News Item Dated: 18 November 2002
From: Government Computer News  (11/18/02) Vol. 21, No. 33, P. 35; Walker, Richard W.

A year ago, a report from the National Academy of Public Administration NAPA) commissioned by the federal CIO Council concluded that there is a dearth of IT personnel across the United States, a situation that will be exacerbated by the imminent retirement of about 50 percent of the current federal IT workforce in the next five years. Adding to the difficulty is inadequate government funding of IT training and continous education, a prolonged hiring process, and lower salaries than those offered by private industry. Ira Hobbs, co-chair of the CIO Council's IT workforce and human capital for IT committee, observes that the dot-com shakeout was not a windfall for the government because many professionals late of failed startups were hired for the same or similar positions they had before they left.

In order to reverse the federal IT shortage, the NAPA panel recommended key changes to the employment system, including competitive nonpay benefits, the development of learning culture, market-driven pay, a more simplified recruiting and hiring process, and managerial flexibility. The establishment of a Homeland Security Department, which is ever more likely thanks to Republican victories in the mid-term elections, will have 170,000 employees and the need for an information framework that will require a huge IT contribution. Experts say that leadership and teamwork across all management levels is critical if the ranks of federal IT employees are to swell. Hobbs declares that the NAPA report brought the federal IT workforce issue out of the domain of "anecdotal conversation by different people at different times and brought qualitative analysis by a well-respected organization."