The Homeland Security Act of 2002,[Footnote 1] recent congressional
hearings on proposals to reform the Department of Defense's civilian
personnel reforms, and reports by the Commercial Activities Panel
chaired by the Comptroller General and the National Commission on the
Public Service[Footnote 2] recognize the important contribution that a
properly designed and implemented human capital program can make toward
achieving an agency's mission and strategic goals. Strategic workforce
planning, also called human capital planning, focuses on developing
long-term strategies for acquiring, developing, and retaining an
organization's total workforce (including full-and part-time federal
staff and contractors) to meet the needs of the future. It is an
essential element of the institutional infrastructure that each agency
needs to ensure that its human capital program capitalizes on its
workforce's strengths and addresses related challenges in a manner that
is clearly linked to achieving the agency's mission and goals.