1. Benefits and Retirement services

Congressional Budget Office OPF Review/Benefits Review (CBO)

GRA provided a complete review of all employee official personnel folders (OPF's) (250) for the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) to ensure the accuracy of all retirement-related records. GRA staff reviewed several specific fields - including retirement, health benefits, TSP coverage, and life insurance as they related to payroll and other processes. The team made/recommended corrections where necessary.

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), Washington, D.C.

GRA provided three retirement counselors to EEOC to assist in an early-out program, and provide retirement counseling, calculations, and processing.  GRA provided retirement counseling to employees for who were interested in part-time employment, optional, early-out, disability, discontinued service and Voluntary Early Retirement Authority (VERA).

GRA reviewed and processed applications for optional, discontinued service, and early-out retirement upon receipt to ensure they were received by the payroll office no later than five days from date of separation.  We ensured all preliminary disability applications were completed and forwarded to the payroll office no later than five days after receipt and processed paperwork for separating employees within two days after receipt of action.

GRA responded to and resolved questions or issues arising as a result of separation actions, and ensured that employees met eligibility requirements (retirement, benefits, creditable service) to process actions accordingly, while maintaining professional, accurate, and timely customer service in all dealings. Customer service standards included seeking to understand customer issues, taking full responsibility for the resolution of issues, and following up and responding to customer phone calls or written inquiries within sixteen to twenty-four hours. 

Farm Credit Administration, McLean, VA

Under this project, we provided a benefits specialist for 16 hours per week to handle all aspects of retirement calculations, retirement counseling, and retirement processing for all Farm Credit Administration employees.

In addition, the same contract was used by several other agencies, whereby GRA conducted OPF review projects for the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, NASA Goddard in Greenbelt, the Corporation for National Service, the Federal Highway Administration, and the Department of Transportation, Office of the Secretary.

U.S. Department of Education, Washington, D.C.

GRA provided the Department of Education with four full-time associates to provide one-on-one retirement and benefits counseling for employees, new hires, potential retirees, and retirees, and surviving spouses where applicable.  GRA prepared retirement annuity estimates for employees as well as providing retirement application packages to employees with all appropriate forms.  We prepared the necessary documentation to process all types of retirement applications for CSRS, CRSR Offset, and FERS retirees and forwarded appropriate documentation to Payroll and the U.S. Office of Personnel Management. These packages were technically correct and consistent with government regulations.

GRA associates consulted with and provided information to current employees in such areas as flexible spending accounts, health savings accounts, and TSP accounts.  We consulted with, new, rehired and separating employees about benefits such as health and life insurance, retirement, social security, and TSP.

GRA prepared the necessary documentation to process all types of employee benefits and forwarded appropriate documentation to payroll and the service providers as well as reviewed employee status under the Federal Erroneous Retirement Coverage Corrections Act (FERCCA) and made corrections where necessary.

2. recruitment and staffing

Department of Energy, Richland, Washington

GRA provided up to four individuals on a relatively full-time, on-site basis to provide a wide range of staffing-related services to the Department of Energy, Richland Operations Office, Richland, Washington.  Services included preparation of vacancy announcements, rating and ranking of applicants, preparation of certificates of eligibility, coordination and scheduling of interview panels, coordination or pre-employment background checks, preparation of job offer letters, coordination of new hire relocations, and related staffing tasks.

National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB)

GRA provided full time on-site staffing support to the National Transportation Safety Board. Our associates provide service to designated agency divisions in the same manner as their federal counterparts.   GRA staff work closely with NTSB managers to define specific staffing needs and to craft vacancy announcements, qualifications statements, and crediting plans that help ensure the best candidates are identified and interviewed for a wide variety of positions including jobs such as Accident Investigators, Engineers, Information Technology Specialists and a wide variety of administrative staff.   The result of GRA’s work has been a major reduction in the backlog of unfilled positions and an increase in the number and quality of well qualified candidates available for selection.

U. S. Capitol Police (USCP)

GRA provided the U.S. Capitol Police (USCP) a wide variety of HR services and training support. Among other things, GRA provided a full range of recruitment, staffing and placement expertise to support USCP's in filling approximately 200 civilian positions. Our associates developed vacancy announcements, crediting plans, and interview questions, screened applications, and developed lists of best qualified, in support of a major USCP hiring initiative. As part of the effort, we applied "best practices" techniques and followed through by documenting each methodology and step in the staffing and classification processes.

Department of Energy, Richland, Washington

GRA provided up to four individuals on a relatively full-time, on-site basis to provide a wide range of staffing-related services to the Department of Energy, Richland Operations Office, Richland, Washington.  Services included preparation of vacancy announcements, rating and ranking of applicants, preparation of certificates of eligibility, coordination and scheduling of interview panels, coordination or pre-employment background checks, preparation of job offer letters, coordination of new hire relocations, and related staffing tasks.

Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)

GRA was selected to provide a complete range of staffing support to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Department of Homeland Security. GRA initially placed up to ten highly qualified associates well versed in staffing operations, including automated applicant tracking systems at the agency headquarters. GRA provided a wide range of staffing services, including developing vacancy announcements and crediting plans, recruiting for external and internal vacancies, rating and ranking applicants, and providing certificates to selecting officials in a timely manner. Our associates are aligned with their counterpart FEMA staff each of whom serves one or more components of the agency, including field offices of FEMA. GRA associates work side-by-side with their agency counterpart to provide staffing support to their assigned component(s). The agency requested an additional five associates to augment the staffing operation. GRA’s contract called for the provision of over 12,000 hours of support to reduce the agency backlog of unfilled positions as well as recruit and staff an additional potential 1,000 vacancies during the fiscal year.  GRA rated over 22,000 applications for approximately 525 vacancies at FEMA headquarters and ten regional offices.  We drafted and posted 280 vacancy announcements and completed job analyses and created crediting plans for 38 FEMA positions. We also prepared detailed justifications on applicant qualifications as requested by FEMA human resources specialists. Several hundred vacancies were filled by GRA associates; we met the Director’s goal of 95% on-time completion and the team won the FEMA Director’s award for team accomplishment.

Since the beginning of our ongoing work at FEMA, GRA associates assisted the agency in conducting an on-site Federal Career Intern Program Job Fair. During the job fair, we provided an instant review of applications from over 500 applicants to determine their basic qualifications so that managers could then conduct same-day interviews of those meeting the basic qualifications for FEMA positions.

3. Pre-Retirement and Retirement Planning Training

Department of the Interior, National Business Center, Ft. Huachuca, Arizona

GRA conducted a two-day pre-retirement program for DOI staff covering all aspects of Federal retirement, including CSRS and FERS.

Department of the Army, Tank Automotive Command, Warren, Michigan

GRA provided an intensive two-day ore-retirement class for over 130 CSRS employees.  This theater-style class was well received by the attendees and resulted in an invitation to return to provide pre-retirement training for FERS employees.  

Consumer Product Safety Commission, Washington, D.C.

GRA conducted very successful pre-retirement and mid-career retirement planning seminars for the Consumer Product Safety Commission, Washington, D.C. These seminars were for both CSRS and FERS employees.

Department of Energy, Richland, Washington

GRA conducted Pre-Retirement Training classes for the Department of Energy, Richland, Washington. This three-day series covered CSRS and FERS training on separate days and a combined CSRS/FERS session on the final day.

4. Position Classification and Position Management

Internal Revenue Service (IRS)

GRA had two contracts with the Internal Revenue Service to provide position classification and position management (Organizational Effectiveness) services, one of which was in support of the IRS in general, while the second concerns the Memphis Service Center's IT organization. The U. S. Internal Revenue Service entered into a multi-year contract with GRA to provide operational classification services to the National Office of Strategic Human Resources.  Through this contract GRA was called upon to classify established position descriptions (PDs), conduct desk audits to determine the classification of positions, conduct occupational studies; apply and test new OPM Position Classification Standards, assist in the development of new, more concise position structures and develop and classify new PDs for those structures, provide classification evaluations and advisories associated with employee grievances and the adjudication of classification appeals, provide advisories on FLSA determinations, and to classify positions associated with Most Effective Organizations (MEO) under A-76 procedures.

GRA also provided expert witnesses for litigation and arbitration hearings as appropriate. GRA associates assisted IRS in the application of several OPM standards, including the new Job Family Standard for Administrative Work in the Information Technology Group, GS-2200; GRA converted numerous “local PDs” to standard PDs available for use service-wide, conducted organizational specific occupational studies, and provided broad position management advice and assistance.

Internal Revenue Service (MITS):  As a result of our contract activities for the IRS described above, GRA entered into a second multi-year contract with a major IRS organization – the Modernization, Information, and Technology Service (MITS).  MITS is an extremely complex and diverse organization comprised of around 8,000 highly specialized technical and professional employees.  GRA’s work for MITS involved the application of the GS-2200 job family standard and the development of some 300 new standard PDs to meet the needs of new organizational structures.  Our associates also reviewed numerous analytical positions for consideration of the appropriate series; and the provision of position management and position classification advice, assistance, and training. 

As a result of GRA’s work with both the IRS National Office and MITS, the agency gained a more concise organizational structure, with appropriately designed and classified career ladders, and a large data base of standard position descriptions which facilitated managers’ flexibility in staffing and assignment of work.  In addition, managers received more timely and definitive classification determinations, and employee appeals were handled in a more timely fashion. 

National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB)

GRA provided assistance to NTSB in reviewing a wide variety of positions at all levels at Board headquarters and field offices from the standpoint of position classification and position management.  The work ranged from reviews of existing PDs to ensure correctness of occupational, classification, and grade-level designations to developing new job descriptions and classification evaluation statements where none previously existed.  GRA also drafted agency-wide position classification policy guidelines for NTSB to aid in future classification actions and decisions.  Later, GRA was awarded an “omnibus” HR services contract with NTSB to provide a broad range of support to their HR staff in recruitment, staffing, job classification, performance management, HR policy development, pay and compensation and other areas of need. 

Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC)

GRA conducted a position management study of attorney positions at OPIC’s Department of Legal Affairs.  We interviewed several OPIC attorneys and reviewed their work products as well as lawyers in the private sector who worked with OPIC on international investment issues.  GRA’s report provided an authoritative source of guidance for OPIC decisions on job classification, position management, career ladders and other issues that helped in giving the agency a recruitment advantage and internal equity.   GRA’s study assessed grade structure, promotion practices, human resource utilization issues, and the supportability of the organization’s position management and career ladder rubrics.  GRA issued a report to OPIC with findings and recommendations on these issues as well as providing comparative grade structure data on attorney positions gathered from other comparable agencies.  As a follow-up, GRA was awarded a contract to assist the OPIC HR office in providing staffing, job classification, EEO advisory and employee relations technical support services. 

U.S. General Accounting Office – now U.S. Government Accountability Office - (GAO)

GRA entered into a multi-year contract with the U.S. General Accounting Office – now U.S. Government Accountability Office - (GAO) to review the agency’s administrative, professional, and support staff (APPS) positions.  This work involved on-site reviews, the development of new PD’s, the recommendation of appropriate classification of current APPS positions; and the conversion of all APSS positions and the development of new concise position requirement documents consistent with GAO’s new broadband pay-for-performance system.  In addition, GRA provided advice and assistance on the development and/or modification of GAO classification guidance, the reclassification of individual positions, consolidation of functions, series changes; consistent titling practices, and the establishment of effective position structures and career ladders.  Since GAO is not subject to Title 5, U.S. Code GRA associates were expected to provide guidance in the development and application of unique, non-traditional classification and pay systems, policies, and procedures -- and to help the agency transition from its more traditional classification system to a new broadband system. GAO made the decision to modify our contract to increase the level of services.

GRA’s work has resulted in the completion of hundreds of job audits and re-classification and cross-walking of GAO positions from traditional Title 5 grade levels into the new GAO pay banding structure.  In doing this work, GRA has helped GAO rationalize the basis for moving large blocks of traditionally classified jobs into a newly aligned system of positions that are unique to GAO’s mission and reconstituted human resources system.  The agency began to operate within a broadband pay for performance system, and GAO’s position structure became more concise, granting managers increased flexibility in staffing and pay determinations.

In addition, GRA experts successfully aided GAO in establishing new types of generic positions that consolidated and combined aspects of former positions that were outdated or too narrowly defined for the agency’s evolving human capital needs.

U.S. Office of Personnel Management

GRA was asked to produce a comprehensive study (325 pages plus 10 appendices) of the History of the General Schedule Classification System, for the U. S. Office of Personnel Management.  The study covered the setting of Federal pay before the Classification Act of 1949, and provided in-depth coverage of how the system operated in each of the five decades after passage of the Classification Act.  The historical information included the development of the standards, federal pay legislation and its impact, and major studies of job evaluation in the federal civil service.

U.S. Capitol Police

GRA provided position classification expertise in reviewing and rewriting all existing PD’s for civilian positions (over 400 in finance and accounting, human resources, information technology, physical security, vehicle maintenance, and other administrative functions).  Our associates developed and wrote position descriptions for newly established positions using Title 5 and/or private sector “best practices.”  We met USCP's expectations for complete documentation of the classification processes utilized. GRA also drafted revised position classification policy guidelines for USCP.  The contract also called for GRA to provide a full range of recruitment, staffing and placement expertise to support USCP's Office of Human Resources in filling approximately 200 civilian positions.  Our associates developed vacancy announcements, crediting plans, interview questions, screened applications, lists of best qualified, etc. in support of the USCP hiring initiative.  In accordance with the terms of the contract, we applied “best practices” techniques and followed through by documenting each methodology. 

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Rural Development Administration

GRA was a subcontractor to Job Performance Systems (JPS) in Human Capital project at the Rural Development Administration (RD). The GRA focus was to conduct a complex classification and competency development study of GS-1165 and 1101 "Loan Officer" positions requiring knowledge of realty, mortgaging, credit worthiness, loan approval, construction requirements, blueprint review, onsite construction inspections, environmental impacts, financial eligibility, and fair housing laws. GRA wrote standard position descriptions with appropriate parentheticals to be used at the State and Area offices for specialists coordinating single family, multi-family and commercial loans for RD customers. Competencies identified were developed using three proficiency levels. The competency models will be used in recruitment, employee development and performance management throughout the RD regions.

We developed and refined the competency models for the 1101, 1165, and 343 jobs. We conducted two follow-up focus groups with SMEs for each of the three jobs (total of six focus groups) to refine the models and develop proficiency levels for the different grade levels.  The resulting competency models were to be used in recruitment, employee development and performance management throughout the RD regions.

5. Performance management

Department of Education, Federal Student Aid Program (FSA)

GRA provided assistance over a period of years to FSA managers and supervisors in developing performance plans that link to agency goals and mission priorities and which feature clear employee performance objectives and standards that enhance employee accountability and effectiveness.  We conducted numerous training sessions at ED/FSA for managers/supervisors and employees on developing elements/standards and aligning them with agency goals and priorities.  GRA also provided advice to managers and supervisors on actions to take when employees fail to meet acceptable levels of performance, including placement of such employees on formal performance improvement plans as well as aiding in preparing actions to terminate, demote or reassign employees whose performance fails to improve to an adequate level.

Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) (sub-contractor to Job Performance Systems, Inc)

GRA worked for the FLRA as a sub-contractor to Job Performance Systems, Inc. GRA’s mission was to develop a performance management system for this agency to move them from a pass-fail system to a multi-performance level system that would be aligned with the agency’s strategic plan. GRA’s work was two-fold: to develop an SES performance system that would meet certification requirements of the OPM; and to develop performance elements and standards for 16 groups of non-SES positions. GRA developed and executed a methodology for this work, delivering a final, finished product.

National Gallery of Art (NGA), Washington, D.C.

GRA assisted the National Gallery of Art by developing a performance appraisal system policy document and appropriate performance elements and standards for performance plans for a sampling of seven Senior Level staff, including art historical curatorial personnel, art conservationist, writing, and editorial personnel. All work was designed to meet the criteria listed in 5 CFR 430 and the requirements for OPM certification of the senior level performance management system. The performance plans developed by GRA were closely linked to the agency’s Mission and Strategic Plan as well as the annual NGA performance goals. The performance standards were written at several performance levels.

The contract was later amended to include finalizing the documentation necessary to support OPM certification of the Senior Level Performance Appraisal System, and developing performance plans for the remaining 13 Senior Level positions.

US Capitol Police

GRA provided assistance in the complete redesign of USCP’s performance management system for the agency’s sworn (i.e., police officers) and civilian staffs.  In carrying out this project, GRA assisted with the development and implementation of its performance management program with underlying core competencies required by the USCP mission and key positions; building in an accountability and results focus to individual performance plans; stressing performance improvement in the appraisal process; and linking individual executive and lower level performance plans with critical USCP program priorities and objectives, the USCP strategic plan, and mission-driven requirements. 

GRA’s project team conducted a wide range of research, benchmarked performance management systems at other law enforcement agencies, identified best performance practices in other government organizations, and took a number of steps to redesign USCP’s performance management system and to improve the quality of employee performance.  We provided technical advice and support in developing clearly stated standards and requirements for performance management system policy, guidance, process, and procedural documentation needed for developing competencies, performance plans, and rating documents.  The Chief of Police at USCP announced to all executives that a newly GRA-designed senior management performance appraisal system would focus on strongly linking individual managerial performance standards and elements to the USCP strategic and performance plans, as well as the Chief’s key program and mission priorities.  Following the system redesign work, GRA was tasked with providing numerous training sessions for USCP managers/supervisors, police officers, and civilian staff on workings of the system and their responsibilities in implementation.

6. Outplacement and Career Transition Services

Defense Distribution Centers, Nationwide

GRA provided top-quality career transition and outplacement services to the Department of Defense as it closed down its distribution centers over a five-year period. GRA began its work with the Defense Distribution Centers with a large contract to provide outplacement services to one installation - 250 individuals in New Cumberland, Pennsylvania. In addition, we have had three separate outplacement contracts with DoD Distribution Centers for multiple facilities. These included our initial contract to provide outplacement services to centers at Cherry Point, North Carolina; San Diego, California; and Jacksonville, Florida; a second contract to provide outplacement services to centers at Richmond, Virginia; Albany, Georgia Hill AFB, Utah and Memphis, Tennessee; and a third contract to provide outplacement services to centers at Puget Sound, Washington; Corpus Christi, Texas; and Tobyhanna, Pennsylvania.

GRA conducted career counseling, career transition, and outplacement efforts at almost a dozen Defense Distribution Centers (Defense Depots) around the country.

Defense National Stockpile Center

GRA provided outplacement services to the Defense National Stockpile Center (DNSC) to facilitate the successful transition of General Schedule and Wage Grade employees who face potential involuntarily separation as a result of an organization restructuring and downsizing initiative.  Specifics of the workforce included employees in a variety of GS and Wage Grade positions, primarily in the warehousing and administrative areas.

As many as 200 employees facing reductions-in-force needed outplacement assistance.  Outplacement and career transition assistance contractual support service was provided in Binghamton, NY, New Haven, IN, Fort Belvoir, VA, Point Pleasant, WV, Baton Rouge, LA, Scotia, NY, Clearfield, UT, Somerville, NJ, Hammond, IN, and Warren, OH.

The overarching goal was to provide a “soft-landing” for impacted employees and to help them transition to new jobs and careers within and outside the Federal government, make major life decisions (e.g., starting their own businesses and/or retirement) and to equip them with the skills necessary to seek employment opportunities that will be in their best interests and consistent with their career goals.  GRA setup, maintained, and dismantled an Outplacement Center in each location.  We also conducted training workshops on a variety of subjects such as resume and cover letter writing, job search techniques, interviewing skills, starting a small business, obtaining and maintaining certifications and licenses, and surviving the overall downsizing.

GRA also arranged meetings with State Offices to provide a variety of services.  We assisted the administrator and other staff by briefing them on the services of the Center, writing transition assistance/outplacement articles for newsletters and bulletins, participating in Administrator’s meetings, and assisting in controlling rumors related to downsizing.  GRA also assisted employees on an individual basis in a wide variety of outplacement efforts, all related to writing resumes, creating templates for employees to document experience, reviewing employee qualifications, and documenting qualifications for registration in various Federal job placement programs.

GRA provided assistance to employees by writing KSAs in response to vacancy announcements, conducting actual job searches through the DoD automated system, USA jobs, newspapers, and other publications, locating federal and private industry jobs, and conducting job fairs.  Finally, we assisted those who qualified for retirement by aiding them with adjustments to post-retirement life, and applying for Social Security benefits.

Department of Energy, Golden, Colorado

GRA provided career transition and outplacement assistance to the Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Golden, Colorado for DOE personnel in offices designated for reassignment. This included staff in Atlanta, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, Golden, Colorado, Seattle, and one employee each in Kansas City, Missouri and Honolulu, Hawaii. This service included two-day workshops in the six key regional office cities listed above as well as consultation for individual employees on an as-needed basis

More specifically, approximately 109 employees were affected by the announcement to consolidate the six regional offices mentioned above into three project management centers.  These employees were generally general schedule, competitive service employees.

The services provided were both outplacement workshops in a classroom format as well as one-on-one counseling sessions with employees.  Six two-day workshops were conducted and one-on-one consultation services were also made available between October 1, 2005 and September 30, 2006.

The numbers of employees needing transition/outplacement numbered twenty-three in Atlanta, sixteen in Boston, seventeen in Philadelphia, seventeen in Chicago, nineteen in Golden, Colorado, fifteen in Seattle, and one each in Kansas City and Honolulu.

As a result, all employees participated in the outplacement workshops and all employees were provided one-on-one counseling assistance as needed. Virtually all employees seeking placement were given alternative positions inside or outside the Federal government.

7. Organizational Development and Group Facilitation

Architect of the Capitol

GRA provided assistance to the Architect of the Capitol on organizational development, strategic and business planning initiatives and management.

GRA worked with the leadership of the AOC to assist in the development of change management strategies. We also provided the expertise of our seasoned and well respected senior associates in addressing human capital, communication, conflict resolution and dispute resolution issues of the highest complexity. More specifically, we worked with AOC management to develop planning agendas for their management council and other senior management meetings. We facilitated those meetings as well as procured off-site retreat facilities.

GRA assisted on all aspects of change management.  We conducted management team sessions based on issues requiring follow-on action from management council or other senior management meetings.  Our staff deployed as needed to AOC for conflict management, dispute resolution and communication issues.  GRA provided consulting services which included developing strategic initiatives through a variety of techniques including change management methodologies, team and leadership building and our business process re-engineering.  We helped the management team develop strategies which to address issues arising from the Government Accountability Office’s review.

Department of Veterans Affairs, Central Alabama Veterans Health Care System (CAVHCS):

GRA was asked to conduct an assessment of management and performance issues related to the operational efficiency and effectiveness of the CAVHCS. We developed a menu of possible interventions, from benchmarking successful VA facilities, to arrive at positive improvements, including changes to systems for goal setting and measuring organizational and executive performance. GRA provided recommendations on how the roles and responsibilities of the CEO, Chief of Staff, Clinical Directors, and other key staff needed to change in order to increase accountability and results-based performance improvements in hospital operations and program delivery. Our work in this organization contributed to it moving from last to first place in reducing waits and delays in its service delivery category.

GRA provided training on benchmarking, process improvement, and Business Process Re-engineering to teams from CAVHCS hospitals, Montgomery, and Tuskegee, Alabama. GRA’s staff benchmarking was used as the primary means of improving the hospital system's performance. This two hospital system vaulted from last place to first place in just six months against DVA's national operational effectiveness criteria called: "Waits and Delays," in the VISN headquartered in Atlanta. This intervention led to a visit by the VISN Director to congratulate the staff for their tremendous performance improvement.

Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission (WSSC), Laurel, Maryland.

The WSSC is a non-Federal public sector organization with a $600 million annual expenditure that had been spotlighted in the Washington metropolitan area for several years.   GRA provided services to WSSC for a total value of $300,000. GRA worked with the Commission’s management to identify ways to reduce administrative costs within the organization. They had a goal to shrink their 540+/- administrative staff by 70-80 employees while still providing effective service. GRA did organizational assessment work to identify areas where money and staff resources could be saved or reallocated elsewhere. We trained and supported high performance teams and did a variety of organizational analyses.

8. Leadership, Management and Supervisory Training

Defense Language Institute, Monterey, California

GRA provided team leader training to approximately 100 team leaders of the Defense Language Institute (DLI), Monterey, CA.

The DLI Provost identified a need to provide mentoring and performance improvement training for approximately 100 team leaders. Although the team leaders did not formally evaluate the performance of their team members, they were responsible for maintaining effective working relationships in their respective teams. Each team consisted of 5 members plus the team leader who together taught between 18 and 30 students. Team leaders needed to know how to diagnose problems within their teams and resolve subsequent conflicts, think about how their team can be more effective, and energize their team members around the agency.

GRA met that need through delivery of a GRA workshop entitled, “Achieving Great Team Results.” We provided that training to four groups of 25 team leaders, with follow-up instruction and feedback provided as part of this effort.

Federal Labor Relations Authority

GRA developed and presented a comprehensive two day interactive management/supervisory training course for Senior Executive Service managers and GS-15 supervisors of the Federal Labor Relations Authority. Most of the participants were attorneys who rose through the technical ranks to supervisory and managerial positions. Their previous supervisory/leadership training ranged from none to attendance at the Office of Personnel Management Federal Executive Institute or equivalent programs and/or commercial government-wide conferences and academic training/courses.

The FLRA workforce was facing human capital issues not unlike those faced by other Federal agencies organizations. Such issues included, for example, succession planning challenges arising from prior and future retirements. FLRA was also faced with successfully implementing its critical missions and programs in a climate of competing priorities among fiscal, human capital and other resources. In addition, as with other Federal agencies with a role in administering or enforcing Federal civil service laws, rules, and regulations, potential changes in the scope and structure of mission was a reality. That being so, FLRA understood that its managers and supervisors must have the skill sets necessary to be proactive change agents and effective managers in a fluid, resources-strapped and performance-driven environment. They also needed and would benefit from instruction regarding their leadership roles and responsibilities, communications capabilities and a refresher in basic supervisory skills.  GRA provided  a supervisory skills refresher training course focused on such matters as differences in communication between supervisors and employees versus communication among managers and supervisors, establishing and maintaining a professional work environment, using measurable goals, objectives and standards to measure performance with a focus on a pass/fail environment, evaluating employee performance against established expectations and the appraisal process and addressing poor performance and/or conduct issues.

NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA

GRA won a contract to develop management training materials associated with the delivery of training on topics selected by NASA, and to deliver the approved training materials to a group of new supervisors and managers in an off-site residential setting, Sunday afternoon through lunch on Friday. The contract was later re-competed, and we were awarded the new contract to continue developing, updating, and delivering this training program. We thus updated the materials and changed their focus to suit the needs of the customer in subsequent years.

Topics covered included dealing with difficult people, leadership, teambuilding, conflict resolution, and other management/employee issues. In advance of the seminar, participants completed at least two psychological profiles, including the Myers-Briggs, which covers the management style of participants. We also held individual coaching sessions with each participant to review their perceived management style. We also reviewed the results of the 360 degree appraisals that their peers, subordinates, and supervisors completed, and reviewed their Myers-Briggs scores with their associated implications for leadership styles.

After that successful venture, GRA won a contract to provide strategic planning services to the largest sub-organization in the Langley Research Center, the Science and Engineering Directorate. Later, the Director of the Center decided to broaden the scope of the strategic planning work to the Center as a whole. Our strategic planning experts worked with several teams of highly regarded NASA staff to help them go through a rigorous set of planning exercises associated with developing a multiyear Center strategic plan. The contract was amended twice to increase its value.

U.S. Postal Service, Office of the Inspector General

The Office of Inspector General (OIG), USPS, selected GRA to help OIG develop and present an eighty-hour management training course entitled Applied Management Studies for the Inspector Generals' Management Institute (IGMI). IGMI provides management development studies for senior employees of IG offices in the USPS and the Executive Branch of government. GRA’s responsibilities included creating a project plan; designing a course piloting process and course evaluation procedures; and reviewing (or creating) and assembling and assuring quality of all course materials including a participant course book, lesson plans/instructor manual, slides, and handouts; developing and delivering portions of the course; evaluating the course after first delivery; and providing development support to Institute staff as needed. In addition GRA developed and presented the 3.5 day Human Resources curriculum for the course.

The pilot course was held for 20 participants and judged by those participants to be a great success. Six additional sessions were later scheduled.

USDA Food and Nutrition Service

GRA was awarded a contract to provide a series of one-day workshops for managers and supervisors of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service (FNS), that emphasized several key areas of human capital management related to resourcing, shaping, managing, and developing the workforce. Sessions were held at FNS Headquarters, the seven regional offices, and the Field Academy in Las Vegas. These workshops included information on the roles, responsibilities and expectations of an FNS supervisor/manager, particularly in the areas of production and staff.  The workshops also focused on how to identify future staffing needs of the supervisor's organization, including dealing with changing expectations and dwindling resources, how to identify development opportunities for current staff that will help them grow professionally and prepare them to meet the future needs of the agency through succession planning, and identifying additional training needs that would benefit participants.

At FNS, as at many Federal agencies, major human capital challenges are the successful integration of strategy, planning, resource allocation, implementation, and evaluation focused on building and retaining a highly skilled workforce that will accomplish the organization’s mission today and into the future. Therefore, our learning objectives were to provide information, build understanding, and establish commitment on the part of supervisors to make the two dimensions of the Human Capital Management Program (HCMP) an integral part of the way they manage day to day and longer-term. As a result of the training GRA provided, participants were better positioned to lead and manage HCMP efforts within their programs, and to integrate those internal efforts into the overall Departmental/FNS HCMP effort.

GRA was subsequently awarded another contract to provide similar leadership training seminars for USDA FNS managers, this time concentrating on the area of motivating outstanding, fully successful, and less than full successful employees.

9. Human Resources management training

Department of the Army, Regional Training Centers

The GRA Training Institute has an extensive background in training in human resources management issues. With respect to our working knowledge of the Defense Department agencies, the GRA Training Institute has built a firm working relationship with a number of Army regional training centers nationwide to offer our courses. Many classes have been conducted over the past year and evaluations were uniformly excellent. GRA services included needs assessment, development of course materials, training of participants, evaluation of the session by participants, and all administrative aspects related to the courses. GRA offered sessions in Employee Relations for Supervisors and Managers (Defense Language Institute, Monterey, CA), Labor Relations for Supervisors (DLI, Monterey, CA), Interest-Based Bargaining (Fort Bliss, TX), Employee Relations for Supervisors and Managers (Ft. Gordon, GA), Employee Relations for Civilian Personnel Advisory Center Staff (Fort Benning, GA), Labor Relations for Supervisors and Managers (Fort Knox, KY), Interest-Based Bargaining (Fort Leonard Wood, MO), Negotiations (Fort Lee, VA), and Resolving Employee Problems (Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD).

NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA

GRA won a contract to develop management training materials associated with the delivery of training on topics selected by NASA, and to deliver the approved training materials to a group of new supervisors and managers in an off-site residential setting, Sunday afternoon through lunch on Friday. The contract was later re-competed, and we were awarded the new contract to continue developing, updating, and delivering this training program. We thus updated the materials and changed their focus to suit the needs of the customer in subsequent years.

Topics covered included dealing with difficult people, leadership, teambuilding, conflict resolution, and other management/employee issues. In advance of the seminar, participants completed at least two psychological profiles, including the Myers-Briggs, which covers the management style of participants. We also held individual coaching sessions with each participant to review their perceived management style. We also reviewed the results of the 360 degree appraisals that their peers, subordinates, and supervisors completed, and reviewed their Myers-Briggs scores with their associated implications for leadership styles.

After that successful venture, GRA won a contract to provide strategic planning services to the largest sub-organization in the Langley Research Center, the Science and Engineering Directorate. Later, the Director of the Center decided to broaden the scope of the strategic planning work to the Center as a whole. Our strategic planning experts worked with several teams of highly regarded NASA staff to help them go through a rigorous set of planning exercises associated with developing a multiyear Center strategic plan. The contract was amended twice to increase its value.

Food and Nutrition Service U.S. Department of Agriculture

GRA competed for and won the opportunity to develop course modules and to furnish one or more expert presenters to deliver them as "HR for Supervisors and Managers" for the Food and Nutrition Service, USDA. The objective was to present to supervisors and managers in a three-day course what they needed to know to fulfill their responsibilities to their employer and to employees. The customer provided a description of the learning outcomes it sought and an initial outline of the intended subject matter coverage. Our staff met with the customer's training experts to get a full understanding of their expectations and to exchange ideas. We then adjusted existing and tailored new training modules to meet the customer's expectations. We furnished one of our HR training experts to deliver the content, and have periodically conducted that training.

Labor Relations Training at the U.S. Army, Ft. Lee, Virginia

GRA provided a Negotiations Workshop for the U.S. Army at Fort Lee, VA. Human resources management staff from various management teams from Fort Lee, VA, and Fort Monroe, VA, as well as neighboring installations attended the training. In addition, one individual from Fort Detrick also attended the training.  The training was somewhat similar to Fort Detrick's needs, in that the primary reason for the training was to prepare participants for upcoming negotiations with their respective unions, which included AFGE.

Transportation Security Administration

GRA was selected by the Transportation Security Administration to develop and deliver a series of employee relations "boot camp" training sessions to address and resolve a recognized training need impacting the entire agency involving all airports in the United States. GRA developed a comprehensive and intensive day and evening seven-day course curriculum and related training material.  The course received rave reviews and continues to be presented throughout TSA.  The class was designed to provide HR specialists, attorneys, and other professionals with the competencies and confidence to interpret and apply ER policies, assist and advise managers in carrying out their employee relations responsibilities, draft a variety of ER-related correspondence, including disciplinary actions, process employee disciplinary actions, grievances, and appeals and management replies/responses as appropriate, recognize the need to involve other specialists or organizations within TSA, and to know where to turn for aid and further information.

U. S. Capitol Police (USCP)

GRA provided assistance in the complete redesign of USCP’s performance management system for the agency’s sworn (i.e., police officer) and civilian staffs.  In carrying out this project, GRA assisted with the development and implementation of its performance management program with underlying core competencies required by the USCP mission and key positions; building in an accountability and results focus to individual performance plans; stressing performance improvement in the appraisal process; and linking individual executive and lower level performance plans with critical USCP program priorities and objectives, the USCP strategic plan, and mission-driven requirements. 

GRA’s project team  conducted a wide range of research, has benchmarked performance management systems at other law enforcement agencies, has identified best performance practices in other government organizations, and is taking a number of steps to redesign USCP’s performance management system and to improve the quality of employee performance appraisal within the agency (e.g., provide technical advice and support in developing clearly stated standards and requirements for performance management system policy, guidance, process, and procedural documentation needed for developing competencies, performance plans, and rating documents).  The Chief of Police at USCP announced to all executives that a newly GRA-designed senior management performance appraisal system would focus on strongly linking individual managerial performance standards and elements to the USCP strategic and performance plans as well as the Chief’s key program and mission priorities. 

Following the system redesign work, GRA was tasked with providing numerous training sessions for USCP managers/supervisors, police officers, and civilian staff on workings of the system and their responsibilities in implementation.

10. human resources management reviews and evaluations

Federal Bureau of Investigation

Under a sub-contract, GRA assessed the human resources program of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). GRA performed most of its work on-site at FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C.

As part of the FBI Human Resources Program Review, an examination was made of all performance and conduct actions undertaken by the Performance, Recognition and Awards Unit (PRAU).  A total of 11 actions were identified as having been initiated during this time period and all were evaluated.  These actions were found to have met the substantive requirements of appropriate law, rules and regulations.  The actions can be typified as including well developed and specified charges; fact-finding that was comprehensive, clear and connected to the charges; meeting all mandated procedural and time requirements; and identifying all appropriate appeal rights.  Some opportunities to improve the administrative processes do exist and are discussed below.

The types of performance and conduct related actions undertaken by the unit include those involving denial of within grade increases due to unsatisfactory performance; reassignment, downgrading or removal due to unsuccessful performance; removal during the probationary period for both new employees and for supervisors; removal for leave abuse not involving charges of AWOL; and issuance of notices of indefinite suspension due to security clearance concerns.  All other types of adverse and disciplinary actions are administered by the Office of Professional Responsibility. 

National Transportation Safety Board

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) engaged GRA to formally review the agency's human resources management function. The objective of the review was to provide NTSB with information regarding the HR program's strengths and deficiencies and to provide recommendations to NTSB on improving personnel programs and processes, including ensuring their compliance with applicable law and regulations. This formal review consisted of how well NTSB HR policies, procedures and practices supported effective recruitment, staffing, classification, pay, leave administration, awards programs, labor and employee relations. GRA also provided an overall assessment of how well HR programs and practices enabled NTSB to attract and retain a high-quality workforce. The review also focused on the need for changes in internal quality control and assessment processes, including the need for training for both HR staff and the managers they serve.   Several of the key findings and recommendations related to improving workforce planning, recruitment, appointment, merit promotion, and employee development and performance.

Later, GRA provided assistance to NTSB in the area of position classification by reviewing a wide variety of positions at all levels at Board headquarters and field offices from the standpoint of position classification/management. The work ranged from reviews of existing PDs to ensure correctness of occupational, classification, and grade-level designations to developing new job descriptions and classification evaluation statements where none previously existed. GRA also drafted agency-wide position classification policy guidelines for NTSB to aid in future classification actions and decisions.

11. business process reengineering and strategic planning

Architect of the Capitol – Organizational Development Services

GRA provided assistance to the Architect of the Capitol (AOC) on organizational development, strategic and business planning initiatives and management. We provided consulting services which included developing strategic initiatives through a variety of techniques including change management methodologies, team and leadership building and our expertise in business process re-engineering. GRA worked with the leadership of the AOC in the development of change management strategies and assisted on all aspects of the change management process. We also provided expertise in addressing human capital, communication, conflict resolution and dispute resolution issues of the highest complexity.

GRA facilitated the development of AOC’s five-year Strategic Plan which included long term and short term goals and plans. The services included the conduct of fact finding interviews with key organization leaders followed by the design and conduct of Strategic Planning workshops. The workshops produced goals, objectives, outcome measures and strategies to guide the agency through the five year period covered by the Strategic Plan. Additionally, we facilitated meetings of the project support team consisting of AOC management and staff as well as contractors serving as subject matter experts in performance-based budgeting and cost accounting. The development of the AOC Strategic Plan was linked to a performance-based budget for the organization.

Throughout the process, GRA provided recommendations, guidance and services to the AOC strategic planning teams that assisted in achieving positive results. GRA recommended the creation of a project plan to guide the strategic planning process. That plan identified the responsibilities, resources and timetable that were applied to prepare for, conduct and follow up the strategic planning sessions.

GRA also provided recommendations about the makeup of the Strategic Planning Team(s). The resulting teams had a cross section of managers and employees whose involvement in the planning process helped ensure their support in the implementation of the final plan, as well as the identification and designation of Champions for each Strategic Planning Team. These leaders helped motivate and coordinate the work of the team members and they ensured that team members were given the resources and time away from their jobs that were necessary to complete the plan.

GRA gathered input from staff, customers, stakeholders and suppliers prior to the development of the plans. This was accomplished by means of a paper review and interviews with representatives from those groups to determine the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats that should be addressed in the Strategic Plan.

GRA associates provided assistance in the development and provision of briefings to Senior Leaders on the progress of the plans. This was accomplished by working with the Champions and the AOC Strategic Planning Director to develop and rehearse their presentations prior to the briefings.

We developed agendas, summaries of results and action items with action owners and due dates identified for each workshop.  GRA also helped the management team develop strategies to address issues arising from a U.S. Government Accountability Office review. We also conducted management team sessions based on issues requiring follow-on action from the management council or other senior management meetings.

Department of the Navy, Naval Air Warfare Center, Weapons Division, Point Mugu, CA.

The U. S. Navy called on GRA to help it develop a business model to deal with a dysfunctional workforce at the Naval Air Warfare Center, Weapons Division, Point Mugu, CA.

The aircraft QF-4 FSAT program was experiencing declining QF-4 usage/revenue over four years, and QF-4 costs had already been strenuously cut. The current QF-4 pricing model appeared to be in a "death spiral." The perceived factors in business decline were a general decline in development programs; lower-priced options available from competitors; aircraft availability not meeting all customer needs; and rate pressures from indirect charges (e.g. General & AVDLR) that were being applied to a shrinking revenue base. In addition, amounts of core FSAT work were relatively small, and storage requirements/costs were up significantly. The review covered a data gathering process that resulted in recommendations to top management.

Our data gathering assistance included individual interviews and meetings with key personnel during a two-day on-site visit, a review of prior presentations, analyses, and directives, analysis using multiple frameworks, the National Quality Award Program (Baldrige) Criteria, and workout strategies for distressed companies.  GRA gathered data on Small Business planning models and obtained concurrence that FSAT is a core military function, critical to weapons-testing and the Joint FSAT program under the Air Force.  As such, GRA found that it merited institutional funding to the extent of any deficit.  GRA also completed customer focus and workforce initiatives to provide data for FSAT decisions.

GRA provided external perspectives on issues regarding the business model of FSAT and reviewed internally identified options.  We recommended that lessons learned from the private sector and elsewhere in government be used to the advantage of current goals, and suggested alternatives to construct an effective forward strategy.  Associates recommended that short-term actionable solutions be identified and urged FSAT to focus on mission-critical, difficult, and high-tech work while leaving lesser work to competitors and contractors.  Other recommendations were charging for all activities at full cost where the market allows, or otherwise setting the rates just below the customer break-even level for using competitors.  We recommended that storage be viewed as a separate business, and that it should be budgeted accordingly while advising that FSAT push the envelope of rate-setting opportunities while assuring upper level reviews of FSAT budget variance reports, which should show attribution of over and under estimates and variances.

Department of Veterans Affairs VA Medical Center, Erie, Pennsylvania (BPR)

The Erie VA Medical Center (Erie) hired GRA to facilitate its senior leadership retreat. GRA staff also did a briefing on business process reengineering (BPR). Erie hired GRA to facilitate a strategic planning session. Senior leaders believed that funding constraints at the Department level could lead to reductions in resources to the class of hospitals to which Erie belonged: community-based, non-teaching, non-research, and that the facility was at risk for downsizing, even closure. Senior leaders decided to use BPR as the tool to radically bring about improvements in its performance so compelling as to lessen the risk of downsizing and closure

GRA helped senior leaders prepare a charter for, and then train and launch, the Clinical Design Team. This team used classic BPR methodology to document the "As Is" condition of work processes. Later it generated a conceptual image of a "To Be" alternative set of core business processes and identified the end-to-end components in the clinical areas. GRA supported that team for more than nine months and later supported the Clinical Implementation Team concurrently with training, launching, and supporting a Design Team and, later, an Implementation Team, on administrative work processes. GRA conducted BPR familiarization briefings and short courses on Managing Change for all staff over a period of two years.

GRA worked with senior leaders to develop a plan to use its human capital to best advantage. The result was a plan to organize four senior leaders having approximately six Program Leaders as direct reports who, in turn, had one to several team leaders as direct reports. When Erie restructured, GRA provided training to the Program and Team Leaders on their roles in the new organization. That change in structure resulted in 75 of the 100 former supervisors and managers being reassigned to non-supervisory work. The ratio of indirect labor, supervisor through executive to employees, went from 1:4 to 1:16. More "hands" were available to address veteran needs within a slightly smaller workforce. The organization went from 37 vertical elements to six. It went from five layers to a maximum of three, including the four senior leaders, the "Quadrad," akin to the concept of the "Office of the President" in the private sector. GRA returned to Erie intermittently to assist senior leaders in dealing with issues that the Implementation Teams confronted.

GRA staff helped the CEO to develop a plan for improvements in the delivery of Primary Care in the eight hospitals in Pennsylvania and West Virginia that comprise the Veterans Integrated Service Network (VISN), under the leadership of the VISN Director in Pittsburgh. GRA facilitated meetings of the Medical Directors of Primary Care from these hospitals and wrote the initial drafts of goals for improvements in access by veterans, quality of care, and customer service. GRA tested all clinical teams in Erie’s Primary Care unit, the largest part of the hospital in terms of number of staff, to determine the extent to which they were operating at a high performance level. GRA used copyright-protected, proprietary instruments.  GRA facilitated action planning for each team in Primary Care to help them identify what they could do to improve the performance of the hospital against the Department's criteria.

Due in part to GRA’s efforts, Erie won the Robert W. Carey award, based on the Baldrige criteria, the highest award granted to a hospital annually by the Secretary in competition with171 other hospitals in the VA system. The Department's press release said, in part: "Business process re-engineering outcomes as of FY97 include the reduction of Bed Days of Care/1000 unique veterans by 63%, 24% increase in outpatient visits, 23% increase in unique veterans, 75% decrease in patient hand-offs, 50% decrease in paperwork, and 50% decrease in cycle time." GRA staff was invited to the ceremony and recognized by the Erie CEO in his remarks as instrumental in helping the leadership team and staff to improve their performance substantially.

Georgia Department of Public Safety

The Georgia Department of Public Safety (DPS) engaged GRA to review its current core business processes and develop new processes and systems that would improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the Department. The main objective of this project was to enable DPS to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the Georgia State Patrol (GSP). Phase I of the project involved documenting the current “As-Is” business model of GSP. Phase II involved documenting a “To-Be” system and recommending the future technology direction including a vision of business, data, solutions, and technology architecture.

The proposed environment enabled DPS to transform GSP from its current state to the future state within parameters established by assumptions and constraints. Cognizant of budgetary, organizational, and political constraints, the BPR design team developed a multi-level transformation strategy. This strategy provided DPS a roadmap which could be implemented in small or large increments as funding and/or political support became available. That would ensure that the department could progressively add law enforcement technologies that would eventually enable it to approach the ultimate GSP state.

GRA’s approach for this engagement was designed to meet the specific business requirements and initiatives of DPS. We relied on our proven methodology to capture the state of the organization at a given point in time, and assess how it measured against a desired future model. The future model was created using, as guidelines, the organization’s mission and objectives, appropriate regulatory policies, and industry best practices. Once the present and desired states of the organization were established and documented, we identified the adjustments needed to close any existing gaps between the two states.

To support the objectives, our methodology for this engagement consisted of two major phases: Current “As-Is” State, and Future “To-Be” State. The “As-Is” State referred to the process of documenting DPS’s business processes as they existed at the time the project began. The “To-Be” State presented a picture of where DPS should be in terms of efficiency, technology, mission priorities and compliance with state requirements.

Using the as-Is, To-Be, and Enterprise Data models as a guide, recommendations for the future systems architecture were made. Calling upon the many years of experience contained within GRA and Appian, our teaming partner in this project, we provided DPS with a recommended solution that accounted for their specific requirements and goals discussed during the information gathering phase.

Some of the areas that were considered when developing the future systems architecture were the current DPS infrastructure, DPS IT personnel skill sets, specific Georgia Technology Authority (GTA) requirements, COTS vs. GOTS products, deployment timeframe, cost, and risk. Legacy systems were evaluated and recommendations were made regarding migration or integration into the final system.

12. Human capital management workforce planning

Department of Energy

At the height of the probes into compromise of nuclear weapons secrets at Los Alamos National Laboratory, the Department of Energy, Office of Security Affairs, hired GRA to study the processes affecting the Security Officer occupation ranging from initial hire, through professional development and placement, to succession planning. This project involved workforce planning, identifying and categorizing the competencies for various specialties within the Security Officer line of work, and development of model performance standards and position descriptions. A major component of this project was to compare the decentralized approach used by Department of Energy with our benchmark study of the Central Intelligence Agency's methods of centrally managing its equivalent security workforce. Through this analysis, we produced recommendations for system-wide improvement at the Department of Energy.

As a first step, GRA assembled a project team with experience in dealing with security occupations. All team members were required to possess high-level security clearances. Analyses of current processes and practices were carried out to identify those that had become obsolete or counterproductive to the current security mission. The practice of de-centralized career development was examined in detail. In addition to reviewing the formal policy and the informal practice, we devised structured interviews for Directors of Security, security specialists, and human resource support staff at field sites. At DOE Headquarters, we similarly interviewed a number of high-ranking security officials, including the Director, Office of Security Affairs. The purpose of these interviews was to identify sponsorship of policies and practices GRA had earlier identified as obsolete or counterproductive, and to offer alternatives drawn from the CIA benchmark.

This project contributed substantially to a report prepared by the Director, Nonproliferation and National Security Institute to the Director of the Department's Office of Security and Safeguards, a direct report to the Secretary.  Many of GRA's recommendations included the establishment of the Nuclear National Security Agency, a new DOE component.

The greatest challenge was to gain the trust and cooperation of the line security officials GRA staff interviewed. GRA knew these people had insights and possible solutions to the problems that were identified, but we were talking to them at a time when everything was under scrutiny by higher DOE echelons, the Congress, and the national media. The background and experience of GRA's team members established our bona fides with the DOE security community.

Department of Energy, Radioactive Waste Management

GRA provided in-depth assistance to this major scientific/technical component of the Department of Energy in designing a workforce planning approach and in developing a detailed workforce plan covering its headquarters and field employees.  This organization was undergoing major changes in mission focus at the time of GRA's assistance and GRA was able to help design specific actions to address competency, skill gap, diversity, training, succession planning and other issues faced this group now and for the future.  This organization turned out to one of the first in DOE to achieve a "green" on DOE's internal "scorecard" in Human Capital and GRA was recognized by the group for its invaluable assistance in developing a comprehensive and professional workforce plan.

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, Department of Transportation (DOT)

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) of DOT secured GRA services to assist the agency in reviewing its current efforts in human capital management and developing a comprehensive corporate human capital plan aligned with the agency’s published strategic and performance goals and plans.  The GRA team worked closely with FMCSA’s Human Capital Working Group (comprised of a cross-section of senior managers and key HR officials) to conduct a thorough analysis of the current workforce.  This analysis focused on determining what type of outreach, recruitment, hiring and retention programs are needed to ensure that the agency will have a future workforce that possesses the skills and capabilities needed to deliver mission-critical services.  We completed a Human Capital Plan for the Administration.  That year-long project gave us in-depth knowledge of FMCSA’s unique history; its significant, Congressionally-mandated growth since its inception and the attendant reauthorization requirement; the working relationships between Program Offices, Service Centers and Division Offices; the special challenges of acquiring and maintaining a bi-lingual workforce on our southern border, the legacies of FMCSA’s former status as a component of the Federal Highways Administration, and a broad understanding of the agency’s human resources programs, systems and practices.

GRA was awarded a subsequent contract to assist FMCSA in developing an updated and more detailed human capital plan that assessed critical skills and competency issues and featured several types and levels of workforce analyses and recommended strategies and actions (e.g., succession planning, workforce re-training, and diversity outreach) aimed at aiding the agency in preparing for its workforce of the future.  This effort also included an assessment of the Human Resources organization and functions.  GRA offered several recommendations to FMCSA for improving its HR and human capital programs as well as suggested specific actions for addressing employee workforce survey data reflective of the need for change in HR-related programs and practices in the agency.

General Services Administration

General Services Administration (GSA), Public Building Service (PBS) contracted with GRA to conduct an organizational assessment with a view toward assessing the organization’s preparedness in meeting future staffing and mission needs. This effort was an attempt to examine the organization from a holistic standpoint, and identify the different strategies and techniques that could be implemented to prepare the organization for its future staffing needs today instead of waiting for an impending crisis of sorts. Specifically, ODCP requested that GRA provide documentation of several recent/current best practices for succession planning in both the public and private sectors which could be utilized in ODCP; develop turnover data on ODCP; and develop a succession planning guide and implementation strategy for ODCP. In discussions with the GSA Project Officer for this analytical effort, and Strategy Program Expert, Center for Strategic Programs and Measures, the emphasis on this particular study effort was to be on analysis and identified strategies, rather than a focus on numbers. Based on this desire, GRA provided a number of practical techniques which could easily and quickly be implemented within ODCP.

The team was comprised of three GRA consultants. Information gathered and analyzed in order to prepare this analysis was gained through a variety of sources, including information through discussions with key ODCP and PBS officials, a review of newly-revised organization charts, web-based best practice and benchmarking reviews and assessments, data pulls from the existing GSA Comprehensive Human Resources Integrated System, or CHRIS OPM’s Fedscope systems, and calls to various public and private sector organizations.

This plan benefitted from an extensive best practices/benchmarking analysis that sought out key features which could be implemented within ODCP. GRA provided documentation describing a compilation of several of the recent/current best practices for succession planning in both the public (with emphasis on federal) and private sectors (with some emphasis on organization(s) similar to Office of the Chief Architect/Center for Courthouse Programs and Public Building Service).

The team explored existing succession planning literature, programs, and models used by a combination of various public and private sector organizations. Some of the current succession planning programs examined were: Defense Logistics Agency, Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, State of New York – Department of Motor Vehicles, U.S. Department of Energy, National Geospatial Agency, County of Henrico – Virginia, to name a few. When conducting the best practice review, team members explored those program features that had direct linkage and utility to GSA. Additionally, the team researched GSA specific, and other reference materials pertaining to the area of succession planning, specifically in terms of its mission (or core) occupations, strategic goals, HR requirements and goals, etc., in order to determine which program features have the greatest utility to GSA. The team considered various reports, memoranda, Standard Operating Procedures, Federal Register Notices, OPM evaluations, etc. to determine Federal-level program requirements, features, and goals.

Turnover information was vital to the organization in its planning efforts, including information regarding actual loss rates, as well as retention information. Organizational losses clearly include both voluntary and involuntary losses, and of particular interest in the voluntary losses, are the reasons for those losses. Turnover data was developed by type, e.g., retirements, resignations, transfers, and reassignments. The team developed projections of potential retirements and expectations of other turnover by type, projected for 5 and 10 year periods.

Data identified for the past several years was placed into a model and computed for overall projections both 5 years and 10 years into the future. Projections were based on key occupational series, grade levels, leadership positions, and other important elements as deemed important by GSA. GSA staff was taught how to collect and input data into the model so that internal personnel can conduct future model inquiries and projections. Depending on overall program needs, GRA worked on designing a more sophisticated succession planning model.

To GSA, “succession planning” can be viewed as a comprehensive, ongoing process used to forecast, acquire, develop, maintain, and then separate a qualified, motivated, and diverse workforce. The success of GSA’s Succession Plan will be in its approach, which when used throughout the agency, will ensure that GSA achieves its overall Human Capital Vision of a dynamic and effective workforce well into the future. Finally, the GSA succession planning model took into account all external drivers affecting it and is flexible to accommodate different organizational needs. Some of the external drivers that were considered are statutory or legal requirements, including OPM requirements, budgetary constraints, competitive requirements and labor market conditions, mission changes, occupational changes, staffing allocations, turnover rates, and span of control.

National Science Foundation

For this project, GRA was a subcontractor to Federal Management Partners. Together the two firms conducted a comprehensive evaluation and documentation of NSF's current workforce planning systems and processes. The outcome was the design and pilot of a workforce planning process and system based on NSF and Federal government best practices. Among the deliverables produced for this project were labor force analyses that provide a current agency scientific, business operations, and program support workforce profile, recruitment profile, and anticipated competitive challenges and issues in the future. The project team also produced a Best Practice Study that identified and described the OPM, GAO and National Academy of Public Administration models for workforce planning, and developed case studies of the workforce planning systems and procedures of a number of federal agencies. Finally, the team documented and produced a report outlining current NSF data systems and current reporting capabilities.

Research Services (NIH/ORS)

The Office of Research Services at the National Institutes of Health was undergoing significant change, including A-76 analyses, evolving ways of doing work, resource reductions and increasing demands for service from their customers. This workforce planning project not only helped identify the competences, and implement other workforce planning activity strategies and tools, needed to perform the work successfully, but it also provided managers with an understanding of the power of workforce planning as a management tool that provides significant assistance in times of great change.

GRA provided the Office of Research Services assistance by developing a strategy and process to identify competencies and/or skills sets required to meet mission requirements in one or more mission area.  GRA educated operational managers in workforce planning strategies, tools and techniques.  We developed strategies, approaches, and/or tools to implement workforce planning activities.  GRA involved operational managers and staff of the Workforce Planning and Management Branch in all relevant activities.

Transportation Security Administration

GRA helped TSA develop a workforce planning project plan; conducted various analyses of workforce data; and drafted an agency-wide workforce planning framework. The GRA team assisted in conducting interviews and focus groups regarding key human capital planning issues, analyzed workforce demographics and occupational information to establish a baseline skills inventory. Future workforce needs were assessed based on evolving mission requirements contrasting current workforce capabilities vs. future needs and identified skill and competency gaps in mission critical occupations. GRA devised strategies and tools for addressing skill gaps and aiding the agency in recruiting, training and retaining a highly talented and diverse workforce.

Treasury Department Law Enforcement Agencies

GRA participated as a subcontractor on this major study of law enforcement occupations in the Department of Treasury. The lead contractor for this study was the Human Resources Research Organization (HumRRO). The final report of this study was a comprehensive review of law enforcement occupations at the Internal Revenue Service, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, The Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, the U.S. Secret Service, and the Customs Service.

GRA was the author of three components of a study that was delivered to the Office of Enforcement, Department of Treasury.  GRA completed studies on the management of senior executive service law enforcement positions and the related SES workforce across all of Treasury’s agencies, the optimization of the staffing of law enforcement positions in Treasury’s field offices, and the quality of work life for individuals in law enforcement occupations in all of Treasury’s agencies.

13. general human resources management support

African Development Foundation (ADF)

GRA was selected by ADF to provide a wide variety of human resources support services to aid the agency in restructuring its workforce and to improve operational efficiency and effectiveness in the face of impending budget reductions. In addition to providing ADF management with restructuring options, position management recommendations, and assistance in job classification, reduction in force preparation, and developing internal grievance, EEO and labor relations policies, GRA helped the agency re-design its performance management system to ensure that employee performance plans reflect mission related goals and are aligned with key program objectives and management priorities. ADF looked to GRA to make performance appraisal a more meaningful and measurable process, so that meaningful distinctions could be made among performers and those who contributed most to mission accomplishment could be recognized and rewarded for their efforts.

Congressional Budget Office OPF Review/Benefits Review

GRA provided a complete review of 250 employee official personnel folders (OPF's) for the Congressional Budget Office. GRA staff reviewed several specific fields - including retirement, health benefits, TSP coverage, and life insurance - for accuracy and currency. CBO was concerned about the accuracy and currency of its OPF's as it related to payroll and other processes, and called in GRA to assure complete OPF accuracy and currency in the areas listed above, as well as additional areas. The team made/recommended corrections where necessary. Two GRA associates worked on this OPF/benefits review and reviewed all agency folders.

Department of Energy, Richland, Washington

GRA provided a number of services to the Department of Energy, Richland, Washington in the area of general human resources management services. Energy was in the process of reorganizing and preparing for a potential reduction in force and needed a variety of basic supplemental human resources management services provided. These services included compiling data for ongoing litigation for its Ohio Field Office, gathering, auditing and updating position descriptions for employees being realigned to the Consolidated Business Center, and position management assistance.  GRA also served the DOE by providing benefits counseling and calculations for employees, records management to perform quality checks of official personnel folders, employee performance folders, medical folders, and programs files, including the audit of data integrity.  GRA coded personnel documents to ensure that the data was accurate so that retention registers could be run to prepare for RIF at the Ohio Closure Project.  GRA associates computed data for employees on buyout incentive and severance allowances, and rewrote position descriptions to reflect work being performed, ensuring that positions were accurately classified.

Department of Homeland Security, Human Resources Management System

GRA provided human resources consultative services to the Department of Homeland Security. GRA performed these services as a subcontractor to Northrop Grumman, Inc., which was the prime contractor.

Under the contract, GRA initially provided human resources consultative services for implementation of the Department’s new labor relations, adverse actions and appeals programs. These programs, particularly the labor relations program, are vastly different than the ones they replace and require a very high level of knowledge and skill to understand and implement.

GRA was responsible not only for developing the overarching management directives that would establish the policies and procedures governing these matters, but also for developing management guidance bulletins for use by DHS human resource practitioners and managers and supervisors as they began to implement the program throughout their organization. The management directives identified organizational responsibilities and established policies and procedures governing these programs. The labor relations bulletins addressed specific topics including unfair labor practices; bargaining obligations; Homeland Security Labor Relations Board (HSLRB) roles, responsibilities, and practice; official time, negotiated grievance procedures, and appropriateness of bargaining units. The employee relations bulletins similarly dealt with specific topics including employee conduct, tables of offenses and penalties, template disciplinary letters; changes in adverse action policies and procedures, unacceptable performance actions; and back pay policies.

GRA also developed and delivered technical training on the new labor relations program and adverse action and appeals policies and procedures to 300 labor and employee relations practitioners, including attorneys, throughout DHS. This included instruction on a training module for these practitioners to use to train DHS supervisors and managers. GRA also developed an e-learning module covering these matters for employees.

Department of Veterans Affairs, VA Medical Center, Washington, D.C.

GRA provided a full range of HR advice and consultation to VA Medical Center, Washington, D.C. top management including assistance in identifying candidates for the vacant HR chief position. GRA staff interviewed management customers of HR services and prepared a report for top management regarding the customers' view of HR operations and what was needed to provide maximum HR support to the Medical Center's mission. We provided oversight and consultation to the day to day operations of the HR program while the agency recruited for a new HR director.  Since that new director was place, GRA has assisted in his transition to the position by facilitating meetings with staff and HR customers, including unions, and has provided advice to ensure a successful transition.

14. employee and labor relations

U.S. Department of Education, Federal Student Aid Program

The Federal Student Aid Program (FSA) of the U.S. Department of Education sought the services of an on-site contractor to provide a wide range of technical support and assistance for ongoing employee relations needs in critical areas such as performance management, dealing with poor performers, employee discipline, employee misconduct, appeals, grievances and other disputes and third party representation support.

GRA was selected to provide such services to FSA and continues to provide them through on-site support personnel trained in employee relations, performance management, discipline, and dispute resolution.

We provided a broad range of employee relations services to assist FSA human resources professionals and advise/counsel agency managers and supervisors on dealing effectively with problem employees and disputes that arise from workplace problems and actions taken in addressing performance and conduct deficiencies. In addition, GRA provided advice, training and otherwise assisted FSA managers in developing employee performance plans and in effectively implementing these plans via planning meetings, progress reviews and evaluations of employee performance. Further, we provided labor relations advice and guidance to the HR Officer and agency managers. GRA also performed an employee misconduct investigation in a FSA regional office.

GRA provided day-to-day technical support and advisory services in dealing with employee violations and conduct/performance problems in regards to government-wide and agency legal, regulatory and contractual requirements.  GRA also provided preparation for informal and formal counseling, taking corrective actions, documenting deficiencies, applying elements of proof, ensuring due process, determining the roles and responsibilities of employees and managers, applying appropriate standards of proof/evidence, considering penalty selection (e.g., removal, reduction in grade, suspension, reassignment, within grade denial) and mitigating factors, and preparation of formal actions, memoranda, etc. related to addressing employee performance and conduct issues. GRA advised managers on steps to take/not take in dealing with conduct/performance deficiencies and what options exist with respect to informal and formal actions to address conduct and/or performance deficiencies, including counseling memoranda, letters of reprimand, formal disciplinary and adverse actions, denial of within grade increases, performance-based actions, reasonable accommodation requests, etc.

GRA assisted FSA managers and supervisors in developing performance plans that linked to agency goals and mission priorities and which featured clear employee performance objectives and standards that enhanced employee accountability and effectiveness. GRA advised managers and supervisors on actions to take when employees fail to meet acceptable levels of performance, including placement of such employees on formal performance improvement plans as well as aiding in preparing actions to terminate, demote or reassign employees whose performance fails to improve to an adequate level.

Department of Homeland Security

Under this contract, GRA initially provided human resources consultative services for implementation of the Department’s new labor relations, adverse actions and appeals programs.  These programs, particularly the labor relations program, require a very high level of knowledge and skill to understand and implement.  GRA provided these services as subcontractor to Northrop Grumman., GRA was responsible not only for developing the overarching management directives that would establish the policies and procedures governing these matters, but also for developing management guidance bulletins for use by DHS human resource practitioners and managers and supervisors as they began to implement the program throughout their organization.  The management directives identified organizational responsibilities and established policies and procedures governing these programs.  The labor relations bulletins addressed specific topics including unfair labor practices; bargaining obligations; Homeland Security Labor Relations Board (HSLRB) roles, responsibilities, and practice; official time, negotiated grievance procedures, and appropriateness of bargaining units.  The employee relations bulletins similarly dealt with specific topics including employee conduct, tables of offenses and penalties, template disciplinary letters; changes in adverse action policies and procedures, unacceptable performance actions; and back pay policies.

GRA also developed and delivered 10 2 and ½ day technical training sessions on the new labor relations program and adverse action and appeals policies and procedures to 300 labor and employee relations practitioners, including attorneys, throughout DHS.  The training was conducted at 6 sites throughout the United States.  It included instruction on a training module for these practitioners to use to train DHS supervisors and managers.  GRA also developed an e-learning module covering these matters for employees. 

National Transportation Safety Board

The National Transportation Safety Board contracted with GRA to provide broad range employee and labor relations support to the NTSB Human Resources Director, her staff and agency managers and supervisors. GRA provided a variety of services aimed at improving NTSB employee and labor relations programs, policies and processes.

GRA assisted the Human Resources Director with inter-agency and intra-NTSB negotiations, discussions, working groups, and both formal and information advisory forums to present, defend, and negotiate positions. We provided technical support to the HR Director with union contractual issues, disputes and negotiations.

GRA provided the full range of employee and labor relations services. These include providing technical input to the NTSB on complex disciplinary, adverse and performance based actions, grievances, appeals, complaints, performance management, employee/supervisory relationships, and attendance problems.  We provided expertise, guidance and technical assistance to the NTSB on all labor and employee relations issues, providing substantive analysis and strategic approaches to the resolution of complex and sensitive problems and issues. GRA gave recommendations to resolve unfair labor practice charges and complaints, arbitration of grievances, resolution of negotiability issues and conformance of labor agreements with applicable laws.

GRA recommended the development of new procedures and modifications to existing ones to effectively maintain the NTSB labor and employee relations program and the day-to-day activities associated with managing the NTSB ER/LR program.

GRA assisted NTSB in preparing for third party forums in which employee appeals and complaints were reviewed. We assessed potential impact and precedent setting implications of pending disputes before third party authorities.  GRA provided staff advisory services on individual cases and in the development of informal and formal solutions.

Transportation Security Administration (TSA)

GRA provided the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) with a wide variety of employee relations services and technical support.  Working closely with the Director of Employee Relations, the Director of the Office of Administrative Appeals, and the Director of HR Policy and their staffs, GRA associates helped TSA HR and other administrative and legal officials, Federal Security Directors and other managers and supervisors at airports across the United States.  Our associates provided timely and effective technical services and support on literally thousands of employee discipline cases; including the elimination of a backlog of over 300 disciplinary actions that faced TSA shortly after its inception.  Since that time GRA staff assisted over 400 TSA airports and their managers and HR specialists in determining when and how disciplinary actions are warranted and prepared the proper documentation needed to support such actions that range from counseling memos to formal removals from service.  In addition, GRA helped TSA review well over 1,000 employee appeals of disciplinary actions and prepared case summaries and recommendations to TSA’s Disciplinary Review Board regarding the proper outcome of the appeal cases.   GRA drafted numerous employee relations policies, conducted over 100 employee relations training courses for TSA managers, supervisors, and HR/Administrative staff – including several week long “Employee Relations Boot Camps” aimed at intensively training Federal HR/ER staff in handling difficult disciplinary cases.  Employee relations matters aided by the GRA team included a broad spectrum of employee conduct, performance, leave abuse and other matters requiring consultative, corrective and/or disciplinary actions. 

GRA also served as a subcontractor to Accenture and aided in providing employee relations-related services in support of determining suitability for employment at the TSA.  As part of a TSA suitability process, GRA ER Specialists helped eliminate a backlog of over 1,000 suitability determination cases pending at the time of TSA’s inception by reviewing case files and preparing termination and other employment-related letters and guidelines to TSA employees who had been determined to be not suitable for Federal employment due to pre-employment issues such as criminal histories, drug and/or alcohol abuse, falsification of job applications, major indebtedness, and credit problems.

GRA Employee Relations Assistants also assisted in logging in, assigning, data base tracking, controlling and preparing numerous types of reports and status summaries on these cases related to the suitability backlog reduction effort. 

US Capitol Police

GRA provided expert consultative services to the United States Capitol Police (USCP in the area of labor-management relations. Like all legislative branch agencies, USCP is relatively new to the labor relations arena. Two unions have been certified: the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT). Contracts were in place for both units, but USCP had not yet established a formal labor-management relations program staffed with experienced professionals. It lacked the processes and systems required to properly and efficiently administer a first-class labor relations program. GRA was called upon to provide the expertise needed to develop that program.

GRA first conducted a needs assessment by reviewing existing contracts and grievance files, interviewing a variety of managers and supervisors, meeting with officials from both unions and assessing the organizational structures and administrative procedures currently in place.

Based on the advice and direct assistance of the GRA consultants assigned to this project, USCP moved quickly to elevate the labor relations function to report directly to the Director of Human Resources.  GRA also recruited and interviewed for an experienced and professional Director of Labor Relations, conducted a preliminary analysis of the labor agreements to identify potential problem areas for re-negotiation, and flow-charted the administrative procedures in place for grievances and disciplinary actions, identifying bottlenecks and other inefficiencies. 

GRA analyzed the need for formal case tracking systems and initiated a plan to work with IT staff to develop them, and established effective and positive working relationships with the Department’s Office of Employment Counsel.  While working on this project, GRA also reached out to both unions with proposals to work jointly on the expansion of union officials’ knowledge and skills through agency-supported professional development.  GRA revised and presented a training module of Basic Labor Relations for Supervisors, and drafted a comprehensive labor relations policy directive.  This directive provides a complete guide for supervisors and managers on the structure and administration of the Department’s labor relations program.  The draft directive included directives covering a general statement of policy, a definition of terms, the assignment of responsibilities and accountability, as well as delegations of authority.