NASA: Progress Made on Strategic Human Capital Management, but Future Program Challenges Remain

With a workforce of about 35,000, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers provides engineering services for civil works and military programs in the U.S. and overseas. Recently, the Corps¿ focus has shifted to also support contingency operations, such as responding to natural disasters. To meet its mission and emerging priorities, the Corps must have effective human capital planning processes to ensure that it can maintain its workforce. This report examines the: (1) extent to which the Corps has aligned its human capital plan with its strategic plan; (2) extent to which the Corps has the information necessary to identify and meet current and future workforce needs; and (3) challenges the Corps faces in meeting its workforce needs. Includes recomm. Ill.

To address the challenges that the nation faces, it will be important for fed. agencies to change their cultures and create the institutional capacity to become high-performing organizations. This includes recruiting and retaining a fed. workforce able to create, sustain, and thrive in organizations that are flatter, results-oriented, and externally focused. This testimony, based on a large body of completed work issued from Jan. 2001 through April 2008, focuses on: (1) challenges that fed. agencies have faced in recruiting and hiring talented employees; (2) progress in addressing these challenges; and (3) additional actions that are needed to strengthen recruiting and hiring efforts.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has experienced an expanding workload due to emerging health threats, such as bioterrorism. Strategic planning helps agencies like CDC sustain a workforce with the necessary education, skills, and competencies -- human capital -- to fulfill their missions. In Sept. 2007, CDC released its Strategic Human Capital Mgmt. Plan (CDC Plan). This report reviewed CDC¿s human capital planning and determined: (1) whether the CDC Plan was designed to address the human capital challenges CDC faces; (2) the extent to which the CDC Plan is strategically aligned with agency goals, plans, and budget; and (3) the extent to which CDC incorporated principles for strategic human capital planning.

GAO, like other fed. agencies, faces challenges in increasing diversity in its workforce, including top leadership. Because of congressional interest in the effectiveness of diversity offices and the under-representation of women and minorities in legislative branch agencies, Congress asked the GAO¿s Inspector General to: (1) determine whether GAO¿s diversity efforts are achieving better representation of women and minorities in top leadership; (2) evaluate the accuracy and completeness of GAO¿s FY 2007 complaint and discrimination data; and (3) assess the independence and reporting relationships of the head of GAO¿s Office of Opportunity and Inclusiveness. Includes recommendations. Illustrations.