OPM and individual employing agencies have taken steps toward achieving the goals outlined in a 2010 government-wide strategic plan from OPM for the veterinarian workforce, but compliance is uneven, GAO has said.
OPM granted government-wide direct-hire authority for veterinarians but “did not follow through on plans to review agencies’ use of the authority. As a result, OPM cannot determine the overall impact on recruitment or whether the authority should continue or be modified,” GAO said.
It praised the Agriculture Department’s efforts to ensure that component agencies include veterinarians in workforce planning efforts for meeting routine needs, but said for example that HHS has not done so.
Leadership is a key factor, it said, noting that USDA provided guidance to its component agencies to assess and develop strategies for its workforce but HHS did not do so consistently. Stronger commitment also is needed for an interagency group overseeing the issue in order to better monitor and evaluate compliance with the directive, GAO said.
GAO added that a government-wide study was performed to estimate the veterinarians needed to respond to animal disease outbreaks, but “because of limitations in the study, the estimates are not reliable for purposes of effective emergency response planning.”
