Date: 2002-04-10
Speaker: TOM DAVIS (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Virginia

Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman. I appreciate the commonsense leadership of the distinguished chairman and the ranking member of the Committee on Government Reform on the Digital Tech Corps Act of 2002. I also appreciate the hard work of the Committee on the Judiciary and the Committee on Ways and Means in contributing to this legislation. The General Accounting Office added human capital management to its annual highrisk list in 2001. Governmentwide. we face significant human capital shortages that will only get worse as 34 percent of the Federal workforce becomes eligible to retire in the next 5 years. The numbers are even more startling in highly specialized fields where government recruiting is in direct competition with the private sector. Nowhere is this more evident than with the technology workforce. It is estimated that 50 percent of the governments technology workforce will be eligible to retire by the year 2006. Over the past decade. the Congress and the executive branch have worked together to bring about significant management reform. We have passed acquisition reform. information technology management reform. and government performance and results legislation. Unfortunately. no one has updated the laws and regulations governing the management of the governments single most valuable resource: our people. The private sector long ago made endtoend review of human resources management a top priority. The private sector learned a lesson our government has yet to fully recognize: A companys value is only as strong as the people that come through the door every day. bringing knowledge. new ideas. and innovation. A recent KPMG report on human capital management within the Federal sector noted the government is operating with personnel tools utilized and developed in the 1950s and 1960s. The same study noted that industry undertook major capital management reforms in the 1980s and have continued reviews as often as three times a year. For the past decade. the government managed through minimum mandatory personnel ceilings and hiring freezes. Today we see the results in nearly every General Accounting Office report on government programs. Agencies have lost so many personnel that they face growing challenges in managing programs. acquisitions and logistics. At the Department of Energy. for example. there have not been enough personnel to oversee daily operations at sensitive nuclear facilities. And at NASA. downsizing has left the space shuttle team short of qualified personnel and launch activities. Unfortunately. there are many examples within the Federal Government. Today. I think we have to address this reality both in the long term and in the short term. It is my firm belief that the larger human capital management crisis will not be solved without the joint efforts of Congress. the administration. Federal employees and groups that represent Federal employees. and the private sector. We have to look to more immediate solutions to solve the workforce shortages in highly skilled technical areas of the government. Agencies should be able to effectively and efficiently perform their missions while enhancing service delivery to the taxpayers that are footing the bill. According to the National Academy of Public Administration. the primary barriers to recruiting new information technology workers are salary. the delays in hiring. and a lack of robust training opportunities so that IT workers can keep their skills current with changing technologies. We have significant work to do in order to obtain. train. and retain government workers. The Digital Tech Corps Act of 2002. H.R. 3925. is an effort to help both the training and retention aspects of our human capital management challenges. The Digital Tech Corps is an opportunity for government and private sector IT professionals to crosspollinate best practices in IT management for a better government and a more productive private sector workforce. For government employees. the exchange offers emerging leaders the training ground to learn cuttingedge practices. and to bring those lessons back home. For private sector employees. the exchange is a rewarding opportunity for public service. Volunteers gain experience solving some of the worlds most difficult IT programs while working for the worlds largest employer. Tech Corps gives IT managers the opportunity to fulfill the Presidents call in the State of the Union address for every American to commit 2 years of service to our Nation. We found many positive byproducts of 9/lis tragic attacks. including reinvigorating dedication to public service. Government employees. both civilians and military. are at the heart of the war on terrorism. Achieving change that will ensure our security will come only through the sustained efforts of professionals working within existing agencies. That is why Tech Corps gives midlevel IT workers the opportunity to learn best practices in the management of complex projects. Tech Corps is a new vision for public service in the 21st century. However. it is not one without extensive precedent. Indeed. the operations and the ethics provisions of this legislation comes from decades of experience with publicprivate exchanges. including the 30plus years of success with the IPA progtam. IPA exchanges allows our cuttingedge research facilities. such as those at DARPA and the National Science Foundation to obtain unparalleled access to talent and expertise. the over 200 educational partnership agreements and training with industry exchange programs that the Department of Defense has between private sector organizations. academia and government labs. and the National Institute for Standards and Technology exchange program with industry scientists at the Center for Advanced Research in Biotechnology. In terms of operation. the Digital Tech Corps Act provides for exchange of talented midlevel staff at the GS11 to 15 levels. or the equivalents in the pj:ivate sector. The time period for this exchange is limited to 6 to 12 months. with an optional 1 year extension. Federal employees working in private sector organizations are required to fulfill service commitments to their agencies like those that apply in the military. All participants must adhere to strict ethics rules. Employees retain the pay and benefits from their respective employers while on assignment. Thus. this legislation enables. we believe. a costeffective. twoway transfer of talent. It will reap great rewards for the American people as the government starts to get an infusion of information technology talent to kick start egovernment initiatives. and to help us fight the war on terrorism. Mr. Chairman. I reserve the balance of my time.