Survey to gauge workforce's IT capabilities

Federal IT employees are being asked to participate in a voluntary survey to assess the government IT workforce's current and future needs. Survey results will also be used to implement aspects of the Obama administration’s IT management reform plan, such as the creation of a specialized career path for IT program managers.

The Office of Management and Budget will further be calling for agencies to develop specific plans to close the “competency gaps” in IT program management determined by the survey, according to a posting on the Federal CIO Council website. The survey is connected to the Obama administration's IT management reform plan.

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“The Federal Information Technology (IT) Workforce plays a critical role in ensuring that agencies can harness the best technology to fulfill their mission needs,” Federal CIO Vivek Kundra wrote in a Jan. 18 memo to the federal IT workforce. “Growing this expertise is a priority for this administration as we work to improve the ability of the federal government to use and manage IT.”

The CIO Council and the Office of Personnel Management are conducting the 2011 IT Workforce Capability Assessment from Jan. 18 to Feb. 25. All federal civilian IT professionals are invited to participate in the voluntary online survey, which is also anonymous and will not be used to measure an individual’s performance.

The survey aims to provide data that will allow federal IT officials to accomplish three goals: identify existing IT expertise across the government workforce, determine where resources should be focused to improve or sustain IT competencies, and assess progress in closing competency and skills gaps.

“The results of the ITWCA will provide critical information that will enable agency and federal civilian IT leaders to meet human capital goals, perform mission-critical occupation reporting, and prepare future IT human capital initiatives, such as training,” states a fact sheet released by the CIO Council.
 
The fact sheet states that every agency that participates in the survey will be in compliance with regulatory requirements specific to the IT workforce, including the Clinger-Cohen Act and the E-Government Act.

Information from the survey will also inform the government’s strategies for recruiting, retaining, developing and managing a trained and qualified IT workforce to meet current and future goals.

Survey results will be analyzed and provided at the federal and agency level in spring 2011, according to the fact sheet. Agencies will decide how and when results will be communicated within an individual agency.

A link to the survey is available on the CIO Council website. The survey should take between 40 to 60 minutes to complete.