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United States Government Accountability Office: 
GAO: 

Report to Congressional Committees: 

March 2014: 

Transitioning Veterans: 

Improved Oversight Needed to Enhance Implementation of Transition 
Assistance Program: 

GAO-14-144: 

GAO Highlights: 

Highlights of GAO-14-144, a report to congressional committees. 

Why GAO Did This Study: 

Over the next few years, over a million military servicemembers are 
expected to transition to civilian life and some may face challenges 
such as finding employment. To help them, TAP provides departing 
servicemembers employment assistance and information on VA benefits, 
among other things. Begun in 2011, efforts to revamp TAP are underway 
based on the VOW to Hire Heroes Act of 2011 and the administration's 
recommendations. The act also mandated GAO to review TAP. This report 
addresses: 1) the status of TAP implementation; 2) the extent to which 
elements of effective implementation and evaluation of TAP have been 
addressed; and 3) any challenges that may remain. To do this GAO 
identified five elements of effective implementation and evaluation 
based on relevant federal laws and previously established GAO criteria 
for training programs; reviewed related GAO work; assessed reports, 
plans, and policies provided by agencies that administer TAP; 
interviewed officials from entities that support servicemembers and 
veterans; and conducted four nongeneralizable discussion groups with 
servicemembers who had taken TAP at three military installations. 

What GAO Found: 

The Departments of Defense (DOD), Labor (DOL), and Veterans Affairs 
(VA) have implemented most of the key components of the Transition 
Assistance Program (TAP), a gateway to information and services 
available to servicemembers transitioning to civilian life. However, 
the agencies are still in the process of implementing other key 
components of TAP. While originally planned for October 2013, agencies 
now plan to implement virtually all components by the end of March 
2014, with full implementation expected by June 2014.
Agencies' efforts are underway to adequately address three of five 
elements that GAO identified as important for effective implementation 
and evaluation of TAP: 

1--Track attendance: DOD has systems to collect and report on 
attendance, which help measure the extent to which TAP achieves its 
attendance goals. 

2--Ensure training quality: The agencies collect and plan to use 
participant feedback on instruction, content, and facilities to 
improve training. Each agency also plans to monitor its respective TAP 
components through site visits. 

3--Assess career readiness: The agencies developed standards to assess 
servicemembers' career readiness. During a capstone assessment, 
commanders are expected to verify and document whether standards were 
met. 

Agencies' efforts to address the remaining two elements are mixed: 

4--Ensure participation and completion: DOD has assigned commanders 
the responsibility for overseeing participation and has required the 
services to schedule training and communicate its importance to 
servicemembers. While the Army and Air Force gauge participation at 
the command level, the Navy and Marines lack a similar oversight 
mechanism. 

5--Measure performance and evaluate results: The agencies have 
established certain measures to assess program performance, but their 
TAP evaluation approach is incomplete. For example, the agencies have 
established measures to track program outputs, such as the percentage 
of servicemembers who have participated in TAP. However, the agencies' 
efforts to evaluate TAP results have focused on basic end-of-course 
evaluations and gauging servicemembers' readiness prior to separation 
instead of higher impact program evaluations, such as assessing the 
effectiveness of TAP on servicemembers 6 months after they have 
separated from the military. According to agency officials, such 
evaluations are being considered for certain components of TAP, but 
they could not provide GAO with a justification for including or 
excluding specific components of TAP in their evaluation planning 
efforts. 

Based on GAO's prior work and according to officials from the agencies 
and organizations GAO spoke with, a key remaining challenge for TAP 
may be the unfavorable timing and location of program delivery for 
National Guard and Reserve members. Unlike active duty servicemembers, 
National Guard and Reserve members receive TAP services closer to 
their transition and in locations that are generally neither where 
they work nor live. As a result, they may be distracted and have less 
time to benefit from TAP services. DOD is not well positioned to 
verify these concerns because it is not collecting data about these 
members' experiences with the timing and location of TAP service 
delivery. 

What GAO Recommends: 

GAO recommends that DOD improve oversight and implementation of TAP, 
including actions to gauge participation for all of the services and 
collect data about National Guard and Reserve members' experiences. 
DOD disagreed with two of GAO's three recommendations. GAO continues 
to believe that the recommendations are needed as discussed in the 
report. 

View [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-14-144]. For more 
information, contact Andrew Sherrill at (202) 512-7215 or 
sherrilla@gao.gov. 

[End of section] 

Contents: 

Letter: 

Background: 

Agencies Report That Most Locations Have Implemented Key TAP 
Components, but Some Locations Are Experiencing Delays: 

Agencies' Efforts for TAP Adequately Address Three of Five Key 
Elements Associated with Effective Program Implementation and 
Evaluation: 

DOD Lacks a Process to Assess the TAP Experience of National Guard and 
Reserve Members: 

Conclusions: 

Recommendations for Executive Action: 

Agency Comments and Our Evaluation: 

Appendix I: Technical Appendix: 

Appendix II: DOD Form 2958, Individual Transition Plan (ITP) Checklist: 

Appendix III: Comments from the Department of Defense: 

Appendix IV: Comments from the Department of Veterans Affairs: 

Appendix V: GAO Contact and Staff Acknowledgments: 

Tables: 

Table 1: Selected Statutory and Task Force Requirements for Transition 
Assistance Program (TAP): 

Table 2: Elements and Relevant Attributes and Extent They Have Been 
Addressed: 

Figures: 

Figure 1: Revamped Transition Assistance Program (TAP) Components, 
Activities, Providers, and Timeframes: 

Figure 2: Status of Implementing Key Components of Revamped Transition 
Assistance Program (TAP) as of December 2, 2013: 

Abbreviations: 

DOD: Department of Defense: 

DODI: DOD Instruction: 

DOL: Department of Labor: 

DTAP: Disabled Transition Assistance Program: 

ITP: Individual Transition Plan: 

MOU: Memorandum of Understanding: 

Post 9/11 GI Bill: Post 9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 
2008: 

SBA: Small Business Administration: 

TAP: Transition Assistance Program: 

Transition GPS: Transition Goals, Plans, Success: 

VA: Department of Veterans Affairs: 

VEI: Task Force DOD-VA Veterans Employment Initiative Task Force: 

VOW Act: VOW to Hire Heroes Act of 2011: 

[End of section] 

United States Government Accountability Office: 
GAO:
441 G St. N.W. 
Washington, DC 20548: 
March 5, 2014: 

Congressional Committees: 

Over the next 4 to 5 years, more than a million servicemembers are 
expected to leave the military and transition into civilian 
life.[Footnote 1] Some of these new veterans will face significant 
challenges, such as finding and maintaining employment. To help them, 
the Transition Assistance Program (TAP) has provided departing 
servicemembers counseling and offered employment assistance and 
information on federal veteran benefits, among other things. 

Amid concerns about the effectiveness of TAP and indicators that some 
post-9/11 veterans were having difficulty transitioning to civilian 
employment, Congress passed the VOW to Hire Heroes Act of 2011 (VOW 
Act).[Footnote 2] Among other changes to TAP, the VOW Act mandates 
that the Department of Defense (DOD) require departing servicemembers 
to participate in a workshop on finding employment as part of TAP. 
Concurrently, the administration initiated a redesign of TAP. As part 
of the redesign, all departing servicemembers are required to complete 
a set of tasks that demonstrate their readiness for a civilian career. 
According to the administration, these efforts are the first major 
redesign of TAP since the program's inception over 20 years ago and 
represent a transformed approach. To oversee the design and 
development of the revamped TAP and related efforts, the 
administration called on DOD and the Department of Veterans Affairs 
(VA) to lead the DOD-VA Veterans Employment Initiative Task Force (VEI 
Task Force) with the help of other federal partners.[Footnote 3] 

The VOW Act also mandated that GAO review TAP.[Footnote 4] 
Specifically, this report addresses: 

1. the status of efforts to implement changes to key components of TAP, 

2. the extent to which the agencies administering TAP have addressed 
elements important for the effective implementation and evaluation of 
TAP, and: 

3. remaining challenges, if any, that the agencies administering TAP 
may need to resolve. 

To determine the status of efforts to implement changes to key 
components of TAP, we reviewed (1) VEI Task Force's and related 
reports; (2) relevant federal laws and regulations; (3) program 
documentation, including policies, procedures, and supporting 
implementation plans; and (4) testimonies from the federal agencies 
responsible for administering TAP and several veterans' service 
organizations. We also interviewed officials from these agencies and 
organizations. In addition, we obtained information about the extent 
to which the components of TAP were implemented at installations 
providing TAP. This information was provided by DOD and the services 
and included the status of implementation by service and installation. 
To assess the reliability of these data, we interviewed officials and 
obtained information from each service on their processes for 
collecting and reviewing these data, which included the revised VA 
benefits I and II briefings, three career tracks, and a capstone 
event. The remaining TAP components (such as pre-separation counseling 
and the Department of Labor (DOL) employment workshop) were 
essentially implemented prior to our review, so we did not obtain 
implementation dates by TAP location for these TAP components. Instead 
we relied on DOD reports and interviews with officials from the 
agencies and services to determine if these components were 
implemented at all TAP locations. We found the data to be sufficiently 
reliable for the purposes of reporting on the status of implementation. 

To assess efforts to implement and evaluate the revamped TAP, we 
identified five elements important for the effective implementation 
and evaluation of TAP. The elements are: (1) systems to track 
attendance; (2) processes for ensuring quality of instruction, 
content, and facilities; (3) mechanisms to assess career readiness; 
(4) mechanisms to ensure participation and completion; and (5) 
measures of performance and processes to systematically evaluate the 
effectiveness or benefits of TAP. We identified the elements based on 
a review of relevant federal laws, including the VOW Act, and VEI Task 
Force recommendations for changing TAP, as well as a GAO assessment 
guide that identifies elements of effective training and development 
programs.[Footnote 5] We also provided the elements to DOD and VA 
officials--as co-leaders of the VEI Task Force--for review and 
comment, and they were generally in agreement. Additional information 
about these elements and relevant attributes is provided in appendix 
I. To determine the extent to which agencies have addressed the five 
elements, we reviewed program documentation from the agencies and 
discussed the policies and mechanisms with knowledgeable officials. We 
compared the elements with this documentation and results of our 
discussions with officials at these agencies. 

To identify any remaining challenges, we reviewed prior GAO and other 
reports related to TAP and veteran employment programs;[Footnote 6] 
relevant federal laws and regulations; and testimonies from the 
federal agencies responsible for administering TAP and several 
veterans' service organizations. We also interviewed officials from 
federal agencies responsible for administering TAP about any 
challenges they have faced in implementing the revamped program. In 
addition, we interviewed officials from organizations that support 
transitioning servicemembers and veterans to obtain their perspectives 
on any challenges the agencies face and what additional actions may be 
needed. 

To increase our understanding and obtain servicemembers' views of TAP, 
we conducted three site visits during which we observed portions of 
the revised TAP training sessions available at the time of our site 
visits. We also conducted 4 discussion groups with 28 servicemembers 
from all four services who had taken the training. We visited Joint 
Base Lewis-McChord, Washington (US Army/Air Force), Marine Corps Base 
Quantico, and Naval Station Norfolk. We selected locations that had 
implemented changes to TAP, and that provided for geographic diversity 
and representation of all four services, but the information we 
collected from these sites is not generalizable.[Footnote 7] 

Because interagency partners were in the process of implementing 
changes to TAP and the revamped program was not fully operational at 
the time of our review, we were not able to determine whether the 
policies and procedures were in place at all sites or if they were 
working as intended.[Footnote 8] Similarly, we were not able to 
comment on whether the changes to TAP are yielding desired benefits or 
improvements in outcomes. 

We conducted this performance audit from January 2013 to March 2014 in 
accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards. 
Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain 
sufficient, appropriate evidence to provide a reasonable basis for our 
findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives. We believe 
that the evidence obtained provides a reasonable basis for our 
findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives. 

Background: 

Statutory and VEI Task Force Changes to TAP: 

Prior to the redesign initiated in 2011, TAP consisted of four core 
components: (1) pre-separation counseling, (2) an employment workshop, 
(3) an optional briefing on federal veteran benefits, and (4) the 
Disabled Transition Assistance Program. Pre-separation counseling, 
which includes VA benefits information, was required by law to be 
provided prior to the VOW Act.[Footnote 9] 

A number of revisions, new requirements, and components were added to 
TAP by the VOW Act and the VEI Task Force. For example, the VOW Act 
mandates that DOD require that transitioning servicemembers 
participate in an employment workshop, with some exceptions. Included 
among the VEI Task Force's changes to the program are: 

* an extended curriculum with segments on translating military skills 
to civilian job requirements, financial planning, and individual 
counseling and assessment with the goal of each servicemember 
developing an Individual Transition Plan; 

* an updated employment workshop and briefings on federal veteran 
benefits divided into two sessions.[Footnote 10] The VA benefits I and 
II briefings embed information relevant for those who have or think 
they have a service-connected disability rather than as part of a 
separate Disabled Transition Assistance Program component; 

* a series of 2-day, career-specific tracks that focus on (1) pursuing 
college education, (2) entering a technical skills training program, 
or (3) starting a business. The track that a servicemember chooses 
depends on his or her post-separation goals; 

* a capstone event during which servicemembers are to demonstrate--and 
military service commanders verify--that they have met required career-
readiness standards. The standards pertain to employment, education, 
and technical training, depending on the servicemember's post-
separation goals; and: 

* a referral process--called a "warm handover"--to connect 
servicemembers who do not meet the career readiness standards with the 
appropriate partner agency (VA or DOL) to provide continued support 
and services as veterans. 

Additional details about the previous TAP compared to the revamped 
program are shown in table 1. 

Table 1: Selected Statutory and Task Force Requirements for Transition 
Assistance Program (TAP): 

Activity: Pre-separation counseling; 
TAP requirements before the VOW Act and VEI Task Force[A]: 
Participation in pre-separation counseling is generally mandated by 
law, and is to include information on VA benefits, among other 
information; 
VOW Act requirements: The VOW Act made the use of the services under 
10 U.S.C. §1144, including assistance in identifying employment and 
training opportunities, and help in obtaining such employment and 
training, mandatory; 
VEI Task Force requirements: Pre-separation counseling now to include 
a needs assessment as well as introduce the requirement to develop an 
Individual Transition Plan (ITP). 

Activity: Individual Transition Plan (ITP); 
TAP requirements before the VOW Act and VEI Task Force[A]: As part of 
pre-separation counseling, creation of an ITP is required; 
VOW Act requirements: No change; 
VEI Task Force requirements: All servicemembers are required to 
consider their personal circumstances and transition plans in their 
ITP and any indicators of risk are determined by what is included in 
the ITP. 

Activity: Financial planning workshop; 
TAP requirements before the VOW Act and VEI Task Force[A]: As part of 
pre-separation counseling, the financial planning workshop is required; 
VOW Act requirements: No change; 
VEI Task Force requirements: Servicemembers are required to prepare a 
12-month, post-separation budget that reflects their career or 
training goals. 

Activity: Translating military skills to civilian job requirements; 
TAP requirements before the VOW Act and VEI Task Force[A]: DOD was 
required to provide service members a certification/verification of 
the job skills/experience they acquired that may apply to the civilian 
sector; 
VOW Act requirements: DOL is required to conduct a study on 
equivalency between military and civilian jobs; DOD is to use the 
results to conduct individualized military-to-civilian skills review; 
VEI Task Force requirements: Servicemembers are to receive help 
documenting their military experiences and identifying gaps between 
this experience and that needed for civilian jobs. 

Activity: DOL employment workshop; 
TAP requirements before the VOW Act and VEI Task Force[A]: DOD was 
required to "encourage and otherwise promote maximum participation" in 
the program; 
VOW Act requirements: Effective Nov. 21, 2012, DOD is generally 
required to mandate participation in the program, with exceptions[B]; 
VEI Task Force requirements: The DOL employment workshop was revised. 
The revised workshop's three-day format is tailored to the career 
readiness standards developed by the Task Force. 

Activity: VA benefits briefing; 
TAP requirements before the VOW Act and VEI Task Force[A]: The VA 
benefits briefing consisted of a lengthy slide deck presentation and 
lecture; 
VOW Act requirements: No change; 
VEI Task Force requirements: Revised to consist of a 4 hour 
interactive overview of VA benefits and 2 hours of interactive 
instruction on healthcare, eBenefits, disability compensation, and how 
to apply for benefits.[C] The briefings are made mandatory. 

Activity: Career-specific tracks; 
TAP requirements before the VOW Act and VEI Task Force[A]: None; 
VOW Act requirements: None; 
VEI Task Force requirements: Servicemembers may select one or more two-
day career tracks: (1) higher education, (2) career technical 
training, and (3) entrepreneurship, depending on their post-separation 
goals. 

Activity: Capstone & career readiness standards; 
TAP requirements before the VOW Act and VEI Task Force[A]: None; 
VOW Act requirements: None; 
VEI Task Force requirements: The capstone serves to verify that 
servicemembers have meet career readiness standards. 

Activity: Military Life Cycle Transition Model; 
TAP requirements before the VOW Act and VEI Task Force[A]: None; 
VOW Act requirements: None; 
VEI Task Force requirements: By Oct. 2014, the services are required 
to embed preparation to meet career readiness standards throughout the 
span of a servicemember's military career. 

Sources: GAO analysis of Veterans' Employment Initiative Task Force 
information and relevant federal laws. 

Notes: The legal requirements pertaining to TAP cited in the table are 
not exhaustive. We highlight certain key legal features. 

[A] This column contains legal requirements and a non-legal 
requirement. 

[B] The VOW Act allows DOD to waive the participation requirement for 
those for whom participation would not be of assistance because they 
are unlikely to face major readjustment, health care, employment, or 
other challenges associated with transition to civilian life; and 
servicemembers possessing specialized skills who, due to unavoidable 
circumstances, are needed to support a unit's imminent deployment. The 
VOW Act requires that the DOL employment workshop use contracted 
instructors, effective November 21, 2013. 

[C] The VA benefits briefing embeds information for those who have or 
think they have a service-connected disability. Under the previous VA 
benefits briefing, information provided about service-connected 
disabilities was called the Disabled Transition Assistance Program 
(DTAP). 

[End of table] 

Figure 1 shows each of the components in the order a servicemember 
would currently participate in the redesigned program. The services 
generally implement these core components at the installation level 
and may include other components in addition to TAP. 

Figure 1: Revamped Transition Assistance Program (TAP) Components, 
Activities, Providers, and Timeframes: 

[Refer to PDF for image: illustration] 

Preseparation counseling: 
Activity: 
Servicemember consulted and briefed on upcoming training; 
* Career interest assessment; 
* Develop Individual Transition Plan; 
* eBenefits registration; 
Provider: DOD services; 
Duration: Varies. 

Core curriculum: 

DOD core curriculum: 
* Crosswalk of military and civilian occupations; 
* Financial planning; 
* Resiliency. 
Provider: DOD services; 
Duration: 8-10 hours. 

Employment workshop: 
* Customized employment plan; 
Provider: DOD contractors; 
Duration: 3 days. 

Veterans' benefits: 
* Briefings I and II[A]; 
Provider: VA; 
Duration: 6 hours. 

Tailored tracks: 
Career-specific/tailored tracks: 
* Education; 
* Technical and skills training; 
* Entrepreneurship; 
Provider: DOD, VA, SBA; 
Duration: 2 days. 

Capstone event: 
Verify transitioning servicemembers: 
* Have achieved career readiness standards; 
* If not, they receive a referral “warm handover” to agencies serving 
veterans. 

Source: GAO analysis of implementing agencies' documentation. 

Note: For clarity purposes, under the heading "DOD core curriculum" we 
group a number of modules. These DOD-led modules include (1) a TAP 
overview and orientation session; (2) a Military Occupation Codes 
Crosswalk module to begin the process of identifying skills, 
experience, credentials, and education that have been obtained while 
in the military and crosswalking them to civilian opportunities; (3) a 
Personal Financial Planning for Transition module to develop the 
financial aspects of servicemembers' transition goals and a written 
plan to achieve them; and (4) Resilient Transitions module to 
introduce servicemembers to topics such as transition stress, family 
considerations, and the value of a mentor. 

[A] VA benefits I and II briefings are two sessions that provide an 
interactive overview of VA benefits and instruction on healthcare, 
eBenefits, disability compensation, and how to apply for benefits. 

[End of figure] 

Rather than TAP continuing to be an end-of-career event, DOD plans to 
shift to a Military Life Cycle Transition Model after October 2014. 
This model is intended to integrate transition preparation--
counseling, assessments, and access to resources to build skills or 
credentials--throughout the course of a servicemember's military 
career. 

Administration of the Revamped TAP: 

The VEI Task Force oversaw the design and development of the revised 
TAP and was led by DOD and VA. Other agencies participating on the VEI 
Task Force include DOL, the Department of Education, the Office of 
Management and Budget, the Office of Personnel Management, and the 
Small Business Administration (SBA). Members of the White House staff 
and senior representatives from each service also participated. Each 
agency is responsible for different activities. For example, DOD 
provides guidance and monitors compliance with TAP provisions, and DOL 
facilitates the employment workshop. Also, each service coordinates 
with agencies on scheduling TAP workshops and briefings. The 
respective roles and responsibilities are spelled out in a memorandum 
of understanding (MOU), which the agencies signed in January 2014. 
[Footnote 11] A new TAP governance structure, established in October 
2013, steers implementation of TAP and will modify the program, as 
needed, through 2016. The new governance structure is co-led by DOD in 
2014 and co-chaired by VA and DOL. 

Other Federal Employment Programs That Serve Transitioning 
Servicemembers and Veterans: 

With the draw down from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and as the 
military makes ongoing and planned force structure reductions, many 
servicemembers are projected to depart the military through 2017. TAP 
is one of a number of federal programs to assist transitioning 
servicemembers and veterans in developing job skills and securing 
civilian employment. TAP serves as a gateway to additional information 
and services that are available, either while servicemembers are on 
active duty or after they have separated from the military. For 
example the DOL employment workshop highlights many of the skills and 
techniques helpful in obtaining employment. After completing the 
workshop, servicemembers can benefit further by returning to the TAP 
offices on installations, using services at local VA and DOL offices, 
or using websites introduced to participants during TAP training. 

Once servicemembers separate from the military, a number of other 
federal programs offer assistance. These programs include five 
employment and training programs overseen by DOL and VA that target 
veterans.[Footnote 12] DOL administers four of these employment 
programs targeted to veterans. For example, DOL provides grants to 
states to support state workforce agency staff positions, Disabled 
Veterans' Outreach Program Specialists and Local Veterans Employment 
Representatives, who serve veterans through the Jobs for Veterans 
State Grant Program. In addition, VA provides employment services to 
certain veterans with disabilities through the Vocational 
Rehabilitation and Employment Program. As of 2012, the program was 
offered in 56 regional offices and 169 satellite offices. In addition, 
DOD helps National Guard and Reserve members obtain civilian 
employment though its operation of other programs, including the 
Yellow Ribbon Reintegration Program and Employer Support of the Guard 
and Reserve. For example, the Yellow Ribbon Reintegration Program 
serves National Guard and Reserve members and their families by 
hosting events that provide information on employment opportunities, 
health care, education/training opportunities, finances, and legal 
benefits. 

Agencies Report That Most Locations Have Implemented Key TAP 
Components, but Some Locations Are Experiencing Delays: 

As of December 2, 2013, DOD, DOL, and VA have implemented changes to 
the program's key components at most of the 206 military installations 
that provide TAP. However, a few program components have not yet been 
fully implemented by the agencies. For example, the agencies are still 
using the previous version of the VA benefits briefing at a number of 
locations and are offering the career technical training track at 
fewer than half of the TAP locations. Although some agencies had 
planned to fully implement the revamped TAP at all locations by 
October 1, 2013, they missed their targeted time frame. According to 
the revised plan, agencies now expect to implement virtually all 
components by the end of March 2014, with full implementation planned 
by June 2014. The planned start dates and the status of agencies' 
efforts to implement the key components at the 206 TAP locations are 
summarized in figure 2. 

Figure 2: Status of Implementing Key Components of Revamped Transition 
Assistance Program (TAP) as of December 2, 2013: 

[Refer to PDF for image: illustration] 

Preseparation counseling: 
Activity: Servicemember consulted and briefed on upcoming training; 
Provider: DOD services; 
Planned start: Nov. 2012; 
Percentage of locations implemented (as of Dec. 2013): 100%. 

Core curriculum: 

Activity: DOD core curriculum; 
Provider: DOD services; 
Planned start: Nov. 2012; 
Percentage of locations implemented (as of Dec. 2013): 100%. 

Activity: Employment workshop; 
Provider: DOD contractors; 
Planned start: Nov. 2012; 
Percentage of locations implemented (as of Dec. 2013): 100%. 

Activity: Veterans' benefits; 
Provider: VA; 
Planned start: Oct. 2013; 
Percentage of locations implemented (as of Dec. 2013): 92%. 

Tailored tracks: 
Activity: Career-specific/tailored tracks; 
Provider: DOD, VA, SBA; 
Planned start: Oct. 2013; 
Percentage of locations implemented (as of Dec. 2013): 
* Education: 72%; 
* Technical training: 43%; 
* Entrepreneurshipa: 72%. 

Capstone event: 
Activity: Verify career readiness standards are met[B]; 
Provider: DOD services; 
Planned start: Oct. 2013; 
Percentage of locations implemented (as of Dec. 2013): 92%. 

Source: GAO analysis of implementing agencies' documentation. 

Notes: This figure is intended to present the key components of TAP. 
For clarity, we omitted the Military Life Cycle Transition Model, 
which will embed transition preparation over the course of a 
servicemember's military career, and we group a number of training 
modules for which DOD is responsible under DOD core curriculum. 

Percentages are rounded. 

[A] While the entrepreneurial track is offered at about 72 percent of 
TAP locations, the track is only offered quarterly, and SBA officials 
estimate it is meeting about 12 percent of the total demand. 

[B] If servicemembers do not meet the career readiness standards, they 
are to be referred to the appropriate partner agency, a process called 
the "warm handover". While the capstone event is nearly implemented, 
the agencies are finalizing the details for how the warm handover will 
work. 

[End of figure] 

Pre-separation counseling and DOD Core Curriculum: According to DOD 
officials, eligible servicemembers were participating in pre-
separation counseling and the modules in the new DOD core curriculum 
by November 21, 2012 at all TAP locations. As noted previously, part 
of the DOD core curriculum includes a module on translating military 
skills to civilian job requirements. Current military crosswalks map 
the majority of military occupations to a single civilian occupation. 
Based on those crosswalks and supplemented by analyses from Army and 
Navy credentialing websites, tools like DOL's My Next Move and My Next 
Move for Veterans can suggest multiple occupations for career 
exploration. To enhance the existing electronic tools used for the 
crosswalk, DOL contracted with an organization to identify 
equivalencies between military and civilian jobs, as required by the 
VOW Act. According to DOL officials, the results of the military 
equivalencies study will enhance the military-civilian crosswalk by 
enabling a mapping of a single military occupation into multiple 
civilian occupations based on an analysis of embedded skill sets in 
addition to the similarity of tasks performed. This will be done for a 
selected set of military occupations that represent 59 percent of 
current active duty servicemembers. DOL officials said they plan to 
complete the update of the electronic tools beginning in 2014. 

DOL Employment Workshop: Effective November 21, 2012, DOD was 
generally required to mandate participation in the program with some 
exceptions. According to DOD and DOL officials, the agencies met this 
participation requirement in the VOW Act by offering eligible 
servicemembers, with some exceptions,[Footnote 13] the previous or 
revised version of the DOL employment workshops at domestic and 
overseas locations by November 21, 2012. Moreover, as required by the 
act, the DOL employment workshops are being conducted by contractors 
at all TAP locations.[Footnote 14] As of the spring of 2013, the 
revised workshop was being offered at all TAP locations, according to 
DOD and DOL officials. 

VA Benefits Briefing: All departing servicemembers are generally 
required to be provided the VA benefits briefing. Officials from DOD 
and VA stated that this participation requirement was met by offering 
servicemembers the previous version of the VA benefits briefing while 
implementing a phased rollout of the revised VA benefits I and II 
briefings. As of December 2, 2013, the revised VA benefits I and II 
briefings were unavailable at about 8 percent of TAP locations. VA 
officials said that the revised VA benefits briefings are offered at 
all domestic locations. However, the revised briefings are not 
currently offered in all overseas locations, such as Air Force 
locations in Germany, South Korea, and Japan. Although VA planned to 
implement the revised benefits briefings by October 1, 2013, full 
implementation is now expected no later than March 31, 2014, according 
to VA officials. DOD and VA officials said that VA faced challenges, 
such as training enough personnel to facilitate the revised briefings 
at these overseas locations during the extended furlough and delays 
with negotiating agreements with foreign nations hosting U.S. military 
forces. 

Career-specific Tracks: Since late 2012 the agencies had been planning 
to fully implement these tracks by October 2013. However, as of 
December 2, 2013, the tracks were not fully implemented, particularly 
at overseas locations: 

* Entrepreneurial Track: SBA offers the entrepreneurial track at least 
quarterly at all domestic locations, but this only meets 12 percent of 
the estimated total demand for the track, according to SBA officials. 
Moreover, the track is not offered at the majority of overseas 
locations. After reviewing a draft of this report, SBA officials 
stated that the track can be extended to meet domestic and overseas 
demand given additional funding recently provided in the fiscal year 
2014 budget. Full implementation at all TAP locations is expected by 
the end of fiscal year 2014, according to SBA officials. 

* Career Technical Training Track: VA is offering the career technical 
training track at about 43 percent of the TAP locations. In 
particular, many overseas locations lack this track. According to VA 
officials, the delays were mainly due to efforts to incorporate 
substantial feedback received from participants during the pilot 
phase. VA completely revised the curriculum and piloted it in the 
summer of 2013. As a result, VA delayed training the facilitators 
until the curriculum was finalized and began its roll out in September 
2013. According to the services' implementation plans, full 
implementation of this track is expected by April 30, 2014. 

* Higher Education Track: DOD is offering the higher education track 
at about 72 percent of TAP locations. According to DOD officials, they 
plan to offer the track at all locations, but sequestration and other 
resource constraints as well as delays in hiring and training 
facilitators slowed the roll out of this track. Full implementation is 
expected by April 9, 2014, according to the services' implementation 
plans. 

For servicemembers lacking access to the entrepreneurial track, 
content from the track is available online. The online version, 
however, is a poor substitute for the classroom-based track, according 
to SBA officials. Unlike the technical training and higher education 
tracks, the entrepreneurial track does not have associated readiness 
standards. According to SBA officials, the readiness standards for the 
other tracks were developed prior to the inclusion of this track in 
TAP. While they considered creating associated standards, SBA 
officials decided that the track's main purpose is to help 
participating servicemembers determine whether or not starting a 
business in general or their specific ideas for a business is right 
for them, so standards were not needed. 

If the higher education or career technical training tracks are not 
available for servicemembers who wish to attend an institution of 
higher education or seek technical training, other options are 
available to meet the readiness standards associated with the tracks. 
For servicemembers in remote locations or who are rapidly separating 
from the military, one option is to access a virtual TAP curriculum, 
according to a draft DOD policy under consideration.[Footnote 15] 
However, classroom instruction is the preferred method. Another option 
for servicemembers located overseas is to take the track at a domestic 
location when they return to the United States, according to DOD 
officials. Moreover, according to DOD policy, a servicemember could 
meet the standards outside of the track by completing the required 
documents or activities associated with those standards, such as by 
completing a comparison of academic institution choices and a college 
or university application. While servicemembers may meet the readiness 
standards without taking the tracks, they would miss instruction, for 
example, on resources to cope with challenges transitioning into 
college as nontraditional students (those who are older or with family 
obligations). 

Capstone Event: The services, working with DOD, DOL, and VA, are 
finalizing implementation of a "capstone event"--a final check to 
verify that servicemembers have met TAP requirements--and a referral 
process, known as a "warm handover," for those servicemembers who do 
not meet the requirements. Although as of December 2013 the services 
were holding capstone events at most locations, according to the 
services' implementation plans, the details for how the capstone event 
and warm handover will work are still being finalized by DOD, DOL, VA, 
and the services. Specifically, the agencies and services must clarify 
the roles and responsibilities of servicemembers, TAP staff, 
commanders, and the partner agencies as well as develop policies and 
guidance that underpin this effort, according to a December 2013 DOD 
report about implementation of the capstone event at TAP locations. 

In addition to implementing the key components of TAP at military 
installations, the services continue to update physical infrastructure 
at a number of locations to provide an optimal experience for 
servicemembers participating in TAP components. General standards for 
infrastructure are set forth in DOD policy. Approximately 6 percent of 
locations lack computer availability and according to officials from 
DOD, the Navy and Marine Corps, other infrastructure is still being 
put in place at a number of their domestic and overseas locations. 
According to officials from DOD, they expect all of the TAP locations 
to meet infrastructure standards by March 31, 2014. 

Military Life Cycle Model: According to the agencies' implementation 
plan, the envisioned end state for the redesigned TAP involves 
integrating transition preparation throughout the course of a 
servicemember's career. The agencies refer to this end state as the 
military life cycle transition model. The services plan to fully 
implement the military life cycle by October 2014. Under this new 
transition model, for example, the Army intends for all new 
servicemembers to receive counseling and initiate an individual 
development plan regarding their military career goals within 30 days 
of reporting to their first permanent duty station. Overall, DOD 
intends such counseling and planning to continue throughout a 
servicemember's military career at various "touchpoints", such as when 
they are promoted.[Footnote 16] For example, servicemembers will be 
expected to create plans for achieving their military and post-
military goals for employment, education, or starting their own 
business. Further, servicemembers are to be made aware of the career 
readiness standards they must meet long before they separate. 

Agencies' Efforts for TAP Adequately Address Three of Five Key 
Elements Associated with Effective Program Implementation and 
Evaluation: 

Agencies have efforts underway to address three of the five key 
elements associated with effective program implementation and 
evaluation for TAP. However, agencies' efforts to address the 
remaining two elements are mixed. 

Agencies Are Adequately Addressing Three Elements: 

Element 1: Tracking Attendance: 

Effective training programs have systems to track data,[Footnote 17] 
and we found that DOD and the services have systems to collect and 
report on attendance rates and are taking steps to improve the 
reliability of these data. DOD developed a DOD-wide system to track 
attendance for all TAP components, which has been in use since October 
2012.[Footnote 18] This system is populated with attendance data from 
the services. The Army and Air Force each input TAP attendance data 
into their own systems, which they then transmit to the DOD system, 
while the Navy and the Marines input TAP attendance data directly into 
the DOD system because they do not have service-level systems that 
allow for tracking individual TAP attendance. 

DOD and the services are taking steps to improve the reliability of 
these data. According to DOD officials, accuracy will improve now that 
the capstone event is in place because servicemember attendance at 
each of the three required TAP training components will be verified at 
this event. According to DOD officials, the services are taking other 
steps to improve the accuracy of TAP attendance data, as well. For 
example, the Navy plans to replace the paper data collection systems 
that exist at some installations with electronic attendance tracking, 
which may be less prone to data-entry error. 

DOD tracks attendance to measure progress toward its performance goal 
of eligible servicemembers attending the mandatory components each 
year, beginning in fiscal year 2013.[Footnote 19] In February 2014, 
DOD reduced the fiscal year 2014 performance goal from 90 percent to 
85 percent. According to DOD officials, the expected attendance rate 
is less than 100 percent because some servicemembers do not complete 
all required TAP training for various reasons.[Footnote 20] For 
example, some may separate quickly, such as for medical or 
disciplinary reasons, and not have an opportunity to fully take TAP. 

For fiscal year 2013, DOD expects an attendance rate of about 75 
percent, primarily because servicemembers that transitioned in that 
year may have taken several TAP components in fiscal year 2012, prior 
to when DOD and the services began tracking these rates. DOD 
anticipates meeting their goal in fiscal year 2014. 

Element 2: Ensuring Training Quality: 

Effective training programs incorporate feedback into training 
efforts,[Footnote 21] and each agency involved in TAP plans to use 
this type of information, as well as monitor their respective 
components, to improve TAP. To measure participants' reactions to each 
TAP component they attend, including the career-specific tracks, DOD 
launched a participant assessment in April 2013. The assessment seeks 
feedback on the quality of the instruction, content, and facilities. 
[Footnote 22] It also measures participants' knowledge of the 
information presented in each component of the training. 

According to agency officials, the agencies plan to use the results 
from the assessment to monitor the performance and outcomes for the 
redesigned TAP, assess trends, determine areas of improvement, and 
modify TAP components as appropriate. DOD is leading this effort. To 
help facilitate this effort, DOD officials said that they plan to 
analyze feedback at the DOD, service, and installation levels and 
share this information with partner agencies and the four services in 
a quarterly report. For example, the participant assessment collects 
demographic information that will allow for a comparison of the 
responses of servicemembers in different military branches, locations, 
and groups, such as enlisted personnel and officers. DOD performed a 
similar analysis in mid-2013 for responses to two questions in the 
participant assessment. This analysis provided DOD with information 
that could be used to understand how the program's usefulness is 
perceived by different populations. Moreover, according to DOD's TAP 
evaluation plan, DOD plans to convene teams with the partner agencies 
on an as-needed basis to make recommendations to address challenges, 
concerns, and areas for improvement. According to VA and DOL 
officials, they also plan to analyze the feedback to improve their 
respective components. 

The agencies also monitor their respective TAP components through site 
visits or plan to do so. According to DOD's monitoring plan, DOD 
visits installations to monitor the TAP components it is responsible 
for as well as overall TAP implementation. According to DOL officials, 
their staff intends to perform annual monitoring visits to each 
domestic installation where the employment workshop is provided, but 
not at overseas installations. They said that at overseas locations 
they plan to rely on feedback from participant assessments, the 
company hired to facilitate the workshops, and the military staff at 
those DOD sites who will monitor the facilitators' instruction and 
whether they are engaging and knowledgeable. VA officials said that 
they have not completed their monitoring plan for the VA benefits I 
and II briefings and its career technical training track. However, 
they expect to have a quality assurance plan completed by March 2014. 
Also, in comments provided after reviewing a draft of this report, VA 
officials stated that VA is participating in the DOD site visits to 
installations to monitor the TAP components. These are joint, agency-
administered, on-site staff assistance visits led by DOD. Also, VA 
currently has contract staff at each military installation to monitor 
implementation of the VA benefits I and II briefings and the career 
technical training track. 

Side bar: 

Steps to Career-Readiness: 
TAP career-readiness standards require: 
1. Completing a 12-month post-separation budget; 
2. Documenting requirements and eligibility for certification, 
licensure, and apprenticeship; 
3. Evaluating transferability of military skills to civilian workforce 
and gap analysis; 
4. Registration on eBenefits; 
5. Completing an Individual Transition Plan; 
6. Completing a Continuum of Military Service Opportunity counseling; 
7. Completing a job application package or presenting a job offer 
letter; 
8. Completing the assessment tool to identify personal interests and 
leanings regarding career selection; 
9. Receiving a DOL Gold Card and understanding that post 9/11 veterans 
have priority for 6 months at DOL American Job Centers. 
Career-readiness standards also exist for the associated higher 
education and career technical training tracks. 

Source: DOD. 

[End of side bar] 

Element 3: Assessing Career Readiness: 

Effective training programs measure and document learning and make 
managers part of the process.[Footnote 23] In assessing transitioning 
servicemembers' career readiness, we found that agencies have taken 
the following steps: 

* Created the career readiness standards commanders use to ensure that 
TAP participants have completed products, such as resumes and job 
applications, which demonstrate that they are career ready. 

* Created a capstone event to verify that standards have been met; the 
capstone event can be completed one-on-one, in large groups, or in 
small groups. For example, the Marines model is one-on-one. 

* Assigned the task of verifying career readiness to commanders and 
identified steps to ensure that commanders or their designees are 
properly trained to assess an individual servicemember's career 
readiness.[Footnote 24] To document whether or not a servicemember is 
career ready, DOD developed a new form called the Individual 
Transition Plan (ITP) Checklist in which each one of the career 
readiness standards is listed. We have reprinted this form in appendix 
II. 

* Developed procedures for providing a warm handover, or referral, for 
servicemembers not meeting the career readiness standards. Generally, 
the warm handover is to be a confirmed person-to-person contact. 

According to the December 2013 DOD capstone report, during the recent 
pilot of the capstone event, several implementation challenges 
emerged. For example, confusion exists among servicemembers, TAP 
staff, commanders, and the agencies as to their roles and 
responsibilities in the capstone event. According to the DOD capstone 
report, to address this challenge, the agencies are taking actions, 
such as the services implementing a training program for their TAP 
staff and planning efforts to educate commanders and servicemembers on 
the requirements, purpose, and importance of the capstone event. 

As noted previously, according to DOD guidance, if a servicemember has 
not met the career readiness standards at the time of the capstone 
event, they are to be referred to the appropriate curriculum or 
services before they transition. If they do not meet the standards 
before separating from the service, the services plan to provide them 
with a "warm handover". The delivery of the warm handover may vary at 
domestic and overseas locations because DOL and VA have limited 
capacity at overseas locations.[Footnote 25] According to the DOD 
capstone report, DOL staff will likely not be present at capstone 
events overseas and will conduct the warm handover in other ways, and 
VA staff will be located only at larger overseas installations. For 
example, servicemembers overseas will be able to contact DOL's call 
center within established hours, which, due to time differences, may 
limit opportunities to make a person-to-person contact. 

Agencies' Efforts to Address the Remaining Two Elements are Mixed: 

Element 4: Ensuring Participation and Completion: 

Effective training programs encourage participation and hold both 
individuals and their leaders responsible. While DOD has taken steps 
that are consistent with most attributes of effective training 
programs, two services currently lack an oversight mechanism at the 
commander level to help ensure participation. DOD's efforts underway 
include: (1) prioritizing training for servicemembers based on agreed-
upon goals and priorities, (2) encouraging servicemembers to buy in to 
training goals, and (3) communicating the importance of training. 
[Footnote 26] For example, DOD and the services communicate the 
importance of TAP training by providing information on their websites, 
including how TAP aids in a successful transition, and through other 
communications, such as brochures with similar information. In 
addition, DOD has assigned unit commanders the responsibility of 
ensuring that eligible servicemembers have full access to and 
successfully complete required TAP components.[Footnote 27] 

However, only the Army and the Air Force possess the capability to 
gauge the rate at which servicemembers under an individual unit 
commander participate in TAP. Specifically, the Army and Air Force 
provide commanders and their leaders information on their unit's 
participation levels.[Footnote 28] In contrast, the Navy and the 
Marines do not have such systems. According to Navy officials, they 
obtained funding and plan to develop such a system by late June 2014 
and plan to start using the data for oversight no later than fiscal 
year 2015. Marine officials said that because they have a long-
standing culture of requiring servicemembers to attend TAP training, 
such an oversight mechanism was not necessary.[Footnote 29] In our 
2002 and 2005 reviews of TAP, we found that servicemembers sometimes 
faced difficulties being released from military duties to attend TAP 
because of the priority accorded their military mission or the lack of 
supervisory support for TAP.[Footnote 30] More recently, based on the 
pilot of the capstone event, DOD reported that ensuring servicemember 
participation in capstone events was a challenge for most of the 
services. According to DOD, lack of servicemembers' awareness of this 
requirement and lack of commanders' support may have hampered 
participation in capstone events. Without routine information on 
servicemembers' participation by commander, it may be difficult to 
hold accountable those directly responsible for ensuring participation. 

Element 5: Measuring Performance and Evaluating Results: 

Agencies should have outcome-oriented performance measures for 
training programs,[Footnote 31] and the agencies implementing TAP have 
established such measures to assess the program's performance. For 
example, one set of measures tracks program outputs, such as the 
percentage of servicemembers who participated in required TAP 
components, the percentage enrolled in eBenefits,[Footnote 32] and the 
percentage who met career readiness standards before separating. 
[Footnote 33] Another set measures outcomes, such as the usage rate of 
the Post 9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2008 (Post 9/11 
GI Bill) among recent eligible veterans, and another measures the 
percentage of unemployed post-9/11 veterans, 18-24 years of age, 
compared to their non-veteran peers. Officials from the agencies 
acknowledged that these outcome measures may be affected by other 
variables, such as the economy, making it difficult to attribute 
results to the program. 

While the agencies have established performance measures, training 
programs can be assessed at differing levels, ranging from lower level 
basic end-of-course evaluations to higher level impact evaluations. 
[Footnote 34] The agencies plan to evaluate TAP at lower levels. Their 
evaluation plan includes (1) gauging participant reaction to all TAP 
components through end-of-course evaluations and (2) determining 
whether servicemembers met the career readiness standards prior to 
separation. Higher level evaluations are also important to help gauge 
the effectiveness of TAP, and the agencies have not demonstrated a 
strategic approach to planning such evaluations. Since the program is 
administered by multiple agencies, planning an evaluation is more 
challenging than if it were administered by a single agency. In 
December 2011, the agencies stated, in an internal report, that they 
would develop a methodology to assess the effectiveness of TAP by 
engaging new veterans approximately six months after they have 
separated from the military. Despite the modular nature of TAP, this 
report did not specify whether this type of higher level evaluation 
would assess all of TAP or certain components. DOL and VA are 
considering higher level evaluations for the employment workshop and 
VA benefits briefings. For example, DOL is considering different 
methodologies it could use to conduct an impact evaluation of the 
employment workshop. However, the agencies could not provide a 
rationale for not using higher-level evaluations to assess either TAP 
overall or some of the other TAP components and career-specific 
tracks. Best practices call for the development of a written 
evaluation strategy, which the agencies prepared for lower evaluation 
levels, but not for higher levels. Without a written evaluation 
strategy that identifies the TAP components to be evaluated, and 
includes the appropriate level and timing of the evaluation and 
methods, the agencies may miss important opportunities to obtain 
information needed to make fully informed decisions on whether and how 
to modify TAP and may either over invest or under invest in 
evaluations. 

DOD Lacks a Process to Assess the TAP Experience of National Guard and 
Reserve Members: 

Based on GAO's prior work and interviews with stakeholders, we 
identified a key remaining challenge; namely, that DOD lacks a process 
to assess the TAP experience of National Guard and Reserve members. 
DOD's policy generally requires all eligible servicemembers, including 
members of the National Guard and Reserve, to be exposed to the entire 
TAP experience even if their circumstances differ. Unlike active duty 
servicemembers, many members of the National Guard and Reserve hold 
civilian occupations,[Footnote 35] and federal law protects their 
employment rights when they return from active duty.[Footnote 36] If 
they can document their civilian employment or acceptance to an 
institution of higher education or accredited technical training, 
members of the National Guard and Reserve and other eligible 
servicemembers can be exempted from attending the DOL employment 
workshop. Nevertheless, they are generally required to complete pre-
separation counseling, the VA benefits I and II briefings and, under 
DOD policy, participate in the capstone event. Further, the policy 
states that they must attend the DOD core curriculum and applicable 
career specific tracks if they cannot meet the career readiness 
standards associated with these two components. 

However, according to many stakeholders that we talked with, including 
officials from the services and organizations that support members of 
the National Guard and Reserve and other servicemembers, DOD has not 
resolved long-standing concerns that eligible members of the National 
Guard and Reserve attend TAP offerings in locations and on a timetable 
that diminish their experience.[Footnote 37] Specifically, given that 
eligible National Guard and Reserve members generally demobilize at 
locations where they neither work nor live, they may be distracted by 
their desire to return home, which can affect how much the training 
benefits them. Separating servicemembers need to be aware of the 
benefits and services and know how to access them to take advantage of 
them, such as the Post-9/11 GI Bill. In a January 2013 report, the 
Defense Business Board Task Group recommended that eligible National 
Guard and Reserve members be afforded the opportunity to demobilize 
and transition in their home unit's geographical area.[Footnote 38] 
According to stakeholders, eligible National Guard and Reserve members 
also typically have less time to complete the program because they 
often demobilize more quickly than active duty servicemembers 
separate.[Footnote 39] For example, according to DOD's 2011 Handbook, 
the Reserve demobilization timeline makes scheduling a pre-separation 
counseling appointment not later than 90 days prior to leaving active 
duty impractical for Reserve members.[Footnote 40] 

According to officials from DOD and the services, they took steps to 
help meet the needs of National Guard and Reserve members eligible for 
TAP. For example, the agencies tailored the content of TAP components 
to better suit the needs of National Guard and Reserve members after 
analyzing the results of feedback from pilots of TAP.[Footnote 41] 
However, only one of the steps taken directly addresses the concerns 
of stakeholders related to the location and timing of TAP. 
Specifically, eligible members of the Army National Guard are allowed 
to participate in the DOL employment workshop and the capstone event 
in their home unit's geographical area, according to DOD and Army 
officials. These eligible Army National Guard members will remain on 
active duty while participating in these two components. 

Nonetheless, DOD may not be well positioned to determine whether its 
actions successfully address the long-standing challenges in designing 
transition services for the National Guard and Reserve. This is 
because while DOD collects participant feedback through the online 
assessment, this tool does not ask whether the timing and location met 
the needs of servicemembers, including the National Guard and Reserve. 
[Footnote 42] Moreover, DOD's planned survey to active duty 
servicemembers contains questions about the timing of TAP, but DOD has 
not drafted similar questions for its survey to the National Guard and 
Reserve.[Footnote 43] According to OMB, being able to track and 
measure specific program data can help agencies diagnose problems, 
identify drivers of future performance, evaluate risk, support 
collaboration, and inform follow-up actions.[Footnote 44] Without a 
systematic process targeted to identify any remaining long-standing 
concerns, DOD will not be able to make fully informed decisions about 
the extent to which eligible members of the National Guard and Reserve 
reap the full benefits of TAP. 

Conclusions: 

Helping servicemembers successfully transition to civilian life after 
their service ends is an important government goal. The agencies 
undertook an ambitious effort to redesign the 1990s-era program to 
provide servicemembers with training and skills to successfully 
transition to civilian life. The increase in the number of 
servicemembers attending the revised TAP components, along with the 
significant coordination effort among multiple agencies and military 
services, pose significant implementation challenges. Efforts to 
implement the redesigned program continue to evolve. The importance of 
serving the ongoing and projected wave of servicemembers departing the 
military increases the urgency to fully implement TAP components as 
well as to finalize related policies and procedures. To the extent 
that the program remains behind schedule in implementing TAP, some 
transitioning servicemembers may be denied the full benefit of the 
revamped program. Because TAP is not fully implemented, the full 
impact of the revamped TAP, particularly the warm handover--a key 
effort to serve those deemed at greater risk of not being career 
ready--remains to be seen. 

The revamped TAP exhibits elements important for the effective 
implementation and evaluation of the program. Yet, we found room for 
improvement in several key areas. In particular, while federal law 
generally requires DOD to mandate participation in the employment 
workshop and DOD policy requires that all eligible transitioning 
servicemembers participate in TAP overall, the Navy and the Marines 
lack the ability to provide unit commanders and their leaders with 
information on participation levels of servicemembers under their 
command. Without the capability to gauge and report participation in 
TAP components by unit commander--those directly responsible for 
ensuring servicemember participation--leaders may find that holding 
them accountable is difficult. 

While the administration cites the revamped TAP as a key strategy of 
its crosscutting goal to improve the career readiness of veterans, it 
may not be positioned to determine the extent to which the program 
prepared veterans to pursue their post-separation goals. Without a 
written evaluation strategy that identifies the TAP components to be 
evaluated and includes the appropriate level and timing of the 
evaluation methods, the agencies may miss important opportunities to 
obtain information needed to make fully informed decisions on whether 
and how to modify TAP and may either over invest or under invest in 
evaluations. 

The circumstances of National Guard and Reserve members differ from 
those of other active duty servicemembers. Many stakeholders have 
raised concerns that these circumstances diminish eligible National 
Guard and Reserve members' TAP experience. Absent efforts to 
systematically collect information about eligible National Guard and 
Reserve members' experiences under the revamped program, DOD may not 
be well positioned to determine whether there are problems with how 
TAP is provided to these groups. 

Recommendations for Executive Action: 

Based on our review, we recommend that the Secretary of Defense take 
the following actions: 

1. To better ensure servicemember participation in and completion of 
TAP, direct the Under Secretary for Personnel and Readiness to require 
that all services provide unit commanders and their leaders 
information on TAP participation levels of servicemembers under their 
command, similar to that provided by the Army and Air Force. Such 
information could be used to help hold leaders accountable for 
ensuring TAP participation and completion. 

2. To provide information on the extent to which the revamped TAP is 
effective, direct the Under Secretary for Personnel and Readiness to 
work with the partner agencies to develop a written strategy for 
determining which components and tracks to evaluate and the most 
appropriate evaluation methods. This strategy should include a plan to 
use the results of evaluations to modify or redesign the program, as 
appropriate. 

3. To ensure that decisions about the participation of eligible 
members of the National Guard and Reserves in TAP are fully informed, 
direct the Under Secretary for Personnel and Readiness to 
systematically collect information on any challenges facing 
demobilizing members of the National Guard and Reserves regarding the 
logistics of the timing and location to attend TAP. For example, 
agencies might add questions to their online assessment tool specific 
to eligible members of the National Guard and Reserves who participate 
in TAP. 

Agency Comments and Our Evaluation: 

DOD also stated that the Navy is funding IT system upgrades to provide 
the ability to analyze and report program compliance at the command 
level. DOD added that the Marine Corps has mandated participation 
since the program's inception, and Marine Corps commanders leverage 
the capabilities of the personnel system to identify eligible Marines 
and schedule their TAP attendance. DOD stated that despite the 
limitations of a data tracking system that underreports compliance 
figures, the Marine Corps had the highest compliance rate of all 
services, as of December 2013. DOD said it recommends that department-
wide compliance data be allowed to normalize to show true compliance 
percentages before the services are required to fund and implement 
expensive systems for the sole purpose of providing an additional 
mechanism for commander accountability. However, we continue to 
believe that our recommendation is needed. Three of the services 
either have or are working to develop the kind of accountability 
mechanism that we are recommending, but the Marine Corps does not plan 
to develop such a system. While DOD reports that the Marine Corps has 
the highest TAP compliance rate of all services, DOD did not provide 
any data on these rates. Finally, in response to DOD's recommendation 
to wait until compliance data normalize, we believe that this would 
not be appropriate. We do not see any advantage to delaying the 
implementation of appropriate accountability mechanisms to provide 
assurance that the ongoing and projected wave of servicemembers 
departing the military receive the expected level of services from TAP. 

DOD disagreed with our recommendation to systematically collect 
information on challenges facing demobilizing members of the National 
Guard and Reserve regarding the timing and location to attend TAP. 
Specifically, DOD stated that it has long understood that the National 
Guard and Reserves operate under schedules and logistical constraints 
that differ from those of active duty servicemembers. DOD stated that 
several processes (which we note in our report) are already in place 
to identity and rectify any misalignments between TAP services and the 
needs of eligible National Guard and Reserve members, including 
regular coordinating councils that include representation from the 
National Guard and Reserve and TAP managers, as well as a participant 
assessment that provides ample opportunity for eligible National Guard 
and Reserve members to voice concerns. In addition, DOD highlighted 
the implementation of the military life cycle transition model in 
which DOD plans to provide the services, including to the National 
Guard and Reserve, with the latitude to optimize placement of certain 
elements of TAP throughout a servicemember's military service. 
According to DOD, the military life cycle transition model may help 
address some of the challenges related to the timing and location of 
program delivery. As we note in the report, full implementation of the 
military life cycle transition model is planned by October 2014. 

Nonetheless, at this time DOD is not fully positioned to know whether 
or not the revamped program addresses the long-standing challenges 
facing eligible members of the National Guard and Reserve in taking 
TAP. As we describe in the report, all eligible servicemembers, 
including the National Guard and Reserve members, have an opportunity 
to provide feedback about the instruction, content, and facilities for 
TAP. However, the participant assessment does not ask questions 
specific to the National Guard and Reserve experience even though they 
face different circumstances than active duty servicemembers. Given 
these differences, we continue to believe that unless DOD 
systematically collects information on any challenges facing eligible 
members of the National Guard and Reserve, DOD is at risk of not fully 
knowing whether the revamped TAP addresses long-standing challenges. 
In addition, the move to a military life cycle transition model could 
enable active duty servicemembers and members of the National Guard 
and Reserve to benefit from transition-related assistance throughout 
their military service. Recognizing that the military life cycle 
transition model is not implemented and specific policies and plans 
are not completed, many unknowns remain about how it will work in 
general and how National Guard and Reserve members will fare 
specifically. During our review, we asked DOD how this program would 
work in practice, including for National Guard and Reserve members, 
but DOD did not provide us details. 

We are sending copies of this report to appropriate congressional 
committees; the Secretary of Defense; the Secretary of Veterans 
Affairs, the Secretary of Labor; the Acting Administrator of the Small 
Business Administration; and other interested parties. In addition, 
this report will be available at no charge on GAO's website at 
[hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov]. 

If you or your staff members have any questions regarding this report, 
please contact me at (202) 512-7215 or sherrilla@gao.gov. Contact 
points for our Offices of Congressional Relations and Public Affairs 
may be found on the last page of this report. GAO staff who made major 
contributions to this report are listed in appendix V. 

Signed by: 

Andrew Sherrill: 
Director, Education, Workforce and Income Security Issues: 

List of Committees: 

The Honorable Carl Levin: 
Chairman: 
The Honorable James M. Inhofe: 
Ranking Member: 
Committee on Armed Services: 
United States Senate: 

The Honorable Bernie Sanders: 
Chairman: 
The Honorable Richard Burr: 
Ranking Member: 
Committee on Veterans' Affairs: 
United States Senate: 

The Honorable Howard P. "Buck" McKeon: 
Chairman: 
The Honorable Adam Smith: 
Ranking Member: 
Committee on Armed Services: 
House of Representatives: 

The Honorable Jeff Miller: 
Chairman: 
The Honorable Michael H. Michaud: 
Ranking Member: 
Committee on Veterans' Affairs: 
House of Representatives: 

[End of section] 

Appendix I: Technical Appendix: 

This appendix summarizes our work to assess efforts to implement and 
evaluate the revamped TAP. 

Elements and Relevant Attributes and the Extent to Which They Have 
Been Addressed: 

For each of the five elements that we identified as important for the 
effective implementation and evaluation of TAP, we identified relevant 
attributes that we used to determine the extent to which the elements 
were addressed in the revamped TAP (see table 2).[Footnote 45] 

Table 2: Elements and Relevant Attributes and Extent They Have Been 
Addressed: 

Adequately Addressed[A]: 

Element: 1. Track Attendance; 

Underway; 
Relevant attributes: The agency uses systems to manage and track 
whether eligible servicemembers receive training. 

Element: 2. Processes for Ensuring Quality of Instruction, Content, 
and Facilities; 

Underway; 
Relevant attributes: 2a. The agency takes actions to foster an 
environment conducive to effective training (approaches may include 
using facilities and equipment that enable effective implementation of 
training and ensuring that facilitators are engaging, knowledgeable, 
and experienced). 

Underway; 
Relevant attributes: 2b. The agency measures participants' reactions 
to and satisfaction with the training they receive. 

Underway; 
Relevant attributes: 2c. The agency has a clear methodology, 
timetable, and delegation of responsibility for the collection of data 
that will be used to assess training and development programs. 

Underway; 
Relevant attributes: 2d. The agency incorporates monitoring and 
evaluation feedback into its training efforts. 

Element: 3. Mechanisms to Assess Career Readiness; 

Underway; 
Relevant attributes: 3a. The agency measures the extent to which 
learning has occurred (approaches may include having an overall 
approach for measuring; taking steps to analyze such data; issuing 
reports detailing results of analysis; and issuing guidance on how 
evaluation results will be used to inform, modify, and improve 
planning). 

Underway; 
Relevant attributes: 3b. The agency ensures that data are collected 
systematically and in a timely manner. 

Underway; 
Relevant attributes: 3c. The agency provides evidence that it requires 
commanders or their designees to be properly trained to coach, 
evaluate, and conduct discussions with employees regarding their 
career readiness. 

Element: Mixed[B]: 

Element: 4. Mechanisms to Ensure Participation and Completion; 

Underway; 
Relevant attributes: 4a. Agency leaders communicate the importance of 
training (approaches may include issuing memoranda or announcements 
and mentioning the training on web sites). 

Underway; 
Relevant attributes: 4b. An organization or entity is held 
accountable, along with the line executives, for ensuring that 
participants successfully complete training (approaches include 
reinforcing separation of work time from training time). 

Not completed; 
Relevant attributes: 4c.The agency adjusts servicemembers' work 
schedules so that they can participate in training (approaches include 
agencies tracking managerial support for training through 
participation rates--which assumes enrollment--in their units). 

Underway; 
Relevant attributes: 4e. The agency prioritizes training for 
servicemembers based on agreed-upon goals and priorities. 

Underway; 
Relevant attributes: 4f. The agency encourages servicemembers to buy 
in to the goals of training so that they participate fully and apply 
new knowledge and skills (approaches may include using individual 
development plans, seeking employees' ideas to improve training, or 
issuing guidance on managing their career paths). 

Element: 5. Measures of Performance and Processes to Systematically 
Evaluate the Effectiveness or Benefits; 

Underway; 
Relevant attributes: 5a. The agency has performance measures to assess 
the results achieved through TAP. 

Not completed; 
Relevant attributes: 5b. The agency has a clear methodology, 
timetable, and delegation of responsibility for evaluating the 
benefits or impact of TAP. 

Underway; 
Relevant attributes: 5c. The agency analyzes and considers different 
stakeholder perspectives (including those of line managers and staff, 
customers, and experts in areas such as business and human capital 
management) in assessing the benefits or impact of training. 

Underway; 
Relevant attributes: 5d. The agency plans to or incorporates results 
of evaluations into its training. 

Source: GAO analysis of data provided by DOD, the four services, DOL, 
SBA and VA. 

[A] We considered the agency to be "adequately addressing" the element 
if the overall status of the efforts to address the element was 
determined to be completed or underway. 

[B] We considered the overall efforts to address the element to be 
"mixed" if some attributes related to an element had efforts completed 
or underway to address them, but one or more others did not. 

[End of table] 

To determine the extent to which agencies have addressed each element 
and attribute, we made our assessments in two steps. First, an analyst 
reviewed all of the evidence. Based on that review, the analyst 
documented evidence that conformed to the elements and attributes and 
made and documented a judgment about the status of these efforts. Then 
a second analyst separately reviewed the assessment and documented 
their agreement or disagreement. The two analysts discussed any 
differences in their assessments and made changes based on their 
verbal resolution of those differences. 

We assessed the status of the agencies' efforts to address each 
relevant attribute as "completed", "underway", or "not completed". 
Based on this analysis, we then determined the status of efforts to 
address each respective attribute overall. For example, for the status 
of efforts to address an attribute overall to be considered 
"completed", efforts to address each relevant attribute had to be 
completed. For the status of efforts to be considered "underway", it 
had to be documented that efforts to address each relevant attribute 
were progressing toward being finalized, or were a mix of underway 
efforts and finalized efforts. For the status of efforts to be 
considered "not completed", efforts to address at least one relevant 
attribute were not determined to be finalized or underway. 

We considered the agency to be "adequately addressing" the element if 
the overall status of the efforts to address the relevant attributes 
was determined to be completed or underway. However, if some 
attributes related to an element had efforts completed or underway to 
address them, but one or more other attributes did not have efforts 
completed or underway to address it (them), then we consider the 
overall efforts to address the element to be "mixed". 

We used the following general decision rules for characterizing the 
status of efforts to address each attribute as "completed", 
"underway", and "not completed": 

* "Completed" means interagency partners (or relevant agency) have a 
system, policy, or procedure in place to address a relevant attribute. 

* "Underway" means interagency partners (or relevant agency) have an 
authoritative internal or public document that demonstrate progress 
toward implementing actions to address the attribute (e.g., agencies 
have draft policies, operating procedures, or guidance, or they have 
interim systems in place and/or are developing systems). 

* "Not completed" means that interagency partners (or relevant agency) 
have shown little to no action toward implementing actions to address 
the attribute, meaning they lack an authoritative internal or public 
document (e.g., no draft policies, operating procedures, or guidance 
or interim systems). 

As we conducted this analysis, we kept in mind how far along agencies 
(mainly DOD and the military services) are in implementing each 
component of TAP (informed by objective 1). Because agencies were in 
the process of implementing the revamped TAP and the program was not 
fully operational at the time of our review, we were not able to 
determine whether the policies and procedures are in place at all 
sites or if they are working as intended. Similarly, we were not able 
to comment on whether the changes to TAP are yielding desired benefits 
or improvements in outcomes. 

[End of section] 

Appendix II: DOD Form 2958, Individual Transition Plan (ITP) Checklist: 

[Refer to PDF for image: 2 page checklist] 

[End of section] 

Appendix III: Comments from the Department of Defense: 

Office Of The Assistant Secretary Of Defense: 
Readiness And Force Management
4000 Defense Pentagon: 
Washington, D.C. 20301-4000: 

Mr. Andrew Sherill: 
Director, Education, Workforce, and Income Security Issues: 
U.S. Government Accountability Office: 
441 G Street, NW: 
Washington DC 20548: 

Dear Mr. Sherill: 

This is the Department of Defense (DoD) response to the GAO Draft Report
GAO-14-144, "Transitioning Veterans: Improved Oversight Needed to
Enhance Implementation of Transition Assistance Program," dated 
January 15,2014 (GAO Code 131231). 

The Department is providing official written comments for inclusion in 
the report. 

Sincerely, 

Signed by: 

Dr. Susan Kelly: 
Director, Transition to Veterans Program Office: 

Attachment: 

Gao Draft Report Dated January 15, 2014: 
GAO-14-144 (GAO Code 131231): 

“Transitioning Veterans: Improved Oversight Needed to Enhance
Implementation of Transition Assistance Program” 

Department Of Defense Comments To The GAO Recommendation: 

Recommendation 1: The GAO recommends that the Secretary of Defense 
direct the Under Secretary for Personnel and Readiness to require that 
all services provide unit commanders and their leaders information on 
TAP participation levels of service members under their command, 
similar to that provided by the Army and Air Force. Such information 
could be used to help hold leaders accountable for ensuring TAP 
participation and completion. 

DoD Response: Nonconcur. GAO justifies the need for a system providing 
Commander accountability based on concerns that without one, 
Commanders will not support the release of service members to attend 
TAP. These concerns are based on observations that preceded full 
implementation of Capstone, which launched in October 2013 as a 
mandatory process by which Commanders verify TAP participation and 
positively affirm that the Service members under their commands have 
or have not met Career Readiness Standards. Capstone implementation 
was accompanied by a robust communications campaign to inform both 
Commanders and Service TAP providers of this key requirement. Capstone 
completion is monitored Department-wide to ensure compliance.
Furthermore, the Navy is already funding IT system upgrades that will 
provide the ability to analyze and report program compliance down to 
the Unit Identification Code level. The Marine Corps has mandated 
participation since the program's inception, and Marine Corps 
Commanders leverage the capabilities of the personnel system to 
identify eligible Marines and schedule their TAP attendance. It should 
also be noted that as of December 2013, despite the limitations of a 
data tracking system that under-reports compliance figures, the Marine 
Corps has the highest compliance rate of all services. The Department 
recommends that Department-wide compliance data be allowed to 
normalize to show true compliance percentages before imposing further 
requirements to fund and implement expensive systems for the sole 
purpose of providing an additional mechanism for Commander 
accountability. 

Recommendation 2: The GAO recommends that the Secretary of Defense 
direct the Under Secretary for Personnel and Readiness to work with 
the partner agencies to develop a written strategy for determining 
which components and tracks to evaluate the most appropriate 
evaluation methods. This strategy should include a plan to use the 
results of evaluations to modify or redesign the program, as 
appropriate. 

DoD Response: Concur. The Department supports, and will continue to 
support interagency collaborative efforts to systematically evaluate 
and improve TAP and the Transition GPS curriculum. This collaboration 
is ongoing and has been formalized as of a January 31, 2014 Memorandum 
of Understanding between the Department of Defense, the Department of 
Veterans Affairs, the Department of Labor, the Department of 
Education, the Department of Homeland Security, the Small Business 
Administration, and the Office of Personnel Management, which includes 
a joint responsibility of the signed parties to “develop, assess, 
evaluate, and improve the Transition GPS.” The Department concurs with 
the recommendation to work with partner agencies toward the 
development of a written strategy to evaluate the effectiveness of 
Transition GPS components and tracks. 

Recommendation 3: The GAO recommends that the Secretary of Defense 
direct the Under Secretary for Personnel and Readiness to 
systematically collect information on any challenges facing 
demobilization members of the National Guard and Reserves regarding 
the logistics of the timing and location to attend TAP. For example 
agencies might add questions to their online assessment tool specific 
to eligible members of the National Guard and Reserves who participate 
in TAP. 

DoD Response: Nonconcur. The Department has long understood that the 
National Guard and Reserves operate under schedules and logistical 
constraints that differ from those of the Active components. However, 
law and policy mandate that all eligible Service members, absent an 
exception, including those affiliated with the National Guard and 
Reserves, receive TAP services prior to separation from active duty. 
Furthermore, several processes are already in place to identify and 
rectify misalignments between TAP services and Reserve component 
needs, including regular coordinating councils which include 
representation from the Reserve components and TAP managers, a 
dedicated “Reserve Component Tiger Team” focusing on TAP participation 
among National Guard and Reserve Service members, and a Transition GPS 
participant assessment which already provides ample opportunity for 
Reserve component Service members to voice concerns regarding their 
ability to participate in transition assistance. Most importantly, 
with the implementation of the Military Life Cycle model of TAP in 
fiscal year 2014, Reserve components have been provided with the 
latitude to optimize placement of certain elements of TAP throughout a 
Service member's military service, which will enable them to tailor 
transition assistance to their Service member schedules and needs. 

[End of section] 

Appendix IV: Comments from the Department of Veterans Affairs: 

Department Of Veterans Affairs: 
Washington DC 20420: 

February 12, 2014: 

Mr. Andrew Sherrill: 
Director: 
Education, Workforce, and Income Security Issues: 
U.S. Government Accountability Office: 
441 G Street, NW: 
Washington, DC 20548: 

Dear Mr. Sherrill: 

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has reviewed the Government
Accountability Office's (GAO) draft report, "Transitioning Veterans: 
Improved Oversight Needed to Enhance Implementation of Transition 
Assistance Program" (GAO-14-144). VA generally agrees with GAO's 
findings. 

The 'enclosure contains technical comments related to the draft 
report. VA appreciates the opportunity to comment on your draft report. 

Sincerely, 

Signed by: 

Jose D. Riojas: 
Chief of Staff: 

[End of section] 

Appendix V: GAO Contact and Staff Acknowledgments: 

GAO Contact: 

Andrew Sherrill, (202) 512-7215 or sherrilla@gao.gov. 

Staff Acknowledgments: 

In addition to the contact named above, individuals making key 
contributions to this report were Patrick Dibattista, Assistant 
Director; Julianne Hartman Cutts; and James Whitcomb. In addition, key 
support was provided by James Bennett, Rachael Chamberlin, David 
Chrisinger, Brett Fallavollita, Alex Galuten, Kathy Leslie, David 
Moser, and Michael Silver. 

Training programs can be evaluated by measurements at varying levels, 
from lower level evaluations which include (1) participant reaction 
and (2) changes in their skills and knowledge; to higher level ones 
which include (3) changes in their behavior or performance and (4) the 
impact of the training. See GAO-04-546G. 

[End of section] 

Footnotes: 

[1] Over each of the next 4 years, the Department of Defense estimates 
that approximately 170,000 to 185,000 active duty servicemembers will 
separate from the military and about 60,000 National Guard and Reserve 
members will be demobilized and deactivated from active duty. 

[2] Pub. L. No. 112-56, Title II, 125 Stat. 711, 712. After the VOW 
Act became law, the unemployment rate for post-9/11 veterans improved--
decreasing from 13.1 percent in December 2011 to 7.3 percent in 
December 2013--but remained above the overall unemployment rate for 
non-veterans (6.4 percent), according to the Bureau of Labor 
Statistics. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, veterans 
between the ages of 18 to 24 maintain the highest rate of 
unemployment. In 2012, the unemployment rate for male post-9/11 
veterans age 18 to 24 was 20.0 percent, higher than the rate for 
nonveterans of the same age group (16.4 percent). 

[3] The VEI Task Force was created in August 2011 to build on the 
existing TAP program and also incorporated the requirements of the VOW 
Act. The VEI Task Force renamed the revamped curriculum of TAP, 
Transition Goals, Plans, Success (Transition GPS). 

[4] Pub. L. No. 112-56, § 226, 125 Stat. 711, 719. On September 20 and 
24 and November 12 and 20, 2013, we briefed the House and Senate 
Committees on Armed Services and the House and Senate Committees on 
Veterans' Affairs on our preliminary observations. This report 
formally conveys the information provided during those briefings. 

[5] See GAO, Human Capital: A Guide for Assessing Strategic Training 
and Development Efforts in the Federal Government, [hyperlink, 
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-04-546G] (Washington, D.C.: March 
2004). The guide summarizes elements of effective training programs 
and presents related questions on the components of the training and 
development process in four broad, interrelated components: (1) 
planning/front-end analysis, (2) design/ development, (3) 
implementation, and (4) evaluation. We mainly used the guide's 
implementation and evaluation components to identify the detailed 
strategic training and development criteria applicable to TAP. These 
criteria remain relevant today because they are the most recent 
relevant guidance available to assess how agencies plan, design, 
implement, and evaluate effective federal training and development 
programs. 

[6] For example, we reviewed a January 2013 Defense Business Board 
report that identified some of the remaining challenges associated 
with implementing and evaluating TAP. 

[7] To select the sites, we worked with DOD officials to identify 
installations that had implemented selected revamped TAP training 
sessions, including the DOL employment workshop, the VA benefits 
training sessions, and the DOD core curriculum. We provided DOD and 
officials at each installation visited with criteria that the 
installation officials used to select servicemembers for our 
discussion groups. 

[8] For example, because DOD was in the process of, or planning to, 
monitor the program content and delivery and collect data on 
attendance and outcomes, we did not test the application of DOD's 
policies and procedures related to these areas. In addition, we were 
not able to review DOD's plans to implement its military life cycle 
transition model because it is in the early planning stage and is not 
due to be operational until October 2014. 

[9] TAP was established through the National Defense Authorization Act 
for Fiscal Year 1991, Pub. L. No. 101-510, § 502(a)(1), 104 Stat. 
1485, 1551 (1990). Federal law spells out many topics that must be 
covered in TAP, including employment and relocation assistance, 
education opportunities, health and life insurance, and financial 
planning. Moreover, eligibility and the time frames for provision of 
TAP services are spelled out in law: all service members who have been 
on active duty for at least 180 days are eligible for TAP services, 
but those separating because of a disability are eligible regardless 
of the length of their active duty service. Eligible service members 
must be provided TAP while they are on active duty, either as soon as 
possible within the 2 years prior to their anticipated retirement date 
or in the 1 year prior to their anticipated separation date. In either 
case, TAP services must generally commence no later than 90 days prior 
to their discharge or release. The exceptions to this rule occur when 
retirements or separations are not anticipated until 90 or fewer days 
of active duty remain, or a member of the reserve is being demobilized 
under circumstances in which the 90 day requirement is unfeasible. In 
such cases, TAP services must be provided as soon as possible within 
the remaining period of service. 

[10] At the completion of the employment workshop, servicemembers are 
given a "Gold Card" that entitles them to enhanced intensive services 
for six months by an employment specialist through DOL's American Job 
Centers. 

[11] In addition to carrying out these agreements at the national 
level, based on the January 31, 2014 MOU, the federal agencies 
encourage similar agreements among state and regional offices and the 
installations located in their areas. 

[12] For more information see GAO, Veterans' Employment and Training: 
Better Targeting, Coordinating, and Reporting Needed to Enhance 
Program Effectiveness, [hyperlink, 
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-13-29] (Washington, D.C.: December 13, 
2012). 

[13] While some servicemembers may be exempted from attending the DOL 
employment workshop--for example, DOD policy exempts servicemembers 
retiring after 20 or more years of service in the military--DOD is 
generally required to provide pre-separation counseling to 
servicemembers. Further, DOD requires servicemembers to attend the 
other components of TAP. However, some servicemembers will not be able 
to complete all the required TAP training for various reasons, 
according to DOD officials. This issue is discussed later in the 
report. 

[14] The VOW Act requires DOL to utilize one or more contractors to 
facilitate the employment workshop by November 21, 2013. 

[15] DOD is updating a DOD Instruction (DODI) for TAP to reflect 
changes to the program. The DODI is in draft form and subject to 
revision. The draft DODI will be finalized after going through the 
federal rulemaking process, which generally requires agencies to 
publish a notice of proposed rulemaking in the Federal Register. 

[16] According to DOD's draft TAP Department of Defense Instruction 
(DODI), DOD's intent is for the services to identify key touch points 
of the military life cycle, such as the following: (1) first permanent 
duty station/home station; (2) reenlistment; (3) promotion; (4) 
deployment or redeployment; (5) mobilization/activation, 
demobilization/deactivation; (6) major life events (e.g., change in 
family status, etc.); and (7) retirement/separation. 

[17] [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-04-546G]. 

[18] DOD and the services began this tracking at the beginning of 
fiscal year 2013 in anticipation of meeting the November 2012 VOW Act 
requirement. Additionally, all other modules of TAP can be captured 
through this system, including the career-specific tracks and the 
capstone event. 

[19] DOD measures progress toward this goal by comparing data on 
attendance at three required components--pre-separation counseling, 
the DOL employment workshop, and the VA benefits I and II briefings--
to information on servicemembers discharged over a given time period 
as well as other data DOD collects about individual servicemembers. 

[20] The revamped TAP is a key strategy of the administration's Cross-
Agency Priority Goal to improve the career readiness of veterans. The 
administration's goal is to increase the rate of eligible 
servicemembers served by "career readiness and preparedness programs" 
to 90 percent by September 30, 2013. The GPRA Modernization Act of 
2010 requires that OMB develop federal government performance goals 
(crosscutting goals) and a federal government performance plan, which 
is to be updated annually and released concurrently with the 
President's budget. 

[21] [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-04-546G]. 

[22] Servicemembers are provided with the link to a web-based 
participant assessment and encouraged to complete it at the end of 
each TAP component they attend. 

[23] [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-04-546G]. 

[24] DOD is also taking steps to ensure that commanders or their 
designees are properly trained to coach, evaluate, and conduct 
employee career discussions. For example, DOD developed an individual 
transition plan checklist for commanders to use. Also, the Army 
includes TAP in its leadership training at every installation and is 
developing a commander and career counselor guide that outlines the 
responsibilities, measures of success, and tools for implementing TAP 
at the unit level. Furthermore, DOD plans to establish quality 
standards for products required by the career readiness standards, 
such as job applications, to be used by commanders to objectively 
validate and evaluate the extent to which servicemembers met these 
standards. Similarly, according to the December 2012 DOD-VA VEI Task 
Force Implementation Plan, the services are developing scripts to 
structure sessions that the commanders or their designees hold with 
eligible servicemembers to discuss their transition plans. 

[25] SBA staff are not required to participate in the capstone to 
support the warm handover for any of the services and, instead, plan 
to provide SBA contact and other information, such as website 
resources, during the entrepreneurial track. 

[26] DOD guidance requires the services to schedule servicemembers to 
participate in TAP components at appropriate points during their 
careers. According to officials from the four services, it can be 
challenging to ensure attendance for servicemembers separating under 
short notice, such as those separating for disciplinary reasons. In 
such cases, officials said that the services have offered alternatives 
to the regular TAP training if time or circumstances did not permit a 
servicemember to take a TAP class. 

[27] Commanders are assigned responsibility through a DOD Directive-
type Memorandum, which is an interim policy that was valid though May 
2013, but, according to DOD officials, has been extended through May 
2014. The interim policy will be incorporated into a TAP DOD 
Instruction (DODI) that DOD is drafting. DOD officials stated that the 
draft DODI will be finalized after going through the federal 
rulemaking process, which generally requires agencies to publish a 
notice of proposed rulemaking in the Federal Register. 

[28] This includes, for example, the number and percentage of eligible 
soldiers who completed the DOL employment workshop not later than 9 
months prior to separation. 

[29] It is DOD's intent that the IG of each service monitors TAP 
implementation and compliance, which may include monitoring this issue 
at the commander level. However, such monitoring is not designed to 
provide regular and timely information that could be used to manage 
the rates at which TAP participants successfully complete training. 

[30] GAO, Military and Veterans' Benefits: Enhanced Services Could 
Improve Transition Assistance for Reserves and National Guard, 
[hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-05-544] (Washington, D.C.: 
May 20, 2005); Military and Veterans' Benefits: Observations on the 
Transition Assistance Program, [hyperlink, 
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-02-914T] (Washington, D.C.: July 18, 
2002). 

[31] Outputs are the direct products and services delivered by a 
program, and outcomes are the results of those products and services. 
See GAO, Performance Measurement and Evaluation: Definitions and 
Relationships, [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-11-646SP] 
(Washington, D.C.: May 2011). 

[32] eBenefits is a central portal or location for servicemembers, 
veterans, and their families to research, find, and access their 
benefits and personal information. 

[33] As of February 2014 the performance goal was reduced from at 
least 85 percent of servicemembers meeting career readiness standards 
prior to their separation to 65 percent. 

[34] Training programs can be evaluated by measurements at varying 
levels, from lower level evaluations which include (1) participant 
reaction and (2) changes in their skills and knowledge; to higher 
level ones which include (3) changes in their behavior or performance 
and (4) the impact of the training. See [hyperlink, 
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-04-546G]. 

[35] According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, post 9/11 veterans 
who were current or past members of the Reserve or National Guard had 
an unemployment rate of 7.2 percent in August 2012, lower than the 
rate for those veterans who had not been members of the Reserve or 
National Guard (13.7 percent). Members of the National Guard and 
Reserve train for their military mission during certain weeks and 
weekends each year. 

[36] Among other rights, servicemembers who meet the statutory 
requirements are generally entitled to reinstatement to the positions 
they would have held if they had never left their employment or to 
positions of similar seniority, status, and pay. 38 U.S.C. § 4311 et 
seq. 

[37] In 2005, we reported concerns about TAP timing and location for 
this population. At that time most members of the National Guard and 
Reserves did not have the opportunity to attend an employment workshop 
during demobilization. See [hyperlink, 
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-05-544]. 

[38] Defense Business Board, Employing Our Veterans Part II: Service 
Member Transition, a report prepared at the request of the Department 
of Defense, Jan. 24, 2013. 

[39] Members of the National Guard and Reserve being released from 
active duty have a short time period when they come back from 
deployment, while active duty servicemembers generally have at least 
90 days--and up to 24 months--to participate in TAP before they 
separate. Typically, the demobilization process is rapid, taking a few 
weeks once members of the National Guard and Reserve arrive in the 
United States from overseas. During demobilization, they are expected 
to participate in numerous briefings on various topics, such as legal 
and medical issues, and scheduled activities, such as physical 
examinations. 

[40] DOD, Compensation and Benefits Handbook for Wounded, Ill and 
Injured Members of the Armed Forces, 00054-624 (Oct. 2011). As noted 
previously, eligible servicemembers must generally be provided TAP 
services as soon as possible within the 2 years prior to their 
anticipated retirement or in the 1 year prior to their anticipated 
separation date. In either case, services must be provided no later 
than 90 days prior to their discharge or release. The exceptions to 
this rule occur when retirements or separations are not anticipated 
until 90 or fewer days of active duty remain or a member of the 
reserve is being demobilized under circumstances in which the 90 day 
requirement is unfeasible. In such cases, TAP services must be 
provided as soon as possible within the remaining period of service. 

[41] In addition, DOD and the services convened a task team and as a 
result, decided to include representatives from the National Guard and 
Reserve as nonvoting members of the internal DOD TAP Coordinating 
Council. 

[42] In addition, although the participant assessment collects 
immediate participant reaction to the training, it may not capture 
concerns that National Guard and Reservists may face after leaving 
TAP. For example, officials from two veteran service organizations 
expressed concern that TAP may not focus enough on how National Guard 
and Reserve members should address potential employer discrimination. 

[43] The Defense Manpower Data Center conducts a series of Web-based 
surveys called Status of Forces surveys, which help decision makers 
within DOD to (1) evaluate existing programs and policies, (2) 
establish baselines before implementing new programs and policies, and 
(3) monitor the progress of programs and policies and their effects on 
the total force. The Status of Forces surveys include a survey of 
active duty military personnel, called the Status of Forces Active; a 
survey of national guard and reserve military personnel, called the 
Status of Forces Reserve Survey; and a survey of civilian employees, 
called the Status of Forces Survey of Civilian Employees. 

[44] Furthermore, according to government standards for internal 
control, information should be available to help inform management in 
making decisions and identifying risks and problem areas. In addition, 
promising practices of program administration that we have identified 
include a strong capacity to collect and analyze accurate, useful, and 
timely data. (Harold I. Steinberg, Using Performance Information to 
Drive Performance Improvement, Association of Government Accountants 
CPAG Research Series: Report No. 29 (Alexandria, VA: Dec. 2011)). 

[End of section] 

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