Pre-FRACing and FRAC

The FRACing process enables government ministries, departments and organisations (MDOs) to build an accurate picture of the relationships and the full list of positions, roles, activities, competencies and knowledge resources relevant to them. It demystifies the roles, activities and competencies a person is required to have so as to effectively deliver on the outcomes expected from them with respect to their current and future positions in government.

Following the FRAC framework will provide an effective signal to the effort that individual officials and their managers should be putting in to build competent teams. Additionally it lays bare the opportunities available to entities that have the capability to offer competency building products (CBPs).

The competency-driven engagement (formerly known as pre-FRACing) process focuses on the drafting of the dictionaries, directories and their interrelationships, as opposed to the full-fledged FRACing process. The main stakeholders benefiting from this process will be the MDOs, CBP providers and individual officials. 

FRACing is not a one-time process. It has to be continuously updated so as to reflect the constant changes that occur when new work allocation orders are issued by re-tagging roles and activities with positions.

A Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) is established to implement the Public Service Capability and Productivity Enhancement Programme of which iGOT Karmayogi is a part. The SPV (Karmayogi Bharat) will be a not-for-profit government-owned registered company. Besides others, it will be responsible for developing and hosting the iGOT platform and ensuring that all its associated processes are executed in a timely and appropriate manner. Due to the requirement for precision and consistency, only persons authorised within each MDO should be permitted to make entries in the dictionaries and directories in accordance with the process notified by the iGOT SPV.

DoPT has a FRACing review board that will review all the entries (including competencies) made into the dictionaries and directories by MDOs and individual officials. It is only when the FRACing review board accepts the submission will the competency be available in the competency dictionary for all of government to use i.e. tag it to roles and competency building products (CBPs).

Any CBP provider can upload CBPs onto the platform. A representative of the provider in charge of uploading CBPs must complete the course created by the Mission Karmayogi team on ‘How to develop content for the iGOT Karmayogi platform’ and fulfil the quality requirements.

In order to tag a competency to their position, an official must take a proctored, independent, authorised assessment (PIAA) for it. Every official will have to complete the PIAA testing both within the first three months of joining a new position for all competencies the position requires (if they have not already been tested for that competency in the last 5 years), and again every time the official completes a CBP funded by the government.

No, the process will not change depending on the size of the MDO. The goal setting exercise for any MDO is aimed to help respective MDOs get a helicopter view of the organisational structure. It aims to answer questions such as what is it that the department aims to achieve? How to build the talent infrastructure to achieve the goal? Additionally, DoPT will be offering handholding support for any further assistance.

The MDOs will be required to conduct the competency mapping process so as to elevate their execution capacity by recognising the competencies of their officials and providing them with multiple pathways to reduce their competency gaps related to their respective positions. Additionally, departmental progress in FRACing is an important component of the PM Dashboard where the performance of all MDOs will be monitored. 

The entire construct of iGOT Karamyogi is that the competency journey is the responsibility of the concerned individual, irrespective of their position level. Thus the official herself will be responsible to close her competency gaps using the funds allocated to her by her MDO. Her progress over time will be monitored by her managers and the capacity building team. In case the CBPs available on the platform are not as per the requirement, then it is the concerned department's responsibility (i.e. the competency owning department or CoD) to find CBPs and onboard it on the iGOT platform. The CoD must make an effort to create, procure and even develop (if necessary) relevant training content in the form of online courses, face-to-face training, or blended content (for which they will be held accountable). The CoD will be individually responsible for identifying, negotiating with, and
onboarding CBP providers for the competencies they own.
 

The internal FRACing unit (IFU) and certified service provider (CSP) together make the departmental FRACing team (DFT). 
Establishing an IFU is the first step in the FRACing journey for a government MDO. It will be supported by the SPV Karmayogi Bharat which will put in place certification arrangements for individual members of the IFU and all others who wish to work on FRACing or any other aspects of iGOT Karmayogi. The CSP will bring in HR expertise to the FRACing process; having external domain experts in the FRACing team will enable MDOs to get an ‘outside-in’ view of talent requirements.

If an MDO, apart from the 12 pilot ministries currently in Phase 1, is voluntarily willing to ‘FRAC’ their organisation, DoPT will fully support in materialising that need. The FRAC process is universal in nature and can be conducted for any individuals/ organisation which works closely with the MDOs - even the third party agencies, as competency passbooks will exist even for them (not just government officials). This feature will soon be available on the iGOT platform.