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United States Government Accountability Office: 

Human Capital Interim Strategic Plan: 

Fiscal Years 2010-2012: 

"Linking Strategy to Results through People" 

[Report cover includes an array of five photographs depicting GAO 
employees] 

GAO-10-269SP: 

Contents: 

Letter from the Acting Comptroller General: 

Introduction: 

About Us: 

GAO's Workforce: 

The Pipeline: 

Human Capital Challenges: 

Management Improvement Initiatives Framework: 

Strategic Objectives and Performance Indicators: 

Summary: 

Appendix I: GAO Legislative History: 

Appendix II: GAO Detailed Organization Chart: 

Appendix III: Comparative Workforce Data—Fiscal Years 1999 to 2009: 

Appendix IV: People and Internal Operations Performance Measures: 

Source (cover images): PhotoDisc. 

[End of section] 

September 28, 2009: 

Letter From The Acting Comptroller General: 

GAO is extremely proud of its highly skilled, professional staff of 
approximately 3,200 employees and the difference that they make for 
the Congress and the nation. To ensure we are able to sustain a high 
performance level in effectively supporting the Congress in meeting 
its constitutional responsibilities and helping to improve the 
performance and accountability of the federal government, we remain 
committed to investing in each of our employees. 

The federal government faces new and even more complex challenges in 
the 21st century, including long-term fiscal constraints, changing 
demographics, and evolving governance models. To assist the Congress 
in addressing these and emerging challenges, GAO must make strategic 
human capital management the centerpiece of our efforts. 

GAO has been recognized as a leader in human capital management by 
public and private entities such as the IBM Center for the Business of 
Government, Partnership for Public Service, International Personnel 
Management Association, and Harvard Executive Education. GAO champions 
numerous human capital programs and initiatives and strives to serve 
as a model throughout the federal government. 

In 2004, we issued our first GAO human capital strategic plan. We have 
made progress toward the performance objectives established in that 
original plan and continue to identify ways we can improve our 
strategic human capital management. Our focus continues to be on 
building and sustaining a diverse professional services organization 
that attracts, hires, retains, and rewards a highly skilled, high-
performing workforce. We will do this through continued efforts to 
strategically plan for evolving human capital management challenges. 

Through the use of congressionally authorized human capital 
flexibilities, we continue to improve the alignment of our workforce 
with our mission, enhance cross-functional collaboration, and refine 
our market- and performance-based compensation and competency-based 
performance management systems. 

This 2010 through 2012 interim human capital strategic plan focuses on 
human capital initiatives over the next 18 months that are most 
critical to sustaining performance excellence. Because it is aligned 
with the GAO strategic plan that will be updated in fiscal year 2010, 
this interim plan will also be updated in fiscal year 2010 to ensure 
that it provides a clear line of sight between our agencywide 
performance goals and objectives and the human capital strategies we 
will employ to meet those goals and objectives. 

The plan builds upon the progress we have made and provides a road map 
for how we will continue to promote and maintain a work environment 
that is fair, unbiased, and inclusive, as well as one that offers 
opportunities for all employees to realize their full potential.
It serves as the foundation for our continuing to build upon GAO's 
capacity to develop leaders, maximize performance, ensure 
accountability, and reinforce the foundation that has repeatedly made 
GAO a professional services employer of choice. 

Signed by: 

Gene L. Dodaro: 
Acting Comptroller General of the United States: 

[End of letter] 

Introduction: 

Strategic human capital planning is the centerpiece of federal 
agencies' efforts to transform their organizations to meet the 
challenges of the 21st century. Strategic human capital planning that 
is integrated with broader organizational strategic planning is 
critical to ensuring agencies have the talent they need for future 
challenges. 

This plan presents the integrated framework of policies and practices 
that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) will use to guide its 
efforts in strategic human capital management through fiscal year 
2012. It provides a contextual framework for the strategic objectives 
and performance indicators that are discussed toward the end of the 
plan through a description of challenges, both internal and external, 
that GAO will face and how the agency intends to meet those challenges 
to continue to fulfill the agency's mission through a highly engaged, 
professional workforce. 

As was mentioned in the letter from the Acting Comptroller General, 
the plan is intended to primarily focus GAO's efforts through fiscal 
year 2010. GAO is currently updating its agencywide strategic plan, so 
the human capital strategic plan will be reviewed as part of that 
process to ensure clear alignment between the two plans.
The elements of the plan embody the four challenge areas that GAO has 
identified as critical to effective strategic human capital 
management: leadership; strategic human capital planning; acquiring, 
developing, and retaining talent; and results-oriented organizational 
culture.[Footnote 1] 

About Us: 

GAO has had certain human capital tools and flexibilities for more 
than two decades (please see Appendix I for an overview of GAO's 
legislative history). Further, GAO is excepted from certain provisions 
of Title 5, which governs the competitive service, and the agency is 
not subject to Office of Personnel Management (OPM) oversight. As a 
result, GAO has been able to develop and implement a human capital 
management system with a degree of independence that many agencies in 
the executive branch have not had. GAO continuously evaluates elements 
of its human capital system to ensure they represent leading practices 
and directly support the agency's ability to successfully perform its 
mission. 

With approximately 3,200 employees, GAO is a multidisciplinary 
professional services organization that conducts a wide range of 
financial and performance audits, program evaluations, management 
reviews, investigations, and legal services spanning a broad range of 
government programs and functions. GAO's commitment to good government 
is reflected in its core values of accountability, integrity, and 
reliability. 

The organization is primarily structured around four goals (please see 
Appendix II for a detailed organization chart):[Footnote 2] 

* Goal 1 — Provide timely, quality service to the Congress and the 
federal government to address current and emerging challenges to the 
well-being and financial security of the American people. 
Approximately 37 percent of GAO's employees are aligned with this goal. 

* Goal 2 — Provide timely, quality service to the Congress and the 
federal government to respond to changing security threats and the 
challenges of global interdependence. Approximately 32 percent of 
GAO's employees are aligned with this goal. 

* Goal 3 — Help transform the federal government's role and how it 
does business to meet 21st century challenges. Approximately 27 
percent of GAO's employees are aligned with this goal. 

* Goal 4 — Maximize the value of GAO by being a model federal agency 
and a world-class professional services organization. Approximately 4 
percent of GAO's employees are aligned with this goal. This is the 
only internally focused goal. 

Resource alignment with the agency's mission is a critical component 
of the agency's workforce planning activities. And, because GAO 
performs most of its work in a highly collaborative, matrixed 
environment, maintaining the right mix of technical knowledge and 
subject matter expertise—as well as general analytical skills—is vital 
to achieving the agency's mission. 

Demand for GAO's analysis and advice remains strong across the 
Congress. GAO's involvement in supporting key management challenges 
and mitigating risks is continuing to grow with more and more 
legislation, including a role for GAO, most recently the Troubled 
Asset Relief Program (TARP) and the American Recovery and Reinvestment 
Act (ARRA). This emerging trend is attributable to the agency's 
credibility with the Congress in providing timely, objective, fact-
based, high-quality work products. 

GAO's Workforce: 

To be responsive to the increasing demand for GAO's services, the 
agency depends on a talented, diverse, high-performing, knowledge-
based workforce. GAO staff hold degrees in various academic 
disciplines, including accounting, law, information technology, 
engineering, public administration, and economics. More than 62 
percent of staff hold master's degrees or higher, and many of them 
have specialized program expertise in areas ranging from national 
security to Social Security 

Table: GAO Workforce Data: 

Total employees = 3245; 
72% in Headquarters; 
28% in 11 field offices; 

Primary job series: 
Analyst: 56%; 
Financial auditor: 8%; 
IT specialist: 5%; 
Attorney: 4%; 
Economist: 2%. 

Highest degree: 
Master's: 56%; 
Bachelor's: 26%; 
Doctorate: 6%; 

Demographics: 
Female: 57%; 
Male: 43%; 
Minority: 30%. 

Source: GAO. 

[End of table] 

As with many private and public organizations, GAO's workforce 
demographics are reflecting an increasingly diverse workforce. For 
example, in comparing workforce demographic data from fiscal year 1999 
with those for fiscal year 2009 (please see Appendix BI for additional 
comparative workforce data):[Footnote 3] 

* More women than men now work at GAO-57 percent, an increase of 
almost 17 percent. 

* The number of GAO staff age 30 and under increased 233 percent, 
while the median age decreased from 48 to 43 years. 

* Ethnic minorities constitute 30 percent of the workforce, an 
increase of 2 percent. 

* Fifty-six percent of the staff have completed a master's degree 
program, with many staff holding multiple graduate degrees—an increase 
of 6 percent. 

This increasing organizational diversity—more gender diverse, more 
ethnically diverse, more generationally diverse, and increasingly more 
educated—makes strategic human capital management an organizational 
imperative. GAO is committed to cultivating and sustaining an 
inclusive organizational culture that embraces diversity in all of its 
forms, emphasizes individual integrity and accountability, and 
recognizes and rewards performance excellence. The agency's efforts 
must be responsive to the diverse needs of its workforce while at the 
same time being responsive to emerging trends in human capital 
management and how GAO performs its work. 

One of the external benchmarks for GAO's efforts is the Best Places to 
Work in the Federal Government rankings conducted by the Partnership 
for Public Service and American University's Institute for the Study 
of Public Policy Implementation. GAO has participated in the rankings 
since 2005, and the agency was ranked number 2 among large agencies in 
2007 and 2009. 

Internally, GAO assesses its performance annually using a balanced set 
of quantitative performance measures that focus on people and internal 
operations. These categories of measures are briefly described below, 
and appendix IV reflects the agencywide performance during the last 
two fiscal years, with targets for fiscal years 2009 and 2010. 

* People. As GAO's most important asset, the workforce defines the 
agency's character and capacity to perform. A variety of data sources, 
including an internal survey, provide information to help measure how 
well GAO is attracting and retaining high-quality staff and how well 
the agency is developing, supporting, using, and leading staff. In 
response to an evaluation conducted by the Office of Inspector 
General, GAO will be modifying our people measures.[Footnote 4] 

* Internal operations. GAO's mission and people are supported by 
internal administrative services, including information management, 
building management, knowledge services, human capital, and financial 
management services. Through an internal customer satisfaction survey, 
GAO gathers information on how well these internal operations enable 
employees to get their jobs done and improve employees' quality of 
work life. 

The Pipeline: 

Most employees (approximately 56 percent) are in GAO's analyst job 
series (347), a job series unique to GAO. Because of the importance of 
the agency's quality assurance framework to the quality of all of 
GAO's work products, it is essential that recruitment strategies are 
appropriately targeted to fill positions with the right candidates and
that developmental activities provide the appropriate foundation for 
individual and organizational success. 

Summer interns are a major source of GAO's candidate pool for these 
analyst positions. Annually, GAO employs approximately 160 interns who 
serve as long as 12 weeks, usually during the summer. This affords 
both the intern and the agency an opportunity to assess 
candidate/agency compatibility. 

On average, GAO extends employment offers to approximately 70 percent 
of its interns and approximately 70 percent of these offers are 
accepted. New entry-level staff members join the agency as part of its 
professional development program (PDP), a 2-year developmental program 
in which new employees acquire the technical competencies required to 
fulfill GAO's mission and enhance their opportunities to excel. 

Human Capital Challenges: 

Organizations, private and public, increasingly recognize that 
effective and inclusive human capital management strategies are 
critical to current and future performance. GAO's human capital 
policies promote fairness, recognize and embrace diversity, are free 
of bias, and encourage employees to develop and perform at their full 
potential. GAO continually evaluates and modifies those policies to 
ensure practices are consistent with the organization's commitment to 
its workforce. 

While GAO's attrition rate has been historically very low 
(approximately 10 percent with retirements), the agency's retirement 
eligibility profile has implications for succession planning efforts. 
For example, about 15 percent of all GAO staff will be eligible for 
retirement by the end of fiscal year 2009, including almost 50 percent 
of the executive corps who are currently eligible to retire. This 
highlights the need for GAO to strategically address knowledge 
transfer and to remain highly competitive in its recruitment efforts. 
These efforts need to be particularly focused on ensuring operational 
continuity, as well as a continuous pipeline for the intern and 
professional development programs. 

The agency's changing demographics have significant implications for 
how GAO recruits, trains, retains, and rewards employees. For example, 
younger staff members appear to be less likely to make a long-term 
workplace commitment than older ones, while at the same time mid- and 
senior-level staff with great institutional knowledge are remaining in 
the workforce beyond expected retirement dates. This demographic trend 
means the workforce is increasingly multigenerational, with younger 
staff sometimes supervising older workers. GAO's professional 
development and recognition programs must take into account the 
differing expectations of the entire workforce, as values can be very 
different among the different demographic groups. 

GAO is committed to involving employees in identifying and 
implementing human capital programs, such as refining the compensation 
and performance management systems to more closely link rewards and 
recognition to employees' competencies and contributions to 
organizational results. GAO will continue the recognized best practice 
of involving the entire workforce and internal stakeholder groups—
including the GAO employee organizations, International Federation of 
Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE Local 1921), Employee 
Advisory Council, and Diversity Advisory Council—in increasing support 
for organizational goals and objectives and improving overall 
engagement and morale. 

Finally, GAO intends to explore establishing a governance structure 
for human capital decision making that ensures a complete integration 
among workforce, succession, budget, and strategic planning 
activities. This governance structure would better position GAO 
leaders to address organizational challenges, ensure that human 
capital policies enable the organization to move in the direction 
identified by management, and position agency managers and supervisors 
to be as effective and efficient as possible as they work through 
their staffs to carry out the agency's mission. 

Management Improvement Initiatives Framework: 

GAO is targeting the following five priority areas around which to 
coordinate activities that will help to address challenges and improve 
the agency for the future: 

* Recognizing and valuing diversity. GAO's diversity efforts focus on 
three critical areas: recognizing and valuing diversity and 
inclusiveness; ensuring an equitable performance management system; 
and hiring, developing, and retaining a diverse workforce. 

* Reassessing the performance appraisal system. GAO is making 
continued progress on its comprehensive assessment of the performance 
appraisal system. An analysis of employee feedback about the system is 
under way, and GAO expects to issue a report with findings and 
recommendations in early fiscal year 2010. 

* Managing workload, sustaining quality, and streamlining processes. 
GAO is continuing to evaluate ways to revise workplace practices and 
processes, including leveraging technology solutions, that allow the 
agency to be more efficient while maintaining a high level of quality 
in its products and services. 

* Enhancing staffing practices and developing the workforce. GAO is 
refocusing efforts to equip managers and supervisors with human 
capital management skills, as effective leadership is a critical 
determinant of employee engagement and satisfaction. Through this 
refocusing, GAO can ensure that staff are provided with meaningful 
work assignments, they receive timely and specific performance 
feedback, and they receive the necessary training and development. 

* Strengthening recruitment and retention initiatives. Several GAO 
teams are working on ways to improve the agency's recruitment efforts, 
and these teams have cross-functional representation within GAO to 
ensure recommendations are comprehensive and targeted to meet mission-
specific requirements. 

These initiatives support GAO's strategic human capital management 
system and provide additional focus on critical areas that employees 
and other stakeholders identify as important to the agency's 
sustaining its reputation as a leading-practices professional services 
organization. 

Strategic Objectives And Performance Indicators: 

Following are the strategic goals and performance indicators GAO has 
established to improve its strategic human capital management: 

* Objective 1 — Recruit, develop, deploy, and retain a diverse, high-
quality workforce. 
- Review and enhance staffing practices across the agency. 
- Expand diversity education initiatives. 
- Develop a recruiting strategy that supports GAO's near- and long-
term staffing requirements. 
- Implement processes and practices to enhance GAO's inclusive 
organizational climate and culture. 
- Enhance retention strategies to ensure they are responsive to 
employees' values. 

* Objective 2 — Improve the integration of strategic, workforce, and 
budget activities. 
- Establish a human capital governance structure that facilitates 
collaborative, matrixed decision making on human capital issues. 
- Broaden management involvement in human capital decision making to 
facilitate clearer alignment with performance goals and objectives. 
- Improve the alignment of recruiting and hiring activities with 
budget goals and objectives. 

* Objective 3 — Enhance GAO's employee engagement through targeted 
initiatives addressing work-life balance, compensation, training, 
performance management, recognition, benefits, and wellness. 
- Develop annual action plans that address key improvement areas based 
on results of employee feedback surveys. 
- Enhance GAO's work-life balance and wellness initiatives to ensure 
they represent leading federal government agency practices. 
- Enhance GAO's performance management and compensation practices. 
- Assess and modify the people measures that GAO reports annually in 
the Performance and Accountability Report. 
- Enhance training curricula and delivery. 

* Objective 4 — Leverage reliable data and technology solutions to 
improve GAO's human capital service delivery. 
- Institute regular reporting of critical human capital information 
based on customer-identified requirements.
- Expand use of technology, including implementing additional HR 
Connect functionality, to reduce number of staff hours devoted to 
transactional processing.
- Improve timeliness of and customer satisfaction with recruiting and 
hiring activities. 

* Objective 5 — Maintain internal and external strategic working 
relationships that support GAO's efforts to remain a leading-practices 
professional services organization. 
- Foster and enhance effective partnerships with employee 
organizations. 
- Develop a comprehensive communication strategy for all audiences on 
core human resources processes to enhance transparency and consistency. 
- Establish effective internal customer outreach activities to ensure 
regular and recurring customer engagement on human capital office 
service delivery. 
- Support formal and informal initiatives for staff to network and 
expand their skills and contributions to the agency. 

Summary: 

This 2009 through 2012 human capital strategic plan establishes a 
solid framework through which GAO will continue to enhance its 
strategic human capital management function. The strategic goals and 
supporting performance indicators will be revisited as appropriate to 
ensure clear alignment between the human capital strategic plan and 
agencywide strategic plan, as well as to ensure GAO continues to be a 
professional services employer of choice and a model federal agency. 

[End of section] 

Appendix I: GAO Legislative History: 

The GAO Personnel Act of 1980 Until 1980, GAO was subject to the same 
laws, regulations, and policies as executive branch agencies. However, 
with the expansion of GAO's role in the congressional oversight of 
federal programs, concerns grew about the potential for conflicts of 
interest. In response to these concerns, Congress passed the GAO 
Personnel Act of 1980, the principal goal of which was to avoid 
potential conflicts by making GAO's personnel system more independent 
of the executive branch. The new authority provided by the GAO Act 
gave the agency greater flexibility in hiring and managing its 
workforce. Significantly, the 1980 act removed GAO positions from the 
General Schedule (GS) and allowed the agency to establish a merit pay 
system. Using these flexibilities, the agency implemented a "broad 
banded" classification and pay for performance system for the agency's 
analyst and attorney workforce in 1989. 

GAO Personnel Flexibilities Act: 

As part of its ongoing transformation efforts, GAO leadership 
recognized that additional steps to reshape the agency's workforce 
were necessary and that existing personnel authorities did not allow 
the agency to address these challenges effectively. Therefore, GAO 
sought additional legislative flexibilities to help reshape its 
workforce and recruit and retain staff with needed technical skills. 
Public Law 106-303—known as the GAO Personnel Flexibilities Act—was 
enacted in October 2000. The act authorized the Comptroller General to: 

* offer voluntary early retirement and separation incentive payments 
for a 3-year period; 

* develop modified regulations for the separation of employees during 
a reduction in force; and; 

* establish senior-level scientific, technical, and professional 
positions with the same pay and benefits as those applicable to the 
Senior Executive Service (SES). 

GAO Human Capital Reform Act of 2004: 

After using the flexibilities provided by Congress in 2000, GAO sought 
additional legislation to make permanent its authority to approve 
voluntary early retirements and separation incentive payments. In 
addition, GAO sought legislative authority to implement initiatives to 
ensure that the agency could continue to attract, retain, motivate, 
and reward a top-quality, high-performing workforce. The Human Capital 
Reform Act of 2004: 

* made permanent GAO's authority to offer voluntary early retirement 
and voluntary separation payments; 

* allowed the Comptroller General to adjust the pay rates of GAO 
employees separately from the annual adjustments authorized for 
executive branch employees; 

* permitted GAO to set the pay of an employee demoted as a result of 
workforce restructuring or reclassification at his or her current 
rate, with no automatic annual increase to basic pay until his or her 
salary is less than the maximum rate for the new position; 

* provided authority to reimburse employees for some relocation 
expenses when that transfer does not meet current legal requirements 
but still benefits GAO; 

* provided 20 days of annual leave for certain employees with less 
than 3 years of federal service; 

* authorized an executive exchange program with private sector 
organizations working in areas of mutual concern where GAO has a 
supply-demand imbalance; and; 

* changed GAO's name from the General Accounting Office to the 
Government Accountability Office. 

Government Accountability Act of 2008: 

To continue to attract, retain, and reward a top-flight workforce; 
enhance operational and administrative efficiencies; and address staff 
compensation concerns, GAO sought legislation to address certain 
critical issues. The Government Accountability Act of 2008 authorized 
GAO to: 

* provide a minimum annual increase to all staff not less than the GS 
across-the-board percentage authorized for employees' localities on 
the same date as the GS increase; 

* process pay increases and lump-sum payments for staff who did not 
receive at least 2.6 percent and 2.4 percent base pay increases in 
2006 and 2007; 

* provide payments to certain employees who did not receive all their 
performance-based compensation in 2006; 

* establish a statutory Office of Inspector General (IG) at GAO; 

* receive reimbursement for certain costs associated with auditing the 
financial statements prepared by executive branch agencies and 
components; 

* modify the pay level triggering the requirement to submit the Senate 
Public Financial Report by excluding percentages attributable to 
locality, thereby restoring the public disclosure obligation as it 
existed before GAO eliminated GS locality pay; 

* change the highest basic pay rate for employees—other than those in 
the Senior Executive Service or Senior Level—from GS-15, step 10, to 
Executive Level III; 

* increase the number of experts and consultants that the Comptroller 
General may employ for renewable 3-year terms; and; 

* use funds for meals and related reasonable expenses in connection 
with recruitment. 

[End of section] 

Appendix II: GAO Detailed Organization Chart: 

The following chart depicts GAO's organizational structure. It is 
organized in a "tree" structure. 

[Refer to PDF for Image] 

Level one (center): 

Comptroller General of the United States: 

Level one (reporting to the Comptroller General): 

Public Affairs: 
Strategic Planning and External Liaison: 
Congressional Relations: 
Opportunity and Inclusiveness: 

Level one (set apart from all GAO units to denote independence and 
statutory role): 
Inspector General: 

Level two (reporting to the Comptroller General): 

General Counsel: 
Chief Operating Officer: 
Chief Administrative Officer/Chief Financial Officer: 

Level three (reporting to General Counsel): 

Goal 1; 
Goal 2: 
Goal 3: 
Goal 4: 
* Provide audit and other legal support services for all goals and 
staff offices; 
* Manage GAO’s bid protest and appropriations law work. 

Reporting to Chief Operating Officer: 

Quality and Continuous Improvement: 
Teams/Field Operations: 

Goal 1: Provide timely, quality service to the Congress and the 
federal government to address current and emerging challenges to the 
well-being and financial security of the American people: 
* Education, Workforce, and Income Security; 
* Financial Markets and Community Investment; 
* Health Care; 
* Homeland Security and Justice; 
* Natural Resources and Environment; 
* Physical Infrastructure. 

Goal 2: Provide timely, quality service to the Congress and the 
federal government to respond to changing security threats and the 
challenges of global interdependence: 
* Acquisition and Sourcing Management; 
* Defense Capabilities and Management; 
* International Affairs and Trade. 

Goal 3: Help transform the federal government’s role and how it does 
business to meet 21st century challenges: 
* Applied Research and Methods: 
* Financial Management and Assurance: 
* Forensic Audits and Special Investigations: 
* Information Technology: 
* Strategic Issues. 

Reporting to Chief Administrative Officer/CFO: 

Goal 4: Maximize the value of GAO by being a model federal agency and 
a world-class professional services organization: 
Controller; 
* Human Capital Office: 
– Chief Human Capital Officer; 
* Information Systems and Technology Services: 
– Chief Information Officer; 
* Knowledge Services: 
– Chief Knowledge Services Officer; 
Professional Development Program. 

Source: GAO. 

[End of figure] 

Appendix III: Comparative Workforce Data Fiscal Years 1999 To 2009: 

GAO workforce: Male; 
2009[A]: Total Staff: 1,397; 
2009: Percentage of staff: 43%; 
1999: Total Staff: 1,736; 
1999: Percentage of staff: 53%; 
Change (1999-2009): -10%. 

GAO workforce: Female; 
2009[A]: Total Staff: 1,848; 
2009: Percentage of staff: 57%; 
1999: Total Staff: 1,528; 
1999: Percentage of staff: 47%; 
Change (1999-2009): +10%. 
					
GAO workforce: Median age; 
2009[A]: Total Staff: 43; 
2009: Percentage of staff: Not applicable; 
1999: Total Staff: 48; 
1999: Percentage of staff: Not applicable; 
Change (1999-2009): -5 years. 

GAO workforce: Staff under 30; 
2009[A]: Total Staff: 485; 
2009: Percentage of staff: 15%; 
1999: Total Staff: 147; 
1999: Percentage of staff: 5%; 
Change (1999-2009): +10%. 

GAO workforce: Staff with less	than 5 years at GAO; 
2009[A]: Total Staff: 1,187; 
2009: Percentage of staff: 37%; 
1999: Total Staff: 401; 
1999: Percentage of staff: 12%; 
Change (1999-2009): +25%. 
				
GAO workforce: Staff eligible to retire within 12 months; 
2009[A]: Total Staff: 516; 
2009: Percentage of staff: 16%; 
1999: Total Staff: 400; 
1999: Percentage of staff: 12%; 
Change (1999-2009): +4%. 
	
GAO workforce: Staff with a master's degree; 
2009[A]: Total Staff: 1,807; 
2009: Percentage of staff: 56%; 
1999: Total Staff: 1,285; 
1999: Percentage of staff: 39%; 
Change (1999-2009): +17%. 
					
GAO workforce: Total staff; 
2009[A]: Total Staff: 3,245; 
2009: Percentage of staff: Not applicable; 
1999: Total Staff: 3,264; 
1999: Percentage of staff: Not applicable; 
Change (1999-2009): 0. 
					
GAO workforce: Total HQ; 
2009[A]: Total Staff: 2,336; 
2009: Percentage of staff: 72%; 
1999: Total Staff: 2,343; 
1999: Percentage of staff: 72%; 
Change (1999-2009): 0. 

GAO workforce: Total field; 
2009[A]: Total Staff: 909; 
2009: Percentage of staff: 28%; 
1999: Total Staff: 921; 
1999: Percentage of staff: 28; 
Change (1999-2009): 0. 

Source: GAO. 

[A] Fiscal year 2009 data are as of June 30, 2009. 

[End of table] 

[End of section] 

APPENDIX IV: People And Internal Operations Performance Measures: 

Performance measure: People[A]: New hire rate; 
2005 actual: 94%; 
2006 actual: 94%; 
2007 actual: 96%; 
2008 actual: 96%; 
2009 target: 95%; 
2009 actual: 99%; 
2010 actual: 95%. 

Performance measure: People[A]: New hire rate: With retirements; 
2005 actual: 90%; 
2006 actual: 90%; 
2007 actual: 90%; 
2008 actual: 90%; 
2009 target: 90%; 
2009 actual: 94%; 
2010 actual: 90%. 

Performance measure: People[A]: New hire rate: Without retirements; 
2005 actual: 94%; 
2006 actual: 94%; 
2007 actual: 94%; 
2008 actual: 93%; 
2009 target: 94%; 
2009 actual: 96%; 
2010 actual: 94%. 

Performance measure: People[A]: Staff development[B,C]; 
2005 actual: 72%; 
2006 actual: 76%; 
2007 actual: 76%; 
2008 actual: 77%; 
2009 target: 76%; 
2009 actual: 79%; 
2010 actual: 76%. 

Performance measure: People[A]: Staff utilization[B,D]; 
2005 actual: 75%; 
2006 actual: 75%; 
2007 actual: 73%; 
2008 actual: 75%; 
2009 target: 75%; 
2009 actual: 78%; 
2010 actual: 75%. 

Performance measure: People[A]: Effective leadership by 
supervisors[B,E]; 
2005 actual: 80%; 
2006 actual: 79%; 
2007 actual: 79%; 
2008 actual: 81%; 
2009 target: 80%; 
2009 actual: 83%; 
2010 actual: 80%. 

Performance measure: People[A]: Organizational climate[B]; 
2005 actual: 76%; 
2006 actual: 73%; 
2007 actual: 74%; 
2008 actual: 77%; 
2009 target: 75%; 
2009 actual: 79%; 
2010 actual: 75%. 

Performance measure: Internal Operation[F]: Help get job done; 
2005 actual: 4.1; 
2006 actual: 4.1; 
2007 actual: 4.05; 
2008 actual: 4.0; 
2009 target: 4.0; 
2009 actual: N/A; 
2010 actual: 4.0. 

Performance measure: Internal Operation[F]: Quality of work life; 
2005 actual: 3.98; 
2006 actual: 4.0; 
2007 actual: 3.98; 
2008 actual: 4.01; 
2009 target: 4.0; 
2009 actual: N/A; 
2010 actual: 4.0. 

Source: GAO. GAO-10-235SP Summary of GAO's Performance and Financial 
Information Fiscal Year 2009 Table 1: Agencywide Summary of Annual 
Measures and Targets, Performance and Accountability Report. 

Note: Information explaining all of the measures included in this 
table appears in the Data Quality and Program Evaluations section in 
part II of our full fiscal year 2009 performance and accountability 
report. 

[A] From the staff who expressed an opinion, we calculated the 
percentage of those who selected favorable responses to the survey 
questions. Responses of "no basis to judge/not applicable" or "no 
answer" were excluded from the calculation.While including the "no 
basis, not applicable, or no answer" in the calculation would 
potentially result in a different percentage, our method of 
calculation is consistent with conventional survey practices, and we 
believe it produces a better measure because it represents only those 
employees who have an opinion. 

[B] This measure is derived from our annual agencywide employee 
feedback survey. From the staff who expressed an opinion, we 
calculated the percentage of those who selected favorable responses to 
the related survey questions. Responses of "no basis to judge/not 
applicable" or "no answer" were excluded from the calculation.While 
including these responses in the calculation would result in a 
different percentage, our method of calculation is an acceptable 
survey practice, and we believe it produces a better and more valid 
measure because it represents only those employees who have an opinion 
on the questions. 

[C] Beginning in fiscal year 2006 we changed the way that the staff 
development people measure was calculated. Specifically, we dropped 
one question regarding computer-based training because we felt such 
training was a significant part of (and therefore included in) the 
other questions the survey asked regarding training. We also modified 
a question on internal training and changed the scale of possible 
responses to that question. We show the fiscal year 2005 data on a 
separate line to indicate that those data are not comparable to the 
data beginning in fiscal year 2006. 

[D] Our employee feedback survey asks staff how often the following 
occurred in the last 12 months: (1) my job made good use of my skills, 
(2) GAO provided me with opportunities to do challenging work, and (3) 
in general, I was utilized effectively. 

[E] In fiscal year 2009 we changed the name of this measure from 
"Leadership" to its current nomenclature to clarify that the measure 
reflects employee satisfaction with their immediate supervisor's 
leadership. 

[F] For our internal operations measures, we will report actual data 
for fiscal year 2009 once data from our November 2009 internal 
customer satisfaction survey have been analyzed. N/A indicates that 
the data are not available yet. 

[End of table] 

[End of section] 

Footnotes: 

[1] GAO, Human Capital: Federal Workforce Challenges in the 21st 
Century, [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-07-556T] 
(Washington, D.C.: March 2007). 

[2] GAO, GAO's Fiscal Year 2010 Performance Plan, [hyperlink, 
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-09-304SP] (Washington, D.C.: April 
2009). For each goal, the indicated percentages below are rounded and 
based on fiscal year 2009 revised budget figures. 

[3] Fiscal year 2009 statistics are as of June 30, 2009. 

[4] GAO, Four People Performance Measures, [hyperlink, 
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO/OIG-09-3] (Washington, D.C.: August 
2009). 

[End of section]