Tax Systems Modernization: Automated Underreporter Project Shows Need for Human Resource Planning
GGD-94-159
Published: Jul 08, 1994. Publicly Released: Jul 08, 1994.
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Highlights
GAO reviewed the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) Tax Systems Modernization (TSM) implementation plan, focusing on: (1) human resource planning for TSM; (2) strategies for meeting the human resource needs of the new IRS environment; and (3) IRS experience in implementing the Automated Underreporter (AUR) project.
Recommendations
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Internal Revenue Service | The Commissioner of Internal Revenue should assess existing workforce knowledge, skills, and abilities and update this assessment periodically for later comparison with project requirements. |
As part of a reengineering project, IRS identified the competencies needed to effectively perform 8 core jobs and purchased off-the-shelf competency assessment instruments for assessing individual employee competencies in relation to those needed for a specific core job. If these instruments prove to be valid measures, IRS will use them to identify individual training needs, to select individuals for redeployment, and to maintain a skills inventory for assigning work. However, because IRS does not intend to compare available skills to overall new workforce requirements in order to identify and plan for meeting skills gaps, these actions were not fully responsive to the recommendation.
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| Internal Revenue Service | The Commissioner of Internal Revenue should identify specific staffing requirements (numbers, skills, grades, and training) for all TSM projects that will have a significant effect on human resources. |
IRS has developed models for determining staffing requirements for the new environment and plans to periodically recompute requirements to reflect changes in project funding, performance, or implementation schedules.
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| Internal Revenue Service | The Commissioner of Internal Revenue should compare project staffing requirements with the inventories of existing workforce knowledge, skills, and abilities and develop detailed retraining and redeployment plans to meet the requirements for TSM projects that will have a significant effect on human resources. |
In April 1994, IRS compared its existing workforce to its estimated staffing requirements by year, job series, and grade levels, for each site (rather than for each TSM project) affected by the new business vision. IRS plans to periodically rerun this redeployment model to reflect changes in output from the various workforce requirements models. However, IRS does not plan to use the employee skills inventories for comparison to overall workforce requirements in order to identify and plan for meeting overall skills gaps. Thus, these actions were not fully responsive to the recommendation.
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Collective bargaining agreementsGovernment employee unionsEmployee trainingStaff utilizationPersonnel managementPlanningReductions in forceTax administration systemsLabor forceTaxpayers