The report said the FCC also faces challenges ensuring it has the expertise it needs to adapt to a changing marketplace, noting that a large percentage of its economists and engineers will be retirement eligible in 2011.
The agency faces difficulty recruiting top candidates, though it has initiated recruitment and development programs and has begun evaluating its workforce needs, GAO said.
It earlier noted that strategic workforce planning should include identifying needs, developing strategies to address these needs, and tracking progress.
However, FCC’s Strategic Human Capital Plan does not establish targets for its expertise needs, making it difficult to assess the agency’s progress in addressing its needs, according to the report.
It called on the FCC to develop written jurisdictional policies as well as policies outlining the extent to which commissioners can access information from the bureaus and offices during the decision-making process.
It also said the agency should include targets in its strategic human capital plan that identify the types of workforce expertise needed and strategies for securing that, as well as measures for tracking progress toward those targets.
