IT workforce panel forges ahead

NAPA report

Training for federal program and project managers and drafting a career road map for federal information technology workers are priorities for the CIO Council's Workforce and Human Capital for IT Committee, according to Ira Hobbs, co-chairman of the committee.

In a briefing with reporters July 2, Hobbs also said the committee is trying to keep alive recommendations in an August 2001 National Academy of Public Administration report that proposed the idea of a market-based pay system for federal IT workers, among other reforms.

The "seeds were planted for a new approach" to how IT workers are recruited, managed and compensated, Hobbs said. "Any effort of this scope will take time and care" and must be nurtured.

Plans to give the proposed Homeland Security Department workforce flexibilities are in line with the NAPA recommendations, which are backed by the CIO Council, Hobbs said. "I think that a lot of what you're seeing reflects elements of what's come out of NAPA study about how you can do things differently," he said.

During the next six to nine months, Hobbs said the workforce committee plans to advance a number of specific programs. Included on the list are:

* Work with the Office of Personnel Management to modernize and standardize project and program manager positions. This is similar to the efforts done about a year ago to reclassify computer specialists into a new GS-2210 series.

* Develop an automated tool to help IT workers governmentwide assess where they are in their career and how to find the courses to gain the skills they need to advance.

* Launch a virtual IT job fair similar to the one held in April.