Title page
Contents
Highlights 2
Letter 6
Background 8
Transition Assistance Program Process 8
Warm Handover 10
TAP Governance and Pilot Projects 10
DOD Ensures that Some Service Members Who Need a Warm Handover Receive Contact Information for Assistance but Does Not Ensure They Connect... 12
Some Transitioning Service Members Receive Warm Handovers, but DOD Does Not Know Why Others Do Not 12
TAP Officials Provide Service Members with Agency Contact Information, Which May Be Outdated, but Do Not Ensure Service Members Receive... 15
DOD Is Not Reliably Verifying That Warm Handovers Occur 17
Stakeholders Said Transitioning Service Members Might Find Warm Handovers Helpful, but DOD Lacks Information on Their Helpfulness 19
Program Officials and Others Told Us that Warm Handovers Could Help Some Service Members with Their Transition to Civilian Life 20
DOD Does Not Have a Plan to Assess Whether Warm Handovers Benefit Service Members 22
TAP Officials Said They Lack Information from DOD Needed to Improve Service Members' Warm Handover Experience 24
Agencies Generally Collaborated Effectively on Pilot Projects but Have Not Identified Criteria to Inform Decisions about Expanding Two of Them 25
DOD, VA, and DOL Generally Followed Leading Collaboration Practices in Their Efforts to Refine Warm Handovers 26
Agencies Generally Followed Leading Practices for Designing Pilot Projects but Did Not Identify Criteria to Determine Whether and How to Expand... 30
Conclusions 35
Recommendations for Executive Action 36
Agency Comments 37
Appendix I: Objectives, Scope, and Methodology 39
Appendix II: Additional Data on Warm Handovers 43
Appendix III: Comments from the Department of Defense 45
Appendix IV: Comments from the Department of Labor 48
Appendix V: Comments from the Department of Veterans Affairs 49
Appendix VI: GAO Contact and Staff Acknowledgments 51
Related GAO Products 52
Table 1. Number of Service Members Who Did Not Meet Selected Required Career Readiness Standards but Did Not Receive a Warm Handover, Among... 14
Table 2. Assessment of Departments of Defense (DOD), Veterans Affairs (VA), and Labor (DOL) Efforts to Refine Warm Handovers Against Leading... 27
Table 3. Assessment of Departments of Defense (DOD), Veterans Affairs (VA), and Labor (DOL) Pilot Projects to Refine Warm Handovers against... 31
Table 4. Warm Handover Receiving Agencies for DOD Active-Duty Service Members Who Left the Military from April 1, 2021, to March 31, 2023 43
Table 5. Comparison of Service Members Who Did and Did Not Receive Warm Handovers for DOD Active-Duty Service Members Who Left the Military... 43
Figure 1. Transition Assistance Program (TAP) Process 9
Figure 2. General Overview of the Warm Handover Process 10
Figure 3. DOD's Warm Handover Process Does Not Ensure Service Members Connect with Agencies for Additional Assistance with Their Transition to... 16
Figure 4. Consistency of Commanders or Commander Designees' Verification With Whether a Warm Handover Was Provided to Service Members... 19
Figure 5. Transition Assistance Program Counselor Assessing a Service Member's Need for a Warm Handover 20