●

- Addressed

◐

- Partially Addressed

○

- Not Addressed

◉

- Consolidated or Other

℗

- Pending

⊘

- Closed-Partially Addressed

⊗

- Closed-Not Addressed

Year Identified: 2019

Area Number: 2

Area Type: Fragmentation, Overlap & Duplication

Action:

The Secretary of Defense should ensure that the Chief Management Officer (CMO), with input from the human resources management reform team, requires that all Department of Defense (DOD) human resources providers adopt consistent time-to-hire measures, as one process for assessing performance.

Progress:

DOD concurred with GAO’s September 2018 recommendation. As of January 2020, DOD has taken several steps to move toward a consistent time-to-hire measure. The department established a working group that mapped the civilian hiring process across the department, to include standard definitions for key activities and associated timeframes for each segment of the process, including an implementation plan for a common time-to-hire measure. The department will implement the steps identified in the plan throughout fiscal year 2020. Until DOD fully implements consistent department-wide time-to-fire measure, it will be limited in its ability improve the performance measurement of its civilian hiring process and oversee the hiring process.

Action:

The Secretary of Defense should ensure that the Chief Management Officer (CMO), through the human resources management reform team, identifies time frames and deliverables for identifying and adopting optimal information technology (IT) solutions for human resources and fully assessing, identifying, and implementing the most effective and efficient means of human resources service delivery.

Progress:

The Department of Defense (DOD) concurred with this September 2018 recommendation. As of January 2020, DOD has taken steps to adopt optimal IT solutions for human resources delivery within the department. DOD officials stated that the overarching timeframes and deliverables for human resources management IT modernization are now part of a broader civilian human capital operating plan and overseen through senior-level quarterly reviews.

Further, DOD officials stated that the department has planned a process to move toward optimized IT systems. DOD plans to transition the civilian personnel primary system of record to a new software and cloud based system, which is estimated to be complete in July 2020. Additionally, a broad review that includes an identified future state of human resources IT systems is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2020. We will continue to monitor DOD’s efforts to identify and adopt optimal IT solution for human resources delivery. Until DOD fully identifies and adopts an optimal IT solution, it will be limited in its ability to provide the most effective and efficient means of human resources service delivery.  

Action:

The Secretary of Defense should ensure that the Chief Management Officer (CMO), through the human resources management reform team, collects information on the overhead costs charged by all Department of Defense (DOD) human resources service providers to assist in determining the most effective, economical, and efficient model of human resources service delivery within the department.

Progress:

DOD concurred with this September 2018 recommendation. As of January 2020, DOD has begun taking steps to collect information on overhead costs and further its effort to determine the most effective, economical, and efficient model of human resources delivery within the department. DOD convened a Human Resources Shared Service Delivery Working Group to optimize human resources delivery across the defense agencies and DOD field activities. DOD officials stated that the working group is developing a costing model and performance measures, which includes overhead cost information.

Additionally, the working group is reviewing and comparing human resources service providers across the federal government and private sectors. DOD officials also stated that the department developed a cost framework that will form the basis for determining the most effective, economical, and efficient human resources delivery for the department. However, these efforts are still in development or early implementation and the department has not yet used them to determine the optimal human resources delivery model. We will continue to monitor these efforts in the coming year. Until DOD fully develops and implements its costing model and associated framework, it will be limited in its ability to determine the most effective and efficient means of human resources service delivery.