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Open Recommendations

Federal Civilian Firefighters: DOD Should Take Action to Address Long-Standing Staffing Gaps
GAO-25-107288
Apr 30, 2025
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6 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Defense The Secretary of Defense should ensure the Safety and Public Safety Functional Community Manager (Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Force Safety and Occupational Health) develops and implements a DOD-wide strategy to mitigate and close staffing gaps in the civilian firefighter workforce, which should include an analysis of work schedule and compensation differences between DOD and local fire departments that may affect staffing levels. (Recommendation 1)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Department of Defense The Secretary of Defense should ensure that the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness implements monitoring activities to verify that the Safety and Public Safety Functional Community and the heads of the DOD components, in collaboration with DCPAS, set annual staffing targets for civilian firefighters and report progress in closing staffing gaps to OPM, as required. (Recommendation 2)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Department of the Air Force The Secretary of the Air Force should update and implement the Air Force's Fire and Emergency Services civilian strategic human capital plan and ensure that the updated plan assesses the current state of the Air Force's civilian firefighter workforce and forecasts future workforce requirements. (Recommendation 3)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Department of the Navy The Secretary of the Navy should update and implement the Navy's Fire and Emergency Services civilian strategic human capital plan and ensure that the updated plan assesses the current state of the Navy's civilian Recommendations for Executive Action firefighter workforce and forecasts future workforce requirements. (Recommendation 4)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Department of the Army The Secretary of the Army should develop and implement a Fire and Emergency Services civilian strategic human capital plan and ensure that the plan assesses the current state of the Army's civilian firefighter workforce and forecasts future workforce requirements. (Recommendation 5)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Department of the Navy The Secretary of the Navy, in coordination with the Commandant of the Marine Corps, should develop and implement a Fire and Emergency Services civilian strategic human capital plan for the Marine Corps and ensure that the plan assesses the current state of the Marine Corps' civilian firefighter workforce and forecasts future workforce requirements. (Recommendation 6)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.

Federal Workforce: OPM Needs to Take Additional Actions to Improve the Federal Early Career Talent Pipeline
GAO-25-106658
Mar 20, 2025
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3 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Office of Personnel Management The Director of OPM should develop and implement a plan to collect and assess the evidence OPM needs to identify factors impacting hiring trends of existing Pathways Programs. (Recommendation 1)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Office of Personnel Management The Director of OPM should develop and implement a plan to collect and evaluate feedback data from Pathways participants on their satisfaction with existing Pathways Programs. (Recommendation 2)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Office of Personnel Management The Director of OPM should develop and implement a process for collecting and sharing lessons-learned associated with recruitment and outreach for existing Pathways Programs. (Recommendation 3)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.

Maritime Administration: Actions Needed to Help Address Workforce Challenges
GAO-25-107460
Feb 13, 2025
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4 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Maritime Administration The Administrator of the Maritime Administration should ensure that managers, employees, and stakeholders are involved in developing the forthcoming strategic workforce plan, by identifying the means and frequency for involving them in the plan's development. (Recommendation 1)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Maritime Administration The Administrator of the Maritime Administration should assess critical skills needed to achieve MARAD's future goals and develop a strategy to address any future skill gaps identified within the forthcoming strategic workforce plan. (Recommendation 2)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Maritime Administration The Administrator of the Maritime Administration should build the capability needed to support workforce strategies, such as by determining how MARAD will incorporate hiring flexibilities or streamline any administrative processes needed to implement the forthcoming strategic workforce plan. (Recommendation 3)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Maritime Administration The Administrator of the Maritime Administration should develop a process to monitor and evaluate progress toward any goals ultimately identified in the forthcoming strategic workforce plan, to include creating a set of quantifiable measures of effectiveness that will help gauge progress in implementing the agency's forthcoming strategic workforce plan. (Recommendation 4)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.

Head Start: Action Needed to Reduce Potential Risks to Children and Federal Funds in Programs under Interim Management
GAO-25-106954
Jan 21, 2025
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7 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Health and Human Services The Secretary of HHS should ensure that OHS conducts formal monitoring reviews for all programs under interim management at the end of the first year, per its stated goal. (Recommendation 1)
Open
HHS agreed with this recommendation and said it would conduct formal monitoring reviews for programs that have been under interim management for 12 months. We will monitor the progress of this effort and consider closing the recommendation when it is completed.
Department of Health and Human Services The Secretary of HHS should ensure that OHS assesses the quality of classrooms at programs under interim management at least once every three-year period, as required by the Head Start Act. (Recommendation 2)
Open
HHS agreed with this recommendation and said it would ensure that programs that have been under interim management for 3 years receive a CLASS(R) assessment. We will monitor the progress of this effort and consider closing the recommendation when it's completed.
Department of Health and Human Services The Secretary of HHS should ensure that OHS updates its monitoring procedures to better ensure that programs under interim management report all child health and safety incidents, as required by the Head Start program performance standards. For example, OHS could obtain incident reports from state licensing agencies, seek feedback from local staff, or obtain other information to verify completeness of incident reporting. (Recommendation 3)
Open
HHS agreed with this recommendation and said it would reinforce with its interim manager the requirement to comply with child safety incident reporting requirements. We will monitor the progress of this effort and consider closing the recommendation when it's completed.
Department of Health and Human Services The Secretary of HHS should ensure that OHS develops written procedures to better ensure that programs under interim management adequately identify and address safety hazards in their Head Start facilities. (Recommendation 4)
Open
HHS agreed with this recommendation. The agency stated it would strengthen and formalize standard operating procedures for programs under interim management to leverage information from a variety of sources to assess facility conditions. We will monitor the progress of this effort and consider closing the recommendation when it's completed.
Department of Health and Human Services The Secretary of HHS should ensure that OHS includes fiscal monitoring in its routine onsite monitoring reviews of programs under interim management for longer than 1 year. (Recommendation 5)
Open
HHS disagreed with this recommendation. The agency stated that OHS conducts two types of monitoring reviews for all other Head Start programs: onsite reviews and offsite reviews. While HHS stated that it plans to add a customized review of fiscal infrastructure to its onsite monitoring protocol for programs under interim management, HHS noted that OHS does not conduct offsite reviews for programs under interim management. We modified the recommendation to specifically refer to onsite reviews. We will monitor agency actions to address this recommendation.
Department of Health and Human Services The Secretary of HHS should ensure that OHS includes an assessment of staffing and staff supports in routine onsite monitoring reviews of programs under interim management for longer than 1 year. (Recommendation 6)
Open
HHS disagreed with this recommendation. The agency stated that the differences between interim and other programs call for different approaches to monitoring. HHS included a section on staffing and staff support-related performance areas in its onsite monitoring protocols for FY24 for all programs not under interim management. However, it did not do so for programs under interim management. Our recommendation was intended to apply the monitoring protocols related to staffing and staff supports to programs under interim management starting in FY25. HHS indicated that it plans to do so. We will monitor the progress of this effort.
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