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Open Recommendations

Maritime Administration: Actions Needed to Help Address Workforce Challenges
GAO-25-107460
Feb 13, 2025
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4 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Maritime Administration The Administrator of the Maritime Administration should ensure that managers, employees, and stakeholders are involved in developing the forthcoming strategic workforce plan, by identifying the means and frequency for involving them in the plan's development. (Recommendation 1)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Maritime Administration The Administrator of the Maritime Administration should assess critical skills needed to achieve MARAD's future goals and develop a strategy to address any future skill gaps identified within the forthcoming strategic workforce plan. (Recommendation 2)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Maritime Administration The Administrator of the Maritime Administration should build the capability needed to support workforce strategies, such as by determining how MARAD will incorporate hiring flexibilities or streamline any administrative processes needed to implement the forthcoming strategic workforce plan. (Recommendation 3)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Maritime Administration The Administrator of the Maritime Administration should develop a process to monitor and evaluate progress toward any goals ultimately identified in the forthcoming strategic workforce plan, to include creating a set of quantifiable measures of effectiveness that will help gauge progress in implementing the agency's forthcoming strategic workforce plan. (Recommendation 4)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.

Head Start: Action Needed to Reduce Potential Risks to Children and Federal Funds in Programs under Interim Management
GAO-25-106954
Jan 21, 2025
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7 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Health and Human Services The Secretary of HHS should ensure that OHS conducts formal monitoring reviews for all programs under interim management at the end of the first year, per its stated goal. (Recommendation 1)
Open
HHS agreed with this recommendation and said it would conduct formal monitoring reviews for programs that have been under interim management for 12 months. We will monitor the progress of this effort and consider closing the recommendation when it is completed.
Department of Health and Human Services The Secretary of HHS should ensure that OHS assesses the quality of classrooms at programs under interim management at least once every three-year period, as required by the Head Start Act. (Recommendation 2)
Open
HHS agreed with this recommendation and said it would ensure that programs that have been under interim management for 3 years receive a CLASS(R) assessment. We will monitor the progress of this effort and consider closing the recommendation when it's completed.
Department of Health and Human Services The Secretary of HHS should ensure that OHS updates its monitoring procedures to better ensure that programs under interim management report all child health and safety incidents, as required by the Head Start program performance standards. For example, OHS could obtain incident reports from state licensing agencies, seek feedback from local staff, or obtain other information to verify completeness of incident reporting. (Recommendation 3)
Open
HHS agreed with this recommendation and said it would reinforce with its interim manager the requirement to comply with child safety incident reporting requirements. We will monitor the progress of this effort and consider closing the recommendation when it's completed.
Department of Health and Human Services The Secretary of HHS should ensure that OHS develops written procedures to better ensure that programs under interim management adequately identify and address safety hazards in their Head Start facilities. (Recommendation 4)
Open
HHS agreed with this recommendation. The agency stated it would strengthen and formalize standard operating procedures for programs under interim management to leverage information from a variety of sources to assess facility conditions. We will monitor the progress of this effort and consider closing the recommendation when it's completed.
Department of Health and Human Services The Secretary of HHS should ensure that OHS includes fiscal monitoring in its routine onsite monitoring reviews of programs under interim management for longer than 1 year. (Recommendation 5)
Open
HHS disagreed with this recommendation. The agency stated that OHS conducts two types of monitoring reviews for all other Head Start programs: onsite reviews and offsite reviews. While HHS stated that it plans to add a customized review of fiscal infrastructure to its onsite monitoring protocol for programs under interim management, HHS noted that OHS does not conduct offsite reviews for programs under interim management. We modified the recommendation to specifically refer to onsite reviews.
Department of Health and Human Services The Secretary of HHS should ensure that OHS includes an assessment of staffing and staff supports in routine onsite monitoring reviews of programs under interim management for longer than 1 year. (Recommendation 6)
Open
HHS disagreed with this recommendation. The agency stated that the differences between interim and other programs call for different approaches to monitoring. HHS included a section on staffing and staff support-related performance areas in its onsite monitoring protocols for FY24 for all programs not under interim management. However, it did not do so for programs under interim management. Our recommendation was intended to apply the monitoring protocols related to staffing and staff supports to programs under interim management starting in FY25. HHS indicated that it plans to do so. We will monitor the progress of this effort.

Cybersecurity Workforce: Departments Need to Fully Implement Key Practices
GAO-25-106795
Jan 16, 2025
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23 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Commerce The Secretary of Commerce should ensure that the Department of Commerce fully addresses the practices described in our report associated with conducting workforce analyses. (Recommendation 1)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Department of Commerce The Secretary of Commerce should ensure that the Department of Commerce fully addresses the practices described in our report associated with developing a workforce action plan. (Recommendation 2)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Department of Commerce The Secretary of Commerce should ensure that the Department of Commerce fully addresses the practices described in our report associated with implementing and monitoring a workforce action plan. (Recommendation 3)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Department of Commerce The Secretary of Commerce should ensure that the Department of Commerce fully addresses the practices described in our report associated with evaluating and revising a workforce action plan. (Recommendation 4)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Department of Commerce The Secretary of Commerce should ensure that the Department of Commerce identify and analyze the effectiveness of its mitigation actions on the cybersecurity workforce challenges. (Recommendation 5)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Department of Homeland Security The Secretary of Homeland Security should ensure that the Department of Homeland Security fully addresses the practices described in our report associated with evaluating and revising a workforce action plan. (Recommendation 6)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.

Homeland Security: Actions Needed to Address Acquisition Workforce Challenges and Data
GAO-25-107075
Dec 12, 2024
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4 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Homeland Security The Secretary of Homeland Security should ensure that the Under Secretary for Management develops a strategy to assess whether its mitigation efforts are aligned with the challenges facing the acquisition workforce and to monitor results, such as establishing and tracking performance metrics for the efforts it is using to address workforce challenges. (Recommendation 1)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Department of Homeland Security The Secretary of Homeland Security should ensure that as the Office of Program Accountability and Risk Management continues to refine its staffing model, that it continues to identify and implement greater process efficiencies in its data collection efforts on the workforce supporting major acquisition programs, and works with components to identify what, if any, additional data and resources are needed to meet the model's intended goals, including justifying staffing needs and generating appropriate staff compositions for current and future programs. (Recommendation 2)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Department of Homeland Security The Secretary of Homeland Security should ensure that the Under Secretary for Management establishes a methodology for identifying information about the personnel supporting the 11 DHS-defined acquisition disciplines that make up DHS's acquisition workforce. (Recommendation 3)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Department of Homeland Security The Secretary of Homeland Security should ensure that the Office of the Chief Procurement Officer identifies methods to ensure it maintains comprehensive data across all 11 disciplines that constitute the acquisition workforce, such as identifying additional acquisition workforce data from the components or requiring acquisition personnel to regularly update their records in Cornerstone. (Recommendation 4)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
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