Quantum Technologies: Defense Laboratories Should Take Steps to Improve Workforce Planning : Government Accountability Office (GAO) , December 5, , 2023
Quantum Technologies: Defense Laboratories Should Take Steps to Improve Workforce Planning : Government Accountability Office (GAO) , December 5, , 2023
From the report: "In fiscal year 2023, seven defense laboratories reported 255 staff working all or part of their time on quantum projects. Most of these quantum workers had PhDs, were either physicists or engineers, and were a mix of mostly federal civilian employees and some contractors. Consistent with DOD’s priority to expand the quantum workforce beyond the field of physics, these laboratories also had specialists from fields such as chemistry, computer science, and mathematics. The four defense laboratories conducting most of DOD’s quantum work included quantum information science as part of their broader strategic workforce planning but varied in their adoption of five leading practices (see figure). One laboratory fully adopted all five, while three laboratories conducted workforce planning that was aligned with most but not all leading practices. Three laboratories did not fully adopt the leading practice of monitoring and evaluating progress because their strategic workforce plans either did not have performance measures or inconsistently applied them. One laboratory also did not fully adopt the leading practice of involving key stakeholders in workforce planning because it did not have a means to communicate its workforce goals, initiatives, and metrics for success. Better workforce planning could help these laboratories build and retain the workforce needed to maintain global leadership in quantum technologies."
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