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Expert Addresses IT Workforce Shortage
by William New
It is well-known news that the federal government is suffering from an inability to attract and retain highly skilled information technology workers, but bureaucratic heartbeats quicken when they realize that half the current IT workforce is eligible to retire within the next five years.
"There is a significant challenge looming that, if unresolved, will make significantly more difficult the ability of federal agencies to fully carry out their missions," Martin Faga, president and CEO of the Mitre Corp., testified to a House subcommittee July 31.
The Information Technology Association of America (ITAA) released a report in April stating that while the high-tech slowdown had led to a falloff in demand for workers by 40 percent from last year, there still would be a need for 900,000 workers this year. ITAA predicted a shortfall of roughly 425,000.
Forman Takes The Helm
Enter Mark Forman, the new associate director for information technology and e-government at the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB), who was hired last month by OMB Director Mitch Daniels. OMB is spearheading the e-government portion of a larger five-point initiative by the White House to reform management in government.
Forman's approach to the IT workforce shortage will be to emphasize contracts with the private sector. "We have to get out of this notion that in order to get work done we have to own the resources," Forman told National Journal's Technology Daily. This also means progressively giving more responsibility to contractors for developing the projects.
Forman recognizes that the government must retain a core of technical experts in order to ensure that work is assigned and completed correctly. But these same highly qualified experts are aggressively pursued by the private sector, which can pay much higher salaries.
While federal chief information officers (CIOs) earn about $125,000 per year, their private-sector counterparts typically make $200,000 more, according to ITAA Executive Vice President Olga Grkavac.
Responsibility, Flexibility Key To Retention
The most competitive high-skilled jobs right now are in Web systems management, e-commerce analysis, database administration, Internet architecture and Web applications programming, sources said.
Forman's mission in the administration is largely oriented toward improving e-government, but this includes addressing the problems of the IT workforce. His approach will include making government jobs more attractive by adding responsibility and rewards, as well as flexibility, he said.
Forman is an IT specialist who has traversed the public and private sectors. He came to OMB in June from Unisys, where he was vice president for e-business, and previously he was responsible for the global e-business strategy at IBM. But before that, he was a senior staffer on the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, where he specialized in IT-related legislation.
The federal government spends about $45 billion per year on non-military, non-intelligence IT, Forman said. With military and intelligence IT included, it is an estimated $77 billion. IT applications are extremely varied, ranging from payrolls to air-traffic control data to scientific research. Forman's goal is not to ask for more funding but to use existing funds more efficiently.
Much of the federal government's business is done with state and local governments, which are very active in developing new ways to manage IT, Forman said.
He said he would try to get government to follow the private sector's lead in realizing a 40 percent improvement in productivity in the past five years.
Lessons From Dot-Com Flops
A lesson learned from recent dot-com failures is that there can be a disconnect between what the IT workers think they are solving with a new application and what the business side needs to be able to do, he said.
Forman is leading an interagency task force working to make the government more "citizen-centric," as delineated in a July 18 memo from Daniels. Among the goals is to simplify processes and bridge "islands of automation," for example, bringing together management of different parts of a supply chain, or the collection, analysis and dissemination of information.
The e-government task force met at the White House on Aug. 9, and is in the process of interviewing government executives about their e-government activities and plans. The task force is expected to develop presidential initiatives in September.
Forman is joined by others trying to improve the government's IT workforce situation. For instance, the National Academy of Public Administration is expected to complete an analysis of the situation by summer's end. Forman said this would provide the basis for his approach.
The analysis also may help the Bush administration get the $20 million it requested for its e-government initiative in fiscal 2002. The Bush administration proposed $100 million over three years, in allotments of $20 million, $45 million and $35 million.
Earlier this month, the House voted to provide just $5 million of that request, citing a lack of information about the program. The Senate will consider the appropriations bill when it returns from recess in September.
Where Do We Go From Here
Another effort is that of the CIOs of the top 24 agencies, who are working collectively as the CIO Council. As management has been a lightning rod for criticism about IT problems, the CIOs are being given greater accountability for their agencies' performance, reflecting corporate practices. The council is looking at the IT needs and practices of each agency.
Training in the latest technologies is seen as critical to government remaining "world class" in IT, Forman said. His vision is to broaden the scope of training. Just as there is concern that the government is not attracting the best talent available -- especially not right out of school -- there also is concern that government workers are falling behind with poor training.
A significant problem arising from poor training is computer security. Some members of Congress are trying to address the problem, which appears to government-wide. Most recently, the General Accounting Office testified before the House Government Reform Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee that the Commerce Department was riddled with potential security problems.
In another effort, the Office of Personnel Management in January established special salary rates for 33,000 IT specialists, scientists and engineers. But this has been criticized as insufficient to address the salary differential and as taking too long to get through administrative and congressional procedures. Other proposed strategies for attracting top workers include more flexibility in compensation systems to reward good performance.
"There is a real tug of war going on with the federal government workforce," ITAA's Grkavac said. Top talent cut loose by failed dot-coms in the past year or so have been getting snapped up by federal vendors, which are seen as economically healthy, she said. "Wall Street has rediscovered government IT companies."
She complained about a government strategy she called "in-sourcing," in which private-sector contractors have to compete with government agencies for work.
But Grkavac noted that contracting with government has appeal because it is relatively recession-proof and reliable. "In times of downturn, the government still pays," she said.
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