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Table of Contents

Report On The Establishment Of A Governmentwide Information Technology Training Program

 

BACKGROUND

Section 209 of the E-Government Act of 2002 requires the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM), in consultation with the Chief Information Officers (CIO) Council and the Administrator of the General Services Administration (GSA), to report on the establishment of a Governmentwide Information Technology (IT) training program. In this report, OPM has discussed the following:

• The adequacy of existing Governmentwide information technology (IT) training programs available to Federal employees on a Governmentwide basis;
• Recommendations on how to improve or design and establish a Governmentwide IT training program for Federal employees;
• Recommendations for using the IT Exchange Program (5 U.S.C. chapter 37) to support Governmentwide IT training; and
• Estimated implementation and operating costs of these recommendations.

OPM submitted an interim report on June 6, 2003, that provided an overview of existing Governmentwide IT training programs.

SCOPE OF REPORT

This report reviews and assesses the adequacy of existing Governmentwide information technology (IT) training programs in terms of their capability to address the Clinger-Cohen core competencies. The report recommends linking the existing Governmentwide IT training programs into a consolidated Governmentwide IT Training framework which can improve the Federal Government's capacity to effectively manage the Federal IT workforce through this centralized training framework. Additionally, this report will provide recommendations as to how the new Information Technology Exchange Program (ITEP) can augment and enhance training for the Federal IT workforce. For the purposes of this report, we have assessed those Governmentwide IT training programs that are:

• Not agency specific, but are available, on an equal basis, to Federal employees across Government;
• Administered by a Federal Government agency;
• Based on a curriculum with a clearly defined course of instruction; and finally and most importantly
• Focused on the Clinger-Cohen core competencies, which the Federal CIO Council identified as required for the Federal IT workforce.

Competency Needs of the Federal IT Workforce

Federal agency CIOs provide training to their individual IT workforces based on immediate or anticipated competency needs relevant to their missions, and it is understood that agency IT training programs will address agency-specific IT training needs. While IT needs vary across agencies, the competency needs of the Federal Government's IT workforce as a whole have been carefully considered and identified by both the Federal CIO Council's Workforce and Human Capital for IT Committee and OPM.

In 1997, the CIO Council developed the Clinger-Cohen core competencies to serve as a baseline for use by Government agencies in complying with section 5125(c)(3) of the "Clinger-Cohen Act," (the Information Technology Management Reform Act of 1996, Division E of Public Law 104-106) which requires agencies to establish their IT knowledge and skill requirements and assess the degree to which existing staff meet those requirements. The Federal CIO Council continues to focus on the Clinger-Cohen core competencies when determining the needs of the Federal IT workforce. These competencies are intended to serve as the foundation for the Council and agencies to develop IT courses and curricula. The Clinger-Cohen core competencies are:

• Policy and Organizational
• Leadership/Managerial
• Process/Change Management
• Information Resources Strategy and Planning
• Performance Assessment: Models and Methods
• Project/Program Management
• Capital Planning and Investment Assessment
• Acquisition
• E-Government/Electronic Business/Electronic Commerce
• IT Security/Information Assurance
• Technical
• Desktop Technology Tools

Due to the changing nature of the IT field and the increased Government emphasis on management of IT resources, the CIO Council conducts a biennial update of the Clinger-Cohen competencies and associated learning objectives to ensure they remain a living framework. For instance, in a June 2003 white paper to the Federal CIO Council (Appendix A ¹), the Council's Workforce and Human Capital for IT Committee identified enterprise architecture as a newly required Federal IT competency. This competency captures the role that IT architects have assumed in driving agency and Federal-wide interoperability. Additionally, two of the Clinger-Cohen core competencies identified above, the desktop technology tools and technical competencies, are being combined.

In addition, in 2000, OPM conducted a study of the Federal IT workforce. Through this study, OPM identified IT competencies for the Information Technology Management, GS-2210, occupational series and parenthetical specialty titles.

These two sources of competency information represent the critical competencies for the Federal IT workforce and are the evaluative basis for this report in determining the adequacy of the existing IT programs to address these competencies. To ensure the maximum benefit of both the Clinger-Cohen and OPM IT competencies, OPM has linked, or crosswalked, the Clinger-Cohen core competencies to the associated OPM IT competencies. The complete crosswalk between the Clinger-Cohen core competencies and OPM's IT competencies can be found in Appendix B.

The CIO Council's Workforce and Human Capital for IT Committee and OPM have established an ongoing working relationship. Through joint initiatives or in supporting roles, each is focused on helping agencies ensure they have a high quality IT workforce with the required competencies. Some of these joint efforts include: establishing the new Information Technology Management, GS-2210, occupational series; developing competencies associated with the new GS-2210 series and parenthetical specialty titles; conducting the first virtual IT job fair; developing the IT workforce roadmap; developing guidance on project manager positions; and completing a competency assessment survey of the Federal IT workforce. This partnership between the CIO Council and OPM has proved to be invaluable in successfully completing these endeavors, and will continue to be a source of mutual benefit in the future.

As the Federal CIO Council updates the Clinger-Cohen core competencies, as it is doing currently with the enterprise architecture competency, OPM will work with the CIO Council on an ongoing basis to maintain the linkage between the Clinger-Cohen and OPM IT competencies.

Assessing the Competency Needs of the Federal IT Workforce

To assist agencies in determining their competency needs, the CIO Council's Workforce and Human Capital for IT Committee conducted a competency assessment survey in September 2003 of the Federal IT workforce as required by the Clinger-Cohen Act. The survey data provides a point-in-time self-assessment of IT employee skills, certifications, and competencies, and reflects the amount of time IT employees spend in particular specialized job activity areas. When assessing the competency needs of the Federal IT workforce, it is important to understand that, ultimately, agency CIOs are responsible for determining individual agency competency needs. This assessment survey was designed to help agencies determine areas of needed competency development and to initiate the first stages of strategic workforce planning. Training is one option available to agencies to meet their goals. Outsourcing can also be used to acquire required competencies.

Agencies were provided with their individual survey results in late 2003, and the CIO Council in coordination with the Division for Strategic Human Resources Policy, OPM, recently issued the final results of the 2003 survey in June 2004. It is available to the public on the CIO Council web site. In the 2004 CCA survey, agencies will be conducting analyses of their workforces to determine current and future competency needs, comparing their survey results against these needs. These analyses will enable agencies to prepare action plans to address competency gaps. OPM's human capital officers will be providing ongoing assistance to agencies in addressing competency gaps and the adequacy of their IT training programs through evaluation against the Human Capital Assessment and Accountability Framework.

The competency assessment survey is the first Governmentwide survey of the IT workforce to establish a competency baseline. Annual use of the competency assessment survey will provide data to Federal agencies and the Federal CIO Council for ongoing analyses of IT workforce needs. The annual survey results and agencies' analyses of their IT workforce needs will also inform OPM in its continuing role of identifying when Governmentwide IT and information resource management (IRM) training does not satisfy the need of the IT workforce. The partnership between OPM, Federal agencies, and the Federal CIO Council will be invaluable in this ongoing process.

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¹ http://www.cio.gov/documents/FINAL_White_Paper_on_EA_v62.doc    Back

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