[Senate Hearing 111-388]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
S. Hrg. 111-388
STRENGTHENING THE FEDERAL ACQUISITION
WORKFORCE: GOVERNMENT-WIDE LEADERSHIP
AND INITIATIVES
=======================================================================
HEARING
before the
OVERSIGHT OF GOVERNMENT MANAGEMENT,
THE FEDERAL WORKFORCE, AND THE
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA SUBCOMMITTEE
of the
COMMITTEE ON
HOMELAND SECURITY AND
GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED ELEVENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
__________
AUGUST 5, 2009
__________
Available via http://www.gpoaccess.gov/congress/index.html
Printed for the use of the Committee on Homeland Security
and Governmental Affairs
----------
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COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
JOSEPH I. LIEBERMAN, Connecticut, Chairman
CARL LEVIN, Michigan SUSAN M. COLLINS, Maine
DANIEL K. AKAKA, Hawaii TOM COBURN, Oklahoma
THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware JOHN McCAIN, Arizona
MARK L. PRYOR, Arkansas GEORGE V. VOINOVICH, Ohio
MARY L. LANDRIEU, Louisiana JOHN ENSIGN, Nevada
CLAIRE McCASKILL, Missouri LINDSEY GRAHAM, South Carolina
JON TESTER, Montana
ROLAND W. BURRIS, Illinois
MICHAEL F. BENNET, Colorado
Michael L. Alexander, Staff Director
Brandon L. Milhorn, Minority Staff Director and Chief Counsel
Trina Driessnack Tyrer, Chief Clerk
OVERSIGHT OF GOVERNMENT MANAGEMENT, THE FEDERAL WORKFORCE, AND THE
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA SUBCOMMITTEE
DANIEL K. AKAKA, Hawaii, Chairman
CARL LEVIN, Michigan GEORGE V. VOINOVICH, Ohio
MARY L. LANDRIEU, Louisiana LINDSEY GRAHAM, South Carolina
ROLAND W. BURRIS, Illinois
MICHAEL F. BENNET, Colorado
Lisa M. Powell, Staff Director
Evan W. Cash, Professional Staff Member
Shelley K. Finlayson, Legislative Fellow
Jennifer A. Hemingway, Minority Staff Director
Tara Shaw, Minority Counsel
Benjamin B. Rhodeside, Chief Clerk
C O N T E N T S
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Opening statements:
Page
Senator Akaka................................................ 1
Senator Voinovich............................................ 5
WITNESSES
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Hon. Jeffrey D. Zients, Deputy Director for Management, and the
Nation's Chief Performance Officer, Office of Management and
Budget......................................................... 3
Nancy H. Kichak, Associate Director for Strategic Human Resources
Policy, U.S. Office of Personnel Management.................... 7
David A. Drabkin, Acting Chief Acquisition Officer, U.S. General
Service Administration......................................... 8
Hon. Elaine C. Duke, Under Secretary for Management, U.S.
Department of Homeland Security................................ 19
William P. McNally, Assistant Administrator for Procurement, and
Deputy Chief Acquisition Officer, National Aeronautics and
Space Administration........................................... 20
John R. Bashista, Deputy Director, Office of Procurement and
Assistance Management, U.S. Department of Energy............... 22
Deidre A. Lee, Executive Vice President of Federal Affairs and
Operations, Professional Services Council...................... 24
Alphabetical List of Witnesses
Bashista, John R.:
Testimony.................................................... 22
Prepared statement........................................... 81
Drabkin, David A.:
Testimony.................................................... 8
Prepared statement........................................... 56
Duke, Hon. Elaine C.:
Testimony.................................................... 19
Prepared statement........................................... 62
Kichak, Nancy K.:
Testimony.................................................... 7
Prepared statement........................................... 50
Lee, Deidre A.:
Testimony.................................................... 24
Prepared statement with attachments.......................... 87
McNally, William P.:
Testimony.................................................... 20
Prepared statement........................................... 76
Zients, Hon. Jeffrey D.:
Testimony.................................................... 3
Prepared statement........................................... 43
APPENDIX
Background....................................................... 102
Project Management Institute, prepared statement................. 112
Questions and Responses to questions:
Mr. Zients................................................... 115
Ms. Kichak................................................... 119
Ms. Duke..................................................... 123
Mr. McNally.................................................. 128
Ms. Lee...................................................... 130
STRENGTHENING THE FEDERAL
ACQUISITION WORKFORCE:
GOVERNMENT-WIDE LEADERSHIP
AND INITIATIVES
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WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 5, 2009
U.S. Senate,
Subcommittee on Oversight of Government
Management, the Federal Workforce,
and the District of Columbia,
of the Committee on Homeland Security
and Governmental Affairs,
Washington, DC.
The Subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:08 a.m., in
room SD-342, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Daniel K.
Akaka, Chairman of the Subcommittee, presiding.
Present: Senators Akaka and Voinovich.
OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR AKAKA
Senator Akaka. I call this hearing of the Subcommittee on
Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce, and
the District of Columbia to order.
Aloha and good afternoon everyone, and especially to our
witnesses.
Today's hearing is a continuation of this Subcommittee's
oversight of acquisition management across the Federal
Government. In particular, this hearing is focused on the
shortage of acquisition professionals to manage and oversee
Federal contract spending.
Federal spending on contracts has grown dramatically,
exceeding $500 billion in fiscal year 2008. At the same time,
the size of the Federal acquisition workforce has remained
nearly constant, putting agency missions and taxpayer funds at
risk. In addition, the Federal Government is facing a surge of
expected retirements. The Federal Acquisition Institute reports
that over half of the acquisition workforce will be eligible to
retire in the next 8 years, further eroding an already
understaffed Federal contracting workforce.
Stories of contractor waste, fraud, and abuse, as well as
ineffective government management of contracts continue to
dominate the headlines. From massive, failed contracts in Iraq
and Afghanistan to ongoing delays and problems with the
Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) SBInet virtual fence
and cameras, it is clear that the Federal Government must
improve its contract management. Understaffed and without
adequate training, the Federal acquisition workforce is often
at the center of the storm of blame.
Augmenting the ranks and improving the skills of the
Federal acquisition workforce is in the best interest of
everyone involved: The Federal acquisition workforce,
contractors, the government, and taxpayers. This requires two
areas of reform.
First, we must improve government-wide leadership and
coordination of the development of Federal acquisition
professionals. The agencies represented here today are playing
important roles in shaping the acquisition workforce; however,
I am concerned that they are not providing the necessary
leadership and coordination.
I look forward to hearing from the first panel about the
steps they are taking to provide their expertise to agencies
throughout the government and to hold all agencies accountable
for recruiting, training, and retaining highly-qualified
acquisition professionals.
In response to questions about leadership, we often hear
that the Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) is the
government-wide leader. However, if OFPP is to lead these
important efforts, then its role must be enhanced. OFPP does
not have the authority or the resources needed to effectively
lead or enforce government-wide requirements. Currently, OFPP
lacks an administrator, and has only 12 of the 16 authorized
positions filled.
To address the need for coordinated acquisition workforce
efforts, Congress created a new executive level position at
OFPP, the Associate Administrator for Acquisition Workforce
Programs. Unfortunately, since its creation, this position has
remained vacant. This is very troubling, and I hope to hear
today what steps are being taken to fill this position.
Second, beyond leadership and coordination, we will focus
today on the government's ability to recruit, train, and retain
qualified acquisition workforce professionals. In particular,
the recruitment of qualified acquisition professionals to the
government has been a consistent problem. Candidates complain
of complex, lengthy hiring processes and poor communication.
This leads many of the best candidates to accept offers from
other employers.
My bill, the Federal Hiring Process Improvement Act, S.
736, which I introduced with Senator Voinovich, would help
address this problem by streamlining the Federal recruitment
and hiring process. I am pleased to note that the full
Committee approved the bill last week.
There are several new initiatives underway to improve the
acquisition workforce. Some of these initiatives include new
mentoring and intern programs, the use of flexible hiring
authorities, increased college recruitment efforts, and
improvements to the acquisition workforce career track. I look
forward to hearing more about these efforts today.
Despite these efforts, agencies may not have the tools they
need to hire, train, and retain the acquisition workforce
necessary to achieve their missions. Some agencies, including
two of those on our second panel, spend upwards of 90 percent
of their budget on contracts, underscoring the need for
efficient contract management.
The new Administration is facing many dramatic challenges,
and the American people expect strong leadership from the
Federal Government. We must act now to ensure that mission-
critical purchases are made and overseen by an effective
acquisition workforce. We must bring in new talent, we must
train and empower them, and we must preserve institutional
knowledge within our acquisition community.
On our first panel, it is my pleasure to welcome Jeffrey
Zients, Deputy Director for Management, and the Nation's Chief
Performance Officer, at the Office of Management and Budget
(OMB), Nancy Kichak, Associate Director for the Human Resources
Policy at the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), and David
Drabkin, Acting Chief Acquisition Officer at General Services
Administration (GSA).
It is the custom of this Subcommittee to swear in all
witnesses. So, may I ask you to please stand and raise your
right hand?
Do you solemnly swear that the testimony you are about to
give this Subcommittee is the truth, the whole truth, and
nothing but the truth, so help you, God?
Mr. Zients. I do.
Ms. Kichak. I do.
Mr. Drabkin. I do.
Senator Akaka. Thank you. Let the record note that the
witnesses answered in the affirmative.
Before we begin, I want to let you know that although your
oral statement is limited to 5 minutes, your full, written
statement will be included in the record.
Mr. Zients, will you please proceed with your statement?
TESTIMONY OF HON. JEFFREY D. ZIENTS,\1\ DEPUTY DIRECTOR FOR
MANAGEMENT, AND THE NATION'S CHIEF PERFORMANCE OFFICER, OFFICE
OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET
Mr. Zients. Thank you, Chairman Akaka. I appreciate the
opportunity to appear before you today to discuss the
Administration's commitment to strengthening the Federal
acquisition workforce.
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\1\ The prepared statement of Mr. Zients appears in the Appendix on
page 43.
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As you mentioned, I was confirmed last month as Deputy
Director for Management at OMB and as Chief Performance Officer
of the Federal Government. It is my responsibility to help lead
initiatives to improve the performance of government and
achieve more value for the taxpayer. I believe that a sound
acquisition system is critical to a high-performing government
and that a strong, well-equipped acquisition workforce is the
backbone of our acquisition system. The quality of their skills
and judgment is closely tied to whether we achieve the best
results from the more than $500 billion in contracting agencies
undertake annually.
In his March 4, 2009 memorandum on government contracting,
the President called on agencies with guidance from OMB to
eliminate waste and maximize the value achieved from their
contracts. To implement this mandate, OMB recently directed
agencies to develop aggressive savings plans to reduce the use
of high-risk contracts and to take other steps to improve
acquisition outcomes. Success will depend on the capability and
capacity of the workforce to achieve these results.
OMB's Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP), and its
partner agencies have taken a number of noteworthy actions to
strengthen the acquisition workforce in civilian agencies.
However, we believe a stronger, more strategic approach is
required to achieve sustainable improvements in the capability
and capacity of the workforce.
This Administration's support for better contracting and
for the acquisition workforce is focused on three, broad areas.
First, strengthening acquisition workforce planning. Second,
improving training and development. And third, increasing
recruitment and retention.
Let me talk about each of these briefly and the steps we
are taking to support this critical workforce.
First, acquisition workforce planning remains largely a
tactical exercise, not a strategic process. Agencies focus on
filling vacancies rather than developing longer-term plans that
project needs and provide for further succession planning. We
have not historically provided meaningful support for helping
agencies align their workforce capabilities and capacity with
their acquisition requirements. Congress recognized this
shortcoming when it called for an acquisition workforce
development strategic plan for civilian agencies.
OFPP is leading this effort to provide a more strategic
framework for developing the workforce. We are in the process
of working with agencies to help them define their acquisition
requirements, measure their workforce capacities, and determine
their current and future needs.
OFPP will complete this first phase of planning in October.
This plan will identify recruitment and development needs,
target training priorities, recommend changes to our
certification programs, and address the planning steps that
will be required to sustain these efforts. We also recognize
that the needs of the workforce are not static. We are
establishing a more robust, ongoing process for civilian
agencies in OFPP to evaluate progress and continually reassess
needs.
Additionally, Senator, I agree with your opening comment,
and I do look forward to working with the administrator of GSA,
once confirmed, to quickly fill the associate administrator of
OFPP for acquisition workforce programs. This individual will
coordinate strategic workforce planning efforts across
agencies.
The second area of focus is improving training and
development. Agencies now have better access to tools and
information that allow them to target their training and
development efforts.
The 2008 competency survey on civilian agencies provides
practical information about the proficiencies in the
development areas of our workforce. OFPP's Federal Acquisition
Certification Programs provide a framework for measuring and
managing the achievement of these competencies. As agencies
develop a better understanding of their workforce capabilities
through their workforce planning, they will invest more in
training and development. To ensure that these investment
dollars are well spent, we will develop tools to better
evaluate the impact our training efforts have on our ability to
meet performance goals.
Finally, we need to focus on increasing recruitment and
retention.
The civilian agencies acquisition workforce did grow by 6.5
percent in 2008. This growth was facilitated by the joint
efforts of the Federal Acquisition Intern Coalition and OPM.
Agencies can now issue streamline job announcements and can use
a central register of new applicants to fill entry-level
positions more quickly. We will expand the use of this model to
attract midlevel contracting professionals. We are also making
progress in retaining more of our contracting professionals.
In 2008, fewer people left the contracting community than
in any of the previous 5 years.
At the same time, we must include stronger retention
strategies in our human capital planning. These strategies
include building communities, expanding award and recognition
programs, and facilitating the sharing of best practices.
You have asked for my views on the Federal Hiring Process
Improvement Act of 2009.
First, I would like to thank the Subcommittee Members, and,
in particular, recognize you, Senator Akaka and Senator
Voinovich, for your longstanding commitment to the workforce.
Improving the Federal hiring process is a principle strongly
supported by the Administration, and we share your interest in
making significant improvements.
OPM is leading the government's hiring reform with strong
support from OMB, and agencies are currently implementing
initiatives that closely mirror many of those that you
mentioned that are in the proposed act.
While we support the intent of this legislation, we believe
the flexibility needs to facilitate innovative and creative
solutions can best be achieved through administrative means and
focused leadership.
In closing, we appreciate the Subcommittee's leadership on
acquisition workforce issues, and welcome the opportunity to
work with you as we take a more strategic approach and build on
our progress to improve the capacity and capability of the
acquisition workforce.
I will look forward to answering any questions you have.
Senator Akaka. Thank you very much, Mr. Zients.
At this point, I would like to give our Ranking Member an
opportunity to make his opening statement. Senator Voinovich.
OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR VOINOVICH
Senator Voinovich. Thank you, Senator Akaka. I, first of
all, appreciate the fact that you are calling this meeting
today.
The Federal Government has spent more than $500 billion in
fiscal year 2008 to procure goods and services, and that amount
continues to rise and has more than doubled since fiscal year
2002. So, we have had a lot more activity than we had in the
past. But, despite the increase in procurement spending,
adequate attention is not being given to the needs of those
responsible for overseeing and managing the procurement
process.
As the Government Accountability Office noted in its 2009
High-Risk List, ``The Federal acquisition workforce has been
experiencing an increasing workload and complexity of
responsibilities without adequate attention to its size,
skills, knowledge, and succession planning.'' GAO's concerns
are valid. Despite the doubling of procurement spending in this
decade, the number of individuals managing that spending has
not increased. Now, that may be working harder and smarter and
doing more with less, but I doubt it.
The Service Acquisition Reform Act Panel and GAO have both
noted the need for proper training regarding the complex and
frequently-changing Federal contracting environment. Further,
according to the Federal Acquisition Institute, more than half
of the Federal acquisition workforce will be eligible for
retirement in 2018.
These are all serious issues. When their job is not done
well, their acquisition programs end up on the GAO High-Risk
List, like the Department of Energy (doe) and National
Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Contract Management
Programs, or their programs are areas of concern for their
department's Inspectors General, like the Department of
Homeland Security's acquisition management activities. Outside
the Department of Defense (DOD), these three agencies spend the
most Federal procurement dollars. So, it is alarming that there
are so many concerns with the procurement activities of these
agencies. Well, it is not ``alarming,'' it is just that there
is concern about these programs.
We need to determine the number of people that are needed
to adequately manage and oversee the Federal procurement
process. We have to ensure that those personnel are getting the
training they need to get the job done, and we must ensure that
agencies have the authorities to recruit and retain the best
and brightest people.
And, Mr. Zients, when you talked about building on past
efforts in this need, and I think that sounds good.
In 2004, I led efforts to provide NASA with new workforce
authorities so NASA could hire the best and brightest for its
missions. Among other things, those authorities included
recruitment, relocation, retention bonuses, term appointments,
scholarships, annual leave enhancements, and qualifications
paid.
According to a NASA report from April of this year, those
authorities have been, and continue to be, important to
building and sustaining a high-quality workforce to accomplish
the agency's mission. Unfortunately, for some reason, it has
not worked on procurement side. That is the area that is not
working. They have done a good job elsewhere, but, for some
reason, NASA has not made it in the area of procurement.
I am curious as to whether similar authorities are needed
across the Federal Government to recruit and retain for the
acquisition workforce. That gets back to the issues that we
talked about in my office, Mr. Zients. Some of these hiring
flexibilities are available to certain agencies. Should you
look at making more of them available across the board to other
agencies?
So, I want to thank you all for being here today, and I
look forward to the testimony of Ms. Kichak and Mr. Drabkin.
Senator Akaka. Thank you very much, Senator Voinovich. Ms.
Kichak, will you please proceed with your testimony?
TESTIMONY OF NANCY K. KICHAK,\1\ ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR, STRATEGIC
HUMAN RESOURCES POLICY, U.S. OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT
Ms. Kichak. Chairman Akaka and Senator Voinovich, I
appreciate this opportunity to discuss with you the Office of
Personnel Management's role in strengthening the Federal
acquisition workforce. You also asked me to address OPM's views
and recommendations regarding S. 736, the Federal Hiring
Process Improvement Act of 2009.
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\1\ The prepared statement of Ms. Kichak appears in the Appendix on
page 50.
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OPM has been in the forefront of the effort to strengthen
the Federal Government's acquisition capacity. We have been
collaborating for some time with the Federal Acquisition
Institute (FAI) and the Office of Federal Procurement Policy at
the Office of Management and Budget on initiatives related to
this effort.
In 2007, OPM designated acquisition as a government-wide,
mission-critical occupation. As a result, agencies have been
required to continuously assess their acquisition workforce to
assure hiring targets are met and any missing competencies are
identified and addressed. OPM's human capital officers assist
with the target setting process as they do for all mission-
critical occupations.
We have been working closely with FAI to support the
Federal agencies in developing a unified approach to recruit
and hire contract specialists at the entry level. Our efforts
included branding and marketing the acquisition profession
through a special, interactive recruiting Web page. OPM helped
design recruitment materials, staffed job fairs, and produced
two ``Working for America'' commercials to showcase careers in
the profession.
OPM also worked with FAI to pilot the use of the central
register of prescreened candidates for entry-level contract
specialists. We streamlined the application process by over 75
percent, wrote the job announcements in plain language,
eliminated written essay-style questions, and simplified the
assessment process.
Today, there are approximately 8,000 candidates on the
register for 36 locations. Since the pilot began, more than 800
applicants have been referred to 10 agencies and components. To
date, 67 selections have been made, and interest is increasing
as knowledge of the register grows.
In addition, there are statutory authorities that allow
agencies to grant dual compensation waivers to acquisition
personnel and to use direct hire when agencies are experiencing
a severe shortage of qualified individuals or a critical hiring
need.
In addition to the steps we have already taken, OPM plans
to establish central registers for contract specialists at the
GS-9, 11, and 12 grade levels using the streamlined vacancy
announcement template. If the pilot is successful, we will look
for ways to fund this initiative in the future.
You also asked me to address S. 736. I appreciate your and
Senator Voinovich's leadership in focusing attention on the
persistent need to improve our hiring processes in the Federal
Government. Your sponsorship of this bill sends a clear message
that changes must be made in the hiring process.
OPM strongly supports the principles embodied in that S.
736, making the Federal recruiting and hiring process as
transparent, efficient, effective, and user-friendly as
possible for job applicants and for Federal agencies.
We are already moving ahead on many of the provisions in
the bill. OPM has designed templates to streamline job
announcements for more than 20 mission-critical and heavily-
recruited occupations. We will be directing agencies to use
plain language in their job announcements and to remove the
requirement for written essay-style questions about the
applicant's knowledge, skills, and abilities. We developed a
roadmap of the hiring process to make it easier for agencies to
identify opportunities for improvement in their procedures.
These initiatives will go a long way toward helping agencies
reform their processes.
We are concerned that mandating good agency practices in
legislation may result in agencies losing flexibility and the
ability to adapt to change. The Administration recently sent
out memoranda to Federal agencies with specific requirements
and timeframes for Federal hiring reform.
In short, we believe we can achieve the intended results of
S. 736 by administrative means, by continuing to exercise
leadership, and through our collaboration with OMB and
agencies.
Thank you for the opportunity to participate in this
discussion. I would be happy to answer any questions.
Senator Akaka. Thank you very much, Ms. Kichak. And now we
will hear from Mr. Drabkin. Your testimony, please.
TESTIMONY OF DAVID A. DRABKIN,\1\ ACTING CHIEF ACQUISITION
OFFICER, U.S. GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION
Mr. Drabkin. Thank you, Chairman Akaka and Ranking Member
Voinovich. It is a pleasure to be back before the Subcommittee,
and thank you for your invitation to testify before the
Subcommittee this afternoon.
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\1\ The prepared statement of Mr. Drabkin appears in the Appendix
on page 56.
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I know you had hoped to speak with our administrator. All
of us at GSA hoped that you would be speaking to her, as well.
Certainly, I did.
Martha Johnson, as you know, from her confirmation hearing
and her personal meetings with staff and members, is keenly
interested in the acquisition workforce, and, if confirmed,
will provide the leadership we need to focus on this issue.
Please also allow me to acknowledge the presence at today's
hearing of GSA's Chief Human Capital Officer (CHCO), Gail
Lovelace. Gail testified before you last May.
Ms. Lovelace and I, as the Chief Acquisition Officer (CAO),
have formed an acquisition workforce steering group in GSA to
ensure that we aggressively address acquisition workforce
issues, recognizing the shared responsibility given by statute
to both the CHCO and to the CAO.
You have my approved statement for the record, and in it, I
talk about both GSA and the government-wide acquisition
workforce, so, I will take these few minutes to provide a
prologue, if you will, to that statement concerning the
government's acquisition workforce.
In looking at issues concerning the government-wide
acquisition workforce, one cannot do so in isolation any
longer. You just cannot look at the people by themselves,
although, in the final analysis, they are the most important
part of our acquisition system and they prove it day in and day
out.
Our acquisition has evolved since the two seminal pieces of
legislation, the Armed Services Procurement Act of 1947 and the
Federal Property Administrative Services Act of 1949, governing
government acquisition or enacted into law. Then the
acquisition and the workforce that made it happen was
stovepiped between and within agencies.
Today, acquisition is a horizontal function of any
successful enterprise, with centralized responsibility and
decentralized authority. The Federal marketplace has been
moving in that direction, although, statutory and regulatory
challenges are thrown up occasionally to that movement.
By the way, when I speak of the ``acquisition workforce,''
I am not talking just about our contracting specialists and
contracting officers, I am talking about the larger definition
of the workforce, which includes program managers, contracting
officers' representatives, contracting officers' technical
representatives, and a number of other functions that agencies
have included in their respective definitions of the
acquisition workforce, recognizing the importance of all the
acquisition functions from the time requirements are developed
until completion of contract performance and closeout.
I am also very pleased that before this body we are not
engaged in denigrating the acquisition workforce by referring
to them as shoppers. In order to focus on the government's
acquisition workforce, one must do so in the context of the
guiding principles for our acquisition system, which is defined
in the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR).
It says in the FAR, and we changed it in 1993, to say that
the guiding principles of the acquisition system are to satisfy
the customer in terms of cost, quality, and timeliness of
delivered products or services.
For example, by maximizing use of commercial products and
services, using contractors who have a track record of
successful past performance or who demonstrate a current
superior ability to perform and promoting competition,
minimizing administrative operating costs, conducting business
with integrity, fairness, and openness, and fulfilling public
policy objectives. These guiding principles to be met by our
system require that we have the right number of acquisition
workforce members with the right competencies and skills
supported by the right tools, policies, and processes to obtain
the best value for the American citizen.
The Federal Acquisition Institute, FAI, is the only
organization that has a government-wide mission of addressing
two of the key supporting structures to assist Federal agencies
in living up to our stated guiding principles. Those two, key
structures or having the right number of acquisition workforce
members with the right competencies and skills. GSA has the
pleasure of being the managing partner for FAI.
In meeting these two objectives, FAI has evolved since its
inception, and now is focusing on modeling itself on a
corporate university structure where we relied on trained
professionals in adult education to develop the training we
need based upon our requirements, and then those same adult
education specialists delivering that training. FAI also
conducts research into acquisition-related issues, such as our
acquisition workforce.
This evolution is due in no small part to Congress'
creation of the Acquisition Workforce Training Fund in the
Services Acquisition Reform Act of 2003, which provides FAI
with additional funds to perform its mission. I would be remiss
if I did not point out that FAI could not be as successful
today as it is without the support it gets from the partnership
with the Defense Acquisition University (DAU). A special thanks
to DOD, and, in particular, to the President of DAU, Frank
Anderson.
I would not want you to think, however, that this
partnership is one way. After all, DAU resources are many times
those of FAI, but FAI contributes significantly to this
partnership, as well.
As we continue our evolution in the acquisition workforce
and the civilian agencies continue to evolve, there will be
even more sharing between the two institutions, particularly
now, as we have expanded the civilian agency definition to
include program managers, a functional area DAU has a great
deal of expertise in.
Let me conclude by pointing out again that the acquisition
workforce cannot be considered in a vacuum, and that one of the
key issues in the success of the acquisition workforce is the
tools it has to accomplish its mission. Sadly, today, those
tools are inadequate, and, in some cases, nonexistent. It
creates an environment where acquisition workforce members are
successful in spite of the tools they possess, not because of
them.
Thank you for this opportunity. I will be glad to answer
any questions you may have.
Senator Akaka. Thank you very much, Mr. Drabkin.
Mr. Zients, I am pleased to hear you commit to filling the
position of Associate Administrator for Acquisition Workforce
Programs. You have indicated that the Associate Administrator
will support strategic workforce planning.
How do you see that official interacting with the Federal
Acquisition Institute, OPM, and other agencies in strengthening
the Federal acquisition workforce?
Mr. Zients. I am sorry, in terms of coordination and
interaction?
Senator Akaka. Yes.
Mr. Zients. I do think it is critical that this group here
and a larger group work very closely together. OFPP taking the
lead on creating overall direction and guidance for acquisition
and the workforce set of issues and the strategic workforce
planning exercise, which I described, which we are in the
middle of, I think is a very important lead role that OFPP is
planning. At the same time, as Mr. Drabkin so elegantly
captured, FAI is right at the center of this, helping to
implement these policies and guidelines through training and
education and setting the right certification standards.
So, our partnership with GSA through FAI is critical, and
then we all agree that recruitment is front and center here,
and that we made good progress last year, and there is much
more progress to be made and that OPM plays a central role
there.
So, I think there are clear lead responsibilities here. At
the same time, I think it is critical that we are all well-
coordinated and that we also leverage the councils, the Chief
Acquisition Officer Council and the CHCO, which is the Chief
Human Capital Officer councils, both of which I have leadership
roles on, to make sure that we are working closely with our
leadership at the agency level to both inform our strategic
direction and to ultimately implement these reforms.
Senator Akaka. Thank you. We are looking for that type of
senior-level engagement on these issues.
Mr. Drabkin, as you know, there have been concerns over the
quality of the training available to acquisition workforce. The
Federal Acquisition Institute's mission, in part, is to provide
for training.
Do you believe that FAI has the leadership and resources it
needs to effectively fulfill its mission?
Mr. Drabkin. As you know, Mr. Chairman, I am a career civil
servant, and I will not address whether we could use more
because we can always use more to do our job better. I would
point out to you that I am not sure the statement is true that
the quality of training produced by FAI is not sufficient or up
to par. In fact, under its former director, Karen Pica, who is
now in the Office of Federal Procurement Policy, and under its
current acting director and the new director who will come
onboard next month, FAI has improved dramatically the quality
of the coursework that it provides to the Federal acquisition
workforce. In addition, through the partnership with DAU, we
have been able to leverage coursework developed at DAU and the
Department of Defense and modify it where necessary to meet our
needs.
I would tell you that probably the ultimate test of the
quality or the value of the coursework we provide is the fact
that the private sector buys the courses that our people take
for their own people, and that probably is a testament to the
fact that we are doing OK. That does not mean we cannot do
better and we should not; it does not mean that we cannot be
more responsive and faster in getting courses out. We can. And
it does not mean we could not use more resources, but, at the
moment, we are using what we have.
Senator Akaka. I asked at the Subcommittee's hearing last
year about what steps are being taken to reach out to young
people and recruit them before they graduate from college and
even high school.
Are there efforts underway government-wide to increase
students' interests in Federal acquisition positions? Ms.
Kichak.
Ms. Kichak. As I said, we did the Working for America
commercials that highlighted the acquisition profession. We
also have the centralized register for entry-level grades 5-7,
which is what appeals to folks recently out of college, and
that has 8,000 good candidates on it right now.
So, I think what we are dealing with now is, if you look at
who is being recruited in the Federal acquisition workforce,
half of the recruitments are from mid-level folks. When
agencies have a vacancy, they would like to get somebody with a
lot of experience under their belt. Those folks are in limited
supply, developing new people is very important. Getting these
entry-level people in and getting them trained is essential,
and the training is rigorous. Acquisition is a very complex
career. It requires a broad knowledge that you cannot pick up
easily. You need good training, and, so, it takes time.
I think the applicants are out there. It is trying to get
the applicants selected in positions and trained, that is not
something that can happen overnight.
Senator Akaka. Are there any comments from other witnesses?
Mr. Zients. Senator, this is an area where I have had a lot
of experience in the private sector because a lot of recruiting
was straight off of campus, and I think it is an area where we
have a great opportunity right now. It is one of the few or
only benefits of this economy, and in my experience, it is all
about effort. This is like a sales force, if you will. You need
to make a lot of sales calls to close some clients, and I think
we are putting forth a lot more effort than we did in the past,
and I think we are seeing some early success.
I also believe that the first year is critical in that
people straight out of school need training, they need
mentoring in that first year. So, we need to make sure that it
is not only recruiting, but it is also on boarding and
mentoring and that the young, straight-off-of-campus intern
types have the opportunity to feel as if they are part of an
organization where they can advance quickly on a merit basis.
So, I think that there is a real window of opportunity
right now, and I would be in favor of pushing as hard as we
possibly can, building on the success that we have had today.
Mr. Drabkin. And if I may add one more point, and that is I
think your question, Senator, also goes to what can we do on
the campuses itself so that the curricula at the campuses
provide some advanced look into the government procurement
system, and, in fact, FAI has entered into arrangements with
both the National Contract Management Association and the
National Institute of Government Purchasing. This was done
while Karen Pica was our director. And both of those
associations now have student chapters located on university
campuses. Not a lot yet, but some.
In addition, GSA has been working with the George
Washington University School of Law, which, coincidently, is
only a block-and-a-half from our main building, and we have
also begun a program working with them, bringing students over
while they are in school to expose them to our procurement
process so that, hopefully, when they graduate, they will be
interested in seeking a job in government procurement.
I think that these kinds of programs, along with the
college campus recruiting programs that you have just heard
about, will improve our ability to get people interested in
understanding the great opportunities. I mean, where do you go
where you can spend $10 billion on a program and really have an
impact on somebody else's life? You do not find that just
anyplace; you find it working for us.
Senator Akaka. Thank you very much. Senator Voinovich, your
questions?
Senator Voinovich. Yes, I have a series of questions, and I
am going to ask all of you to comment.
This is for Mr. Zients. OMB's Office of Federal Procurement
Policy is responsible for providing direction for government-
wide procurement policy regulations, procedures, and also for
promoting the economy, efficiency, and effectiveness
acquisition processes. Additionally, OFPP supports the Chief
Acquisition Officers Council, working groups, and competitive
sourcing contracting with small business, human capital,
electronic government, performance management, and contingency
contracting.
How can an OFPP staff of about 15 people effectively handle
so many responsibilities?
And this is for Mr. Zients and Mr. Drabkin.
The Federal Acquisition Institute is located in GSA, but
receives policy direction from the Office of Federal
Procurement Policy.
How do OFPP and GSA collaborate regarding the Federal
Acquisition Institute, and do you believe the Federal
Acquisition Institute is properly located at GSA?
Mr. Drabkin, the Federal Acquisition Institute partners
with the universities to provide training to the acquisition
workforce. Are there similar partnerships with the universities
and so forth?
Ms. Kichak, Congress created the Chief Human Capital
Officers Council in 2002 to advise and coordinate agencies'
human resources. What role has CHCO played in addressing the
acquisition workforce?
Given the government's critical need to build its
acquisition workforce, why has not CHCO worked more closely
with the Chief Acquisition Officers' Council?
And, Mr. Zients, as a midlevel office within OMB, do you
believe the Office of Federal Procurement has the authority it
needs to provide direction and oversight across the government
regarding the acquisition processes?
Now, I have to tell you something, there are a bunch of
questions here. I will talk about this.
NASA and the Department of Energy have been on the high-
risk list in this area since 1990, and the comment I have after
I went over this with my staff, is that this seems to be
unbelievable. I have seen, from my experience in management,
where you can have a lot of agencies that are in difficult
situations like this and if you are really lucky and if you
have great interpersonal skills, you can get something done. I
have also seen a screwed up type of operation where no matter
who you have, the team just cannot get the job done.
Based on your experiences, and particularly, Mr. Zients,
from your outside point of view, does this make sense the way
we are doing this? Is there a better way that we can manage the
procurement process that perhaps may streamline the process and
get these programs off the high-risk list? Because both DOE and
NASA have been on the high-risk list since 1990, and that is a
long time.
Mr. Zients. Right.
Senator Voinovich. How much longer will these programs be
on the high-risk list with this current organization that we
have?
Mr. Zients. From an outside perspective, now 5 weeks into
the job, I think that OFPP takes a lead role in guidance and
direction, training and education, and partnership. I believe
that to get it off the list the way you have described it,
agency leadership has to decide this is a high priority. So,
starting at the very top of the agency, the contracting
matters, that the workforce matters, that performance on
contracting and on acquisition at large matters. The horizontal
perspective that Mr. Drabkin so eloquently described is the
essential issue here, and to attempt to do it centrally through
commanding control is not going to work. There is certainly a
role for all of us to facilitate and help agency leadership,
but at the very top of an agency, this has to be a priority.
I think the President has set a stake in the ground that it
is a priority for this Administration. When you start at the
top of the organization and make it a priority to drive
strategies and implement priorities accordingly, I think we
will see real results. Our job is to help agency leadership do
that. I think ultimate responsibility for performance has to be
at the agency leadership level.
Senator Voinovich. Well, do you think that the system
impedes that from happening in terms of the agencies giving
improving the procurement process the priority that it needs,
that too much consultation is required?
Mr. Zients. Clearly, it is hard to generalize. I am sure
there are pockets of strong performance here, but I think if
you look historically at what is the root cause here, I think
that, in part because of the doubling that you both talked
about upfront, this has changed a lot across 8 years. The
number has doubled, so this has become a much bigger percentage
of the average agency's budget, and I am not sure we have
doubled down or tripled down on the attention we have given it
at the agency senior leadership level.
Senator Voinovich. Do you have the people in your shop
necessary to do this? I just mentioned that you have 15 people
at OFPP to handle a bunch of stuff.
Mr. Zients. Well, I need to fill out the rest of my team. I
need to find an administrator, which has been a top priority,
and I believe I will have an administrator candidate for you to
meet in the next couple of months. We also need to fill the
position that we described upfront, the associate administrator
for the workforce planning.
With that group in place, I believe I have the team. If I
do not have the team, across time, as priorities evolve and I
get a better sense of the workload going forward, we will
certainly make sure we staff adequately.
Senator Voinovich. The goal always is to try and recruit,
retain, and reward people. Even though the turnover rate has
been lower, probably because of the economy, in terms of the
rest of the categories of procurement personnel, from what I
understand, there has been a fairly large turnover of people in
this area.
Do we bring them in, train them, and then, because of lack
of pay-for-performance or other factors, they decide to tip
their hat and go someplace else?
Mr. Zients. My sense here is that maybe compensation is in
play. I do not have data to suggest how much of the root cause
is compensation. That said, this is a group that I think has
been underappreciated, under-trained, under-recognized the last
8 or more years. I believe that in order to attract and retain
for the long-term, we are going to have to turn all of that
around. This is going to have to be a workforce that feels like
it is doing something very important, is being well-supported
in doing it, and is getting the attention from the senior
leadership at the agency level and has a seat at that table
that is making the larger decisions and it has the horizontal
visibility and orientation that was described before.
Senator Voinovich. Mr. Drabkin, you said something at the
end about the tools that you have.
What other tools do you need to get the job done?
Mr. Drabkin. In my testimony and in my written statement, I
pointed out that we lacked the electronic system and
acquisition kind of system that would facilitate the process
beginning with the requirements development, and ending with
contract closeout. A number of agencies have pieces of the
tool. For example, they have contract writing systems, but that
is not enough.
As we meet the transparency challenge that the President
has given us and that the Congress have given us, we are
finding that a great deal of manual work has to be done because
the information is not digitally available.
For example, even the contracts that are written through
our contract writing systems wind up being paper documents,
which are managed as paper documents, and, so when you want to
get information out of those files, somebody has to go and pull
it.
What we lack is a government-wide definition, which we have
committed recently to provide to an acquisition architecture,
and then we have lacked the investment dollars to make that
system come to fruition.
Senator Voinovich. I guess my dear friend, Senator Akaka,
is probably going to hear this from me at a lot of hearings,
but I am running out of time here, I am leaving here at the end
of next year, and what bothers me is that we have hearings and
hearings, and yet this problem has been around for a long
period of time.
And, Mr. Zients, you are from the private sector. It seems
to me this is a major problem, and that what ought to be done
is somebody ought to sit down and really spend the time to say
this is a problem and here are the things that need to be done.
Here is the critical path that we need to follow. Then you can
have an opportunity to quarterback it and make sure that it
happens, and, quite frankly, give Senator Akaka, who is going
to be here longer than I am, an opportunity to have you come in
and look at the list of the things that you think need to be
done.
And the alternative, perhaps, looking at this thing from a
budgetary point of view. Do you have the money for the training
or for the systems or whatever is needed, for you to tackle
this in a systematic way? Honestly, you are the boss. I mean,
you are part of the organization that helps set spending
priorities.
Mr. Drabkin. Yes.
Senator Voinovich. It would be wonderful if you could
really spend the time to come back to us and say, Senator Akaka
and Senator Voinovich, here is our plan on how we are going to
make a difference. We cannot do it overnight, but we have a
plan. We are going to go forward with this plan, and here are
some things that you can do in appropriations or someplace else
to make these goals happen. Because I have to tell you, if you
look at this area, we are losing billions of dollars each year.
Mr. Drabkin. Right.
Senator Voinovich. Billions of dollars all the time. Even
the Defense Department. You keep reading about it. Billions and
billions, but it does not seem like anybody is doing anything
about this problem, right? It has been that way for how long?
Probably as long as you have been here.
Senator Akaka. Right.
Senator Voinovich. So, I would really like to see something
like that occur so that we have confidence that you have got a
plan in mind and know what needs to be done. We cannot allow
agencies to say, ``well, we are going to ignore what he just
talked about because we just do not have the money to do it.''
You cannot get your job done over there, the job we have asked
you to do, without the proper tools. Thank you, Senator Akaka.
Senator Akaka. Thank you, Senator Voinovich.
Senator Voinovich has just explained the huge problem that
we face. We have tried to bring the agencies and departments
together to work on of these problems because every agency
makes acquisitions. We hope that together we can create a
successful system.
Senator Voinovich mentioned the Department of Defense,
which is also on the high-risk list. Many of these problems
exist in many places in our government. We are looking for
answers. If we can come together, maybe we can make better
headway.
Mr. Drabkin, I want to go back to what you mentioned about
reaching into the colleges. I believe Federal internship
programs can be an excellent way to develop specialists needing
extended training, and to provide entry-level opportunities
with a career ladder to young workers.
Please tell us more about the Federal Acquisition Intern
Coalition (FAIC) and what role it plays in addressing
acquisition workforce issues.
Mr. Drabkin. The coalition is a grouping of the various
Federal agencies that have internship programs, to coordinate
those programs in large part to make sure, first, we are not
poaching from each other.
Actually, in response, Senator Voinovich, to something you
said earlier, our problem is not in turnover, people leaving
the Federal Government, actually, the turnover of our
acquisition workforce people are not leaving in large numbers.
We did not hire any in the 1990s as a result of our effort to
reduce the size of government, and what we have now is this
bathtub effect, where we have people we have been hiring for
the last 8 or so years, nobody we hired from 1993, 1994, to
about 2000, and then people who were in the government before
then and who are getting ready to retire, but the coalition is
looking at coordinating the efforts of all the agencies to make
sure that we reach some standards among the agencies on how
intern programs should be structured. We do not compete with
each other, and, thus, we are competing with each other in the
marketplace, it does not make sense for interns.
I would also point out to you that at the end of the
Clinton Administration, the Procurement Executive Council had
developed a government-wide internship program which was led by
the Interior Department (DOI), and that program actually
started under the auspices of Ms. Lee, who I believe is on the
next panel, who was then our OFPP administrator, and as we look
at a model for perhaps how we should move from our current
coalition into the next steps of maturing that internship
process, I think that is a model we should follow. It was
successful to the extent it was participated in, and with the
leadership that Mr. Zients will provide us from OFPP and our
new administrator, I am sure that it will take us to the next
steps we need to go.
In GSA, we have begun something similar, looking at
combining all the various internships and we have principally
two acquisition internship programs in GSA which, in some
cases, causes us to compete against each other. It does not
make any sense, and it does not serve the mission of the whole
agency.
And, as you look at acquisition as a horizontal function of
government, when you really look at what acquisition people do
in the main, it is the same whether you are at DHS, DOI, or
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). It is difficult when you
work my colleagues, because none of us particularly want to be
a mandatory part of a whole. We all want to kind of control our
own destiny, and the coalition is the first steps in moving us,
I think, evolving us to the place we should be, and, as I said
to Mr. Zients and our new administrator of OFPP, I think what
we need to provide the leadership that has not been there for 8
years, to move us into the next step.
Senator Akaka. Mr. Zients, as you have testified, the range
of positions that manage Federal acquisitions is much broader
than traditional, Federal contracting positions.
A bill that I cosponsored during the last Congress, S. 680,
the Accountability in Government Contracting Act, would have
expanded the definition of the acquisition workforce.
Outside of new legislation, are steps being taken to ensure
that the focus of efforts to strengthen the acquisition
workforce is broad enough?
Mr. Zients. Yes, I think it is moving in that direction. I
think, again, you will see variability by agency.
As an example, this year, the FAI competency study looked
at the technical representatives for the first time, and
actually a lot of what came out of the competency study was
that we need to help better integrate program managers into
early stages of contract writing and ensure that the
Contracting Officer's Technical Representatives (COTRs) on the
backend are deeply involved in evaluating and managing the
contracts.
So, the whole movement right now is to this horizontal,
broad definition. I do not think we are there across the
civilian agencies, but I think we are making progress, and I
think we need to learn from those who have made the most
progress and ensure that we take those best practices and
spread them across the other agencies.
Senator Akaka. Ms. Kichak, OPM reports that it has set
targets and closed competency gaps for the acquisition
workforce at 15 agencies that participate in the Chief Human
Capital Officers Council. I understand you plan to do this for
all CHCO agencies by October 1.
Please provide more information about these accomplishments
and how OPM evaluated competency gaps at the CHCO agencies.
Ms. Kichak. Those are self reports that the agencies give
to us on their competency gaps, and they set targets for the
gaps that need to be closed, and then they report to us a year
later on what they are. Every agency is required to make that
report, and we summarize those results.
I do not have the specific figures you do. What I saw by
looking at the last report was that gaps were closed for 75
percent of the competencies, but that does not tell you what
the 25 percent were and how important those are, but we do that
for every CHCO agency, not just the ones that you cite. So, we
do that review and can make that available to you.
Senator Akaka. Thank you. Senator Voinovich.
Senator Voinovich. I have no more questions.
Senator Akaka. There are no more questions.
I want to thank this panel very much. We may have questions
for the record that we will submit for your responses. I want
to thank you very much for providing such useful information as
we try to improve the acquisition system of our Federal
Government.
So, again, thank you very much for being here, and I look
forward to seeing you again.
Mr. Drabkin. Thank you, Senator.
Senator Akaka. Now, I would like to welcome the witnesses
on our second panel, Elaine Duke, Undersecretary for Management
at the Department of Homeland Security; Bill McNally, Assistant
Administrator for Procurement at the National Aeronautics and
Space Administration; John Bashista, Deputy Director of the
Office of Procurement and Assistance Management at the
Department of Energy; and Deidre Lee, who currently is the
Executive Vice President for Federal Affairs and Operations at
the Professional Services Council and is a former Administrator
of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy, as well as a
former acquisition leader at several agencies.
As you know, it is a custom of this Subcommittee to swear
in all witnesses. I ask all of you to stand and raise your
right hand.
Do you solemnly swear that the testimony you are about to
give this Subcommittee is the truth, the whole truth, and
nothing but the truth, so help you, God?
Ms. Duke. I do.
Mr. McNally. I do.
Mr. Bashista. I do.
Ms. Lee. I do.
Senator Akaka. Thank you. Let it be noted for the record
that the witnesses answered in the affirmative.
Before we begin, I wanted to let you know that although
your oral statement is limited to 5 minutes, your full written
statement will be included in the record.
Ms. Duke, before you proceed with your statement, I wanted
to take this opportunity to thank you for your service, and, in
particular, agreeing to continue your work as undersecretary
through DHS's first transition. This likely will be your last
time appearing before us in your current role, and I want to
commend you on your leadership in this post and on your
stewardship. Your assistance has been very helpful to this
Subcommittee's oversight role, and we appreciate that. With
that, I will ask you to please proceed with your statement.
TESTIMONY OF ELAINE C. DUKE,\1\ UNDERSECRETARY FOR MANAGEMENT,
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
Ms. Duke. Mr. Chairman and Ranking Member Voinovich, I do
not think I would have ever thought I would be sorry about this
being my last hearing, but this Subcommittee's been wonderful
to work with, and, so, I do feel a little sad about that.
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\1\ The prepared statement of Ms. Duke appears in the Appendix on
page 62.
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I am thrilled that this last hearing is on acquisition
workforce because that is a passion of mine, and I appreciate
you taking the time to have a hearing on this very important
subject. And, as we discuss DHS's acquisition workforce, I
would like to look at three timeframes: Where we were, where we
are, and where we are going.
Often times, the DHS Inspector General (IG), Government
Accountability Office (GAO), and others continue to point out
the need for improvement in acquisition and acquisition
workforce in DHS. I appreciate the oversight, and they give us
a lot of good ideas, and I think it is important to look at
what we have done and achievements we have made in DHS on our
ambitious path towards improving DHS acquisition and its
workforce. I am proud of the progress we have made so far.
Some of the initiatives we have put in place is expanding
DHS's Chief Procurement Office from strictly a procurement
office to an acquisition office. This is not just a matter of
semantics; it recognizes that the root cause of DHS's
challenges in acquisition is not in the contract itself. The
root cause is often in the initial requirements process. This
initiative adds program managers, test and evaluation experts,
cost estimators, logisticians, and system engineers to the DHS
acquisition workforce.
We have also developed a certification program for
contracting officers, program managers, and contracting
officers' technical representatives to ensure they have the
experience, training, and education to have the necessary
skills. We have designed and implemented an acquisition
professional career program, our intern program, to bring
entry-level contract personnel into the Department.
The program began in 2009, and, by the end of this fiscal
year, we will have 100 contracting professionals, about 10 of
which are in the audience today, into the Department.
We established the Office of Procurement Operations to
manage the contracting span at DHS Headquarters, which grew
from a few hundred million dollars in the start of the
Department to nearly $5 billion last fiscal year.
We have designed and implemented a test and evaluation
program for the Department's major acquisition programs. This
is key for some of the programs like SBInet and others that
this Subcommittee has provided oversight for. It provides a
formal test and evaluation program, and, more importantly, an
independent review of operational testing and evaluation of our
major acquisition programs.
In our Certification Program for program managers, we have
increased the percentage of properly-certified program managers
running our 42 largest level-one programs, which are over $1
billion each, from about 20 percent to more than 80 percent.
We are implementing a comprehensive revision of the
Acquisition Review Program. This is to recognize that, while we
initially reformed our review program after the Department of
Defense, our spending is not like DOD's. We do not buy a lot of
development hardware. So, we have modified it to ensure we
bring all of acquisition programs to the senior leadership so
they can make risk-based decisions on moving our acquisition
programs forward.
We have realized a net increase of more than 300
contracting personnel over the last 3 years, and more than 500
since the Department's inception, though intense efforts to
recruit and retain staff continue.
We have developed an electronic system to monitor this cost
schedule and performance of our major acquisition programs,
which is key to timely and accurate decisionmaking and risk
management by our leadership.
It is important to know that even though we have developed
and implemented these initiatives, we have a long way to go.
Some of our near-term next steps include adding another 100
interns to our intern program, doubling it to 200 by the end of
fiscal year 2010. We also have a commitment to have a certified
program manager running each of our level one programs by the
end of this calendar year.
We are finalizing our governance management directive,
Directive 102.01, which has been in draft for way too long, by
the end of this year, and we are conducting formal acquisition
review boards on 100 percent of our Recovery Act money, our
stimulus spending by the end of this fiscal year. And, also, we
are going to add certification programs for logisticians, test,
and evaluation experts, and cost estimators in fiscal year
2010.
Mr. Chairman and Ranking Member, thank you for the
opportunity to be here before you, and I look forward to your
questions.
Senator Akaka. Thank you very much, Ms. Duke. Mr. McNally,
will you please proceed with your statement?
TESTIMONY OF WILLIAM P. MCNALLY,\1\ ASSISTANT ADMINISTRATOR FOR
PROCUREMENT, AND DEPUTY CHIEF ACQUISTION OFFICER, NATIONAL
AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
Mr. McNally. Thank you for the opportunity to testify
before the Subcommittee regarding NASA's effort to staff,
train, and retain its acquisition workforce.
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\1\ The prepared statement of Mr. McNally appears in the Appendix
on page 76.
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NASA is unlike most civilian agencies. Our programs and
projects involving space exploration systems, science and
aeronautics research, and space operations have one thing in
common: They are high-risk. This is because NASA is pushing new
boundaries in technology and science. There are many challenges
involved in managing and performing high-risk programs,
projects, and missions. They are full of uncertainty and
challenges, and they involved high-risk acquisitions.
To meet these challenges, NASA needs capable people.
Getting and keeping high-quality acquisition personnel is also
a challenge. That is why we are here today. Recruiting,
developing, and retaining qualified and capable acquisition
personnel is critical for mission success.
The first step to a strong workforce is bringing the right
people onboard. NASA has had a focus on recruiting entry and
mid-level personnel through its cooperative education, and
intern programs. NASA's Contracting InterN Program has been
very successful in bringing entry-level procurement personnel
onboard. NASA also has numerous program management hiring
programs to bring in the best and brightest for research,
development, engineering, and science-related positions.
Depending on their jobs, many of these personnel may fill
acquisition roles at NASA.
Once people are onboard, the next key step is training.
Acquisition personnel at NASA have access to comprehensive
training programs. They participate in all of the core
acquisition training that OMB requires for civilian agency
acquisition personnel.
In 1995, NASA established a mandatory training program for
the procurement workforce that was modeled on the Department of
Defense's program. NASA had an easy transition when the new,
rigorous, government-wide, Federal acquisition and contracting
program started several years ago because its training was
already consistent with the new program.
For the program and project managers, NASA developed the
Academy of Program Project and Engineering Leadership that
recently implemented the Program Manager Certification Process.
This process has been endorsed by OMB and has been called a
model example for Federal agencies.
NASA also focused on specialized and just-in-time training
in areas such as earned value management, source selection, and
cost-price analysis to ensure our workforce has the capability
to execute and manage our high-risk acquisitions.
NASA uses programs to develop leaders. These include the
Senior Executive Service Candidate Development Program,
Midlevel Leadership Program, and the NASA Foundations of
Influence, Relationships, Success, and Teamwork Program.
Keeping employees is the most important part of a strong
workforce. NASA has retention strategies to maintain its
acquisition workforce. They include new employee orientation,
mentoring programs, awards, working family programs, and
education assistance.
Part of the reason we are here today is to talk about the
Federal Hiring Process Improvement Act. I am pleased to say
that NASA not only concurs with the intent of the Act, we are
already doing some of what the bill requires.
For example, the proposed legislation requires a strategic
workforce plan as part of the agency performance plan. NASA's
Office of Human Capital Management has had an entire division
focused on providing planning support for the agency.
In closing, NASA will continue to pursue its mission that
pushed the state-of-the-art of technology, while also
maintaining American leadership in space, earth, and aeronautic
sciences. We have programs and initiatives in place for our
current and future acquisition personnel, so that NASA will
have a qualified and capable workforce to meet the challenges
of NASA's new missions.
Again, thank you for the opportunity to appear before the
Subcommittee today, and I would be pleased to respond to any
questions you may have.
Senator Akaka. Thank you very much, Mr. McNally.
And now, Mr. Bashista, please proceed with your testimony.
TESTIMONY OF JOHN R. BASHISTA,\1\ DEPUTY DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF
PROCUREMENT AND ASSISTANCE MANAGEMENT, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF
ENERGY
Mr. Bashista. Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman and Ranking
Member Voinovich. Thank you for the opportunity to come before
you today to address the Department of Energy's (DOE) efforts
to build, strengthen, and maintain a high-quality acquisition
workforce.
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\1\ The prepared statement of Mr. Bashista appears in the Appendix
on page 81.
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As the largest civilian contracting agency in the Federal
Government in terms of annual contract obligations, DOE relies
heavily on a stable, experienced acquisition workforce to
effectively support its core missions. To this end, the
Department has invested heavily in strategies to attract,
train, and retain the best and brightest talent into its
acquisition workforce.
The downsizing of the acquisition workforce in the 1990s
throughout the Federal Government was followed by a dramatic
increase in workload. Between 1998 and 2006, DOE's contract
spending increased by 71 percent, while the size of our
acquisition workforce remained relatively constant.
To address this challenge, the Department has undertaken a
number of initiatives to better leverage existing acquisition
resources by creating efficiencies through the use of
technology and by re-engineering and standardizing internal
processes.
Although these initiatives are important, my comments today
will focus on our efforts to increase and develop our
acquisition workforce. These efforts are largely focused on
attracting new entrants into the acquisition profession.
Fundamental to this approach is aligning our recruiting efforts
with the career expectations of the next generation of
acquisition professionals.
Over the past several years, our recruiting efforts have
emphasized active participation in broader Federal initiatives,
such as OPM-sponsored hiring fairs, the Federal Career Intern
Program, OPM's Central Register Pilot Program for entry-level
contract specialists, and the Department of Veterans' Affairs
Coming Home to Work Program.
The Office of Procurement is also working with the
Department's Office of Human Capital to obtain direct hire
authority, which will enhance our ability to recruit and hire
qualified staff more quickly. And last year we gained OPM
approval to re-employ annuitants in acquisition positions.
For the past 2 years, DOE has conducted an annual,
enterprise-wide competency assessment of the acquisition
workforce to identify gaps and improve both training and human
capital planning. The assessment involves the active
participation of DOE's acquisition managers in identifying and
validating competencies, and its results are used for
organizational planning.
Information from the assessments helps us to identify
priorities for department-wide workforce development efforts
and helps frame our annual acquisition workforce training
priorities, which are managed under our Acquisition Career
Management Program (ACMP).
The ACMP provides a formal structured approach to career
development for DOE's acquisition workforce. The program is
designed to increase the proficiency of the acquisition
workforce through competency-based training and provides a
roadmap to guide acquisition employees through the training,
education, and experience needed to advance in the profession.
A key feature of the program is the establishment of the
Department's Site Acquisition Career Management Council in
2008. The council is chaired by DOE's acquisition career
manager, and its membership is comprised of representatives
from each DOE field office. The council's responsibilities
include maintaining the proficiency and currency of the
program's policies and procedures, education and training
sources, and course requirements and curriculum.
Another recent improvement has been centralizing the
management of training resources within DOE's Office of
Procurement to ensure complex-wide training needs are
addressed.
As a result, more than 90 percent of DOE's contracting
workforce is currently certified under the Federal Acquisition
Certification in Contracting Program, compared to 60 percent as
of October 2007.
In addition, the Department has made significant progress
towards closing its resource and skill gaps. Since 2006, the
DOE contracting workforce has increased by 30 percent. In
addition, since the beginning of fiscal year 2008, more than
500 acquisition and program personnel have received training
that targets both certification requirements and identified
skill gaps across the spectrum of acquisition skills.
We are also leveraging existing authorities to retain
critical experience and expertise. These include tuition
reimbursement assistance, recruitment and retention incentives,
employee reward and recognition programs, alternative work
schedules and telecommuting, and employee development programs.
Improving the Federal hiring process is a critical element
to achieving a strong acquisition workforce, and we appreciate
the Subcommittee's leadership in focusing attention on the need
to improve the hiring process in the Federal Government. In
fact, the Department is currently working in cooperation with
OPM and other agencies to improve the hiring process in all the
areas addressed in S. 736. We believe that these changes will
significantly improve our ability to recruit and hire
acquisition employees.
In closing, I would reiterate and assure this Subcommittee
that the Department is committed to ensuring taxpayer dollars
are well-spent and managed through the Department's efforts to
develop and sustain a robust, highly-skilled, and professional
acquisition workforce.
This concludes my formal remarks, and I would be happy to
respond to any questions you may have.
Senator Akaka. Thank you very much, Mr. Bashista. Now, we
will hear the testimony of Deidre Lee.
TESTIMONY OF DEIDRE A. LEE,\1\ EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT OF
FEDERAL AFFAIRS AND OPERATIONS, PROFESSIONAL SERVICES COUNCIL
Ms. Lee. Good afternoon. Chairman Akaka and Ranking Member
Voinovich, thank you for including me in the hearing today to
talk about the acquisition workforce and the Federal Hiring
Process Improvement Act of 2009.
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\1\ The prepared statement of Ms. Lee with attachments appears in
the Appendix on page 87.
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I appear before you today on behalf of the Professional
Services Council (PSC), which is a new role for me. The
Professional Services Council is the leading national trade
association of the government Professional and Technical
Services Industry. PSC has more than 330 members. Companies
represent small, medium, and large businesses that provide
Federal agencies with services of all kinds. Together, the
associations' members employ hundreds of thousands of people in
all 50 States.
PSC has been a longtime advocate for a highly-skilled,
well-trained, and resourced acquisition workforce; and supports
efforts to enhance the training and professional development of
the Federal workforce, particularly in acquisition. PSC also
advocates for appropriate and balanced approaches to the
workforce challenges, including recognition of the
contributions made by each segment of the multi-sector
workforce to accomplish the government's many critical
positions.
Today, I would like to summarize my statement. My written
statement does include some points about the improvements that
have been made to date, but although progress has been made,
much remains to be done; rebuilding an experienced, skilled,
Federal acquisition workforce and rebalancing the multi-sector
workforce will take years of dedicated effort.
We do not need more reviews, competency studies, further
discussion of who should or should not be in the workforce, or
arbitrary new hiring goals. We need action now. I follow with
eight recommended action points.
First, plan for and manage a multi-sector workforce.
Agencies must strengthen performance and demonstrate results.
Strategically-established, well-defined approaches for hiring
the right people for critical agency functions and awarding and
managing the right contracts and grants for partner performance
are critical to mission success. We must demand rigor in
planning the multi-sector workforce.
OFPP should issue clear, executable guidance on the phrase
``inherently governmental,'' as required by the President's
March 4 memo. Agencies should then develop strategic plans that
reflect a balanced workforce, focusing on hiring for
``inherently governmental'' and critical core positions and
addressing full cost comparisons of other positions before
making conversions.
Second, as David Drabkin so aptly discussed, we need to
clearly define the Federal acquisition workforce; a successful
program requires a coordinated effort comprised of many skills.
OFPP should redefine the Federal acquisition workforce to
include the broad range of skills needed for the lifecycle of a
successful acquisition. An OFPP letter could be issued
immediately with appropriate regulatory and/or legislative
actions to follow.
Third, we need to fund the total acquisition workforce. If
we recognize that full definition, we know that agencies need a
comprehensive, cogent, and well-enforced development and
training regime. Congress and the Administration must provide
stable, recurring resources for existing and new workforce
development, training, and retention, and agencies should work
with the Congress to make sure we have the proper funding in
2010 and beyond.
Fourth, put leadership in place. Critical leadership
positions, as we have discussed here, remain vacant. We need an
OFPP administrator and a GSA administrator now. Quickly hire
and fill other key positions with experienced, qualified
acquisition professionals.
Further, I think the role of the OFPP administrator should
be expanded to encompass all acquisition functions, rather than
being just limited to procurement or contracting, and this
change would require a change to the OFPP Act.
Sixth, we need to streamline the hiring process now, almost
overnight, and S. 736 does contain some key areas that need to
be addressed there.
As David Drabkin mentioned, we need to provide cutting-edge
tools. There is an integrated acquisition environment that is
well on the way, but funding by pass-the-hat makes it very
difficult to maintain the tools that are needed.
And, finally, we need to ensure we have an engaged,
meaningful oversight. Accountability must begin with a system
that enables performance and rewards excellence.
Today's Federal acquisition workforce is overworked, under-
trained, under-resourced, and under-supported. The Federal
acquisition environment has become extremely risk averse and
leaves little room for honest mistakes. Performing at the
highest levels, which is what we ask of the Federal workforce,
is impossible without innovation and responsible risk-taking.
The understandable zeal for accountability has spawned a ``got
you'' environment where there has been a palpable effect on
Federal employees in general and government acquisition
professionals in particular.
A contracting officer who does not uphold every single
audit recommendation should not find the remedy for exercising
his or her best judgment to be a referral to the Inspector
General for Personnel Investigation. In the vein of
independence, some elements of the defense oversight community
have largely withdrawn from collaborative problem-solving,
early reporting, open discussion, and resolution of negotiable
items. Independence does not equal isolation. We must
reestablish oversight as an integral part of acquisition team
and a partner in the government's continuous improvement,
provide acquisition training to the oversight, and particularly
the audit community, and emphasize that the community can and
should be a key partner in the acquisition community, which can
be done without any compromise of their independence.
Both the Federal workforce and the contractors should
support serious innovation in both good times and bad, and
sending that message could do more to strengthen the Federal
acquisition workforce than almost anything else. I look forward
to your questions.
Senator Akaka. Thank you very much, Ms. Lee.
I want to start this round with a question for all of our
agency witnesses. There often appears to be a disconnect
between the acquisition and human capital functions within
agencies. This results in acquisition workforce issues largely
falling to acquisition staff, without the benefit of human
capital expertise.
As you work to strengthen the acquisition workforce, how is
your agency promoting communication and collaboration between
the acquisition and human capital parts of your agency? Ms.
Duke.
Ms. Duke. Chairman Akaka, within Department of Homeland
Security, the main way we are addressing that is through the
undersecretary of management position, which, as you know, by
statute, functions as a chief management officer. So, each of
the business lines, personnel, human capital, procurement,
finance and budget, security, and administration are managed
under. So, the undersecretary for management with the career
deputy is that driving integration function.
And, initially, in our early stages, we did function much
more in stovepipes, and now, with our maturity, one of the
focuses of management and each of the chief's performance goals
this year is to provide integrated management solutions, which
drives to the point you are talking about there, supporting
each other to meet our mission more effectively, using the
collaborative business lines together.
Senator Akaka. Mr. McNally.
Mr. McNally. At NASA, the Human Capital Officer and my
office are assigned within the same organization. So we are
aligned together organizationally, and we meet on a regular
basis to discuss my needs within the acquisition arena in not
only procurement, but the project program managers. But, also,
we talk about leadership development, entry-level personnel,
and mid-level, and recruiting retention goals.
Also, when the Office of Human Capital set up a workgroup
within NASA, we are part of that workgroup. Senior leadership
within my organization are part of that. So, we are very much
in line with the Human Resource Office in that arena.
Senator Akaka. Mr. Bashista.
Mr. Bashista. Mr. Chairman, unlike DHS and NASA, we are not
organizationally aligned with our Human Capital Office, but,
particularly in the last year or so, we have seen significant
improvements.
As you are aware, the National Academy of Public
Administration (NAPA) has been studying the Department's
financial management function, human capital function, and
procurement function, and separate, but related, we have been
attacking some of the issues that have been identified by NAPA
in advance of the report just recently being issued, and I
would have to say that the integration, particularly over the
last year, has been exceptional.
We have on board 83 new 1102s series across the Department
just this fiscal year alone, the responsiveness in relation to
the urgency to bring folks onboard as a result of the Recovery
Act. They have significantly helped to streamline the
recruitment and hiring process, particularly through the
internship programs.
So, I would have to say, currently, it is very effective.
Senator Akaka. Mr. McNally, your testimony indicates that
NASA is already doing much of what our legislation to
streamline the Federal hiring process would do. I am pleased to
hear this.
Do you feel these hiring reforms have been successful for
NASA and should be implemented at other Federal agencies?
Mr. McNally. Well, we are still starting the process with
these initiatives, so, we are not totally ready to say that
they are fully successful. But, initial output looks very
promising, particularly in the areas of the advertisements to
make sure it is understandable so that we are recruiting
personnel that are not already within the government, though,
they are welcome, but we are looking for personnel outside the
government, recent college graduates or personnel who are just
graduating from colleges.
The other thing that we are looking to do is to have
communications with those applicants. The one thing that is
very frustrating for a person who is applying for a job is
never to hear what is the status of it, so, that is a key area
that we are working on at NASA.
So we look forward to continual movement to improve the
hiring process because that is a key part of making sure we
have the right acquisition workforce.
Senator Akaka. Ms. Lee, the Professional Services Council's
most recent procurement policy survey found that human capital
was the most mentioned problem by acquisition professionals. In
particular, respondents highlighted the size and quality of the
workforce.
What do you believe the Federal Government should do in the
short-term to fix this problem, and who do you think could lead
that effort?
Ms. Lee. Sir, as we heard from the first panel, the process
right now is cumbersome and time-consuming. We heard about a
process that resulted in 67 offers being made, but I do not
know how many of those people are actually onboard now. I would
recommend that we step way outside the box.
When I was at DOD, one of the things that the people in
logistics did is went and studied NASCAR to say how do you
quickly support logistics at a quick turn? I would recommend in
hiring that we go study the coaches. If you have ever watched,
there are coaches who go and recruit high-quality athletes,
young men and women at about that age and communicate with them
in a regular and continuous basis, communicate with their
family, show them the value of joining the team, and have a
full recommendation on how to get these people onboard and get
them enthused.
We should go study folks like that, not necessarily the
process that we have always used. We have to step outside the
box.
Senator Akaka. At this Subcommittee's last hearing on the
acquisition workforce, we heard testimony about the importance
of sharing best practices government-wide.
I would like to hear about how your agency is sharing best
practices for the Federal acquisition workforce and what best
practices your agencies have implemented successfully. Ms.
Duke.
Ms. Duke. Within DHS, we share best practices a couple of
principle ways. One is through membership on the Chief
Acquisition Officer Council, which is chaired by OFPP and has
acquisition workforce as one of its priorities. Additionally,
we have a member on the board, a Federal Acquisition Institute,
to help make sure that organization develops to meet our
training needs.
I think in terms of the best practices that we have
implemented, I think that what we have done is, one, our intern
program, because I do think in terms of having mid-career
recruiting, we have to create the workforce. When you look at
the retirement numbers, it is not going to happen just from
hiring from other lateral resources. So, I think the intern
program is definitely a best practice.
The other thing I think that is a best practice is
identifying the workforce and treating them as professionals.
The 1102 series is one of the handful of Federal series
that has a positive education requirement, and that is a good
first step, but I think treating our acquisition workforce as
professionals, not as administrative support, is key to making
them feel a valuable part of the mission.
And, so, I think our best practice is in terms of
identifying them, treating them as professionals through the
way we recruit, the way we train, and continuing education
requirements. We have continuing education requirements for all
our professionals, just like an attorney would have. It really
is going to help toward them feeling like they are continued,
valued partners, and I think that is a key to retention. I do
not think pure money is a key to retention. I think it is being
a valued member of meeting the mission is what keeps people at
DHS.
Senator Akaka. Any other witnesses--Mr. McNally.
Mr. McNally. I would like to address interagency working
groups. NASA is a member of one recently started this past year
on award fee contracts, which I spoke about on Monday to
another subcommittee where I was testifying, and that is a key
area where 95 percent of award fee contracts are with five
agencies. So, it is critical that those five agencies get
together and share its practices on incentivizing contractors.
We should not just do it alone.
The other area I would like to address that deals with
acquisition personnel is program project managers.
I was asked and I am now chairing a working group that is
sponsored by OMB on program project management, where we share
best practices on setting up policy on program project
management, how do you do oversight of your program projects,
and training issues, like earned value management and
certification of earned value management systems.
So I think one of the things we need more of is interagency
working groups and sharing of knowledge across the Federal
Government.
Senator Akaka. Mr. Bashista.
Mr. Bashista. Mr. Chairman, at the Department, we, too,
participate in the various fora, the Chief Acquisition
Officer's Council, the Chief Human Capital Officer's Councils,
the Federal Acquisition Regulatory, and Defense Regulatory
Councils, and there is much benchmarking and information
sharing that we have established networks to do that on
acquisition-related issues, and, as it pertains to the
acquisition workforce, primarily through our relationship with
our Chief Human Capital Officer with the CHCO boards. Because
of our close alignment in mission as far as risk and
complexity, we have not been shy about benchmarking extensively
agencies such as NASA, and, so, some of our benchmarking
approaches have been less formal, but, nonetheless, we are
engaged heavily in doing that.
Senator Akaka. Thank you very much. Senator Voinovich.
Senator Voinovich. Ms. Duke, I want to join Senator Akaka
in thanking you for a great job that you have done in the new
undersecretary for management position, and I think that all of
us are impressed with your testimony today and the progress
that has been made.
I just wish that my legislation, S. 872, that would provide
the person in your position a 5-year term had been in place
because I really believe that if you had that 5-year term that
your work and the work of the people that you work with would
have taken DHS off the high-risk list.
I get the impression that you have had the resources to do
the job that you needed to do, in other words, to hire the
people. I hope that the budget that came out of appropriations
continues that trend. I am, as you know, ranking member on the
Appropriation's Subommittee on Homeland Security, and we tried
to the best of our ability to provide the money that you need
at DHS.
Can you confirm that fact, or do you feel that there are
some things that we should have done that we did not do?
Ms. Duke. Yes, Senator Voinovich. Our appropriators have
been very supportive of our request. Our next steps in the
coming years will be towards rounding out those other
acquisition career fields. So, we will continue to come in, but
we do appreciate the support of the Appropriations Committee,
and that has helped us a lot in what we are doing.
Senator Voinovich. So, the 2010 budget will allow you to
continue to do the job that you have undertaken?
Ms. Duke. Yes, Senator Voinovich.
Senator Voinovich. Good.
Mr. McNally, I was very much involved in the effort to
improve NASA's ability to recruit and retain a world-class,
21st Century workforce, and worked with Sean O'Keefe on this
issue. He came to me and said, ``we need these extra
flexibilities.'' Senator Akaka and I worked together, and we
gave NASA those flexibilities.
In your opening statement, you speak about the value of
NASA's contracting intern program. So, I was confused to see
that, according to the program's Web site, NASA is not
currently recruiting new interns. ``NASA is not currently
recruiting new interns. Updates will be posted when
available.'' And then the program Web site also indicates that
NASA is ``Currently developing plans for spring semester 2008
recruitment activities.''
With such confusing and outdated information on your Web
site, how can you expect to recruit the best and brightest
acquisition officers?
Mr. McNally. Senator, we need to update our Web site, and
we will do that. Right now, I currently have eight interns
within our agency, and what we are looking to do is we have to
stay within the ceiling amount of personnel we have within our
budget, but, on a regular basis, we are going to be looking at
introducing more interns into NASA when we have the ability to
put them into the workforce along with mid-level and other
levels in the acquisition workforce.
Senator Voinovich. Well, first of all, I would like you to
get this corrected.
Mr. McNally. Yes, Senator.
Senator Voinovich. It does not look very good, does it?
Mr. McNally. No, it does not.
Senator Voinovich. Is the problem that you do not have the
budget to hire the people you need to do the acquisition?
Mr. McNally. No, sir. The challenge that we have is
throughout the total budget is to look at how many Federal
personnel there are within NASA among the various centers, and
then look at how many do we hire and put into the intern
program. And, so, what we are trying to do is balance how many
personnel we can have at NASA with how many new persons we
bring in and looking at the attrition rates and those things.
Senator Voinovich. Well, can you tell me right now what
NASA needs in terms of acquisition people?
Mr. McNally. Right now, we have enough acquisition
personnel. That includes the procurement personnel, contracting
officer reps, and program project managers to perform the
missions that we have on our plate. But that does not mean that
we do not need to look forward in looking at recruiting new
personnel because we do know that our existing personnel will
leave either through retirement or through transfers to other
organizations or do other things. So currently, we have enough
personnel in our acquisition workforce to do the mission that
we have.
Senator Voinovich. So the fact is that you do not need an
intern program right now?
Mr. McNally. No, Senator, we do need an intern program, and
we do have an intern program. I currently have eight personnel
who are in that intern program at various centers, and, so, we
will continue to have an intern program. What we need to do is
to decide when do we recruit new personnel to be part of that
intern program.
Senator Voinovich. And you will do that when?
Mr. McNally. I will have to take that for the record. I do
not have a specific date to tell you.
INFORMATION FOR THE RECORD SUBMITTED BY MR. MCNALLY
NASA expects to recruit new candidates to the NASA Contracting
Intern Program (NCIP) in spring 2010. The NCIP typically recruits
participants on a biennial basis.
Senator Voinovich. I would like to know how many interns
you have, and how many it looks like you are going to need
during the next 2 or 3 years because it seems to me that is
part of the necessary planning to get the folks that you need
onboard.
INFORMATION FOR THE RECORD SUBMITTED BY MR. MCNALLY
There are currently eight interns who began the 30-month NCIP
program in 2008. NCIP participants currently are funded by the
individual NASA centers. The 2010 recruitment efforts will be
contingent upon NASA center funding and full-time equivalent (FTE)
availability.
In addition, I talked to Mr. Zients about the unique
opportunity we have, because of the economic downturn, to be
able to pick up some absolutely fantastic people to come to
work for the Federal Government who in the past we might not
have been able to get. If we do not zero in right now on that
group of people, we are making a big mistake, because once they
come in and if we do a good job of rewarding them and they see
that they are moving on, they will remain in public service. We
have this great opportunity that comes along maybe once in a
lifetime. We should certainly be taking advantage of this
opportunity, and I would like to hear from you about what you
are going to do about this issue.
Mr. McNally. Yes, Senator.
Senator Voinovich. Ms. Lee, as you know, I am concerned
that agencies receiving funding through the Recovery Act may
not have the infrastructure to obligate such massive infusions
of additional budgetary authority in an effective and efficient
manner. In fact, I was going to ask that of Mr. Zients. We had
the folks in from OMB to talk about how many of them do not
have the people that they need right now to do the job, and now
we are handing them more responsibility. The issue was have
they looked out at the agencies that need the help in order to
make sure that this Recovery Act money is not just squandered?
So, what effect do you think implementing the Recovery Act
will have on a critical workforce that you characterized in
your prepared statement as ``overworked, under-trained, under-
resourced, and under-supported''?
Ms. Lee. Sir, I am very concerned about that workforce. I
still have a very strong affiliation with the acquisition
workforce, and they have been asked, once again, to do a whole
lot more very quickly under a bright, hot spotlight, and I
think you are going to see some of the wear and tear and the
strain on that workforce. It is unfortunate that our economy is
such that it is--because I am hearing anecdotally that some
people are staying that might have gone, and then some people
are saying I am just exhausted. So, I think we really have to
be sensitive to the workforce and the workload.
David Drabkin of GSA, the Congress authorized some
contingency contracting planning, and they are in the throws of
getting that done. I think this would have been a great
opportunity to have that in place and exercise that workforce
for this additional workload. So, I hope we will continue along
this path for future spikes of workload.
Senator Voinovich. I think we gave DHS some extra money in
the stimulus. Did you not get that?
Ms. Duke. Yes, we did.
Senator Voinovich. Ms. Lee, you have been around awhile.
You have been in public service, and now, you are on the
outside looking in.
Were you here when I asked a question of the other
witnesses about whether the Federal procurement process is
organized properly?
Ms. Lee. Yes, sir.
Senator Voinovich. I would like to hear your opinion on
whether or not you think it is organized properly.
Ms. Lee. I think there are always improvements that can be
made. Agencies are striving to do their individual piece. I
will go back to say I think it is absolutely critical that we
get an OFPP administrator and a GSA administrator pretty quick
because they are key in driving forward the change and the
execution that needs to take place.
The agencies you have seen are more than willing and
anxious and ready to take those steps forward, but they want to
be sure they are going in the right direction, that they are
following the Congress and the Administration's desires, and I
think they need the leadership in place to say OK, here we go,
and some pretty quick action and probably some pretty
revolutionary actions need to take place, particularly in the
flexibility in hiring.
Senator Voinovich. OK, so, in your opinion, it is not that
all these various agencies have to coordinate with each other
that is the stumbling block in terms of getting some
acquisition programs off the high-risk list, but that the
problem is having the right people in those agencies?
Ms. Lee. Yes, sir.
Senator Voinovich. So that is a people problem, a human
capital problem, not an organizational problem.
Ms. Lee. Yes, sir, I believe it is, and I also do believe,
as the last piece of my statement here says, we have to get
together on some of the oversight. Oversight is absolutely
essential, but when it has a workforce so paralyzed that they
are concerned about taking measured, logical risks to get the
job done, then we have created an environment that is just too
hard to operate in, and probably will not be successful.
Senator Voinovich. Remember when we passed the Stimulus
Bill, and I think we required the agencies to report back in 30
days with spending plans?
Ms. Lee. Yes, sir.
Senator Voinovich. And I just thought to myself, give me a
break. It is probably going to take them 90 days, maybe 6
months, before they even get the thing off the road. Now, all
of a sudden, they are reporting back, and, of course, then
we've paid for a whole bunch more staff at department
Inspectors General.
So, I suspect what you are saying is that these people are
right now in a position where they are frightened about doing
their jobs because of the big light being shined on them, and,
perhaps, that might impede their ability to do the job that we
want them to do.
Ms. Lee. Yes, sir, I believe it does. Ms. Duke and I were
in it together, and, who can forget the fewer than 40
contracting officers during Hurricane Katrina who were
subsequently reviewed by our 400 auditors? They are going to
find something, and there is not malice or malaise here, it is
people doing the best they can under very difficult
circumstances.
Senator Voinovich. Well, I always felt bad about that. I
really do.
Ms. Lee. Yes, sir.
Senator Voinovich. Because we had some extraordinary
performance from those people during that period of time.
Ms. Lee. Yes, sir.
Senator Voinovich. And I think they made great sacrifices,
their families made great sacrifices, and then they read in the
paper that they were a bunch of bums. I just really felt bad
during that period. And I think Senator Akaka and I tried on
occasion to let them know how much we appreciate the job that
they did.
Ms. Lee. And we saw that in the hiring impact at the
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). When we tried to
hire people, people were saying I do not want to work there.
And part of that was I do not want to read in the newspaper
that I am bad or the organization that I work for is bad. And I
am very concerned from the outside looking in, and I would be
interested in the rest of the panel, are we putting our
acquisition workforce in that same consideration?
At the Department of Defense, the example that I gave was
should a contracting officer who uses their best judgment to
get an action done be referred to the IG? Why are they going to
try to get something done? I would just say come on in,
auditors, and do the job for me. And we are putting people in
that situation. How are we going to recruit, retain, and hire
people if that is the environment we are asking them to work
in? I think it is a concern.
Senator Voinovich. Thank you.
Senator Akaka. Thank you very much, Senator Voinovich. We
will do a second round of questions.
Ms. Duke, DHS is one of the largest procurement spending
agencies in the Federal Government, and, as you know, last
fall, GAO found that the Department still faced significant
challenges in building and sustaining a capable acquisition
workforce.
What steps has the Department taken to address GAO's
recommendations?
Ms. Duke. Well, Senator Akaka, the GAO report said two
things. One, it said we are taking a lot of steps forward, and
then the main areas that it said that we needed significant
improvement on were the strategic planning, and that is
something I will admit we did not do in the earlier days. It is
very hard to be strategically planning when you are dealing
with the formation of a new department and $15 billion of
contracts.
So the main thing we are doing and the main focus of that
GAO report was to do better strategic planning. So we are
trying to get out of the mode of being reactive, filling just
the vacancies as we have them, and through the Human Capital
Office, having a strategic plan that has filling acquisition
positions as well as the other challenges in DHS, such as
intelligence analysts and others.
So that is the main thing we are doing, is addressing the
strategic planning issues, so that we are not in a reactive,
tactical level in the future, we are more planning forward.
Senator Akaka. Ms. Duke, DHS has faced challenges in
collecting comprehensive data on the size and skills of its
acquisition workforce and in planning strategically for that
workforce.
What specific actions is the Department taking to address
these data and planning issues?
Ms. Duke. The main action we are taking is trying to code
the acquisition positions, and what I mean by that is we have
to have a system by which people that are in the acquisition
workforce, those billets are coded so that we can track them,
we can track the people that are in them to make sure they have
the right certification, the right recurring training, and
then, as those people vacate those positions, that we fill them
with the appropriately-qualified people.
If I may add, Mr. Chairman, you asked the previous panel
what can be done at the Federal level? This is an example of
something that is intensely overhead, intensely difficult to
stand up, and I would argue that not only just telling us we
should do good and hire more people, but that some of these
things that are systemic, I believe DOD is the only Federal
agency that has coded positions that we can actually track and
give the management attention to this. Those are some of the
overhead functions that if we address them federally, I think
it would be that we would get a lot better results more
quickly, but, right now within DHS, we are doing it only for
1102s at this point and plan on doing it for the other career
fields.
Senator Akaka. Mr. Bashista, most of DOE's workforce
consists of contractors.
What plans do you have to augment and improve your agency's
acquisition workforce in the short-term so that government
employees can appropriately oversee the contractor workforce?
Mr. Bashista. Senator, one of the actions that we are
taking is in response to the GAO's high-risk report, and one of
the things that the Department has not done historically well
is estimate with any type of accuracy the level or skill mix of
acquisition and program managers and other support staff that
are required to manage our major projects.
In response to the GAO report, we went out and found a
couple agencies that do a good job of doing that, the Naval
Facilities Command and the Army Corps of Engineers. And, based
on the benchmarking of those agencies, we have developed a
staffing model, an algorithm if you will, and we are currently
testing that model to determine the right size to manage and
support our projects.
Senator Akaka. Ms. Lee, you have a unique perspective as a
former Federal acquisition leader who is now involved with the
private sector at PSC. In your testimony, you recommend that
the role of OFPP should be expanded.
Would you please provide more detail on how OFPP's role
should be altered?
Ms. Lee. Mr. Chairman, as discussed here, DOD generally
broadly defines acquisition. They track the systems engineers,
the quality people, and the whole acquisition team.
Generally in the civilian community, when you say
``acquisition,'' people hear contracting and procurement, and
they quickly nick it down to this small group of the
acquisition community, and that puts a lot of pressure on that
community, and I believe that if you look at the Office of
Federal Procurement Policy, it reinforces that thought that
acquisition really means those contracting and procurement
people.
And, so, I believe that role needs to be expanded to
recognize that acquisition is a total team, that it is a
strategic enterprise endeavor, and that if each agency looks at
their total budget and the amount of their budget that goes out
the door in business transactions, which include grants, we
would recognize that team is very important and it needs the
guidance and the structure to make sure it works, and I think
that a Senate-confirmed political position at OFPP is an
important lever to help the community achieve those goals.
Senator Akaka. Mr. McNally, as you know, NASA spends the
vast majority of its budget through contracts, and has been on
GAO's High-Risk List for its contract management since 1990.
While a recent GAO report credits your agency with improvement,
it also found that NASA needs to pay more attention to
effective acquisition project management.
Please discuss what steps NASA is taking to respond to
these findings.
Mr. McNally. Yes, Mr. Chairman.
One of the key steps that we have underway is a monthly
baseline performance review. We have actually invited OMB, and
they have sat in through some of those reviews, and at each
review, which is done by NASA senior leadership, we look at our
major programs and projects on a monthly basis to look at their
cost schedule and technical performance, also hear from an
independent group who also have done an assessment of those
programs, to look at how well those programs are performing.
During that meeting, we also hear from four functional
areas. One of those areas is acquisition. So, I give a briefing
on a monthly basis on upcoming acquisitions, some of the
strategies we have, also focus on some mission directorates,
which are themed that month, but also talk about areas of
undefinitized contract changes: The numbers, where they are in
negotiations, and areas of protest.
So, all the areas of high-risk in acquisition we talk about
on a monthly basis.
And another important area that is talked about is the
workforce. So, I give a presentation on acquisition, and then
someone from the Human Capital Office talks about the workforce
in general, but, also, we get into particular functional areas
like the acquisition workforce.
So that is one of the areas that is part of our corrective
action plan in regards to the acquisition high-risk that NASA
is under.
Senator Akaka. This question goes to the Federal agencies.
As you know, last week OMB issued guidance requiring agencies
to develop insourcing guidelines.
In the past, certain agencies have been criticized for
relying on contractors to assist with procurement functions.
Does your agency have sufficient, internal capacity to
conduct the assessments necessary to determine which functions
should be insourced? Ms. Duke.
Ms. Duke. Mr. Chairman, yes, in DHS, as you know from
previous hearings, we are very close to having that assessment
done. This has been a priority of Secretary Napolitano.
We do not have very much contractor support for the
procurement workforce. We do have it in our program management
program areas. We also are concerned with having enough Federal
employees to actually manage our contracts, and, so, I have
been in conversations with your staff, and we will be up this
month to talk about the results of DHS's assessment of its
workforce and contractor balance.
Senator Akaka. Mr. McNally.
Mr. McNally. We just recently received that memo, and, so,
we are still analyzing it, but one of the key things that NASA
does on its science projects is looking at ``Make-or-Buy''
decisions, and, actually, we compete our science projects
between universities and some of our centers. So, we
continually look to get the best ideas whether or not it is
from an internal NASA scientist or from someone from the
outside in the university arena. So, we continually use ``Make-
or-Buy'' decisions to decide whether or not we should be
performing the function and how we should be using industry in
performing functions to meet our mission.
Senator Akaka. Mr. Bashista.
Mr. Bashista. Mr. Chairman, like NASA, we developed a
general framework based on the Omnibus Act's requirements
pertaining to developing departmental guidelines on insourcing.
We are reviewing the OFPP guidance and refining our draft
implementing guidance, and we are working with our Office of
Human Capital.
Senator Akaka. Mr. McNally, as you know, on complex
acquisition projects, contractors referred to as lead systems
integrators sometimes help manage various other contractors
working on the project. This may result in contractors defining
the requirements for government contracts.
This Subcommittee has seen firsthand problems that can
arise through Lead System Integrators (LSIs) from problems with
the Coast Guard's Deep Water Program. This program subsequently
abandoned the use of LSIs, returning this function to
government employees.
Can you tell us what NASA's experience has been with the
use of Lead System Integrators?
Mr. McNally. Well, Mr. Chairman, I have been at NASA 4
years, so, I really cannot address what we have done in the
past, but I would like to address what we are doing in the
future, and what I would use as an example is our Constellation
Program, which is putting together the next Human Space Flight
Program. There, NASA is the lead integrator. We are responsible
for the total design of the constellation system where we
utilize industry for various elements of that program, like
parts of the launch vehicle and the space vehicle, but we are
taking total responsibility for the complete system on that
program. So, we are the lead integrator on that program.
So, I can only address what we are currently doing on one
of our newest major programs.
Senator Akaka. I want to ask each of you if you have any
final thoughts about this hearing and what we are trying to
accomplish. We have come together seeking to strengthen the
Federal acquisition workforce through government-wide
leadership and initiatives. You have provided answers to our
questions, and I want to give you a chance to provide any final
thoughts you may have on this topic. So, let me start with Ms.
Duke.
Ms. Duke. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I just wanted to commend the Subcommittee for having the
two panels. I think that to make this work, we need not only
the individual agencies, but we need the Federal agencies, and
I think your attempts to have the more systemic OMB and others
accountable and responsible for working with us as they try to
do.
Echoing Ms. Lee's comments, I think most of us know the
right thing to do, and we do not need another layer of
overseers telling us to, again, hire more people and do this,
and, so, I do look forward to both individually with the fellow
agencies and then with the Federal-wide agencies having the
support to pull these forward because that will really be
helpful to do some of this as a Federal Government because it
is a big, uplift design, these controls and these systems, and
I think we need to leverage each other's work and lessen the
overhead for each of us.
Senator Akaka. Thank you. Mr. McNally.
Mr. McNally. Mr. Chairman, this forum has been great for me
and I think the other agencies, and we need more like this,
where we talk, and not just bring in one agency and talk about
an issue, but bring in the other agencies plus OMB, plus Office
of Personnel Management because it is an integrated challenge
that we have when we talk about a workforce. We need to have
the right numbers of personnel, but those personnel need to
have the skills to do the job that they have to do.
So, I commend this Subcommittee to bringing this type of
forum together, and I will look forward to participating in
future forums like this.
Senator Akaka. Thank you. Mr. Bashista.
Mr. Bashista. Mr. Chairman, thank you again for the
opportunity to be here today.
The invitation letter for this hearing solicited additional
ideas or tools that we may need. One that I would like to
offer, it is a little bit close to home because I have lost a
couple of folks to the disparity and pay systems, I would
suggest that the Subcommittee look at the potential of greater
standardization. Agencies that do have pay banding have much
greater flexibilities, as I understand it, and opportunities to
offer higher salaries to folks than we can under the GS System,
which is very restrictive, and, so, that would be one thing I
would like to leave with you today. Thank you.
Senator Akaka. Ms. Lee.
Ms. Lee. Mr. Chairman, thank you for including me.
I will say that one thing we are seeing from the industry
side that is very concerning is regarding insourcing, and that
is that, in the rush to be compliant and to work through those
issues, agencies are doing what we call badge-flipping, which
is going to contractor employees and saying we want you to
convert.
Now, the Professional Services Council absolutely supports
inherently governmental work being done by government employees
and critical and core mission work should be done by government
employees, but we are concerned about this kind of broad stroke
conversion, which, as a taxpayer, may not be the right
strategy, and we could end up with a lot of government workers
not doing the really strategic work. So, we are very concerned
about that.
We are also concerned, of course, from a taxpayer
standpoint, at the long-term cost of bringing that work in-
house, which may not be the most efficient way to accomplish
it.
So, there are some concerns about the execution of
insourcing.
Senator Akaka. Well, thank you again to this panel. I just
received word that Senator Voinovich is returning. I would be
happy to wait a minute for him.
In the meantime, I would like to say, as Senator Voinovich
said, we have been working on this issue over a long period of
time. With this new Administration and new thoughts on these
problems, we are going to make every effort to improve the
system. We are trying to include everybody in shaping the
solutions: The private sector, our agencies, and our government
leadership. We know that part of the problem is a lack of
resources. We need to consider all of this as we do our
strategic planning.
We know that waste and abuse has been a huge problem. If
reform is done correctly, it will certainly help us to improve
rapidly in those areas. We are trying to ensure that the most
expert people are in the proper positions to work in these
important areas.
Senator Voinovich and I have been working closely together
on this. I also want to return to S. 736 and say that we are
going to really work hard on improving hiring times and
practices. This is something that we feel we can certainly
streamline. With your help, your expertise, and your advice, I
think we can succeed.
And, with that, let me call on Senator Voinovich for his
final remarks or any aditional questions that he may have.
Senator Voinovich. Well, I regret that I had to cut out of
here and not hear your responses to Senator Akaka.
It was interesting that Mr. Zients was talking about the
issue of each of the departments needing to make acquisition
and procurement a priority. Ms. Lee, do you think the
departments have made this a priority?
Ms. Lee. I think they are beginning to. I do think with the
new Administration--when I was at the Department of Defense, I
used to keep a pie chart on my desk of the agency's budget, and
when you look at that and see the amount of dollars that go out
the door through business transactions, it is really a sobering
thought, and I would think that all of the agencies probably
want to do that, and when their senior leadership looks at
their budget in that format, acquisition will move to a
strategic, enterprise-wide role in almost all agencies, and I
think that would be a fundamental movement when the senior
leadership nods their head and says yes, this matters to me how
I spend that money.
I think OMB has demonstrated that through their recent
memorandum. And the President's statement, those of us who have
been in the acquisition community for years, I think we were
probably all really quite excited to see the President make a
statement about this community and its importance.
So I think we are on the road. I do not think we are there
yet.
Senator Voinovich. If you were sitting in my chair and
Senator Akaka's chair and you were genuinely concerned about
this, this problem that has been around since 1990, what is it
that you would ask the folks here to do in order to make sure
that these problems are corrected and we get these programs off
the high-risk list?
Ms. Lee. I think the folks here are ready, willing, and
able. They need the leadership permission, if you will, and
support from their senior leaders.
They certainly need the appropriate funding. For years, we
have had caps on this, specific workforce caps and they could
not hire, so, they need that authority. I do believe they can
be successful with the leadership support, and the funding, and
it needs to be recurring funding.
We are certainly a huge supporter of Defense Acquisition
Workforce Reformat, but if you are going to pay people out of
that Act, you have to make sure it has recurring funding
because, otherwise, you have incurred recurring salary money
out of a fund that may not be recurring fund. So, how are you
going to pay those people's salaries? And so, that exacerbates
the problem of hiring and retaining and training.
So, I think leadership, the flexibility to hire, the money,
and I cannot say it enough, it is we have to figure out a way
to streamline the hiring process.
Sir, when I left the Federal Government, I had a job within
weeks, and I did not have to fill out a 19-page application. I
did not have to do knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs). I
did not have to hire a contractor to help me write an
application to get a Federal position, which, as we know,
people are doing.
So, something has got to happen, and quick. Our young
people do not want to fill out--they are so computer literate
that why is not this available to me? Why can't I respond
online? Why can't you tell me, which is a very positive thing
in S. 736--what my status is.
As a parent, we would like to get them off the personal
payroll as quickly as possible. Someone please hire them and
tell us they have a job. Please, let them go. But having them
sitting at home saying hey, mom, I am waiting. Let us move it
along.
Senator Voinovich. Yes. Well, I have heard war story after
war story from people that really wanted to work for the
Federal Government. They did not hear from the agency they
applied to. When another job came along, they took the other
job, and then 3, 4, or 6 months later, they found out that they
could have had the job with the Federal Government, but by then
they had already made a commitment to their new employer. They
were people of integrity and stuck to what they promised the
employer that they would stick around.
The other issue that has been of concern to me is the
complaint I hear from a lot of folks who have worked in highly
technical areas, either for the national labs, the Department
of Energy, or NASA. These skilled individuals just leave
because they feel that the environment is not conducive to
performance. By that I mean, they come in, they work hard, and
they do not seem to be rewarded for their hard work. I have
talked to a lot of people, so, it cannot be that they think
they are better than someone else. They said the environment at
such agencies is not the kind of environment that they had
originally anticipated, particularly, for these highly-educated
folks that are coming onboard to serve.
What is your comment about how do we keep those people
onboard?
Do we need more pay-for-performance? I know Senator Akaka
and I moved some of the technical people into the pay-for-
performance category like we do with the senior executive
service. Could you comment on that?
Mr. Bashista. Senator, I can speak to the acquisition
workforce, and, again, we have been averaging about 9 percent
attrition in the acquisition workforce. In the contracting
field, I can speak specifically. With respect to laboratory
employees and scientists, I am not equipped to really address
that issue.
But with respect to retention strategies, we do see a lot
of the young kids that we bring in through these internship
programs, grow them, train them, invest a lot of money, put
through executive potential programs when they get to that
stage, and then other agencies pursue them. So, my experience
is it is not so much that they are dissatisfied with the work
environment. I believe that most, at least those that I have
worked directly with, are satisfied and believe that they are
getting the training, but there are certain perks, if you will,
and maybe incentive bonuses that we could not offer at one time
to do that.
Now, I will say, and, again, I think this is as a result of
the better integration between our office and our Office of
Chief Human Capital, is we are more aware of the authorities
and the flexibilities that we have to offer hiring and
retention bonuses, award and recognition programs, and the
procurement organization ourselves, we do have various
recognition programs for organizations and individuals.
We have recently instituted a procurement management
review, where we have a cross-function of field and
headquarters folks who go out and review acquisition offices
throughout the department, and one of the key features of that
program, it is not just a got you in oversight and slam them
over the head system, it is acknowledge management and let us
share information. But a key part of that is recognizing
excellent performers, and at least one individual at those
sites, and we found that to be a meaningful incentive for some
of these folks.
So, I do think that we have problems, I do think the
objectives of the legislation and the efforts of OMB and the
other agencies will help us get there.
Senator Voinovich. Great. One last thing. I think you
mentioned in your testimony about direct hire authority.
Mr. Bashista. Yes, sir.
Senator Voinovich. We made that available, I thought,
through our legislation to the Office of Personnel Management,
and I know you have direct authority right now, Mr. McNally, do
you not? That was, I think, one of the changes that was made.
Mr. McNally. Yes.
Senator Voinovich. GAO has that, I think. The Nuclear
Regulatory Commissions has direct hire. And I am interested,
were you unaware that it was available?
Mr. Bashista. I think there was a late recognition in
procurement of the authority and what was required to obtain
it. And, again, I think the skill gap analysis requirements
helped us to collect the data and the information to be able to
support an objective determination by the Secretary to do that.
I think, again, the import of this has been emphasized
based on the need for staffing for Recovery Act, and our Chief
Human Capital Office is supporting us in doing that, and I am
hopeful that we have made the proper justification, and that we
will secure that shortly.
Senator Voinovich. When Mr. Berry was here, Senator Akaka
and I indicated to him that one of our concerns was that a lot
of the agencies were not using the flexibilities that were
available to them and that he ought to try to go out and get
his team to market these flexibilities so folks were definitely
aware of what was available to them.
Senator Akaka. Right.
Senator Voinovich. Well, thank you very much for your
testimony today.
Senator Akaka. Thank you, Senator Voinovich.
I am hopeful that we will remove the remaining roadblocks
to effective recruitment, training, and retention of the best
and brightest acquisition professionals. I appreciate all your
thoughts on our Hiring Reform Bill because I think this is part
of the solution.
I want to thank Elaine Duke for her service with DHS. I
know that you will make great contributions however you choose
to serve the country in the future. Your work has been helpful
not only to DHS, but also to this Subcommittee in its oversight
role. I wish you and your family well in your future endeavors
and thank you for bringing the 10 young people to this hearing.
We appreciate their presence here.
Again, thank you to our witnesses.
The hearing record will be open for one week for additional
statements or questions from other Members.
This hearing is adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 4:55 P.M., the hearing was adjourned.]
A P P E N D I X
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