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Ms. Gloria R.
Parker, Co-Chair, CIO, HUD
Mr. Ira L. Hobbs, Co-Chair, Deputy CIO,
USDA
Update:
Implementation of the Federal IT Workforce
Challenge
Recommendations
Background
For the second
consecutive year, Federal CIOs have identified the need for
skilled information technology (IT) workers as their most
critical issue. The Information Technology Association of
America predicted that approximately half of the 1.6 million
IT jobs expected to be generated in FY2000 would not be
filled. In November 2000, the National Association of State
Information Resource Executives reported that the vacancy rate
of their IT positions was greater than 15 percent. The General
Accounting Office has added "strategic human capital
management" to their "high-risk list" for 2001.
The demand for highly
skilled IT workers continues to grow at an extraordinary pace.
Employers around the country-including the federal
government-are struggling to meet their needs for these
workers.
During the past year,
the committee has continued to make significant progress in
meeting these IT workforce challenges. This update describes
our recent accomplishments and continuing efforts to implement
the recommendations made in the committee's report, "Meeting
the Federal IT Workforce Challenge". Current best practices of
committee agencies are also highlighted.
Recommendation
Areas
Workforce
Planning and Management
- In January 2001,
the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) established higher
pay rates for computer specialists, computer engineers, and
computer scientists covered by the General Schedule (GS) at
grades GS-5, 7, 9, 11, and 12. In combination with the
across-the-board GS increase, the special pay rates produced
overall net increases ranging from 7 percent to 33 percent
for most affected employees. The special rates are designed
to help agencies address significant problems in recruiting
high quality entry- and developmental-level Federal IT
workers with the latest skills. The new rates were developed
in consultation with and through the support of the CIO
Council. Further information on this initiative is available
on the OPM web site at www.opm.gov/oca/compmemo/2000/2000-13.htm.
- The Federal CIO
Council is sponsoring the National Academy of Public
Administration's (NAPA) landmark study on how the Federal
government can best compete for IT talent. This non-partisan
study, which began in October 2000, involves all three
branches of the Federal government in an effort to find best
practices in IT recruitment, retention and compensation
across the private sector, academia, and federal, state and
local governments. NAPA has assembled a first rate NAPA
Fellows Panel and a cross-disciplinary executive Project
Leadership Committee to oversee the study. It has contacted
a large number of organizations and is conducting in-depth
discussions with those that demonstrate best practices and
innovative solutions to the IT workforce crisis. At the 5th
Annual AFFIRM FOSE breakfast, scheduled for March 22, 2001,
NAPA will be releasing the executive summary of its initial
research findings. Next steps will include the formulation
and recommendation of specific compensation strategies for
the Federal government and the development of specific
legislative, regulatory or administrative proposals for
implementing these strategies. NAPA's final report and
recommendations will be completed in late summer
2001.
- Over the past
year, significant progress has been made toward the issuance
of new, updated standards for classifying IT positions and
recruiting IT employees. OPM plans to publish the new
GS-2200 Information Technology job family classification
standard in spring 2001. The GS-2200 standard will include
new classification titles and updated job evaluation
criteria that reflect the dramatic changes affecting work
performed by IT employees. The new IT competency-based job
profile, which will replace the qualification standard for
the GS-334 Computer Specialist series, includes a number of
new and innovative tools and strategies for recruiting high
quality applicants, including web-based assessment tools.
The job profile is being pilot tested in several agencies
and the initial results of the pilot are favorable. OPM is
continuing to evaluate the benefits of the competency-based
job profile approach. Both of these important initiatives
have been developed in close cooperation with the CIO
Council IT Workforce Committee. Further information on these
initiatives is available at www.opm.gov/fedclass/html/whatsnew.htm.
Recruitment and
Retention
- The two co-chairs
of the CIO Council IT Workforce Committee, Gloria R. Parker
and Ira L. Hobbs, are committed to spreading the word about
the Federal Government IT workforce challenge and the
actions being taken by the Committee in response to this
challenge. Both co-chairs are invited regularly to make
presentations at both conferences and meetings throughout
the country. The Committee also maintains an active website
at www.cio.gov. The web site includes presentations given by
the Committee co-chairs as well as by other members of the
Committee in the areas of IT workforce improvement. As part
of its outreach effort, the Committee maintains close
contact with officials at OPM and other federal
agencies.
OPM continues to encourage agencies to use
existing incentives (e.g., recruitment bonuses, retention
allowances, and relocation bonuses) to enhance efforts to
attract new workers into the Federal service and to retain
current employees who have critical IT skills. Further
information on these incentives is available from OPM's web
site, www.opm.gov/oca/pay/HTML/Q&ARRR.HTM.
- In November 2000,
colleges and universities were invited to submit grant
proposals to the National Science Foundation (NSF) for the
Federal Cyber Service (FCS) Scholarship for Service (SFS)
initiative. The primary goal of the SFS program is to pay
students for two years of undergraduate or graduate
education in an information security program in return for a
two-year commitment to Government service. Students who
participate in the SFS program will be evaluated against a
set of qualification standards to ensure they have acquired
the competencies necessary to successfully perform
information security work. The proposals have been evaluated
and campus visits to competing institutions will be
completed during March and April. Grant announcements will
be released during the National Colloquium for Information System Security
Educators (NCISSE) in May 2001. Scholarships for
approximately 100 students will be available beginning in
the fall 2001 semester.
Government, academia and industry
members interested in information assurance education
initiatives should attend the NCISSE, May 22- 24, 2001.
Colloquium registration information is available atwww.ncisse.org/Conference2001/index.htm.
- The IT Workforce
Committee has been tracking closely the activities of the
Access Board, the General Services Administration (GSA), and
other agencies in their efforts to begin implementing the
requirements of Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of
1973. Section 508 requires that all Federal agencies
procure, develop, maintain, and use electronic and
information technology which is accessible to individuals
with disabilities. The Committee considers Section 508 of
primary importance, since disabled individuals now and in
the future will make up a valuable segment of the Federal IT
workforce. Further information on this important legislation
and its implementing standards are available at http://www.section508.gov/.
- The Committee's
High School Outreach Team was formed in November 2000, to
work closely with the Industry Advisory Council's IT PACE
(Programs for Academic and Career Enhancement) Committee.
The Team will also work with the Commerce Department to
support the National Academy Foundation's (NAF) IT Career
Academy effort. NAF has established an IT career academy at
Roosevelt High School in Prince George's County, Maryland.
Additionally, the Team plans to coordinate closely with the
Treasury Department's Partnership in Education Program to
facilitate intern and shadowing opportunities. The team
coordinated a Groundhog Job Shadow Day for 35 students from
three District of Columbia high schools on February 2, 2001.
Several agencies participated, providing students with a
view of a Federal Government IT career.
- In October 2000,
the National Research Council's Committee on Workforce Needs
in IT published the results of its 18-month study of the
nation's needs for a high-technology workforce over the next
10 years. The study, funded by both the NSF and the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration, specifically focused
on IT workforce needs. The report examined the demographics
of the available IT workforce, both domestic and foreign, as
well as the issue of age and employment in the IT workforce.
The report is available on the project's web site, http://www.itworkforce.org/.
- On December 14,
2000, OPM published the interim regulations implementing the
Federal Career Intern Program. The program, which provides
for a 2-year internship, is designed to attract exceptional
individuals into a variety of occupations, including IT, and
is intended for positions at the GS-5, GS-7, and GS-9 levels
for which the agency has a formal training program in place.
Upon successful completion of the internships, interns may
be eligible for permanent placement within an agency.
Further information on this program can be obtained from
agency human resources management offices or OPM's web site,
www.opm.gov/careerintern/.
- In January 2001,
OPM issued final regulations for the Federal Student Loan
Repayment Program. The effective date of these regulations
is April 12, 2001. This program authorizes federal agencies
to repay Federally insured student loans as a recruitment or
retention incentive for both job candidates and current
employees. As a recruitment tool, agencies can offer student
loan repayments once they have made an offer of employment.
As a retention tool, loan repayments can be made to current
employees as one of many incentives designed to keep
talented employees in the Federal workforce. Agencies can
tailor loan repayment programs to meet specific resource
needs. Agencies may repay up to $6,000 per year per
individual for a maximum of $40,000 per employee overall.
Agencies are authorized to set up and administer their own
loan repayment programs in order to recruit or retain highly
qualified professional, technical, or administrative
personnel. Further information on this program can be
obtained from agency human resources offices or OPM's web
site, www.opm.gov/studentloan/.
Career
Development
- The Federal IT
Workforce Committee issued the updated version of the
Clinger-Cohen Competencies in September 2000. The
Clinger-Cohen Competencies serve as a baseline to assist
agencies in complying with Section 5125(C)(3) of the Clinger
Cohen Act by identifying competencies an organization should
possess. The IT Workforce Committee has championed the
update of the Clinger-Cohen Competencies on a biennial basis
to identify emerging IT management competencies that are
critical to the success of organizations. The competencies
are widely used by Federal agencies in educational,
retention and recruiting activities.
- The Committee's IT
Roadmap project will provide career development tools for
current and prospective IT employees in the Federal
Government. The tools will be made available to all current
and prospective Federal employees through the Federal CIO
Council web site. The tools will include: descriptions of
the Federal IT career fields, including general and
technical competencies; instruments that allow individuals
to assess their knowledge and skills against the
competencies; a compendium of training, education, and
technical materials (including information on providers) for
each competency; and, instruments to help users create
individual training and development plans. In addition, the
project team envisions providing links to other government,
academic, and private sector web sites with IT career and
employment information.
- The goal of the
Department of State's IT Skills Incentive Pilot Program is
to retain employees with critical IT skills and increase the
expertise and stability of the IT workforce through
financial recognition. IT professionals receive up to a 15
percent retention allowance for completing formal
certification in certain technical areas. The program, in
existence for 17 months, has met or exceeded its goals --
professional certifications have grown by almost 800% and
attrition rates are stable.
- The Department of
State's IT Career Development Model includes career paths,
competencies, an assessment tool, a resume building
function, learning maps, and action plans. The model has
been converted into an interactive web-enabled career
development tool, allowing State's IT employees to perform
career assessment and planning at their desktops via the
Department's Intranet. Currently in user acceptance testing,
the IT Career Development tool is expected to be deployed in
June 2001.
The Department of the Navy's "Career Path Guide for
Managing Technology, Information, and Knowledge" outlines a
process for employees to use in planning their careers. It
describes the general and technical competencies that are
key to job success, and gives employees and their
supervisors a tool for helping employees to excel in current
and future jobs.
- The CIO University
is consortium of universities which offers graduate level
curriculums that directly address the Clinger Cohen Core
Competencies that make a CIO organization successful. This
program, which is sponsored by the Federal CIO Council and
administered by GSA, serves to improve government by
enhancing the skills of its top executives.
In July
2000, the inaugural class received CIO University
certificates signed by the Vice President of the United
States. Currently, over 100 individuals have enrolled in
curriculums offered by the CIO University's four academic
partners: Carnegie Mellon University, George Mason
University, George Washington University, and the University
of Maryland University College. The next graduation is
planned for July 2001.
After the revised
Clinger-Cohen Competencies were issued in September 2000,
over 100 experts from government, industry, and academia
participated in focus groups to produce a corresponding
revised set of learning objectives. These learning
objectives will be folded into a new Request for
Information, scheduled to be released in the spring 2001, to
identify potential new academic partners for the CIO
University.
- The Strategic and
Tactical Advocates for Results (STAR) program is a
graduate-level curriculum designed to advance effective
strategic planning and coordination while achieving
Clinger-Cohen results-based management. Created under the
auspices of GSA and the Federal IT Workforce Committee, STAR
has graduated four pilot classes and over 100
students.
STAR has a broad impact across government, as
it includes a practicum exercise designed to integrate the
various aspects of the curriculum with agency "real world"
problems, resulting in business solutions which provide an
immediate return for each participant, sponsoring executive,
and sponsoring agency. The Council is currently analyzing
the outcomes of the four pilot classes and positioning to
make enhancements to the curriculum.
- On July 28, 2000,
the Federal Task Force on Training Technology delivered its
report, "Technology: Transforming Federal Training," as
required by Executive Order 13111. As a result of Task Force
efforts, 13 agencies are implementing Individual Learning
Account pilot programs and all agencies will annually
develop specific training goals aligned with mission
requirements, as required by new Office of Management and
Budget (OMB) Circular A-11 language. The Task Force made the
following recommendations to lay the foundation needed to
accelerate the use of learning technology in the Federal
government and to strengthen the growth of a world-class
Federal workforce:
- Establish a
one-stop-shop for Federal training technology;
- Make training a
strategic planning priority for all agencies;
- Establish a
competitive learning technology innovation grants for
agencies;
- Launch a
campaign to educate decision-makers on the advantages of
using learning technology; and,
- Develop a
program to promote existing procurement flexibilities for
agency use.
These recommendations
will provide opportunities for innovative partnerships and
collaborations among agencies and with private sector partners
that are critical to leveraging the Federal Government's
consumer position. Also critical to the successful integration
of e-learning technology into the Federal training mainstream
is the adoption of common standards for e-learning. Copies of
the Task Force report, "Technology: Transforming Federal
Training," can be downloaded from the OPM website, http://www.opm.gov/, or the
Taskforce website, http://www.technology-taskforce.gov/. |