In post-hearing questions to testimony before a House
Government Reform Subcommittee — GAO-04-897R — the
General Accounting Office said the Chief Human Capital
Officers Council should be a vehicle for the Office of
Personnel Management and agencies to collaborate in
improving the federal hiring process.
Agencies should provide OPM with timely and comprehensive
information about their use of hiring flexibilities, and
in turn, OPM should work through the CHCO council as a
facilitator in the collection and exchange of information
about successful agency practices and approaches to
improved hiring, said GAO.
The dual-responsibilities of some CHCO council members
could become exceedingly difficult to maintain, although
some members feel multiple managerial responsibilities help
them make human capital decisions more quickly, GAO added.
The council has previously suggested that Congress establish
a chief operating officer at selected agencies to address
systemic governance and management challenges. “These COOs
would be part of a broader effort to elevate attention to
management and transformation issues, integrate various key
management and transformation efforts, and institutionalize
accountability for addressing management issues leading a
ransformation,” said GAO.
It said officials with management responsibilities can
successfully work together but there often needs to be a
single point within agencies that has the perspective,
responsibility and authority to ensure successful management
and transformation efforts and to prevent “stovepiped”
management responsibilities that can result from the
crosscutting nature of agency managerial challenges.
