Public Health Preparedness: HHS Emergency Agency Needs to Strengthen Workforce Planning

The Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR) is a component of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).  The Government Accountability Office (GAO) placed HHS’s leadership and coordination of public health emergencies on its high-risk list, in part because ASPR did not have strategic workforce planning in certain areas. ASPR has relied on an HHS staff division, and other agencies, to assist with its hiring needs.

This report examines the size of the ASPR’s workforce, the ASPR’s plans for improving its hiring capabilities, and the ASPR’s strategic workforce planning practices. To conduct this work, GAO reviewed ASPR documentation and workforce data and interviewed HHS and Office of Personnel Management (OPM) officials. GAO assessed ASPR’s actions against GAO’s key principles of strategic workforce planning and agency reform and OPM guidance