SEPA
190B12010
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
FY 2011-2015 EPA Strategic Plan
Cross-Cutting Fundamental Strategy: Strengthening EPA's Workforce and Capabilities
Continuously improve EPA's internal management, encourage innovation and creativity in all aspects of
our work, and ensure that EPA is an excellent workplace that attracts and retains a topnotch, diverse
workforce, positioned to meet and address the environmental challenges of the 21st century.
Achieving positive environmental and human health outcomes through cleaner and safer air, water, and
land, and through protection of our natural resources is the focal point of all our work at EPA. This
compelling mission attracts workers eager to make a difference and drives employees across the
Agency to work together. EPA fully supports the Administration's efforts to reform the federal
government's hiring system to ensure highly qualified individuals are available to strengthen EPA's
workforce. EPA believes these reforms will improve the Agency's ability to protect human health and
the environment more effectively and efficiently.
EPA is a complex organization. This is both an asset and a challenge. To achieve its mission, EPA is
continuously building and nurturing a skilled workforce, finding new ways to use the power of
information, working together through enhanced communication, and demanding transparency and
accountability at all levels. With innovative and creative management and a talented, diverse, and
highly motivated workforce, EPA will be positioned to meet head-on the complex environmental
challenges of the present and future.
To achieve this goal, EPA will:
1. Recruit, develop, and retain a diverse and creative workforce, equipped with the technical skill and
knowledge needed to accomplish the Agency's mission and to meet evolving environmental
challenges.
2. Cultivate a workplace that values a high quality work life, provides employee-friendly policies and
facilities, and invests in the information infrastructure, technology, and security essential to support
a mobile workforce.
3. Practice outstanding resource stewardship to ensure that all Agency programs operate with fiscal
responsibility and management integrity, are efficiently and consistently delivered nationwide, and
demonstrate results.
4. Take advantage of existing and emerging tools to improve and enhance communication,
transparency, and accountability.
5. Integrate energy efficiency and environmental considerations into our work practices as core
components of Agency business models and operations.
6. Improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the Agency's acquisition function by strengthening
requirements development, contract management, and internal review practices; maximizing the
use of competition in contracting, reducing high-risk contracts; improving how contracts are
structured; building the skills of the acquisition workforce; and improving management of the EPA
acquisition workforce.
FY2013 Action Plan: Strengthening EPA's Workforce and Capabilities 1
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FY 2013 Action Plan: Strengthening EPA's Workforce and Capabilities
This Action Plan lists the specific actions that the EPA will carry out in FY 2013 to achieve the goals of
the Strategy for Strengthening EPA's Workforce and Capabilities as described in the FY 2011-2015
EPA Strategic Plan. Annual Action Plans will be developed for each year of the Strategic Plan.
1. Improve the hiring process and reduce time to hire to ensure the best match between EPA positions
and new hires (Supports Principle 1).
• Issue quarterly "time to hire" reports to ensure headquarters (HQ) and Regional offices are
aware of hiring time requirements and how the Agency is performing (Quarterly).
• Reduce average time to hire for (1) General Schedule (GS) positions to 86 days and (2) Senior
Executive Service (SES) positions by 10%. (September 30, 2013)
• By March 31, 2013, utilize two surveys to establish baseline data going back through FY 2012
that captures:
o EPA hiring managers' satisfaction with selected applicants (survey instrument: Office of
Personnel Management (OPM) Chief Human Capital Officer's 6-Month Management
Hiring Satisfaction Survey).
o Satisfaction of EPA new hires with their new positions (survey instrument: components
of the existing EPA New Hire Survey).
• Use survey instruments to measure satisfaction of hiring managers and new hires after 6
months of service; goal TBD (September 30, 2013).
2. Enhance EPA workforce diversity, inclusion and equal employment opportunities (Supports
Principle 1).
• Provide information for utilizing the Agency's Diversity Dashboard as a workforce assessment
tool in developing and monitoring Program and Regional Office action plans under the Equal
Employment Opportunity Commission Management Directive 715, to expand access to
employment and professional development opportunities (September 30, 2013).
• Develop and utilize a list of organizations, professional associations, and academic institutions
for EPA's Human Resources Shared Services Centers and the Executive Resources Division to
forward USAJOB.gov announcements for EPA permanent and internship positions (March
2013).
• Participate in at least one each of outreach/recruitment events targeting Pacific Islanders,
Hispanics, veterans, and individuals with targeted disabilities. (September 30, 2013)
• Establish a baseline that captures the percent of each demographic group of employees at the
GS-13 through GS-15 level that participate in leadership development programs (September
30,2013).
• Review hires for all supervisory GS-13-15 positions during the last quarter of FY 2012 and first
three quarters of FY 2013 to benchmark the extent to which EPA used hiring panels and
determine demographic diversity of hires (September 30, 2013).
FY2013 Action Plan: Strengthening EPA's Workforce and Capabilities
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• Revise NO FEAR Training to include a diversity and inclusion module (September 30, 2013).
3. Improve workforce planning: Use of workforce analysis and skill need projections improves EPA's
ability to broaden the talent pool and meet mission objectives by guiding effective management
decision making on employee development, staffing levels and resource allocation, and recruitment
activities (Supports Principles 1 and 3).
• Conduct succession management pilot program in the Office of Administration and Resources
Management (OARM), focusing on developmental needs of senior leadership, including the
Agency's Senior Executive Service (SES) corps (January 2013 through August 2013). Issue
EPA Succession Management Guide (September 30, 2013).
• Develop a plan for implementing a centralized, one-stop shop for employee training and
development (September 30, 2013).
4. Build a supportive work environment: Use technology to improve collaboration and change the way
we work, including enhancing our ability to telework and increasing employee connectivity and
productivity, while reducing costs, energy, and greenhouse gas emissions (Supports Principles 2, 3,
4, and 5).
• In FY 2013, EPA will deploy My Workplace, a new suite of email and collaboration tools and
complete provisioning for 18,000 users. My Workplace will provide users with integrated email,
calendars, contacts, instant messaging, collaborative documents and workspaces, as well as
web conferencing, video conferencing, and professional networking. Training will occur in a
phased approach throughout FY 2013. All communications related to My Workplace will be
aligned with the One EPA Change Management Strategy.
• Build a modern workplace to enhance collaboration.
o Complete Region 7's move to their new office space by October 2012, which will reduce the
Region's square footage by more than 15% and achieve rent savings in FY 2013 of
approximately $654,000.
o Complete office moves of the Environmental Appeals Board by December 31, 2012 and the
Administrative Law Judges by March 31, 2013, to the EPA Federal Triangle Complex for a
combined reduction of 19,658 square feet and total FY 2013 rent savings of approximately
$959,000.
o Begin space modernization pilots in OARM/HQ and Regions 2, 4, 6, and 8 during FY 2013.
• Encourage and support increased use of telework by issuing quarterly "telework usage" reports
to Regional and program offices' senior managers, providing documentation of both number of
employees and number of hours teleworked per pay period (Quarterly).
• Develop a methodology to track reductions in average Agency greenhouse gas emissions
associated with employee commuting, including impacts from teleworking, from the FY 2011
baseline (September 30, 2013).
• By the end of FY 2013, implement a framework for the new Section 508 Program that includes
updating the Section 508 policy with clear roles and responsibilities, providing Section 508
training and outreach, and facilitating the testing of Electronic and Information Technology (EIT)
developed for or procured by EPA. Issue draft policy by March 31, 2013.
FY2013 Action Plan: Strengthening EPA's Workforce and Capabilities
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5. Practice outstanding resource stewardship, ensuring operational excellence and maximum use of
Agency funds by reducing unliquidated obligations (ULOs) and reducing unobligated balances
(Supports Principles 3 and 6).
• Reduce ULOs in grants expired, but not financially closed out, as of October 1, 2012, by 15% to
$15 million, and reduce ULOs in contracts expired as of October 1, 2012 by 40% to $25.7
million (September 30, 2013).
• Ensure that 90% of grant awards that expired during FY 2012 will be closed out and 99% of
grant awards that expired in fiscal years prior to FY 2012 will be closed out (September 30,
2013).
• Advance centers of expertise (COE)/strategic sourcing: Throughout FY 2013, conduct
transformational change management activities to reduce the cost of acquisition within EPA.
o By March 31, 2013, initiate phase one: cellular service, printer/multifunctional devices,
office supplies, and conference support services.
o By September 30, 2013, initiate phase two: lab supplies, lab equipment, and software.
FY2013 Action Plan: Strengthening EPA's Workforce and Capabilities
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