Emily Stover DeRocco Speech

FPO Training Session
December 1, 2004
Washington, DC

Good morning, and thank you all for being here bright and early. Thanks Anna, Jack and team that put training together.

I know this a Federal Project Officer training session, and you are here to learn about some new responsibilities and tools, but before we get into that, I wanted to begin this session by talking a little about the big picture.

As most of you can see and feel, we are living in a time of incredible economic transformation. Once, fields like nanotechnology and robotics conjured images of Jules Verne and H.G. Welles. Today, they are the cutting edge industries that will drive our nation's economy.

Likewise, few could imagine a time when manufacturing would not represent the backbone and force of our economy.

But this is the world in which we find ourselves. Every one of "our" jobs is now up for global competition. In some of this competition, the winner will be decided based on who is the cheapest. That is a race we cannot nor desire to win.

In other parts of the competition, though, the winner will be determined by talent. Who can best develop and use the human talent available to drive the innovation necessary to create new and better jobs.

We have almost always been the winner in this competition, but as they say in the stock market, past performance is not a guarantee of future results.

To ensure that we remain the winner, we must update and transform our education and workforce systems to respond to the challenge of the global economy. In our world, that means radically altering the way workforce development is viewed.

We can no longer afford to support an overly bureaucratic system that values process above results and staff above customers. To make this new system a reality, President Bush has proposed a series of changes designed to forge partnerships between our system, the education system, and the employer community that provides the jobs our workers depend upon.

One set of these changes was announced as part of the budget package last year. They include Community-Based Job Training Grants just approved by Congress that will focus on the importance of community colleges in this vision, and Personal Reemployment Accounts recently begun in seven states to demonstrate how more personal choice can lead to better results and a more efficient system.

Another set of changes was focused around the reauthorization of the Workforce Investment Act. These would give states the flexibility to design a system and devote resources responsive to their specific labor markets through the consolidation of our siloed funding streams.

Shortly after our reauthorization proposal, President Bush upped the ante even further by calling for reduced administrative costs while simultaneously doubling the number of workers that receive training.

As most of you know, reauthorization was never reconciled by this Congress so we hope to bring a new and bolder proposal to the next Congress.

However, rather than sit our hands while the House and the Senate fought, we decided to devote some of our discretionary resources to projects that would demonstrate these changes that we were proposing. Thus was born the President's High Growth Job Training Initiative.

Over the last year and a half, we met with hundreds of executives from 12 different industries to learn about the workforce issues they face and to develop solutions to those challenges.

Thus far, we funded model solutions in the form of 73 grants and $130 million.

Now, here is where your role becomes critically important.

While these proposals and changes were happening at the policy level, we were also laying the groundwork for success at the operational level.

First, we moved the management of ETA grants to the Regional Offices. Our Regional Offices have the most direct contact with states and local areas so it was natural that they should serve a lead role in grant management.

Second, where management occurs is irrelevant if we do not have skilled professionals in the role of Federal Project Officers.

Your position is not easily defined. It is part oversight - the monitoring of grant activities from both your offices and on-site. It is also part teacher - providing technical assistance to help the grants you manage succeed. And finally, it is part fiduciary - ensuring that the taxpayer dollars we entrust to these organizations are effectively spent.

This is not an easy job, and it was made harder by the lack of direction from the national office. That is why we have sought to establish a level standardization across all FPOs, ensuring the quality and integrity of our grant management system.

No matter where our grantees are located, they should expect the same level of service and support.

Third, though the position includes oversight and monitoring, we are not the IG and should not conduct ourselves as such. Our job is to help our grantees succeed whenever possible. The IG has more than enough staff to conduct investigations where warranted. You in this room should do everything you can to ensure your grantees right their ship before the IG is needed.

Finally, we have many different grants in the system. There are obviously the formula funded grants that have specific spending and reporting requirements. There are also the High Growth solutions grants and PRA demonstrations, and these grantees have been encouraged to test new strategies and push the envelope.

Each of you must know and understand the difference between the grants you manage. The goals and strategies are vastly different and will require different means of handling.

You all are our eyes and ears on the ground. The success of our programs depends in part on how you perform your jobs. I am excited about the projects that we have funded and confident that the talented individuals I see before me will help make them a success.

Thank you for coming to Washington, and I hope you learn a lot during the rest of the session.