USDA is one of the largest civilian federal government departments, with more than 100,000 employees as of the end of fiscal year 2012. It is composed of 17 agencies and a number of departmental offices. FSA, NRCS, and RD are collectively referred to as USDA’s service center agencies. They provide financial and technical assistance to agricultural producers and rural communities. Specifically, FSA provides payments and loans to agricultural producers through various programs, including farm commodity and crop disaster assistance programs authorized in the 2008 Farm Bill. NRCS provides, among other things, technical and financial assistance to private landowners to implement conservation practices on their land. NRCS’s Soil Science Division, along with other federal agencies, states, and other entities, makes and maintains an inventory of the soil resources of the United States and disseminates the results for both nonfarm and farm uses. RD provides loans, grants, and technical assistance to rural residents, businesses, and other entities. The workforces of USDA’s service center agencies are located in national headquarters operations, which include specialized offices in various locations, as well as in extensive field office structures, which include USDA service center locations. As of the end of fiscal year 2012, FSA’s workforce was located in more than 2,100 offices, with a total of about 13,600 employees—about 1,300 in FSA’s headquarters operations and about 12,300 in field locations. NRCS’s workforce was located in approximately 2,900 offices, with a total of about 11,800 employees— about 1,200 in NRCS’s headquarters operations and about 10,600 in field locations. RD’s workforce was located in more than 400 offices, with a total of about 5,100 employees—about 1,400 in its headquarters operations and about 3,700 in field locations. USDA’s Blueprint for Stronger Service is a departmental initiative announced by the Secretary of Agriculture in January 2012 that is intended to streamline operations and cut costs across the department. This initiative encompasses a number of efforts at the departmental and agency levels. Office closures announced under the initiative in fiscal year 2012 resulted in the closure of more than 200 offices, facilities, and labs in eight USDA agencies, including at USDA’s service center agencies. As part of this initiative: FSA closed 125 offices (out of about 2,100 total offices) in 32 states. Based on information from FSA, these closures resulted in estimated net savings, starting in fiscal year 2013, of about $2.1 million. In choosing which offices to close, FSA officials told us they were guided by provisions in the 2008 Farm Bill, which requires that, to the maximum extent practicable, the agency must close offices with two or fewer permanent full-time employees and that were less than 20 miles from another office before closing any office located more than 20 miles from another office. FSA officials also reported that they closed unstaffed offices regardless of their distance from another office. In addition to closing offices, FSA offered four rounds of buyout or early retirement incentives to its employees in fiscal year 2012. With limited exceptions, three of the four rounds were offered to staff in both headquarters operations and field locations, in some cases subject to a priority order. The fourth offer was limited to employees in offices selected for closures in fiscal year 2012. In response to these incentives, OPM and USDA data indicate that 682 FSA employees accepted buyout or early retirement incentives, which, according to FSA officials, resulted in about $20 million in cost savings in fiscal year 2012. NRCS closed 24 soil survey offices (out of about 160 soil survey offices and about 2,800 offices overall) in 21 states. According to NRCS officials, these closures resulted in estimated savings of about $1.3 million in fiscal year 2013. NRCS officials told us that to determine which local soil survey offices to close, they reviewed offices’ funding, workload, and proximity to specific universities. For regional office closure determinations, officials told us they considered workload, proximity to transportation corridors, and equitable distribution of local offices in each region. In addition to closing offices, NRCS offered buyout and early retirement incentives to employees affected by the soil survey office closures. According to NRCS officials, 18 NRCS employees accepted buyout incentives, and a subset of those individuals also accepted early retirement incentives associated with its soil survey office closures in fiscal year 2012. The savings NRCS attributed to employees accepting those incentives was approximately $470,000 in fiscal year 2012. RD closed 43 offices (out of more than 400 total offices) in 17 states. According to RD officials, these closures resulted in estimated net savings, starting in fiscal year 2013, of about $710,000. In choosing which offices to close, RD officials told us that they used focus groups and weighed multiple criteria, including whether (1) an office location was in an isolated community, (2) a particular location served tribal lands, and (3) other USDA agencies were contemplating a closure in the same location. In addition, prior to the office closures, RD offered buyout and early retirement incentives to all optional and early retirement eligible employees, except for employees in two occupations. OPM data indicate that 599 RD employees accepted buyout or early retirement incentives in fiscal year 2012, which RD officials told us resulted in about $25 million in cost savings in fiscal year 2012. Prior to this initiative, USDA’s service center agencies have closed offices. For example, FSA officials told us that the agency has closed hundreds of offices in the last 10 years as a result of staff reductions and workload changes. OPM provides guidance to federal agencies on human capital management topics. For example, OPM issued the Human Capital Assessment and Accountability Framework, which includes five systems that provide a framework for human capital management for the federal government. This guidance states, among other things, that an effectively implemented workforce planning system results in the right balance of supervisory and nonsupervisory positions to best support the agency mission based on an analysis of customer needs and workload distribution. OPM also provides guidance to agencies on classification of grades and positions. For example, under the General Schedule, agencies use a uniform set of OPM-issued standards to classify positions into occupation series within five occupational groups, including (1) professional and scientific positions, (2) administrative and management positions, (3) technical and medical support positions, (4) clerical and administrative support positions, and (5) other. At USDA, the Office of Human Resources Management directs implementation of the Human Capital Assessment and Accountability Framework and evaluates human capital management policies, among others, to determine how effectively they support human capital efforts to achieve program results. Among other things, and as follows, the office: Assists in the implementation of USDA’s Cultural Transformation, a set of initiatives launched in 2010 to promote, among others, diversity, inclusion, and high-performance. For example, the office issues a monthly report that tracks progress on various measures, including the diversity of the USDA workforce, performance management, and communication with employees. Provides guidance and oversight to USDA agencies on human capital planning and management. For example, the office has developed a draft human capital planning guide to aid its agencies in developing human capital plans. As part of its oversight of human capital management, the office oversees the implementation of a 2010 USDA policy on the ratio of supervisors to employees that, among other things, outlines a process for agencies to annually calculate their supervisory ratios and provide the results to USDA. USDA has a policy on organizational changes. Among other things, it states that USDA’s Secretary or Assistant Secretary for Administration must approve organizational changes that include, among other things, the closure of an office. The policy also states that proposals for organizational changes such as office closures include a variety of detailed information, including (1) the circumstances giving rise to the proposal; (2) human resource management, financial, and facilities impacts; (3) a copy of an internal analysis on civil rights impact; and (4) verification from agency management that internal control requirements have been met. In our past work, we have established leading practices for consolidation initiatives such as office closures. Specifically, such practices include the following: Identify and agree upon goals. The key to any consolidation initiative is the identification of and agreement on specific goals. Defining goals can also help agency leaders clarify the benefits associated with a consolidation and describe a future that will be both different from and better than the past. Present a business-case or cost-benefit analysis. Such an analysis can help agencies show stakeholders why a particular initiative is being considered and the range of alternatives considered to ensure they are using public funds most effectively. Identify stakeholders and develop a two-way communications strategy. Since stakeholders often view consolidation as working against their own interests, it is critical that agencies identify the relevant stakeholders and develop a two-way communications strategy that both addresses stakeholder concerns and conveys the rationale for and overarching benefits associated with the consolidation. Implement consolidations using change management practices. Implementing a consolidation requires the concentrated efforts of both leadership and employees. Agencies should have an implementation plan for the consolidation that includes, among other things, essential change management practices such as active, engaged leadership at the highest possible levels; a dedicated implementation team that can be held accountable for change; and a strategy for documenting best practices and measuring progress toward the established goals of the consolidation. In our past work, we have also established leading practices for implementing staff reductions through the use of buyout and early retirement incentives. Such practices include the following: Identify the reshaping goals of the agency. This will assist agencies in linking buyout and early retirement incentives to specific organizational objectives. Develop workforce reshaping strategies that fully consider alternative methods. This will help agencies identify whether alternatives to buyout and early retirement incentives may more effectively meet agency reshaping goals and could work in conjunction with these tools.