RALEIGH, (SGRToday.com) - Analysis from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) concludes that mission-critical skills gaps both within federal agencies and across the federal workforce pose a high risk to the nation because they impede the government from cost-effectively serving the public and achieving results.

GAO recommends three key actions:

 (1) strengthen its methodology for identifying and addressing skills gaps

 (2) establish a schedule and process for collecting government-wide staffing and competency data

(3) develop a core set of metrics for use in agencies' HRstat reviews.


GAO was asked to review progress the Office of Personnel Management has made in closing government-wide skills gaps, achieving its cross-agency priority goal, and additional steps needed to better identify and address skills gaps. To address these objectives, GAO reviewed documentation; interviewed OPM officials; and reviewed the implementation of HRstat meetings at Commerce, DOE, and USAID.

The full report can be found at GAO.gov