Department of Defense's Civilian Human Capital Strategic Plan Does Not Meet Most Statutory Requirements

摘要

To examine the extent to which DOD's civilian human capital strategic plan addresses congressional reporting requirements, we obtained and analyzed the 'Department of Defense Civilian Human Capital Strategic Plan 2006- 2010' and 'The Department of Defense Human Capital Strategic Plan for Civilian Employees of the Department of Defense, Fiscal Year 2006 Implementation Report, ' along with other documents. We analyzed the content of these documents and compared them to the requirements of the 2006 act. Overall, DOD's civilian human capital strategic plan does not meet most statutory requirements. First, the plan partially addresses some but not all aspects of two of the congressional reporting requirements established in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2006. Specifically, DOD's plan includes a list of mission-critical occupations needed for the current civilian workforce, but this list does not constitute the required assessment of skills of the existing workforce. Second, and most importantly, the plan does not address the majority six of eight of the congressional reporting requirements. For example, the plan does not include an assessment of current mission-critical competencies, future critical skills and competencies needed, gaps between the current and future needs, or specific recruiting and retention goals, even though these elements are required by the 2006 act. DOD officials acknowledged that the plan they submitted to the committees is incomplete. Without complete information on DOD's civilian human capital plan, to include analyses of gaps between critical skills and competencies needed by the current and future workforce, Congress will not have the information it needs to conduct effective oversight over DOD's efforts to hire, develop, and retain the best possible civilian workforce. Accordingly, we are recommending that DOD submit to Congress a civilian human capital strategic plan that addresses all of the statutory requirements.