Title 21, Food and DrugsRelease 119-110

§379d–3b Strategic Workforce Plan and Report

Title 21 › CHAPTER 9 — FEDERAL FOOD, DRUG, AND COSMETIC ACT › SUBCHAPTER VII — GENERAL AUTHORITY › Part A — General Administrative Provisions › § 379d–3b

Last updated Sep 22, 2026|Official source

Summary

By September 30, 2023, and at least every 4 years after, the Secretary must create, start using, send to the right Congressional committees, and post on the FDA website a coordinated strategy and report called the Food and Drug Administration Strategic Workforce Plan. The plan must guide how the FDA will recruit, hire, train, develop, and keep the staff it needs to do its public health work, help centers work together, and keep up with new science, technology, and medical product reviews. The plan must set agency-wide goals and specific actions for coming fiscal years, list problems and how to fix them, show how progress will be measured, and describe staff roles, skills, gaps, and ways to fill them. In making the plan, the Secretary must consider retirements, vacancy and turnover trends, employee survey results, pay rates and hiring rules, and other timely information. Every plan after the first must evaluate progress. The 2023 plan must also address COVID-19’s effects on hiring, retention, and protecting staff during health emergencies.

Full Legal Text

Title 21, §379d–3b

Food and Drugs, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)In general

Not later than September 30, 2023, and at least every 4 years thereafter, the Secretary shall develop, begin implementation of, and submit to the appropriate committees of Congress and post on the website of the Food and Drug Administration, a coordinated strategy and report to provide direction for the activities and programs of the Secretary to recruit, hire, train, develop, and retain the workforce needed to fulfill the public health mission of the Food and Drug Administration, including to facilitate collaboration across centers, to keep pace with new biomedical, technological, and scientific advancements, and support the development, review, and regulation of medical products. Each such report shall be known as the “Food and Drug Administration Strategic Workforce Plan”.

(b)Use of the Food and Drug Administration Strategic Workforce Plan

Each center within the Food and Drug Administration shall develop and update, as appropriate, a strategic plan that will be informed by the Food and Drug Administration Strategic Workforce Plans developed under subsection (a).

(c)Contents of the Food and Drug Administration Strategic Workforce Plan

Each Food and Drug Administration Strategic Workforce Plan under subsection (a) shall—

(1)include agency-wide human capital strategic goals and priorities for recruiting, hiring, training, developing, and retaining a qualified workforce for the Food and Drug Administration;

(2)establish specific actions the Secretary will take to achieve such strategic goals and priorities and address the workforce needs of the Food and Drug Administration in the forthcoming fiscal years;

(3)identify challenges and risks the Secretary will face in meeting its strategic goals and priorities, and the actions the Secretary will take to overcome those challenges and mitigate those risks;

(4)establish performance measures, benchmarks, or other elements that the Secretary will use to measure and evaluate progress in achieving such strategic goals and priorities and the effectiveness of such strategic goals and priorities; and

(5)define functions, capabilities, and gaps in such workforce and identify strategies to recruit, hire, train, develop, and retain such workforce.

(d)Considerations

In developing each Food and Drug Administration Strategic Workforce Plan under subsection (a), the Secretary shall consider—

(1)the number of employees (including senior leadership and non-senior leadership employees) eligible for retirement, the expertise of such employees, and the employing center of such employees;

(2)the vacancy and turnover rates for employees with different types of expertise and from different centers, including any changes or trends related to such rates;

(3)the results of the Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey for employees of the Food and Drug Administration, including any changes or trends related to such results;

(4)rates of pay for different types of positions, including rates for different types of expertise within the same field (such as differences in pay between different medical specialists), and how such rates of pay impact the ability of the Secretary to achieve the strategic goals and priorities described in subsection (c);

(5)the statutory hiring authorities used to hire Food and Drug Administration employees, and the time to hire across different hiring authorities; and

(6)any other timely and relevant information, as the Secretary determines appropriate.

(e)Evaluation of progress

Each Food and Drug Administration Strategic Workforce Plan issued pursuant to subsection (a), with the exception of the first such Food and Drug Administration Strategic Workforce Plan, shall include an evaluation of— (1)

(2)whether actions taken in response to the Plan improved the capacity of the Food and Drug Administration to achieve the strategic goals and priorities described in subsection (c)(1).

(f)Additional considerations

The Food and Drug Administration Strategic Workforce Plan issued in fiscal year 2023 shall address the effect of the COVID–19 pandemic on hiring, retention, and other workforce challenges for the Food and Drug Administration, including protecting such workforce during public health emergencies.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

21 U.S.C. § 379d–3b

Title 21, Food and Drugs

Last Updated

Sep 22, 2026

Release point: 119-110