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GAO-24-106747 1 (2023-10-26)

handle is hein.gao/gaopia0001 and id is 1 raw text is: U.S. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE 441 G St. N.W. Washington, DC 20548 October 26, 2023 The Honorable Gina M. Raimondo Secretary of Commerce International Trade Administration: Global Markets Employee Focus Groups Raise Workforce Management Concerns Dear Secretary Raimondo: The Global Markets (GM) unit in the Department of Commerce's International Trade Administration (ITA) supports U.S. businesses by assisting them in increasing their exports and entering new international markets, advancing U.S. business interests abroad, and attracting investment in the U.S. economy. At the end of fiscal year 2021, GM had about 1,440 employees. These included Foreign Commercial Service Officers in 76 countries, as well as Civil Service staff in U.S. field offices in metropolitan areas around the country and at GM headquarters in Washington, D.C.' In a May 2023 report, we found that Commerce should improve GM's workforce planning and management.2 Specifically, we found that GM had limited funding increases and a decreasing federal workforce, did not document some staffing allocation procedures, lacked a comprehensive workforce plan, and had difficulty providing core human capital services, among other issues. We made four recommendations, which Commerce agreed to implement. We recommended that Commerce (1) document the processes for updating staff allocation models, (2) regularly review the need for positions that exceed model recommendations, (3) develop a comprehensive workforce plan, and (4) address human capital office vacancies. During our audit work for that report, in April 2022 and May 2022, we conducted six virtual focus group sessions with a total of 35 GM employees to obtain their perspectives on GM's workforce planning and management. Of the six focus groups, two each were composed of participants from (1) headquarters, (2) overseas, and (3) the U.S. field. The focus group sessions involved structured small-group discussions designed to gather in-depth information about specific workforce management issues. In each focus group session, we asked a series of discussion questions as well as five polling questions. The Joint Explanatory Statement accompanying the Consolidated Appropriations Act for fiscal year 2021 included a provision for us to assess aspects of Global Market's workforce and management. Your staff asked us to provide additional information on the perspectives of participants in the focus group sessions conducted for our May 2023 report. This report 1GM also employs locally employed staff, who are foreign nationals working at posts overseas. In fiscal year 2021, GM employed 698 locally employed staff. We did not conduct focus group sessions with locally employed staff overseas and did not include them in the scope of this report. 2GAO, Export Promotion: Commerce Should Improve Workforce Planning and Management of Its Global Markets Unit, GAO-23-105369 (Washington, D.C.: May 11, 2023). GAO-24-106747 Global Markets Focus Groups Page 1

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