levels of  government and across sectors. Since 2001, given staffing and other  workforce challenges federal agencies have faced governmentwide,  strategic human capital management—including acquiring and  developing a workforce whose size, skills, and deployment meet agency  needs—has been on our list of high-risk areas. The combined effect of  workforce challenges has potentially put at risk agencies’ ability to  effectively accomplish their missions, manage critical programs, and  adequately serve the American people. Individual  federal agencies have  made improvements since 2001, but strategic human capital  management has remained a high risk area, particularly given mission- critical skills gaps we have identified across the federal workforce that  could hinder agencies from cost-effectively serving the public and  achieving results.

NOAA’s Workforce Management Office (WFMO) provides support to  NWS on human capital issues. In particular, WFMO is responsible for  processing hiring requests for NWS as well as completing other  personnel actions, such as promotions. However, according to NOAA  documentation and officials, resources to recruit, retain, and develop staff  to support NWS and other NOAA agencies have not kept pace with  mission activities, which has resulted in a decreased capacity to deliver  hiring-related services and, beginning in 2013, a hiring backlog at NWS.

You asked us to examine vacancies and hiring at NWS operational units.  This report examines (1) information available on vacancies at NWS  operational units for fiscal years 2010 through 2016; (2) steps, if any,  NWS operational unit management and staff have taken to address the  impact of vacancies at their units; (3) the extent to which NOAA’s WFMO  makes information available to operational unit managers on the status of  hiring requests; and (4) the extent to which NOAA’s WFMO and NWS are  taking actions to address the hiring backlog at operational units.

To conduct our work, we reviewed relevant laws and NOAA, WFMO, and  NWS policies, directives, and other documentation. We defined NWS  operational units for the purposes of this report based on our review of  relevant documents and interviews with knowledgeable NWS officials.  Specifically, we defined NWS operational units as all units in any category  of units (e.g. weather forecast offices) where at least one of the units met  at least two of the following three criteria: (1) issue forecasts, (2) issue  warnings, and (3) has personnel that are essential emergency  employees. Using this definition, we identified 168 individual operational  units grouped under 6 operational unit categories: 6 NWS regional  headquarters, 122 weather forecast offices, 15 weather service offices,  13 river forecast centers, 2 tsunami warning centers, and 9 National  Centers for Environmental Prediction (National Centers) and 1 director’s  office of the National Centers.

To examine the information available on vacancies (i.e., unfilled positions)  at NWS operational units for fiscal years 2010 through 2016, we obtained  data for the end of those fiscal years from the agency’s organizational  table, a database that tracks information on the number, type, and  location of positions across the agency, including whether each one is  filled. We considered a vacancy to be any unfilled position on the  organizational table. We then calculated the vacancy rates for operational  units and position types. To assess the reliability of these data, we  reviewed relevant documentation and interviewed knowledgeable NWS  and NOAA officials about how data are entered and maintained. We also  conducted a review of the organizational table data for obvious errors and  completeness. On the basis of this review, we determined that the data  were sufficiently reliable for the purposes of reporting available  information on vacancies across NWS operational units.

We also reviewed data NWS provided that adjusted information from the  organizational table to factor in the number of positions the agency  indicated it had resources to support. NWS developed these data for us  because, according to NWS officials, the organizational table does not  reflect the resources the agency had available to fill many of the  vacancies. However, the additional data the agency developed did not  identify which positions listed on the organizational table would remain  unfilled because of a lack of resources. Rather, NWS developed these  data by proportionally distributing vacancies across the operational units  to show the number of positions the agency had resources to fill,  according to NOAA and NWS officials. At an agencywide level (across all  operational units collectively), these data were helpful to see the vacancy  levels NWS estimated having, based on its resource levels. However, we  determined that the additional data did not provide an accurate reflection  of vacancies for a particular unit or position type and did not reflect how  NWS has been managing its staffing levels or vacancies. Given these  limitations, we did not use these data for reporting vacancy rates at the  operational unit level, but instead we report data directly from the  organizational table as described above.

To examine any steps NWS operational unit management and staff have  taken to address the impact of vacancies at their units, we conducted  interviews and obtained documentation when available from officials from  the six NWS regional headquarters, all nine National Centers, and the  director’s office of the National Centers. In addition, we visited a  nongeneralizable sample of nine operational units across the United  States that were selected to represent a range in (1) the number of  vacancies in the operational unit as of March 5, 2016; (2) the types of  weather typical for the operational unit’s area of coverage, as  demonstrated by types of forecasts produced; and (3) the size of the  population in the warning area covered by the operational unit, among  other criteria. During our site visits we conducted separate interviews with  management and staff and analyzed available documentation to  corroborate steps they described having taken to address the impact of  vacancies at their units. The results from our interviews and site visits  cannot be generalized to those operational units and employees we did  not interview but rather provide illustrative examples of steps being taken  to address vacancies.

To examine the extent to which NOAA’s WFMO makes information  available to operational unit managers on the status of hiring requests  and the extent to which NOAA’s WFMO and NWS are taking actions to  address the hiring backlog at operational units, we collected and analyzed  documentation from, and interviewed officials from, NWS headquarters  and NOAA’s WFMO. We also interviewed managers and staff at NWS  operational units (as described above), as well as managers at the  regional headquarters and the director’s office of the National Centers,  regarding their experiences with the hiring process. For additional context  on actions taken to address the hiring backlog, we collected and analyzed  available data on attrition across NWS and WFMO, the number and types  of hiring actions completed by WFMO for NWS, and available data on the  amount of time it took to complete NWS hiring actions for fiscal years  2010 through 2016. To assess the reliability of these data, we reviewed  relevant documentation and interviewed knowledgeable NWS and NOAA  officials. On the basis of this review, we determined that the data were  sufficiently reliable for the purposes of our analysis. In addition, we  compared activities related to information WFMO makes available to  operational unit managers, as well as information on actions NWS and  WFMO are taking to address the hiring backlog, with federal standards for  internal control. Appendix I provides further details about our objectives,  scope, and methodology.

We conducted this performance audit from November 2015 to May 2017,  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.
subsections: section_title: Background
paragraphs: NWS is the nation’s official and authoritative source for watches and  warnings during severe weather and is responsible for providing weather  and climate data and issuing forecasts and warnings for the protection of  life and property and enhancement of the national economy. Through its  operational units nationwide, NWS issues many types of forecasts and  warnings including weather, river, flood, and aviation. It issues  approximately 1.5 million forecasts and 50,000 warnings annually. NWS  also supports the national infrastructure that collects and processes  worldwide weather data and climate observations from the air, land, and  sea. This infrastructure includes technologies such as Doppler weather  radar; satellites operated by NOAA’s National Environmental Satellite,  Data, and Information Service; marine data buoys; surface observing  systems; and instruments for monitoring space weather. Across this  infrastructure, NWS collects billions of weather and climate observations  annually, which are fed into its supercomputer forecasting models. In  fiscal year 2016, NWS had 4,218 employees, of whom 3,629 were in  operational units, and NOAA’s budget for NWS was approximately $1.1  billion, according to NWS documentation.

NWS headquarters, led by the Director of NWS, is responsible for overall  agency management, including overseeing operations and conducting  budgetary formulation, analysis, and reporting. NWS’s Chief Operating  Officer, based out of NWS’s headquarters, oversees six regional offices— referred to as regional headquarters—and the director’s office of the  National Centers. NWS’s regional headquarters and the director’s office  of the National Centers, in turn, oversee various local operational units.  Together, these units constitute six categories of operational units, with a  total of 168 individual operational units as follows.

Regional headquarters. Six regional headquarters are led by  regional directors who provide administrative and operational support,  including managing the regions’ budgets and hiring efforts, to the  following offices and centers:

Weather forecast offices. One hundred and twenty-two offices  operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to monitor local weather  and issue local forecasts and warnings.

Weather service offices. Fifteen offices, mostly located in  Alaska, operate on various schedules to collect weather  observations that assist with the development of local, national,  and global forecasts and warnings.

River forecast centers. Thirteen centers operate 16 hours a day,  7 days a week, to monitor major river systems and aquifers to  produce river and flood forecasts and coordinate warnings with  local weather forecast offices. These centers increase their  service hours as needed when flooding is predicted or is  occurring.

Tsunami warning centers. Two centers generally operate 24  hours a day, 7 days a week to monitor seismic and sea level  activity and issue tsunami forecasts and warnings for the United  States and its territories.

National Centers and the director’s office. The director’s office of  the National Centers oversees nine National Centers and provides  them administrative and operational support, including managing their  hiring efforts. The National Centers generate products and services to  support other NWS operational units, as well as private sector  partners, other governmental agencies, and the public. Most centers  operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and some issue forecasts and  warnings related to a particular area of focus (e.g., the National  Hurricane Center issues forecasts and warnings for hurricanes and  other tropical weather). The nine centers are the: (1) Aviation  Weather  Center, (2) Climate Prediction Center, (3) Environmental Modeling  Center, (4) National Centers for Environmental Prediction Central  Operations, (5) National Hurricane Center, (6) Ocean Prediction  Center, (7) Space Weather Prediction Center, (8) Storm Prediction  Center, and (9) Weather Prediction Center.

Figure 1 shows the location of NWS’s six regions and 168 operational  units. (App. II  provides information on NWS’s 168 operational units by  operational unit category and location.)

The structure of NWS’s operational units is principally based on NWS’s  efforts to modernize the agency during the 1990s. During the  modernization effort, NWS established a standardized staffing model in  its operational units to provide more uniform services. The staffing  structure across NWS operational units is generally based on “fair  weather” forecasting needs, meaning that additional staff and overtime  may be called for to help with issuing weather forecasts and warnings  during severe weather and emergency events. See figure 2 for examples  of forecasting workstations at NWS operational units.

As noted above, NWS receives support for certain administrative  functions from NOAA’s WFMO, including workforce planning; hiring; and  processing personnel actions such as promotions. WFMO also works with  NOAA’s Office of Security—which is staffed and directed by the  Department of Commerce’s Office of Security—to ensure security checks  and background investigations are conducted as part of the hiring  process, as necessary.

Beginning in 2013, a series of events led to a hiring backlog at NWS.  Specifically, in response to the 2013 federal budget sequestration, NOAA  implemented an agency-wide hiring freeze. Because WFMO generally  could not hire or replace departing employees during the freeze, the  number of vacancies at NWS increased. According to WFMO officials,  when the hiring freeze was lifted in 2014, demand for hiring across NOAA  was high. Simultaneously, WFMO had experienced a high level of attrition  during the freeze—in fiscal years 2013 and 2014, approximately 50  percent of WFMO staff handling hiring left the agency, according to a  WFMO official—and therefore, WFMO could not keep pace with the hiring  demand when the freeze was lifted. In fiscal year 2016, attrition at NWS  outpaced WFMO’s hiring abilities. Over the course of the fiscal year, 191  staff left NWS, and WFMO hired 157 external candidates, according to  WFMO data. Therefore, NWS’s hiring backlog increased. According to  NWS documents and officials, NWS had resources to fill vacant  operational unit positions, but it was unable to do so because of limited  hiring resources at WFMO. According to NOAA budget officials, an  administrative spending cap has limited WFMO’s ability to increase its  hiring activities to address the hiring demand. In particular, since fiscal  year 2005, NOAA has been subject to an administrative spending cap in  its annual appropriation that places restrictions on the dollar amount the  agency can spend for administrative support, including the amount it can  spend on hiring actions.

Additionally,  in 2016, WFMO began planning changes to the hiring- related functions it provides to NWS. Specifically, NOAA began  transitioning toward using a newly established Commerce-wide  Enterprise Services Organization (ESO)—a shared services model—to  process actions related to human capital, including hiring requests for  NWS and NOAA’s other agencies. A NOAA official said that ESO is  intended to improve operational efficiencies by increasing automation  levels, streamlining business processes, and improving customer service.  When ESO is fully established, WFMO officials said they anticipate that  WFMO will provide business advisors to NWS to continue to provide  workforce planning assistance, counseling on human capital issues, and  other hiring-related assistance.

section_title: Available Data Indicate Vacancies across NWS Operational Units Have Increased Since Fiscal Year 2010
paragraphs: Available  NWS data show that vacancies at operational units increased  from fiscal years 2010 through 2016. Specifically, we determined that  across NWS’s 168 operational units, vacancies increased from about 5  percent (211 positions) at the end of fiscal year 2010, to about 11 percent  (455 positions) at the end of fiscal year 2016. These vacancy rates are  based on data from NWS’s organizational table, a database that tracks  information on the number, type, and location of positions across the  agency, including whether each position is filled.

However, these vacancy rates do not factor in the agency’s available  resources, according to NOAA and NWS officials. The officials explained  that from fiscal years 2010 through 2016, NWS did not have resources to  support all of the positions included in its organizational table. For  example, in fiscal year 2016, an NWS official said that the organizational  table contained approximately 185 more positions than the agency had  resources to support.

To address this issue, NWS developed additional vacancy data that  factored in its available resources. Based on these data, the vacancy rate  across operational units was approximately 0.6 percent in fiscal year  2010 and increased to about 7 percent in fiscal year 2016. NWS  developed these data by proportionally distributing unfilled positions from  the organizational table across the operational units to show the number  of positions the agency had resources to fill at an agencywide level.  However, while useful in providing an estimate of agencywide vacancies,  these data do not reflect how individual NWS operational units have  managed their staffing levels and vacancies. Instead of identifying  specific positions on its organizational table to leave unfilled to ensure  staffing levels did not exceed available agency resources, NWS  established a “targeted vacancy rate” practice in 2014. Under this  practice, the six NWS regional headquarters directors and the director of  the National Centers are to hold approximately 5 percent of the positions  on the organizational table vacant across their operational units. NWS  headquarters officials said that the regional headquarters directors and  the director of the National Centers are responsible for implementing this  practice and have discretion to allocate resources according to their  needs to achieve the agency’s mission goals. Most directors said that  they have not had to manage to the targeted vacancy rate, however,  because existing vacancies have kept staffing levels below what NWS  resources can support.

For vacancy rates at the operational unit level, we examined data from  NWS’s organizational table and determined that vacancies have varied  across NWS operational units, by category of operational unit, and by  region. For example, at the close of fiscal year 2016, the vacancy rate  across operational units was about 11 percent. However, almost half of  the units (75 of 168) had a higher vacancy rate, and more than 10 percent  (21 of 168) had a vacancy rate higher than 20 percent at the close of  fiscal year 2016. Similarly, we found a wide range of vacancy rates by operational unit category (see table 1 for a breakdown of vacancy rates  by operational unit category for the last pay period of fiscal years 2014  through 2016). Regional vacancy rates also varied. For example, at the  end of fiscal year 2016, the Central Region had the lowest vacancy rate  of 8 percent, while the Alaska Region had the highest vacancy rate of 19  percent (see app. III  for additional data on vacancy rates by region).

We also determined that across NWS’s 122 weather forecast offices— which comprised approximately 75 percent of NWS’s operational unit staff  at the end of fiscal year 2016—vacancies varied by position. For  example, at the end of fiscal year 2016, the number of vacant  meteorologist positions—including entry-level, general, and lead  meteorologists—had increased by 57 percent (from 98 to 154 vacant  positions) from fiscal year 2014. Over the same period, the number of  vacant management positions—including the meteorologist-in-charge,  warning coordination meteorologist, science and operations officer, and  electronics systems analyst—decreased by 29 percent (from 42 to 30  vacant positions). For more information on vacancy rates in weather  forecast offices by position, see app. IV.

section_title: Officials Reported NWS Operational Units Took Steps to Address the Impact of Vacancies but at Times Were Unable to Complete Key Tasks
paragraphs: Officials we interviewed in NWS regional headquarters, the National  Centers, and operational units reported taking steps to address the  impact of vacancies and help ensure forecasts and warnings were issued  but said they were at times unable to complete key tasks and were  experiencing stress and fatigue from their efforts to cover for vacancies.  For example, operational unit managers reported that they have needed  to perform additional tasks, such as working forecasting shifts, and have  modified leave schedules to cover forecasting shifts in their units.  However, taking these steps, according to managers and staff, at times  led to their inability to complete other key tasks, such as providing severe  weather information support to state and local emergency managers.
subsections: section_title: NWS Operational Unit Managers and Staff Reported Taking Steps to Help Ensure Forecasts and Warnings Were Issued in Light of Vacancies
paragraphs: Most NWS officials we interviewed indicated that vacancies in operational  units remained unfilled for extended periods, stretching from several  months to a few years. For example, one operational unit manager said  that over the course of 6 years (2011 to 2016), her unit had 16 vacancies.  The vacancies remained unfilled for an average of 11 months, and 2 of  the vacancies took over 2 years to fill, according to documentation  provided by the manager. Another operational unit manager said that  since 2014, 3 of the unit’s positions were vacant between 8 and 20  months.

Operational unit managers and staff across the units we interviewed  reported having taken several steps to address the impact of vacancies  and to help ensure forecasts and warnings were issued.
subsections: section_title: Managers and Staff Performed Additional Tasks
paragraphs: Managers and staff in operational units with vacancies often performed  additional tasks to help ensure forecasts and warnings were issued,  according to officials we interviewed in five NWS regional headquarters,  the National Centers, and six of eight operational units. For example,  managers we interviewed in five of the eight operational units with  vacancies that we visited said that they worked forecasting shifts to cover  for vacancies. Typically, in a fully staffed operational unit, managers are  expected to spend from 10 to 25 percent of their time working forecasting  shifts. In one weather forecast office we visited, however, three  managers said they worked forecasting shifts above the expected  percentage in 2016. For example, the warning coordination meteorologist  estimated working around 70 percent of his time on forecasting shifts for  about 6 months to cover for vacancies. Similarly, another operational unit  we visited had a vacant administrative assistant position for over a year  since February 2016. In this instance, the warning coordination  meteorologist and the science and operations officer told us that, in  addition to their managerial duties, they shared the administrative assistant’s responsibilities, while also working forecasting shifts to cover  for other vacancies in the unit.

Operational unit managers and staff were sometimes temporarily  promoted to positions of greater responsibility when those positions were  vacant, according to officials we interviewed in five NWS regional  headquarters and managers in five operational units. For example, they  said that a general meteorologist may be temporarily promoted to a lead  meteorologist position, allowing that meteorologist to act as a supervisor  to other meteorologists. According to data from NOAA’s WFMO, NWS  operational units made 333 temporary promotions in fiscal year 2016.  Officials in one NWS regional headquarters said that making temporary  promotions generally does not increase the number of staff available to  work forecasting shifts, but rather temporarily shifts a vacancy from one  position in the unit to another. In addition, managers and staff are limited  by regulations to being temporarily promoted for 120 days in a 12-month  period, resulting in managers sometimes promoting several different staff  to cover for one vacant position over the course of the vacancy, according  to officials in another NWS regional headquarters.

section_title: Managers and Staff Adjusted Their Work Schedules
paragraphs: Managers and staff in operational units with vacancies adjusted their work  schedules to cover for vacancies and help ensure forecasts and warnings  were issued, according to officials in all six NWS regional headquarters,  the National Centers, and seven of the eight operational units we visited.  For example, managers in five operational units said that managers and  staff worked overtime to cover forecasting shifts and ensure forecasts and  warnings were issued. Typically, NWS uses overtime to increase the  number of staff covering forecasting shifts during severe weather.  However, when operational units have had vacancies, managers and  staff have also worked overtime to cover forecasting shifts during fair  weather and additional forecasting shifts during severe weather,  according to NWS headquarters officials. Several staff in one  operational unit said they frequently worked 15 to 20 consecutive days  without a day off to cover for multiple vacancies. In another operational  unit, in light of vacancies, three to five employees consistently worked  about 100 hours per pay period during fiscal years 2015 and 2016 to  ensure forecasts and warnings were issued, according to data provided  by the regional director overseeing the unit.

Managers in three operational units we visited said that, because of  vacancies, they had reduced the number of staff scheduled for  forecasting shifts. For example, a manager in one operational unit with a  hydrologist vacancy said he reduced the number of hydrologist shifts  during the day from three to two to allow staff to take annual leave during  the summer. Another operational unit manager said that because his  office was short-staffed, on fair weather days he reduced the number of  meteorologists scheduled from two to one, and then scheduled another  employee, such as an entry-level meteorologist or a hydrometeorological  technician, to ensure that at least two employees were staffed to a  forecasting shift. Officials in one NWS regional headquarters said that  reducing the number of staff on a forecasting shift during fair weather can  be risky because severe weather can occur quickly without sufficient time  for the operational unit manager to call in additional staff.

section_title: Managers and Staff Modified Their Leave Schedules
paragraphs: Operational unit managers and staff modified their leave schedules to  cover for vacancies and ensure staff were available to issue forecasts  and warnings, according to officials in four NWS regional headquarters,  the National Centers, and seven operational units we visited. For  instance, managers in five operational units said they had denied or  cancelled their own or others’ planned annual leave because of vacancies  in the office. One operational unit manager indicated he cancelled  annual leave as a last resort after taking other actions, such as requiring  other staff to work overtime, and another manager said she altered her  leave plans to allow operational unit staff to take annual leave. Staff in  four operational units said that on some occasions they were not able to  use annual or sick leave because they worked forecasting shifts to cover  for vacancies instead. For example, staff in one operational unit we  visited said that no one in the unit was granted annual leave at the end of  2015 to ensure that forecasting shifts would be covered. Staff in two other  operational units said that employees were choosing not to take annual or  sick leave because they did not want to leave their units short-staffed.  Because staff had been unable to use their annual leave, officials in the  National Centers and one NWS regional headquarters said some  operational unit staff may end up losing some of their annual leave at the  end of the year.

section_title: Managers Requested Additional Temporary Staff from Other Operational Units
paragraphs: Managers in four of eight operational units we visited said they had  requested additional staff from other operational units through temporary  duty assignments to ensure that forecasting shifts were staffed. For  example, staff from one operational unit we visited said they had at least  one meteorologist at the unit on temporary duty, working forecasting  shifts for a 7-month period from 2015 to 2016, to cover for vacant  meteorologist positions in the office. To obtain assistance, operational  unit managers are to make requests to their respective NWS regional  headquarters. Officials in all six NWS regional headquarters said that  some operational units they oversee have requested additional staff to  cover forecasting shifts, but their ability to accommodate those requests  has been limited by funding and the availability  of staff. One regional  headquarters official said that to accommodate requests for additional  staff to cover forecasting shifts, the region performed fewer outreach  activities because those activities are funded by the same account as  temporary duty assignments.

section_title: Management and Staff Cited an Inability at Times to Perform Key Tasks, As Well As Increased Stress and Fatigue
paragraphs: Because operational unit managers and staff were doing work to cover for  vacancies, they were unable at times to perform other key tasks,  according to officials across the NWS units we interviewed. Examples  include the following:

Delivering impact-based decision support services. Managers we  interviewed in six of eight operational units with vacancies said that  because their units were short-staffed, they had been unable to  provide some impact-based decision support services to core  partners, such as local and state emergency managers. For example,  managers in one operational unit said that given the vacancies in their  office, they had been unable to provide in-person forecasting support  to local emergency managers or to produce common impact-based  decision support service products, such as informational webinars that  provide more detailed information on the potential impacts of  approaching severe weather. NWS officials said that providing this  type of information is important for helping their core partners make  decisions—such as the timing and locations for potential evacuations  in advance of oncoming storms—that may affect their ability to save  lives and property.

Obtaining training related to weather forecasting. Managers in six  operational units we visited said that with ongoing vacancies in their  operational units, staff were not able to complete critical training  related to weather forecasting. This was in part, because managers  had reduced or eliminated the number of supernumerary shifts  afforded to staff—administrative shifts used by staff to, among other  things, complete training. For example, staff in one operational unit  said that they had gone from approximately 15 supernumerary shifts  per year when they were fully staffed to 4 shifts per year, because of  vacancies. According to staff in four operational units we visited, they  were able to complete some, but not all, of their training during  forecasting shifts on days with fair weather. Staff in an operational unit  that has severe tropical weather said they had been unable to  complete tropical weather training in advance of the upcoming  hurricane season. Staff said that tropical weather training, though not  required, is critical for honing meteorologists’ skills for correctly  predicting tropical storms and hurricane-related weather. Officials in  two NWS regional headquarters said they were concerned about the  long-term effects of vacancies on the staffs’ forecasting skills.

Performing management and administrative activities.  Operational unit managers were unable to perform certain  management or administrative tasks, or were delayed in doing so,  because they were covering for vacancies, according to officials in  four NWS regional headquarters and the National Centers. For  example, officials in one NWS regional headquarters said they have  delayed conducting a number of administrative tasks, including  processing the region’s budget, procurement, travel authorizations,  and permanent change of station vouchers, because staff were  completing the work of multiple vacant administrative positions.  Officials expressed concern about these delays, because they can  make monitoring the region’s finances difficult. Staff in one operational  unit said because their managers were working forecasting shifts and  performing other work to cover for vacancies, they were unable to  review or approve projects that the staff developed as part of their  focal duties. Focal duties, which are outside of meteorologists’ regular  forecasting tasks, help incorporate new science, technology, and  techniques into the unit’s operations.

Carrying out community  outreach and education. Managers we  interviewed in five of eight operational units said their staff had been  unable to participate in community outreach and education events  because of vacancies in their units. For example, one operational unit  manager said that his office had curtailed community outreach and  education efforts to have staff cover forecasting shifts left open by  vacancies. He said the office had stopped taking applicants for their  StormReady and TsunamiReady programs—programs to help  communities develop skills to save lives and property when severe  weather occurs—because the staff who would normally be working  with new participants had instead been working forecasting shifts.

Launching weather balloons. Managers in two operational units  said that their staff missed weather balloon launches because of  vacancies in their units. For example, managers in one operational  unit said during the summer of 2015, on multiple occasions staff were  unavailable to launch weather balloons twice a day to collect upper air  observations, as instructed by an NWS directive. Staff were  unavailable in these instances because they were taking steps to  address work resulting from vacancies, such as covering forecasting  shifts to monitor the development of severe weather in the area,  according to the operational unit manager. When weather balloons  are not launched, critical observations from the upper air atmosphere  are not collected and entered into the computer models that produce  forecasts and warnings.

Every day, tw ice a day, NWS staff across the  United States launch instruments—know n as  radiosondes—with weather balloons to  capture observations from the upper  atmosphere. According to NWS documents,  conducting upper air observations is important  for producing w eather forecasts and w arnings  as it is the primary method of capturing  information on temperature, humidity, and  other conditions in the upper atmosphere.  NWS launches about 70,000 radiosondes a  year from 92 NWS locations, tw ice a day,  almost simultaneously at 00:00 and 12:00  Coordinated Universal Time. The data  collected by the radiosondes are fed into the  computer models used for producing the  agency’s w eather forecasts and w arnings. In  fiscal year 2017, NWS began testing and  evaluating w ays to automate the w eather  balloon launch process, which could eliminate  the need for staff to manually launch the  balloons, according to NWS headquarters  officials.

Maintaining equipment. One operational unit manager we  interviewed said that as of fiscal year 2016 the unit had been unable  to replace damaged precipitation gauges with new equipment  because one electronic technician position has been vacant.  According to the manager, precipitation gauges are important  because they provide official recordings of rainfall that are used to  calibrate radar precipitation estimates and track rainfall to assess the  need for flood and flash flood warnings (see fig. 3).

In addition, officials we interviewed in most NWS regional headquarters,  the National Centers, and four operational units indicated that operational  unit managers and staff experienced stress, fatigue, and reduced morale  resulting from their efforts to cover for vacancies. For example, officials in  two regional headquarters said that managers and staff in operational  units with vacancies had continued to meet their critical mission of issuing  forecasts and warnings in large part because of their dedication and  commitment to the NWS mission. But the long-term result has been that  employees are fatigued and morale is low, according to the officials. An  official in another NWS regional headquarters said that staff are getting  worn down covering extra forecasting shifts because of vacancies in  operational units that, in some instances, have lasted for a few years.  One operational unit manager we interviewed said staff in his unit were  demoralized because they had continued to cover the workload for  multiple vacancies. Additionally,  staff we interviewed at two operational  units said that because positions remain vacant for extended periods,  staff are concerned that the agency may be intentionally  leaving vacant  positions open to downsize the number of staff across operational units.  These staff said this perception has negatively affected their morale.  NWS headquarters officials acknowledged that vacancies had created  challenges and stress for operational unit managers and staff.

section_title: NOAA’s WFMO Makes Limited Information Available to NWS Operational Unit Managers on the Status of Hiring Requests
paragraphs: WFMO makes available limited information on the status of hiring  requests as the requests move through the phases of the hiring process.  Through interviews and supporting documentation, we identified the  following three phases of the NWS hiring process: (1) a regional  headquarters or the director’s office of the National Centers enters a  hiring request into WFMO’s data system; (2) a job announcement is  developed and posted, applicants are interviewed, and a candidate is  selected; and (3) the selected candidate enters on duty at NWS (see   fig. 4).

Operational unit managers we interviewed said that information on the  status of their hiring requests was critical to their ability to allocate  resources and manage work schedules. It is also particularly important in  light of the length of the hiring process, which, according to some  operational unit managers, has sometimes taken as long as 2 years.  WFMO data for fiscal year 2016 show that the time it took to fill hiring  requests once they were selected for processing averaged 232 days  (around 8 months) and ranged from 64 to 467 days.

On the basis of our interviews with NOAA’s WFMO and NWS  headquarters and operational units, we determined that limited  information on the status of hiring requests is available. For example,  during phase 1 of the hiring process—from when a regional headquarters  or the director’s office of the National Centers enters a hiring request into  WFMO’s data system to when the request is selected for processing— information on the status of the hiring request is not made available to  operational unit managers. After NWS headquarters’ approval, hiring  requests are entered into the data system where they are then generally  selected for processing in the order they are received. However, WFMO  does not make available information to operational unit managers on  when a request is likely to be selected for processing. The WFMO  director said that the data system is unsophisticated and was not  designed for reporting the length of time that hiring requests remain in the  system or how many are likely to be processed before a specific request  is selected for processing.

For phases 2 and 3 of the hiring process—from when the hiring request is  selected for processing by WFMO to the time the newly hired staff enters  on duty at NWS—the data system tracks and makes accessible to  operational unit managers some information on the status of their hiring  requests. Specifically, operational unit managers can log into the data  system and view the status of their individual hiring requests once they  have been selected for processing. For example, a manager can access  the data system to see when a job opening was announced and the date  when the announcement will close. However, WFMO officials  acknowledged that some data fields in the system, such as job  announcement open and close dates, have not consistently been updated  in real time. According to the WFMO director, this occurs, in part,  because contractors—who are largely responsible for making these  updates—use a different system that is not integrated with the data  system, and updating the WFMO’s system requires additional steps that  contractors do not always take when they have heavy workloads and time  constraints.

Additionally,  information related to the security check process, which  occurs at the end of phase 3, is not available in the data system because  the system is not set up to track the steps involved in the security check.  The NOAA Office of Security is responsible for processing security  checks, and its data system is not integrated with WFMO’s data system.  Officials we interviewed from the six regional headquarters and the  National Centers, as well as several operational unit managers,  characterized the security check part of the hiring process as lengthy,  opaque, and difficult to track. For example, officials from one regional  headquarters said they contacted WFMO to see where their candidate  was in the security check process and were referred to the NOAA Office  of Security, which told them that the security check had been completed  weeks earlier. These regional headquarters officials cited this experience  as an example of communication challenges arising between two  organizational departments whose systems are not integrated. Similarly,  some NWS operational unit managers said they were unable to obtain  information about where their candidate was in the security check  process from either the NOAA Office of Security or WFMO. The NOAA  Office of Security director said he is aware of confusion about the security  check process and, as a result, started providing NOAA-wide  informational briefings in June 2016, with the goal of increasing  transparency about his office’s functions and interaction with WFMO.

Officials we interviewed from most regional headquarters and several  operational unit managers said it is often difficult to obtain information on  hiring requests from WFMO staff. In particular, several operational unit  managers said that they have been unable to obtain updates through  telephone or e-mail communications with WFMO staff, and several  officials described WFMO and the hiring process as a “black hole” for  information. According to a WFMO policy document, human capital  specialists should respond to telephone calls and e-mails as part of their  regular duties. However, the WFMO director added that since  sequestration, WFMO has been understaffed, and the human capital  specialists have been unable to fully manage their workload, including  returning telephone calls and e-mails to respond to requests for  information. Most operational unit managers we interviewed said it is  difficult to allocate resources and develop work schedules without  information about the status of their hiring requests, which would help  them estimate how long the hiring process may take and, therefore, when  they might expect new staff to enter on duty.

According to federal standards for internal control, management should  internally communicate the necessary quality information to achieve the  entity’s objectives. For example, management communicates quality  information down and across reporting lines to enable personnel to  perform key roles. This could include communicating information to  operational unit managers on the status of their hiring requests  throughout the hiring process, which could help managers effectively plan  and distribute their unit’s workload.

The WFMO director acknowledged the difficulty operational unit  managers have had in obtaining complete and timely information, and  said that as part of the broader Commerce-wide effort to transition to ESO  for processing hiring requests, WFMO is providing support in the  development of a new Commerce-wide data system. In developing the  system, officials said they are exploring ways to enhance information  available to managers. For example, WFMO officials said that a new  system could automatically update certain milestones as they occur,  which would enhance the timeliness and quality of information available  to operational unit managers. The WFMO director said the Department of  Commerce plans to develop the new system, potentially in 2017, but the  design and capabilities have yet to be finalized. In the interim, without  access to complete and real-time information on the status of their  requests throughout the three phases of the hiring process, NWS  operational unit managers are limited in their ability to plan for and  distribute their unit’s workload in the most efficient and effective manner.

section_title: NOAA’s WFMO and NWS Have Taken Some Actions to Help Address the Hiring Backlog but Have Not Evaluated These Actions
paragraphs: NWS has faced challenges in supporting its goal of sustaining a highly  skilled workforce in part because of its hiring backlog, according to NWS  headquarters officials we interviewed. To help address the hiring  backlog, NOAA’s WFMO and NWS are taking several actions, including  the following.

Employing contractors to process hiring actions. Beginning in  June 2014, WFMO started using contractors to process the majority of  NWS’s hiring requests. It did so because WFMO staff were unable to  meet the demand for processing hiring requests as a result of a  number of resource-related factors, including being short-staffed,  according to WFMO officials. However, the contractors have been  unable to fully meet NWS’s demand. For example, the primary  contractor generally processed about 50 hiring-related actions per  month for NWS and another NOAA agency, representing a fraction of  NWS hiring requests in the system, according to WFMO officials.  Additionally,  the officials said that though WFMO has begun  transitioning toward using the Commerce-wide ESO for hiring, it has  faced challenges with the transition because of funding limitations.  WFMO’s director said that until funding becomes available and ESO  is fully established, WFMO will continue using contractors to help  process hiring requests for NWS. NWS officials expressed concern  that once the transition to ESO is complete, the move away from  contractors who are focused on NWS and another NOAA agency  toward one serving all Department of Commerce agencies may  increase NWS’s hiring backlog, as more NOAA agencies will be vying  for the same services from a single contractor.

Combining multiple hiring requests into a single job  announcement. In March 2015, NWS began identifying hiring  requests for similar positions and requesting that WFMO process  those requests in bundles instead of individually,  as had been past  practice. For example, in July 2016, NWS combined hiring requests  for 30 entry-level meteorologist positions at 24 locations into a single  job announcement. While the announcement was open, six more  hiring requests were approved, and NWS was then able to fill 36  positions from the combined announcement. Combining job  announcements for similar positions is intended to accelerate and  streamline hiring, according to NWS officials.

Developing an inventory of lead meteorologist candidates. In  June 2015, NWS issued a lead meteorologist job announcement—a  position NWS typically fills by hiring internal general meteorologists— to develop an inventory of qualified candidates. The job  announcement was open for 1 year, and applicants could identify  specific operational units they wanted to be considered for, even if  those units did not have a vacancy at that time. Once an operational  unit had a vacancy that was approved to fill, the manager could  request a list of qualified and interested candidates from the inventory  to interview and potentially hire. Previously, vacant lead meteorologist  positions were advertised through individual  job announcements,  each of which required a unique job announcement and subsequent  hiring action. NWS officials said they plan to continue using this  inventory approach to fill lead meteorologist positions by posting one  announcement biannually or annually to maintain a current inventory  of qualified candidates. By developing this inventory through one  announcement, NWS officials said the process of identifying qualified  candidates is more efficient, and operational units may be able to fill  vacant positions more quickly.

Limiting entry-level job announcements to external candidates.

In July 2016, NWS changed the way it announced its entry-level  meteorologist positions—the positions with the highest vacancy rate  across weather forecast offices at the time—so that these positions  would be available exclusively to candidates outside the agency.  NWS officials said they made this change because previously NWS  often hired internal candidates to fill open entry-level meteorologist  positions, which filled a vacancy in one location but created a vacancy  in another. According to our analysis of WFMO data, during fiscal  years 2010 through 2016, over half of all NWS hiring actions were for  internal candidates. Of these, about two-thirds were for promotions,  and about one-third were for lateral reassignments, which typically  involve staff keeping the same position but moving to a different  operational unit—such as current entry-level meteorologists accepting  a position in a new unit (see fig. 5 for an annual breakdown of NWS  hiring actions). Additionally,  according to NWS data, 42 percent of  the agency’s workforce will be eligible to retire by 2020. Therefore,  NWS officials said they recognized the need to bring in new  employees to the agency. They also noted that limiting entry-level  hiring to external candidates is intended to help increase the overall  number of employees, reduce the number of vacancies, and reduce  the number of hiring actions to be processed by WFMO.

Exploring a change in the entry-level meteorologist promotion  process. NWS is exploring changing its promotion process so that  entry-level meteorologists will be able to progress to general  meteorologists based on merit promotion criteria. The current process  requires entry-level meteorologists to apply through a competitive  announcement, which requires WFMO to post a job announcement  and complete the associated hiring action. The change under  consideration would allow entry-level meteorologists to accept a  promotion while staying in their current operational unit, rather than  requiring them to change units to obtain a promotion—which occurs if  no openings are available in their unit. According to our analysis of  NWS data, 35 percent of the agency’s hiring actions from fiscal year  2010 through 2016 were for promotions. NWS officials we interviewed  said that the change under consideration may help reduce the human  capital workload and, in turn, help reduce the hiring backlog. NOAA  officials indicated that they plan to begin implementing this change  late in fiscal year 2018 for meteorologist positions in weather forecast  offices and some National Centers.

NWS headquarters officials stated that reducing the hiring backlog is a  high priority but that they have not evaluated the extent to which their  hiring actions have helped reduce the hiring backlog or helped to achieve  their goal of sustaining a highly skilled workforce. Under federal standards  for internal control, management should design control activities, such as  comparing actual performance with planned or expected results and  analyzing significant differences, to achieve objectives. NWS officials  said they believe the hiring actions to date have helped allow the agency  to streamline hiring but said they have not evaluated the actions.  However, the officials added that they intend to develop a strategic  human capital plan with WFMO’s assistance that may, in part, provide a  framework for integrating and evaluating the effectiveness of the various  hiring actions. The officials said they do not have a time frame for  developing such a plan because WFMO staff will be unavailable until the  transition to using ESO is complete, and they are uncertain when that will  happen. In the interim, by evaluating whether its actions are reducing the  hiring backlog or achieving the goal of sustaining a highly skilled  workforce, NWS would have better assurance that its actions were  achieving expected results and could better determine where to devote  resources.

section_title: Conclusions
paragraphs: In light of vacancies that have increased since fiscal year 2010, NWS  operational managers and staff have taken several steps to help ensure  forecasts and warnings are issued. However, in taking these steps,  managers and staff have faced challenges, including an inability at times  to complete key tasks, and have experienced stress, fatigue, and reduced  morale. WFMO and NWS officials recognize the need to fill vacant  positions across NWS operational units, but the hiring process has been  lengthy and WFMO makes limited information available to managers on  the status of requests. This has limited managers’ ability to effectively  plan and distribute workloads. WFMO officials agree that it is important to  provide complete and timely information to managers, and said that, as  WFMO moves to using a new Commerce-wide data system, they may be  able to enhance the information that is made available to operational unit  managers during the hiring process. In the interim, without access to  complete and real-time information on the status of their requests  throughout the three phases of the hiring process, NWS operational unit  managers are limited in their ability to plan for and distribute their units’  workload in the most efficient and effective manner.

Additionally,  WFMO and NWS are taking several actions intended to  streamline hiring, but NWS has not evaluated the success of these  actions in reducing the hiring backlog or achieving the goal of sustaining a  highly skilled workforce. NWS intends to develop a strategic human  capital plan that may, in part, provide a framework for integrating and  evaluating the effectiveness of the various hiring actions, but officials do  not have a time frame for its development. In the interim, by evaluating  whether its actions are reducing the hiring backlog or achieving the goal  of sustaining a highly skilled workforce, NWS would have better  assurance that its actions were achieving expected results and could  better determine where to devote resources.

section_title: Recommendations for Executive Action
paragraphs: We recommend that the Secretary of Commerce take the following two  actions:  To enhance information available to operational unit managers, we  recommend that the Secretary of Commerce direct the director of NOAA’s  WFMO to ensure that complete information on hiring requests is routinely  communicated to NWS managers throughout the three phases of the  hiring process, such as by supporting the development of improved  tracking and reporting capabilities in the planned new Commerce-wide  data system.

To help ensure NWS’s hiring actions are achieving expected results, we  recommend the Secretary of Commerce direct the NOAA Assistant  Administrator for Weather Services to evaluate the extent to which NWS’s  actions are reducing the hiring backlog and achieving the goal of  sustaining a highly skilled workforce; for example, NWS could evaluate  these actions as part of the development of its strategic human capital  plan.

section_title: Agency Comments
paragraphs: We provided a draft of this report for review and comment to the  Department of Commerce. The Department of Commerce transmitted  written comments from NOAA, which are reproduced in appendix V.  NOAA agreed with our recommendations, and stated that the report  provides a factual account of the status of NWS hiring, efforts NWS and  WFMO have taken to expedite hiring, the resources challenges NWS and  WFMO have faced, and the impact that understaffing has had on the  NWS’s ability to carry out its mission. NOAA agreed with our two  recommendations to communicate complete information on hiring  requests and evaluate the extent to which NWS’s actions are reducing  the hiring backlog; regarding the first, NOAA stated that WFMO will work  with ESO to continue to develop the requirements and tools needed to  track human capital service delivery. NOAA also provided technical  comments, which we incorporated as appropriate.

We are sending copies of this report to the appropriate congressional  committees, the Secretary of Commerce, and other interested parties. In  addition, the report is available at no charge on the GAO website at  http://www.gao.gov.

If you or your staff members have any questions about this report, please  contact me at (202) 512-3841 or fennella@gao.gov. Contact points for  our Offices of Congressional Relations and Public Affairs may be found  on the last page of this report. GAO staff members who made key  contributions to this report are listed in appendix VI.

section_title: Appendix I: Objectives, Scope, and Methodology
paragraphs: Our objectives were to examine (1) information available on vacancies at  National Weather Service (NWS) operational units for fiscal years 2010  through 2016; (2) steps, if any, NWS operational unit management and  staff have taken to address the impact of vacancies at their units; (3) the  extent to which National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s  (NOAA) Workforce Management Office (WFMO) makes information  available to operational unit managers on the status of hiring requests;  and (4) the extent to which NOAA’s WFMO and NWS are taking actions  to address the hiring backlog at operational units.

To conduct our work, we reviewed relevant laws and NOAA, WFMO, and  NWS policies, directives, and other documents. We also reviewed  congressionally requested studies, including studies by the National  Academy of Sciences and National Academy of Public Administration.  To define NWS operational units for the purposes of this report, we  developed criteria based on our review of documents and interviews with  knowledgeable NWS officials. We defined NWS operational units as all  units in any category of units (e.g. weather forecast offices) in which at  least one of the units met at least two of the following three criteria: (1)  issues forecasts, (2) issues warnings, and (3) has personnel that are  essential emergency employees. We analyzed a list of NWS essential  emergency employees by operational unit, and cross-referenced this list  with information on which units issue forecasts or warnings to determine  which units met our criteria. As long as one of the operational units in a  particular unit category met our criteria, we included all of the units in the  category in our analysis. On the basis of these criteria, we identified six  categories of operational units and a total of 168 individual  operational  units (see table 2). Appendix II provides a complete list of the operational  units included in our scope.

To examine the information available on vacancies at NWS operational  units for fiscal years 2010 through 2016, we obtained data for the end of  those fiscal years from the agency’s organizational table, a database that  tracks information on the number, type, and location of positions across  the agency, including whether each position is filled. We calculated the  number of vacancies—which we define as unfilled positions—and  vacancy rates by dividing the number of unfilled positions by the total number of positions for each fiscal year, operational unit category, and  position type. To assess the reliability of NWS’s organizational table data,  we reviewed relevant documentation and interviewed knowledgeable  NWS and NOAA officials about how data are entered and maintained. We  also conducted a review of the organizational table data for obvious  errors and completeness. On the basis of this review, we determined that  the data were sufficiently reliable for the purposes of reporting available  information on the number of vacancies across NWS operational units.

We also reviewed data NWS provided that adjusted information from the  organizational table to factor in the level of positions the agency indicated  it had resources to support. NWS developed these data because,  according to NWS officials, the organizational table does not reflect  resources the agency had available to fill many of the vacancies.  However, the additional data the agency prepared did not identify which  positions listed on the organizational table it did not have resources to fill.  Rather, NWS developed these data by proportionally  distributing  vacancies across the operational units to show the number of positions  the agency had resources to fill, according to NOAA and NWS officials. At  an agencywide level (across all operational units collectively), these data  were helpful to see the vacancy levels NWS estimated having, based on  its resource levels. However, we determined that the additional data did  not provide an accurate reflection of vacancies for a particular unit or  position type and did not reflect how NWS has been managing its staffing  levels or vacancies. In particular, the regional headquarters and director’s  office of the National Centers have discretion to allocate resources  according to their needs, including identifying which positions to leave  vacant to ensure they do not exceed available resources, according to  NWS headquarters officials. They do not, according to officials at regional  headquarters and the director’s office of the National Centers, spread  vacancies proportionally across their operational units. Given these  limitations, we report data directly from the organizational table as  described above.

To examine any steps NWS operational unit management and staff have  taken to address the impact of vacancies at their units, we conducted  interviews and obtained documentation when available from officials from  the six NWS regional headquarters and nine National Centers and the  director’s office. In addition, we visited a nongeneralizable sample of  nine operational units across the United States that were selected to  represent a range in (1) the number of vacancies in the unit; (2) the types  of weather typical for the unit’s area of coverage, as demonstrated by  types of forecasts produced; (3) the size of the population of the warning  area covered by the unit; (4) the region in which the unit is located; and  (5) the category of operational unit. Table 3 shows the operational units  we selected and visited during our review. During our site visits we  conducted separate interviews with management and staff and analyzed  available documentation to corroborate steps they described having taken  to address the impact of vacancies. The results from our interviews and  site visits cannot be generalized to those operational units and employees  we did not interview but rather provide illustrative examples of steps being  taken to address vacancies.

We analyzed the information we obtained from our interviews and site  visits to identify themes and develop a summary of the types of impacts  from vacancies and any steps management and staff have taken to  address vacancies.

We also collected and analyzed data on the number of temporary  promotions for fiscal years 2010 through 2016 from NOAA’s WFMO to  obtain additional context, as temporary promotions were commonly cited  as an action taken to address vacancies in operational units we visited.  To assess the reliability  of these data, we interviewed knowledgeable  NWS and NOAA officials and reviewed relevant documentation. We  determined that the data were sufficiently reliable for the purposes of our  report.

To examine the extent to which NOAA’s WFMO makes information  available to operational unit managers on the status of hiring requests  and the extent to which NOAA’s WFMO and NWS have taken actions to  address the hiring backlog at operational units, we examined  documentation regarding the process for hiring at NWS operational units,  as well as any actions NWS and WFMO have taken to address the hiring  backlog. We analyzed available data on NWS and WFMO attrition, the  number and types of hiring actions completed by WFMO and its  contractors for NWS, and data on the amount of time it took to complete  NWS hiring actions for fiscal years 2010 through 2016. According to a  WFMO official, these data were not available at the operational unit level;  therefore, we analyzed them for all NWS employees. To assess the  reliability of these data, we reviewed relevant documentation, interviewed  knowledgeable NWS and NOAA officials, and reviewed the data for  obvious errors and completeness. We determined that the data were  sufficiently reliable for the purposes of reporting the number and types of  hiring actions and the amount of time the hiring actions took from fiscal  years 2010 through 2016.

We interviewed NWS and WFMO officials regarding ongoing and planned  actions to address the hiring backlog. We also interviewed officials from  NOAA’s Office of Security, which is directed by the Department of  Commerce’s Office of Security, regarding the process for completing  security checks and background investigations as well as to determine  the information available to operational unit managers during the security  check step of the hiring process. In addition, we interviewed officials from  the NOAA Budget Office and the Enterprise Services Organization about  NOAA’s transition to a shared services model. Finally, we compared  activities related to information WFMO makes available to operational unit  managers, as well as information on actions NWS and WFMO have taken  to address the hiring backlog, with federal standards for internal control.

We conducted this performance audit from November 2015 to May 2017  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.

section_title: Appendix II: National Weather Service Operational Units, by Operational Unit Category and Location

section_title: Appendix III: Information on Vacancies by National Weather Service Region

section_title: Appendix IV: Information on Vacancies in National Weather Service Weather Forecast Offices
paragraphs: The National Weather Service’s (NWS) 122 weather forecast offices  comprise the majority of the 168 operational units (73 percent) included in  our review. At the end of fiscal year 2016, 2,720 of NWS’s 3,629  operational unit employees (75 percent) worked in weather forecast  offices. Table 6 provides vacancy rates by the positions in weather  forecast offices for fiscal years 2014 through 2016, based on data from  NWS’s organizational table, which is a database that tracks information  on the number, type, and location of positions across the agency,  including whether each position is filled. Table 7 provides a brief summary  of the roles and responsibilities for positions in weather forecast offices.

section_title: Appendix V: Comments from the Department of Commerce

section_title: Appendix VI: GAO Contact and Staff Acknowledgments
subsections: section_title: GAO Contact
paragraphs: Anne-Marie  Fennell, (202) 512-3841 or fennella@gao.gov.

section_title: Staff Acknowledgments
paragraphs: In addition to the individual named above, Alyssa M. Hundrup (Assistant  Director), Amy R. Bowser, John W. Delicath, Tanya Doriss, Cindy K.  Gilbert, Amanda K. Goolden, Steven Gregory Lozano, Ryan B. Millendez,  Colleen M. Phillips, and Sara A. Sullivan made key contributions to this  report.

Fast facts: The National Weather Service issues weather forecasts and warnings to help protect life and property, especially as severe weather unfolds. Most of its field offices across the nation operate 24 hours, every day.

However, we found that the rates of staff vacancies in these offices have more than doubled since 2010, and these vacancies have often lasted months—forcing managers and staff to work extra shifts and shorten leave to complete necessary work.

The agency has made efforts to hire new staff, but hasn't evaluated whether its actions are reducing the hiring backlog. We recommended that it do so.

Question-summary annotations: questions: question: How has the number of vacancies in the NWS changed since fiscal year 2010?
answer: Available data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) National Weather Service (NWS) indicate that the number of vacancies across its operational units has increased since fiscal year 2010. Specifically, agency data show that vacancies—unfilled positions at a point in time—increased from about 5 percent of the total number of positions at the end of fiscal year 2010 to about 11 percent in 2016.
child_questions: question: How did NWS officials respond to this situation?
answer: NWS officials reported that they did not have the resources to fill all of these vacancies and therefore developed additional data that factored in available resources.
child_questions: question: What did these data reveal?
answer: Based on these data, the vacancy rate across operational units was approximately 0.6 percent in fiscal year 2010 and increased to about 7 percent in fiscal year 2016.

questions: question: How has NWS taken steps to address the impact of unfilled vacancies?
answer: NWS operational unit managers and staff GAO interviewed said they had taken several steps to address the impact of vacancies that remained unfilled for months, and in some cases, more than a year. These steps included managers and staff performing additional tasks to ensure forecasts and warnings were issued, staff adjusting their work and leave schedules, and managers requesting temporary staff from other units.
child_questions: question: How have these steps affected other aspects of the workplace?
answer: However, taking these steps, according to managers and staff, at times led to their inability to complete other key tasks, such as providing severe weather information support to state and local emergency managers.

questions: question: What access do NWS managers to hiring requests?
answer: NOAA's Workforce Management Office (WFMO) makes limited information available to NWS managers on the status of their hiring requests. GAO found that complete information was often not available to managers, such as when the processing of a new hiring request was scheduled to begin.
child_questions: question: Why would managers need access to this information?
answer: NWS managers said such information was critical for allocating resources and managing work, particularly in light of the length of the NWS hiring process. For example, agency data show that filling hiring requests selected for processing ranged from 64 to 467 days in fiscal year 2016.

question: How does this compare to federal standards?
answer: This is not consistent with federal internal control standards that call for management to communicate necessary quality information to achieve an entity's objectives.

question: What is WFMO doing to improve reporting capabilities?
answer: A WFMO official said the agency is working with the Department of Commerce to develop a new department-wide data system, potentially in 2017 that could provide improved tracking and reporting capabilities, but the design of the new system has not been finalized.
child_questions: question: What is the interim risk of this situation?
answer: In the interim, without complete information on the status of their requests, NWS operational unit managers are limited in their ability to plan for and distribute their unit's workload in the most efficient and effective manner.

questions: question: How has NOAA begun addressing the hiring backlog?
answer: NOAA's WFMO and NWS have taken some actions to help address NWS's hiring backlog. For example, NWS has combined job announcements for similar positions into one announcement.
child_questions: question: What impact have these actions had?
answer: NWS officials said they believe such actions have allowed them to streamline hiring, but they have not evaluated the extent to which their actions have achieved expected results, consistent with federal internal control standards.

question: What steps does NWS intend to take in the future to continue addressing the hiring backlog?
answer: NWS intends to develop a strategic human capital plan, which officials said could provide a framework for evaluating its hiring actions, but does not have a time frame for its development.
child_questions: question: How will better evaluation help NWS reduce the hiring backlog?
answer: In the interim, by evaluating whether its actions are reducing the hiring backlog, NWS would have better assurance that its actions were achieving expected results, and the agency could better determine where to devote resources.

questions: question: What did GAO examine in this report?
answer: GAO was asked to review vacancies and hiring at NWS operational units. This report examines (1) information available on vacancies at NWS operational units for fiscal years 2010 through 2016, (2) any steps NWS operational unit management and staff have taken to address the impact of vacancies at their units, (3) the extent to which NOAA's WFMO makes information available to managers on the status of hiring requests, and (4) the extent to which NOAA's WFMO and NWS are taking actions to address the hiring backlog at operational units.
child_questions: question: What information did GAO analyze?
answer: GAO analyzed available vacancy data for fiscal years 2010 through 2016 and assessed the data's reliability; examined relevant documentation and interviewed NOAA, WFMO, and NWS officials; and visited a nongeneralizable sample of nine units selected to reflect geographic diversity and varying vacancy levels.