IRS attributed the delay to a combination of: 1) personnel resources redirected to implement Public Law 115-97commonly referred to as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, 2) lack of workforce planning skills within its Human Capital Office, and 3) delayed deployment at the Department of the Treasury (Treasury) related to a new workforce planning system. Published: Mar 15, 2002. Focusing on cybersecurity may help close this skills gap. Initiative implementation, however, is behind schedule and on hold. Leverage available hiring and pay flexibilities. Monitoring: partially met. IRS agreed with and has taken some steps to implement its workforce planning initiative. ODNI did not state whether it concurred with this recommendation. Upward and lateral mobility opportunities are important for retaining employees, but few employees move horizontally because managers are sometimes reluctant to lose employees. Among other programs and services, HCO oversees agency recruitment and hiring; employee benefits such as health insurance and retirement; student loan repayment; counseling services; performance management; payroll processing; telework; and support for reasonable accommodations. IRS has skills gaps in mission critical occupations, and the agency's efforts to address these skills gaps do not target the occupations in greatest need, such as tax examiners and revenue officers.

DOE plans to complete the action by the end of December 2022. GAO also recommends Treasury clarify guidance to IRS on a forthcoming workforce planning system. However, the regulation-required annual Human Capital Reviews are important to show leaderships commitment to addressing this issue and holding agencies accountable for taking action to close skills gaps.

IRS also faces mission-critical gaps for enforcement staff to investigate underreporting and noncompliance. Skills gaps within the federal workforce persist despite the continuing efforts of the Office of Personnel Management and federal agencies. As of August 2021, DOD stated that the NBIS Executive Program Manager will continue to refine program milestones based on resourcing and evolving policy requirements using Agile software development best practices. Leading practices in human capital management can help federal agencies address a number of challenges. Workforce Planning and Staffing: The Department of Veterans Affairs has not completed the hiring of medical officers and data analysts, (including those needed for making cost projections) and other planning efforts to ensure it has the capacity to comprehensively update its disability benefits eligibility criteria. Without these measures, the federal government's ability to address the complex social, economic, and security challenges facing the country may be compromised. For example, due to a lack of workforce planning and skills, none of the 24 Chief Financial Officers (CFO) Act agencies have fully implemented best practices for information technology (IT) or cybersecurity workforce planning, including ensuring staff have the skills to address cybersecurity risks and challenges in areas such as industrial control systems supporting the electric grid and avionics cybersecurity. Publicly Released: Mar 26, 2019. Action plan: partially met. Last month marked a milestone in the history of the countrys federal personnel system. According to IRS, the "Get-Well" strategy is the first step of many that HCO will implement to ensure the agency sustains a responsive program for the IRS's hiring needs. Clear guidance on hiring request requirements would better position IRS to avoid the risk of hiring delays for mission critical occupations. IRS agreed with the recommendation. The Office of Personnel Management receives over 100,000 federal retirement applications each year For Public Service Recognition Week, were celebrating the valuable contributions federal employees Programs and operations that are vulnerable to waste, fraud, abuse, or mismanagement, or in need of transformation. However, IRS reported in December 2021 that it was providing additional time to facilitate concurrence with key stakeholder organizations across IRS, among other reasons. Improving Federal Customer Service Efforts.

Actions to satisfy the intent of the recommendation have not been taken or are being planned, or actions that partially satisfy the intent of the recommendation have been taken. Of the 35 other high-risk areas, skills gaps played a significant role in 22 areas. DOD concurred with this recommendation. When we confirm what actions DOD has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information. GAO's review of the workforce plan found that IRS was scheduled to implement the plan and have a process to monitor and evaluate the results of the effort in December 2021. Treasury agreed with the recommendation. (Recommendation 2), Congress should consider requiring the Director of National Intelligence to develop continuous evaluation performance measures linked to goals to assess the performance of agencies' continuous evaluation programs, including measures to assess quality and the impact on resources. As a result, Treasury has clarified guidance to IRS about the ITM system, and we closed this recommendation as implemented. Stay informed as we add new reports & testimonies.

According to IRS, its Human Capital Office agrees with the recommendation and evaluated the effectiveness of its hiring activities and strategies (e.g., contracts, Administrative Resource Center (ARC) services, Federal Executive Board, and Business-based HR teams) on its enterprise hiring capacity. DOE's response to our report stated that DOE officials plan to review the Acquisition Career Management Program to determine whether additional positions and training should be incorporated into the program. IRS reported that full implementation of related actions has been delayed due to limited resources. Additionally, the changing nature of federal work and the high percentage of employees eligible for retirement could produce gaps in leadership and institutional knowledge, and threatens to aggravate the problems created from existing skills gaps. The table below provides examples of the high-risk areas in which skills gaps played a role; the causes of these skills gaps are grouped into four broad categoriesSkills, Staffing, Training, and Workforce Planning. IRS's workforce is the key to addressing its challenges. Government-Wide Personnel Security Clearance Process. (Recommendation 1), The Secretary of Defense should ensure that the Director of the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency revises the National Background Investigation Services system schedule to meet all the characteristics of a reliable schedule as defined in GAO's best practice guides for scheduling and Agile software development. Staffing and Skills: Criteria for appointing qualified staff to oversee acquisition programs are not being consistently applied. Based on that list, IRS developed a work plan and schedule for conducting priority skills assessments for 4 of 14 MCOs based on available resources. Since then, important progress has been made. When we confirm what actions Congress has taken in response to this matter, we will provide updated information. In so doing, the model highlights the importance of a sustained commitment by agency leaders to maximize the value of their agencies' human capital and manage related risks. Table 6: Examples of Skills Gaps Related to High-Risk Areas, Department Of Defense (DOD) Financial Management. A work plan for addressing MCOs and skills gaps could help IRS identify and close skills gaps on a timely basis. While our current and future hiring will be shaped by today's constrained budget environment, over the past 5 years, on average, GAO has hired about 300 employees each year. We will continue to monitor IRS's progress in implementing this recommendation. (Recommendation 7), Internal Revenue Service: Strategic Human Capital Management is Needed to Address Serious Risks to IRS's Mission. Currently, OPM has stated that it is assisting agencies in addressing emerging workforce needs in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. As of April 2022, the Bureau of Land Management said it is in the process of developing a process for bureau-wide strategic workforce planning by June 30, 2022. GAO was asked to review IRS's enterprise-wide strategic workforce planning efforts. Aspects of this strategy included establishing deadlines for HCO to post all vacancies and issue certificates of eligible candidates to the selecting officials and providing weekly reports to notify Business Units of completed announcements and certificates. HCO provides strategic human capital leadership and support to GAO managers and staff throughout their careers. Strategic Human Capital Management is Needed to Address Serious Risks to IRS's Mission. As part of this approach,agencies should: Increased levels of employee engagement can lead to better organizational performance. A variety of special pay authorities can help agencies compete in the labor market for top talent, but GAO has found that agencies only use them for a small number of employees. Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction: DHS Office Has Opportunities to Improve Partner Services and Employee Morale, State Department: Additional Actions Needed to Address IT Workforce Challenges, Rail and Air Labor Relations: National Mediation Board Made Progress on GAO Recommendations but Needs to Address Management Issues, Supplemental Material For GAO-22-103973: Status of DOD and Coast Guard Implementation of Statutory Requirements to Prevent and Respond to Sexual Assaults, 20042019, Sexual Assault: DOD and Coast Guard Should Ensure Laws Are Implemented to Improve Oversight of Key Prevention and Response Efforts, Paycheck Protection Program: Program Changes Increased Lending to Smaller and Underserved Businesses. Cultivating a well-equipped, diverse, flexible, and engaged workforce requires strategic human capital management. This report is part of a large body of GAO work examining issues in strategic human capital management. As a result, strategic human capital management remains on GAO's High-Risk List. IRS identified the Human Capital Officer as the responsible official for addressing this recommendation. Agencies have taken actions to implement some of these recommendations, but many remain open. Forty years Key Principles for Effective Strategic Workforce Planning.

Publicly Released: Mar 15, 2002. However, there are STEM occupations that are critical to agencies missionssuch as medical professionals and biomedical researchersthat also need to be addressed. Regarding government-wide skills gaps within science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) occupations, OPM officials stated they are initially focusing their efforts on addressing the shortage of cybersecurity professionals. Management of Federal Oil and Gas Resources. Workforce Planning and Skills:. Demonstrated progress: not met. The other four criteria remain unchanged. IRS agreed with this recommendation and stated that they will include workforce planning in their bi-monthly HRstat information submissions to Treasury. As a result, billions of dollars in taxes go unpaid every year. OPM has reported that, as of September 2020, it has made available 43 of the tools and flexibilities to assist agencies in mitigating skills gaps and is on track to provide the remaining five by the end of fiscal year 2021. Without such a plan, IRS risks continuing to scale back on mission-critical activities, adding to the existing fragmentation of its human capital planning efforts. In December 2020, IRS reported it had established a workforce plan, including an enterprise strategy, and had initiated the associated workforce analysis. Hiring freezes, retirements, and low morale have shrunk IRS's workforce, largely in enforcement, Chart showing steadily declining staffing levels for enforcement and operations support staff fiscal years 2011 through 2017. (Recommendation 1), The Chief Acquisition Officer should establish a process for top management's participation in future strategic acquisition workforce planning efforts with program offices and NNSA. Training: VA has not developed an enterprise-wide annual training plan. Staffing: The Food and Drug Administrations (FDA) inspection of foreign drug manufacturing establishments decreased, in part, due to a lack of staff available to conduct inspections. For example, FDA should address staffing challenges associated with conducting inspections of foreign drug manufacturers at an appropriate frequencya situation that has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, a number of indicators, such as increasing rates of retirement eligible employees and declining employee satisfaction, led IRS to determine that continuing to make short-term, largely nonstrategic human capital decisions was unsustainable. Audit Policy and Quality Assurance (APQA), Contracting and National Security Acquisitions (CNSA), Defense Capabilities and Management (DCM), Education, Workforce, and Income Security (EWIS), Forensic Audits and Investigative Service (FAIS), Financial Management and Business Operations (FMBO), Financial Markets and Community Investment (FMCI), Information Systems & Technology Services (ISTS), Information Technology and Cybersecurity (ITC), Office of Opportunity & Inclusiveness (O&I), Strategic Planning and External Liaison (SPEL), Science, Technology Assessment, and Analytics (STAA), Executive Candidate Assessment and Development Program. DOE plans to complete its assessment by the end of December 2022. Note: Two additional high-risk areas with skills gaps are Decennial Census and DOD Business Systems Modernization. IRS officials told GAO that resource constraints and fewer staff with strategic workforce planning skills due to attrition required IRS to largely abandon strategic workforce planning activities. OPM continues to provide technical support and monitor the work of Federal Agency Skills Teams (FAST)teams of subject matter experts and human capital management professionals established in most agencies to address their skills gaps. By December 2021, IRS will report the results of efforts to close skills gaps among revenue agents, including lessons learned on an annual basis over the next three fiscal years. We found more flexible hiring options were available to agencies but only a small number were used. Workforce Planning and Training: The Department of the Interior continues to experience challenges in workforce planning, including hiring, training, and retaining sufficient staff to oversee and manage oil and gas operations on federal lands and waters. Federal agencies face a range of management challenges driven by fiscal constraints, changing demographics, a wave of federal retirements, and the evolving role of the public sector. Transforming the Environmental Protection Agencys (EPA) Process for Assessing and Controlling Toxic Chemicals. GAO has reported that some federal job announcements were unclear. DOE concurred with the recommendation. Treasury's Offices of the Chief Human Capital Officer and the Chief Information Officer are responsible for ensuring effective communication and training are completed as each ITM module is implemented. For example, 31.6 percent of permanent federal employees who were on board as of September 30, 2017, will be eligible to retire in the next 5 years with some agencies having particularly high levels of employees eligible to retire. GAO is making six recommendations to IRS that include implementing its delayed workforce planning initiative, evaluate actions to improve the agency's hiring capacity, and address changes in its processes that have contributed to hiring delays. The Department of the Interior concurred with this recommendation.

While OPM has established an agency priority goal for fiscal years 2020 and 2021 to support agencies efforts to address skills gaps, mission-critical skills gaps are a root cause in high-risk areas across the government. One way IRS sought to address these issues was to develop a strategic workforce plan and associated workforce planning initiative. To help ensure agencies have the talent they need, they should explore and use all existing hiring authorities. Treasury stated that it has taken actions to ensure that IRS and all Treasury bureaus have a clear understanding of when the ITM workforce planning module will be available and how it will be used. (Recommendation 3), The Commissioner of IRS should ensure the Human Capital Officer and Deputy Commissioner for Services and Enforcement report the results of efforts to close skills gaps among revenue agents, including lessons learned, that may help inform strategies for conducting skills gap assessment efforts for other mission critical occupations. Encourage rotations and other mobility opportunities.

Further, as noted, skills gaps caused by an insufficient number of staff, inadequate workforce planning, and a lack of training in critical skills are contributing to our designating 22 of the 35 other areas as high risk. Capacity: partially met. Over the years, GAO has made numerous recommendations to agencies and OPM to improve their strategic human capital management efforts. In its recommendation status letter to us, IRS provided a timetable for implementation. Stay informed as we add new reports & testimonies. Treasury expects to complete the discussion on how to accomplish workforce planning in ITM by the end of calendar year 2019. The nations response toCOVID-19 (coronavirus)may also challenge the federal workforce. As a result, IRS lacks information about what mission critical skills it has on board, where skills gaps exist, and what skills will be needed in the future. GAO designated strategic human capital management as a government-wide, high-risk area in 2001. Going forward, it will be important for IRS to identify and address problems with its hiring capacity that may emerge as the agency works to close skills gaps in mission critical occupations. In June 2020, IRS reported they established a repeatable, data-based methodology for validating and prioritizing the list of MCOs, including reduction of the list from 22 positions to 14 Occupational Series to align with current IRS human capital management functions. Workforce Planning and Staffing: DOEs NNSA does not have a process to determine the number of acquisition professionals it needs to award and oversee contracts. In response, IRS developed a "Get-Well" strategy to address current and future IRS hiring requirements. GAO, along with the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and individual agencies, has identified skills gaps in numerous government-wide occupations. The majority of these hires were for analyst and analyst-related positions at the entry level. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Acquisition Management. OPMs use of these metrics across all FAST teams implements our January 2015 recommendation that OPM create an approach for identifying and monitoring skills gaps across multiple agencies. Some leading practices in human capital management can help overcome some of these challenges. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has scaled back strategic workforce planning activities in recent years. (Recommendation 6), The Commissioner of IRS should direct the Human Capital Officer and Chief Financial Officer to issue clarifying guidance on the current Exception Hiring Process, including clarifying areas where hiring limitations that were used in previous years are no longer applicable. Workforce Planning and Skills: Twenty-one of the 24 CFO Act agencies have not implemented IT management policies that fully address the roles of their chief information officers which includes ensuring that program staff have the necessary knowledge and skills to effectively acquire IT. IRS agreed with GAO's recommendations. GAO encourages OPM and the agencies to fully implement the recommendations. Further, the federal workforce has changed since the government's system of current employment policies and practices were designed. Strategies that can help agencies better manage the current and future workforces include: Manage the timing of recruitment. Training: Implementing a comprehensive and consistently offered Federal Supply Schedule training curriculum could enable VA to provide its staff with the tools and clarity needed to perform their roles and increase efficiency. However, retirements and the potential loss of leadership and institutional knowledge, coupled with fiscal pressures, underscore the importance of a strategic and efficient approach to acquiring and retaining individuals with critical skills. Executive Candidate Assessment and Development Program, Human Capital: Key Principles for Effective Strategic Workforce Planning. DOE concurred with the recommendation. Treasury stated that they conducted a Workforce Planning offsite in May 2019 to (1) ensure a common understanding of the workforce planning process as it relates to ITM; 2) document the process in preparation of utilizing ITM; and 3) agree on how the agency will accomplish workforce planning in ITM.

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