Federal Hiring: USA Staffing System Supports Hiring Needs, but Actions Are Needed to Strengthen Training and Program Management
Fast Facts
Many federal agencies use the Office of Personnel Management's USA Staffing system to assess job candidates and onboard new hires. OPM provides initial training and ongoing technical and cybersecurity support. Human capital professionals at several agencies told us they were satisfied with the system.
Agencies give their staff agency-specific training and guidance. Some IRS and National Park Service system users expressed concern about the timing of this training. Additionally, supervisors didn't collect feedback to improve the training.
Our recommendations address this and more.
Highlights
What GAO Found
The Office of Personnel Management's (OPM) USA Staffing system is one of several talent acquisition systems available to federal agencies. USA Staffing assists with recruitment, assessment, and evaluation of potential job candidates and is designed to accommodate a range of federal hiring flexibilities, authorities, and agency and office processes. Agencies that choose to use USA Staffing enter into an interagency agreement with OPM.
Interagency Agreement Process for Federal Agencies Selecting USA Staffing
The Department of the Treasury (Treasury), the Department of the Interior (Interior), and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) chose USA Staffing as their talent acquisition service for a variety of reasons. Interior and Treasury found that USA Staffing offered the best value for their agency, and NASA citing expanded features. These agencies have practices in place to help them assess USA Staffing's performance to ensure it meets their hiring needs and reported general satisfaction with its functionalities. However, the National Park Service (NPS) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) do not routinely solicit feedback on the USA Staffing training they provide to staff. Staff feedback could enhance NPS's and IRS's understanding of training participants' experiences, help identify problems, and improve training resources.
While OPM generally implemented cybersecurity risk assessments for USA Staffing in accordance with federal guidance, it did not fully identify control weaknesses. Specifically, some agreements with agencies connecting systems to USA Staffing had expired. As a result, OPM was unaware of the security state of those systems connected with USA Staffing. GAO alerted OPM to this discrepancy and OPM took steps to assess this risk and implemented new monitoring processes to help ensure the timely renewal of agreements.
OPM provides a variety of support to customers, including account management services and a help desk feature. OPM also collects feedback through surveys and its system enhancement process. However, OPM has not documented its process for updating its manual records, including the roles, responsibilities, and procedures for conducting certain quality control tasks for managing interagency agreement data. This would help OPM ensure it is sharing quality information with those responsible for making decisions regarding USA Staffing.
Why GAO Did This Study
USA Staffing provides talent acquisition services that assist with federal hiring efforts. The federal hiring process is a key element of strategic human capital management, which has been on GAO's High Risk List since 2001.
GAO was asked to review OPM's USA Staffing program. This report examines 1) selected agencies' experiences with selecting and implementing USA Staffing, 2) OPM's cybersecurity risk assessment processes, and 3) OPM's processes and procedures for managing USA Staffing.
GAO interviewed officials from Treasury, Interior, NASA, IRS, and NPS about their experiences selecting and using USA Staffing and related training resources. GAO selected these agencies based on the total dollar value of their interagency agreements for fiscal year 2022—the most recent data available—and their organizational structures. GAO analyzed data and documents from OPM and interviewed agency officials.
Recommendations
GAO recommends that IRS and NPS each solicit, analyze, and use feedback on their USA Staffing training to address human capital professionals' needs. IRS and Interior, on behalf of NPS, agreed with the recommendations. GAO is making three recommendations to OPM, including that OPM improve its guidance for managing interagency agreement data. OPM agreed with the three recommendations.
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| National Park Service | The Secretary of the Interior should direct the Director of NPS to ensure that USA Staffing Program Managers at their agency routinely solicit and analyze training feedback from human capital professionals and use such information to improve training resources that address human capital professionals' needs. (Recommendation 1) |
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
|
| Internal Revenue Service | The Commissioner of Internal Revenue should direct the Human Capital Officer at IRS to ensure that USA Staffing Program Managers at their agency routinely solicit and analyze training feedback from human capital professionals and use such information to improve training resources that address human capital professionals' needs. (Recommendation 2) |
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
|
| Office of Personnel Management | The Director of OPM should ensure the Associate Director of OPM's Human Resources Solutions promotes the quality of USA Staffing IAA data by documenting roles and responsibilities of key personnel responsible for IAA data management in USA Staffing manual records. (Recommendation 3) |
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
|
| Office of Personnel Management | The Director of OPM should ensure the Associate Director of OPM's Human Resources Solutions promotes the quality of USA Staffing IAA data by documenting timeframes for recording IAA data in OPM's Delphi system and manual records. (Recommendation 4) |
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
|
| Office of Personnel Management | The Director of OPM should ensure the Associate Director of OPM's Human Resources Solutions promotes the quality of USA Staffing IAA data by documenting procedures to ensure IAA data housed in different repositories are consistent. (Recommendation 5) |
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
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