BLM, BSEE, and BOEM are directly overseen by the Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management, who is responsible for guiding Interior’s management and use of federal lands and waters and their associated mineral and nonmineral resources. In addition, human capital programs at the bureaus and elsewhere in the department are overseen by Interior’s Assistant Secretary of the Office of Policy, Management and Budget, which is broadly responsible for employee training and development; part of the office’s mission is providing high-quality, innovative, efficient, and effective training. The Office of Policy, Management and Budget comprises multiple offices, including the Office of Human Resources, which has primary responsibility for evaluating the effectiveness of Interior’s personnel management program, and the Office of Strategic Employee and Organization Development, which is responsible for delivering efficient and effective training across the department. In fiscal year 2014, BLM, BSEE, and BOEM employed over 900 key oil and gas staff who oversee onshore and offshore oil and gas activities. Onshore land use planning is handled by BLM’s petroleum engineers, natural resource specialists, geologists, and other scientists. Offshore resource planning is handled by BOEM’s petroleum engineers, geoscientists, and other specialists. Operators that are awarded leases for oil and gas development can then submit to BLM (onshore) or BSEE (offshore) an application for a permit to drill. Petroleum engineers, inspectors, natural resource specialists, geologists, and other scientists review and approve applications for permits to drill. The application for permit to drill contains a detailed set of forms and documents that specify requirements that the operator must follow when drilling. Once operators’ planning for oil and gas operations commence, BLM and BSEE inspectors, petroleum engineers, and natural resource specialists carry out a variety of oil and gas inspections. For example, BLM’s inspectors conduct production inspections, drilling inspections, and environmental compliance inspections. Similarly, BSEE inspectors conduct drilling and production inspections to ensure that operators comply with all regulatory requirements. However, Interior and others have stated that offshore inspections in a marine environment are generally more complex and difficult than onshore inspections and require helicopters or boats to reach inspection sites, making the planning and performance of duties more difficult and hazardous. Further, offshore facilities have large amounts of equipment and personnel in relatively confined spaces, more sophisticated safety systems and requirements, and high production volumes, pressures, and temperatures, as well as more limited access to some equipment and piping, especially in deep water areas that are far from shore. In addition to GAO, Interior’s Inspector General and the Outer Continental Shelf Safety Oversight Board have reported on Interior’s challenges related to hiring and retention of such key oil and gas staff. For example, Interior’s Inspector General concluded in December 2010 that the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE)—which was replaced by BSEE and BOEM in 2011 and which oversaw offshore oil and gas activities—faced considerable hiring challenges in the Pacific Region because of increased hiring by the oil and gas industry in that area due to the industry’s significant salary advantage over federal service. In addition, the report found that engineers in BOEMRE’s Gulf of Mexico Region had to work extra hours to keep up with increased workloads because of staffing shortages, resulting in their inability to attend training or take annual leave. It stated that continued shortages could lead to significant employee burnout and the possibility of less comprehensive reviews as employees attempted to keep pace with demands. In a second 2010 report, Interior’s Inspector General reported that BLM risked losing its trained inspectors because oil and gas operators commonly recruit BLM inspectors by offering high salaries during successful business periods. In that report, the Inspector General recommended, among other things, that BLM consider developing and implementing a continued service agreement requiring newly certified inspectors to stay with the bureau for a specified period of time. Further, the Outer Continental Shelf Safety Oversight Board reported in 2010 that Interior did not have a formal program to train its inspectors. In terms of training, the Outer Continental Shelf Safety Oversight Board also noted in its 2010 report that almost half of the offshore inspectors it surveyed said they did not receive sufficient training. Further, BOEMRE did not have an inspection certification program that combined classroom and on-the-job experience, as well as a formal technical review or exam. By contrast, the report pointed out that BLM had a certification program that combined classroom instruction, on-the-job experience, and a formal technical review or exam. Among the board’s recommendations were for Interior to implement a bureau-wide certification or accreditation program for inspectors; consider partnering with BLM and its National Training Center to establish an Interior oil and gas inspection certification program, with training modules appropriate to the offshore environment as needed; develop a standardized training program similar to other Interior bureaus to ensure that inspectors are knowledgeable in all pertinent regulations, policies, and procedures; and ensure that annual training keeps inspectors up-to-date on new technology, policies, and procedures. Interior’s Inspector General came to similar conclusions and made similar recommendations in 2010. To address hiring and retention challenges, the federal government has a variety of tools available to use. For example, to address staffing problems caused when nonfederal employers pay significantly higher salaries than what the federal government pays, an agency may request special salary rates from OPM that establish higher minimum rates of basic pay for positions in one or more geographic areas. Agencies may also use incentive payments to recruit and retain employees. Incentive payments can come in the form of recruitment incentives, retention incentives, and relocation incentives. Recruitment incentives can be paid to new employees in certain difficult-to-fill positions; retention incentives can be paid to certain current employees holding high or unique qualifications; and relocation incentives can be paid to certain current employees who must relocate to accept a position in a different geographic area and whose position is difficult to fill. To receive an incentive payment, the employee must agree to complete a specified period of service with the agency. In general, total incentive payments may not exceed 25 percent of the employee’s original annual rate of basic pay multiplied by the number of years of service the employee agrees to complete. Agencies may also repay federally insured student loans in order to recruit or retain highly qualified candidates or employees through the Student Loan Repayment Program. Through this program, agencies may make payments to the loan holder of up to a maximum of $10,000 for an employee in a calendar year and a total of not more than $60,000 for any one employee. Employees receiving this benefit must sign an agreement to remain in the service of the agency for at least 3 years. Federal agencies can use special salary rates, incentive payments, and student loan repayments in combination to increase an employee’s overall compensation. Since 2012, Interior has taken steps to resolve its hiring and retention challenges for key oil and gas staff, but it has not evaluated the effectiveness of its efforts. In addition, Interior has missed opportunities to facilitate collaboration among the bureaus, and as a result, the bureaus have sometimes acted in a fragmented, overlapping, and potentially duplicative fashion to resolve similar hiring and retention challenges. Since 2012, Interior has taken steps to address two underlying factors— lower salaries and a lengthier hiring process compared with the oil and gas industry—that have impeded its ability to hire and retain key oil and gas staff, but it has not evaluated the effectiveness of its efforts. Interior has increased the compensation for certain key oil and gas staff through use of special salary rates, incentive payments, and student loan repayments since fiscal year 2012, but the department has not evaluated the effectiveness of this compensation in resolving its hiring and retention challenges. During fiscal years 2012 through 2016, Interior had special salary rates, authorized by Congress in annual appropriations acts, that allowed it to pay certain staff up to 25 percent more than their basic pay. Interior stated that in 2013 the Office of Policy, Management and Budget met with officials from OPM, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Department of Defense, and the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers to discuss the impacts of expanding oil and gas extraction activities on their recruitment and retention efforts. Interior also stated that the Office of Policy, Management and Budget worked with officials from BLM, BSEE and BOEM to (1) ensure that the three bureaus had the capacity to fund special salary rates through the budget process, (2) develop an integrated special salary rate request to OPM and (3) issue guidance that would provide instruction to human resource officials and hiring managers on its use. Further, Interior stated that, beginning in fiscal year 2013, the Office of Policy, Management and Budget submitted applications to OPM requesting to increase the base salaries for staff in certain positions and geographic locations through a special salary rate. In fiscal years 2015 and 2016, OPM approved Interior’s requests to provide key oil and gas staff in 11 states up to 35 percent more than their basic pay. In addition, some of the bureaus increased compensation through other tools, such as incentive payments and student loan repayments. For example, for fiscal years 2012 through 2014, BLM and BSEE substantially increased the number of staff receiving a retention incentive payment from a total of 14 to a total of 346 employees. During the same period, BSEE and BOEM increased the number of staff receiving a student loan repayment from 25 to 66 employees. (See fig. 3.) As noted earlier in this report, employees receiving incentive payments and student loan repayments must sign an agreement to remain working for the agency for a certain period of time. Service agreements, in addition to the actual monetary payment, may also play a role in retaining staff.