GAO: The Human Capital Strategic Plan Fiscal Years 2004-2006

GAO exists to support the Congress in meeting its constitutional responsibilities and to help improve the performance and ensure the accountability of the federal government for the benefit of the American people. To accomplish its mission, GAO depends on a diverse and knowledge-based workforce comprising individuals with a broad spectrum of technical and program skills and institutional memory. This workforce represents GAO's human capital--its greatest asset--and is critical to the agency's success in serving the Congress and the nation. This strategic human capital plan is a key step in continuing GAO's progress to build a highly effective, performance-based organization by attracting, retaining, motivating, and rewarding a high-performing, top-quality workforce. GAO believes that strategic human capital management must be the centerpiece of any serious change management initiative and effort to transform the culture and operations of any large organization, including government agencies. This plan extends and builds upon what GAO has already accomplished by using existing administrative authorities and by pursuing incremental additional tools and flexibilities legislatively. From the demonstrated results that GAO has achieved, it is clear that we have been a leader in human capital or people strategy within the federal government. At the same time, this strategic human capital plan is intended to build on these accomplishments and position GAO for the future. The plan includes a continuing emphasis on the skills, knowledge, and performance of GAO's workforce as the primary factors in connection with GAO's employment and compensation policies. Additionally, achieving a diverse, empowered, and enabled workforce while assuring opportunities for all and preventing discrimination are also important elements in this plan. Importantly, this strategic human capital plan is directly linked to GAO's overall strategic vision of what it wants to accomplish and will serve as a cornerstone in our future change management and agency transformation initiatives. Since maximizing performance and ensuring accountability are at the heart of GAO's mission, the agency believes that it must lead by example in all major management areas, including human capital. By managing its workforce strategically, integrating its internal strategic and workforce plans, and focusing on results, GAO is helping to improve its performance and enhance accountability. By doing so, GAO also hopes to demonstrate to other federal agencies that they can make similar improvements in the way they manage their people within the context of current law while also helping to identify the kinds of more-comprehensive legislative reforms that should be enacted.