Acquisition Workforce: Status of Agency Efforts to Address Future
Needs (18-DEC-02, GAO-03-55).
The federal government is dramatically changing the way it
purchases goods and services--by relying more on judgment and
initiative versus rigid rules to make purchasing decisions. At
the same time, agencies are dealing with reductions in the
civilian acquisition workforce. GAO was asked to determine what
efforts federal civilian agencies are making to address their
future acquisition workforce needs.
-------------------------Indexing Terms-------------------------
REPORTNUM: GAO-03-55
ACCNO: A05737
TITLE: Acquisition Workforce: Status of Agency Efforts to
Address Future Needs
DATE: 12/18/2002
SUBJECT: Federal procurement
Procurement planning
Strategic planning
Human resources utilization
Federal procurement policy
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GAO-03-55
Report to Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs
United States General Accounting Office
GAO
December 2002 ACQUISITION WORKFORCE Status of Agency Efforts to Address
Future Needs
GAO- 03- 55
GAO looked at the efforts six civilian agencies are undertaking to address
their future acquisition workforce needs. Together, these agencies account
for about 72 percent of civilian agency contracting dollars. All of these
agencies are taking steps to address their future acquisition workforce
needs. Three* the Departments of Energy and Veterans Affairs (VA) and the
General Services Administration* are developing specific plans to
strengthen their acquisition workforces, and three others* the Departments
of Treasury and Health and Human Services and the National Aeronautics
Space Administration (NASA)* are including their acquisition workforces in
their overall plans to strengthen human capital. All are implementing new
or strengthening existing career development and training programs. NASA
and VA are also developing new information management systems.
The agencies, however, are facing considerable challenges to making their
human capital strategic plans and training programs a success.
Principally:
Most acquisition professionals will need to acquire a new set of skills
focusing on business management. Because of a more sophisticated
acquisition environment, they can no longer be merely purchasers or
process managers. Instead, they will also need to be adept at analyzing
business problems and assisting with developing strategies in the early
stages of the acquisition.
Beyond this immediate transformation, it is difficult for agencies to
forecast what will be needed in terms of numbers of workers, skills, and
expertise in the years to come. Rules, regulations, and agency missions
are always changing, and budgets are constantly shifting.
Many agencies simply lack good data on their workforces, including
information on workforce size and location, knowledge and skills,
attrition rates, and retirement rates. This data is critical to mapping
out the current condition of the workforce and deciding what needs to be
done to ensure that the agency has the right mix of skills and talent for
the future.
In overcoming these challenges, agencies can learn from the Department of
Defense (DOD), which has made progress in acquisition workforce strategic
planning and has addressed some of the same issues. DOD officials learned
that the strategic planning effort was going to take a long time and that
effective leadership and guidance, along with technology and sound
methodology, were required to accurately forecast workforce needs.
ACQUISITION WORKFORCE
Status of Agency Efforts to Address Future Needs
www. gao. gov/ cgi- bin/ getrpt? GAO- 03- 55. To view the full report,
including the scope and methodology, click on the link above. For more
information, contact David Cooper at (202) 512- 4125 or cooperd@ gao. gov.
Highlights of GAO- 03- 55, a report to
Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs
December 2002
The federal government is dramatically changing the way it purchases goods
and services* by relying more on judgment and initiative versus rigid
rules to make purchasing decisions. At the same time, agencies are dealing
with reductions in the civilian acquisition workforce. GAO was asked to
determine what efforts federal civilian agencies are making to address
their future acquisition workforce needs
GAO is recommending that the Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP)
work with procurement executives to ensure that the lessons learned from
agencies* efforts to address future acquisition workforce needs are shared
with all federal agencies. All the agencies that reviewed a draft of the
report generally agreed with GAO*s findings and recommendations.
Page i GAO- 03- 55 Aquisition Workforce Letter 1
Results in Brief 2 Background 3 Status of Civilian Agencies* Efforts to
Develop Strategic Plans for
Their Acquisition Workforces 5 DOD Experience in Workforce Planning
Provides Useful Lessons
Learned 16 Conclusions 22 Recommendation 22 Agency Comments and Our
Evaluation 23 Scope and Methodology 24
Appendix I Comments from the Department of Defense 26
Appendix II Comments from NASA 27
Appendix III Comments from the Department of Health and Human Services 28
Appendix IV Comments from the Department of Energy 29
Tables
Table 1: Various Organizations* Roles Concerning Acquisition Workforce
Issues 4 Table 2: Summary of Agencies* Status 6 Table 3: Highlights of
Initiatives to Strengthen Overall and/ or
Acquisition Workforces 7 Table 4: Highlights of DOD*s Lessons Learned 16
Contents
Page ii GAO- 03- 55 Aquisition Workforce Figure
Figure 1: DOD*s Framework for Developing a Mature Human Capital Strategic
Planning System 19
Abbreviations
CAMEO Center for Acquisition Materiel Management and Education On- line
DCAA Defense Contract Audit Agency DCMA Defense Contract Management Agency
DLA Defense Logistics Agency DOD Department of Defense DOE Department of
Energy FAI Federal Acquisition Institute FPDS Federal Data Procurement
System GSA General Services Administration HHS Department of Health and
Human Services NASA National Aeronautics and Space Administration OFPP
Office of Federal Procurement Policy OPM Office of Personnel Management
PEC Procurement Executives Council VA Department of Veterans Affairs
Page 1 GAO- 03- 55 Aquisition Workforce
December 18, 2002 The Honorable Joseph Lieberman Chairman The Honorable
Fred Thompson Ranking Minority Member Committee on Governmental Affairs
United States Senate
The federal government is dramatically changing the manner in which it
purchases goods and services. It is also striving to maximize the value of
the $200 billion it spends annually by taking advantage of the
opportunities offered by the commercial marketplace. As a result, rigid
procurement rules have given way to rules that allow the use of more
judgment and initiative on the part of the individuals who make up the
acquisition workforce. At the same time, some agencies are contending with
the fact that the acquisition workforce has decreased by 22 percent in the
last decade.
Industry and government experts alike recognize that a key to making a
successful transformation toward a more sophisticated acquisition
environment is having the right people with the right skills. Leading
public organizations here in the United States and abroad have found that
strategic human capital management must be the centerpiece of any serious
change management initiative and efforts to transform the cultures of
government agencies. Workforce planning provides managers with a strategic
basis for making human resource decisions and allows organizations to
address systematically the issues that are driving workforce change.
You requested that we (1) determine the efforts civilian federal agencies
are making to address their future acquisition workforce needs and
identify the challenges, if any, they have encountered and (2) identify
any
*lessons learned* from the Department of Defense*s (DOD) efforts to
develop strategic plans for its acquisition workforce. We included the
following six civilian agencies in our review: the General Services
Administration (GSA), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
(NASA), the Department of Energy (DOE), the Department of Veterans Affairs
(VA), the Department of Treasury, and the Department of Health and Human
Services (HHS). We did not assess the effectiveness of the agencies*
efforts.
United States General Accounting Office Washington, DC 20548
Page 2 GAO- 03- 55 Aquisition Workforce
The civilian agencies we reviewed are taking steps to address their future
acquisition workforce needs. All the agencies have published or drafted
human capital strategic plans for their overall workforces, and three
agencies are developing plans specifically for their acquisition
workforces. The other three agencies do not intend to develop strategic
plans specifically for their acquisition workforces, either because they
are developing an overall workforce plan that includes the acquisition
workforce, or because the acquisition workforce comprises only a small
fraction of the overall workforce. The agencies that are not developing
acquisition workforce strategic plans are taking other steps, such as
revamping training, recruiting, and retention programs, to address their
future workforce needs. All agencies have encountered challenges in their
efforts. In particular, because of shifting priorities, missions, and
budgets, agencies have difficulty predicting with any certainty the
specific skills and competencies the acquisition workforce will need. This
uncertainty is exacerbated by the fact that the role of the acquisition
staff is changing considerably* from merely a purchaser or process manager
to a business manager who must work hand- in- hand with program managers
to ensure that the goods and services being acquired will maximize the
agency*s performance. Another challenge that affects all agencies is
difficulty in sharing information about lessons learned or best practices
that deal with acquisition workforce issues.
Based on its experience so far, DOD has gained some insights from its
strategic planning efforts that could benefit civilian agencies. DOD
recognizes that implementing a strategic approach to reshaping the
workforce involves substantial challenges, and that laying the foundation
for successful strategic planning takes time. To put its own effort on a
better footing, DOD has initiated efforts to acquire the systems and tools
needed to develop accurate and accessible data about the workforce and to
make projections for the future. It is also striving to make a cultural
shift from viewing human capital as a support function to viewing it as a
mission function in order to provide its strategic planning effort with
the level of importance and leadership attention it deserves. Addressing
these challenges includes providing guidance that clearly specifies DOD*s
goals for its acquisition workforce, ensuring that planning is being
carried out at the appropriate organizational level, and ensuring that
managers buy into and have the authority they need to carry out planning
efforts.
We are recommending that the Administrator of the Office of Federal
Procurement Policy work with procurement executives to leverage the
experiences of federal agencies* efforts to strengthen the acquisition
workforce. Results in Brief
Page 3 GAO- 03- 55 Aquisition Workforce
The federal government is facing several significant challenges when it
comes to its acquisition workforce: the number of workers is declining,
while the workload and the demand for more sophisticated technical,
financial, and management skills are increasing. DOD*s contracting
workload, for example, has increased by about 12 percent in recent years,
but the workforce available to perform that workload has been reduced by
about half over the same period. Meanwhile, the federal government is
implementing various ways of contracting, such as performance- based
contracting methods, commercial- based pricing approaches, and the use of
purchase cards.
High- performing public organizations have found that strategic planning
and management can address human capital shortfalls. Strategic human
capital planning begins with establishing a clear set of organizational
intents, including a clearly defined mission, core values, goals and
objectives, and strategies, and then integrating a human capital approach
to support these strategic and programmatic goals. It requires systematic
assessments of current and future human capital needs and strategies*
which encompass a broad array of initiatives to attract, retain, develop,
and motivate a top quality workforce* to fill the gaps. To ensure lasting
success, the top leaders of an organization need a sustained commitment to
embracing human capital management. They need to see people as vital
assets to organizational success and must invest in this valuable asset.
While many organizations have developed models for workforce planning, 1
putting aside variations in terminology, the models share the following
common elements. They
identify organizational objectives;
identify the workforce competencies needed to achieve the objectives;
analyze the present workforce to determine its competencies;
compare present workforce competencies to those needed in the future
(sometimes referred to as a *gap analysis*);
develop plans to transition from the present workforce to the future
workforce; and
periodically evaluate the workforce plans, review the mission and
objectives to assure they remain valid, and make adjustments as
1 For example, OPM*s Workforce Planning Model (http:// www. opm. gov/
workforceplanning/ wfpmodel. htm) and U. S. General Accounting Office,
Exposure Draft: A Model of Strategic Human Capital Management, GAO- 02-
373SP (Washington, D. C.: March 2002). Background
Page 4 GAO- 03- 55 Aquisition Workforce
required by changes in mission, objectives, and workforce competencies.
This process is simple in concept, but it can be difficult to carry out.
First, it requires a shift in the human resource function from a support
role to a role that is integral to accomplishing an agency*s mission.
Second, it requires developing accurate information on the numbers and
locations of employees and their competencies and skills, data on the
profile of the workforce, and performance goals and measures for human
capital approaches. We have previously reported that agencies may find
that they lack some of the basic tools and information to develop
strategic plans, such as accurate and complete information on workforce
characteristics and strategic planning expertise. 2
Four organizations* the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), the Office
of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP), the Procurement Executives Council
(PEC), and the Federal Acquisition Institute (FAI)* have roles to play in
dealing with workforce and acquisition workforce issues. Highlights of
these different roles are presented in table 1.
Table 1: Various Organizations* Roles Concerning Acquisition Workforce
Issues Organization Roles
OPM Help agencies get the right people in the right jobs with the right
skills at the right time; ensure that agencies are incorporating effective
workforce planning and strategic rewards into their strategies for
accomplishing their goals and objectives. OFPP Provide governmentwide
guidance for agencies other than DOD concerning acquisition workforce
issues. The
OFPP Administrator currently serves as the chair of the PEC. PEC Provide a
senior- level forum for monitoring and improving the federal acquisition
system, including the acquisition
workforce. The PEC is an interagency council consisting of procurement
executives in the executive branch. FAI Under the direction of the OFPP,
promote the development of the acquisition workforce and develop a
governmentwide management information system that will allow departments
and agencies to collect and maintain standardized acquisition workforce
information and conform to standards established by OPM for its Central
Personnel Data File.
Source: GAO analysis.
2 U. S. General Accounting Office, Acquisition Workforce: Department of
Defense*s Plans to Address Workforce Size and Structure Challenges, GAO-
02- 630 (Washington, D. C.: Apr. 30, 2002).
Page 5 GAO- 03- 55 Aquisition Workforce
All six agencies that we reviewed have published or drafted human capital
strategic plans for their overall workforces and are taking actions
specifically targeted at strengthening their acquisition workforces. Three
agencies are developing specific acquisition workforce plans. Agencies are
in varying stages of these efforts. The agencies are facing challenges in
completing workforce plans* in particular, they are finding it difficult
to predict and respond to future needs given the rapid pace of change
occurring within acquisition and the lack of reliable data on workforce
characteristics. Agencies are also hampered by difficulty in sharing
information about best practices and lessons learned in addressing
acquisition workforce issues.
In developing strategic plans for their overall workforces, all six of the
agencies we reviewed have identified their organizational objectives.
Three of these, DOE, HHS, and Treasury, have gone as far as conducting a
gap analysis, which involves comparing present workforce competencies to
those that will be needed in the future. Some agencies are developing
these plans at an agencywide level, while others are developing them at a
bureau or operating division level.
Four agencies included in our review* VA, GSA, DOE, and NASA* believe that
the acquisition function is central to accomplishing their missions. There
are clear reasons for this. About 90 percent of NASA*s funds, for example,
is spent on contracts for projects such as the international space station
and the space shuttle. DOE contracts out about 94 percent of its budget.
VA purchases goods and services, such as medical supplies,
pharmaceuticals, and information technology. And GSA*s primary function is
to assist federal agencies in procuring goods and services.
Recognizing the importance of acquisition to their missions, VA, GSA, and
DOE are all developing or have developed strategic plans specifically
targeted at strengthening their acquisition workforce. NASA is developing
an overall workforce plan that will include the acquisition workforce. VA
and GSA have defined the objectives for their future acquisition
workforces. GSA has also established the competencies that workforce will
need and has begun its gap analysis. DOE has studied its acquisition
workforce, identified competencies and gaps, and is now implementing
actions it believes are needed to strengthen the acquisition workforce.
NASA is in the process of identifying the competencies its workforce
possesses. All four of these agencies have also developed training and
career development programs that are aimed at ensuring their acquisition
workforces have the skills to accomplish the agencies* missions. Status of
Civilian
Agencies* Efforts to Develop Strategic Plans for Their Acquisition
Workforces
Progress Made
Page 6 GAO- 03- 55 Aquisition Workforce
Treasury and HHS view acquisition as critical to mission success. However,
unlike GSA, for example, acquisition is not a primary function of these
agencies. Each agency spends less than 25 percent of its budget on
acquisitions. Nevertheless, Treasury and HHS have undertaken initiatives
such as training, career development, and intern programs to ensure that
their acquisition workforces have the necessary skills and training to
accomplish their missions.
Tables 2 and 3 highlight progress being made by the agencies we studied.
Detailed information on each agency*s efforts is provided at the end of
this section.
Table 2: Summary of Agencies* Status Agency DOE GSA VA NASA HHS Treasury
Does the agency view acquisition as critical to mission?
YES YES YES YES NO NO Percentage of acquisition workforce to total
workforce a
3% 21% 3% 4% 1% <1% Percentage of total budget spent on acquisition b , c
94% d 12% 90% 1% 23% Is the agency developing an overall workforce plan?
YES YES YES YES YES YES Is the agency developing an acquisition workforce
plan?
YES YES YES NO NO NO What is the status of the acquisition workforce plan?
Gap analysis completed. Implementing transition plans.
Identified agency*s objectives and competencies needed; gap analysis
underway.
Has begun analysis of current workforce.
Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable a Agencies differ in who they
include in the acquisition workforce; as a result, the numbers may not be
comparable. b Data on amounts spent on acquisition are taken from the
Federal Procurement Data System (FPDS) Federal Procurement Report for
fiscal year 2001. These amounts do not include credit card purchases.
Page 7 GAO- 03- 55 Aquisition Workforce
c Data in the FPDS Report on amounts spent on acquisition sometimes varied
from an agency*s annual procurement report. To be consistent, we used data
from the FPDS Report except in the case of NASA, where the difference was
significant. NASA*s Annual Procurement Report for fiscal year 2001 showed
a total of $12.7 billion, while the FPDS Report showed a total of $10.6
billion. NASA*s total budget for fiscal year 2001 was $14. 2 billion. d
About 96 percent of GSA*s revenues of about $45 billion flow directly from
customers to suppliers of goods and services. Only about 4 percent of GSA
revenue is directed to internal operations. Source: GAO analysis of
agency- provided data.
Table 3: Highlights of Initiatives to Strengthen Overall and/ or
Acquisition Workforces
DOE Analyzed the acquisition workforce, performed a gap analysis, and is
now implementing a new career development program to address the gaps
identified. The program partly focuses on developing future leaders of the
acquisition workforce. GSA Established a new Office of Acquisition
Workforce Transformation to develop a succession plan, develop and
implement recruiting programs, and ensure that appropriate training is
provided to acquisition workers; established Education/ Training Center as
part of ongoing strategy to address skill gaps. HHS Implementing a new
intern program and an emerging leaders program in which it has included
acquisition workers;
initiated a new training program for acquisition workers. NASA Developing
an agencywide workforce planning system that will track distribution of
its workforce across programs,
critical skills, and management experience and will permit NASA to
identify gaps between skills required and skills available. NASA plans to
have the system implemented by September 2003. Implemented Career
Development and Procurement Certification Programs to provide training for
acquisition professionals. Treasury Established a Treasury Acquisition
Institute, which provides a curriculum to meet the needs of an evolving
acquisition
workforce. The program includes courses on communication, information
technology, project management, and leadership. VA Implementing a new
information system to capture data on training and education of its
acquisition workforce. The
system should help to identify current skills and competencies. Source:
GAO analysis of agency- provided data.
Major challenges facing the agencies we reviewed were difficulty in
forecasting their missions in the future because of shifting priorities
and budgets and difficulty in predicting the characteristics that the
future workforce will need. Also, acquisition rules and regulations are
changing, making it difficult for agencies to predict what will be
required of their acquisition workforce in years to come. Officials at DOE
said that given the dynamic nature of the agency*s mission focus and
budget direction, forecasting the future represented a formidable
challenge. Officials at HHS also noted that improving the focus on the
agency*s mission and the skills sets needed to accomplish the mission was
their biggest challenge. Officials at VA told us that they are still
trying to determine how the department would be conducting its
acquisitions in the future, and therefore they could not yet predict the
kind of acquisition workforce VA would need. Challenges Facing
Agencies
Page 8 GAO- 03- 55 Aquisition Workforce
Compounding the uncertainty of the future environment is the changing role
of the acquisition professional from merely a purchaser or process manager
to a business manager. Uncertainty is also caused by an increased focus on
performance and outcomes, which requires greater integration of functions
such as acquisition, financial management, and program management. In
order to make this transition, acquisition workers will need to acquire an
entirely new set of skills and knowledge, according to the agency
officials with whom we spoke. For example, in addition to having a firm
understanding of contracting rules and processes, acquisition workers will
need to be adept at consulting and communicating with line managers, and
they will need to be able to analyze business problems, identify different
alternatives in purchasing goods or services, and assist in developing
strategies in the early stages of the acquisition. Finally, a deeper
understanding of market conditions, industry trends, and the technical
details of the commodities and services being procured will be required.
Another challenge for agencies is the lack of data on the characteristics
of the current workforce (e. g., size of workforce; deployment across the
organization; knowledge, skills and abilities; attrition rates; retirement
rates; etc.). NASA and VA are developing their own management information
systems to capture this data. In addition, the FAI is developing a
management information system, called the Acquisition Career Management
Information System, to help agencies and departments collect and maintain
standardized data on their acquisition workforces. The director of the FAI
stated that the system is expected to be operational by January 2003.
An additional challenge cited by some agency procurement officials is the
lack of a means to share information among agencies about best practices
or lessons learned in dealing with acquisition workforce issues. One
potential mechanism for providing such leadership is the PEC, which was
created to provide a senior- level forum for monitoring and improving the
federal acquisition system. The OFPP Administrator currently serves as the
chair of the council.
The council established an Acquisition Workforce Committee in 1999 to
focus on the changing role of the acquisition workforce and to identify
methods and strategies to equip this workforce with the knowledge, skills,
and abilities to successfully meet the challenges of change. According to
the committee chair, the council has only recently recognized that it
needs to take a leadership role in coordinating agencies* efforts to
strengthen the acquisition workforce. However, assuming this leadership
role will present
Page 9 GAO- 03- 55 Aquisition Workforce
its own challenges. For example, the PEC has yet to reach a consensus on
how best to fulfill this role, in part because of the difficulty in
finding common ground among several federal agencies with different
agendas and missions. In addition, agencies currently lack formal
mechanisms for sharing information about best practices or lessons learned
on dealing with acquisition workforce issues. 3
The Acquisition Workforce Committee had chartered working groups to
research acquisition workforce needs, establish a governmentwide
Acquisition Management Intern Program, develop retention strategies and
incentives, and determine the ideal skills and characteristics of the
future acquisition professional. According to the chair of the committee,
although some of these initiatives, such as the intern program, have been
successful, the effort to develop a broader governmentwide approach to
building and implementing a model for the future acquisition workforce has
been slow because the PEC has been realigning itself and redefining its
strategic initiatives to support the President*s Management Agenda and to
respond to issues related to homeland security.
The following information provides details of the civilian agencies*
efforts to address acquisition workforce issues. The check marks in the
Status section indicate each agency*s progress in developing strategic
plans for its overall workforce and for its acquisition workforce, if
applicable.
3 OPM has a Web site dedicated to workforce planning (www. opm. gov/
workforceplanning), which contains information about what some federal
agencies are doing with respect to workforce planning and provides contact
information for each agency. OPM officials responsible for this site told
us that they are in the process of constructing a *workforce
planning best practices* section on the Web site. However, the Web site
does not contain specific information on acquisition workforce issues.
Page 10 GAO- 03- 55 Aquisition Workforce
General Services Administration Size and Role of Acquisition Workforce
As the government*s primary procurement arm, GSA*s role is to assist
agencies in procuring supplies and services, office space, equipment,
telecommunications, and information technology. The GSA acquisition
workforce comprises about 2, 950 personnel out of a total of about 14,000.
GSA considers its primary acquisition workforce to include contract
specialists (GS 1102), procurement clerks (GS 1106), purchasing
specialists (GS 1105), property disposal agents (GS 1104), contracting
officers, and contracting officer representatives /contracting officer
technical representatives. In the near future, GSA will expand this
definition to include program managers.
Condition of Acquisition Workforce
GSA sees its acquisition workforce as integral to accomplishing its
mission. To keep up the trend toward purchasing highly complex and
technical goods and services, GSA will need its acquisition workforce to
build knowledge on market conditions, industry trends, and the technical
details of the commodities and services being acquired. GSA also envisions
broadening the knowledge base of acquisition professional beyond the
procurement field into areas such as budget, finance, and program
management. A little over 26 percent of the acquisition workforce will be
eligible to retire by 2007.
Status of Overall Workforce Strategic Plans
Agency has published/ drafted human capital strategic plan
Defined vision/ objectives
Identified competencies needed
Identified competencies present
Gap analysis
Transition plans Evaluate/ adjust
Status of Acquisition Workforce Strategic Plans
Separate human capital strategic plan for acquisition workforce a
Defined vision/ objectives
Identified competencies needed
Identified competencies present
Gap analysis
Transition plans Evaluate/ adjust
Efforts
GSA has established the Office of Acquisition Workforce Transformation to
foster the development of the acquisition workforce. Among other things,
the office is responsible for developing a succession plan, developing and
implementing recruitment programs, and developing and managing education/
training standards and data. GSA has identified acquisition as one of its
mission- critical occupations, and has established the competencies needed
by the acquisition workforce. However, GSA currently does not know whether
its acquisition workforce has the requisite competencies. Therefore, it
has established the Applied Learning Center to measure whether the
acquisition workforce has the competencies to carry out its duties
successfully. The pilot project will begin in 2003 and will be completed
that calendar year. The results of the pilot will provide an indication of
the skills gaps in GSA*s acquisition workforce. As a part of its ongoing
strategy to address the skills gaps identified, GSA has also established
an Education and Training Center to provide the needed training.
Challenges
GSA currently tracks its acquisition workforce data manually and maintains
it in a database. GSA will migrate this data to the Acquisition Career
Management Information System when it comes on line in the January 2003
timeframe.
a GSA published its Human Capital Strategic Plan in August 2002. The
acquisition workforce strategic plan is incorporated in the Human Capital
Strategic Plan.
Page 11 GAO- 03- 55 Aquisition Workforce
National Aeronautics and Space Administration Size and Role of Acquisition
Workforce
Out of a total of about 18, 000 employees, approximately 680 comprise
NASA*s acquisition workforce. NASA contracts out about 90 percent of its
budget; it spent about $12. 7 billion in fiscal year 2001. The acquisition
function is essential because NASA is a research and development (R& D)
agency, and the ability to achieve its mission is dependent on the
acquisition function of awarding R& D contracts. NASA*s missions are: to
advance and communicate scientific knowledge and understanding of the
Earth, the solar system and the universe; to advance human exploration,
use, and development of space; and to research, develop, verify, and
transfer advanced aeronautics and space technologies.
NASA includes contract specialists (GS 1102), purchasing specialists (GS
1105), contracting officers, and procurement clerks in its acquisition
workforce.
Condition of Acquisition Workforce
Since 1993, the acquisition workforce has been reduced more than 30
percent, from about 1, 000 in fiscal year 1993 to about 680 in fiscal year
2002. By the end of 2007, another 27 percent of the remaining acquisition
workforce will be eligible for retirement. However, NASA does not perceive
a crisis in its acquisition workforce because of current hiring and an
emphasis on an intern program that is expected to continue to bring in new
acquisition employees.
Also, NASA does not anticipate a big shift in the role of its acquisition
workforce because the goods and services it purchases are not likely to
change.
Status of Overall Workforce Strategic Plans
Agency has published/ drafted human capital strategic plan
Defined vision/ objectives
Identified competencies needed
Identified competencies present
Gap analysis
Transition plans
Evaluate/ adjust
Status of Acquisition Workforce Strategic Plans
Separate human capital strategic plan for acquisition workforce
Defined vision/ objectives
Identified competencies needed
Identified competencies present
Gap analysis
Transition plans
Evaluate/ adjust
Efforts
Currently, each of the NASA Enterprises and Centers is responsible for
identifying the workforce size and skills that it needs to accomplish its
mission, but NASA recognizes that it has limited capability for personnel
tracking and planning. To address this issue, it is developing an
agencywide workforce planning system that will allow better management of
the existing workforce and enable better strategic decisions about future
workforce needs. The system will track the distribution of workforce
across programs, personnel critical skills, and personnel management
experience, and will permit NASA to identify gaps between skills required
and skills available. NASA officials responsible for developing the system
said that it could be used to determine and predict gaps in the
acquisition workforce. NASA hopes to have the system implemented
agencywide by September 2003.
NASA*s Office of Procurement has three initiatives to address entry-
level, mid- level and senior- level staff development needs: NASA*s
Contracting Intern Program ensures a pipeline of well- trained, college-
educated candidates to offset demographic trends; NASA*s Career
Development and Procurement Certification Programs ensure that acquisition
professionals receive training that meets or exceeds statutory
requirements; and NASA*s Rotational Assignments with Industry provide
senior acquisition professionals with corporate experience and the tools
needed to assume acquisition management and other leadership positions.
Page 12 GAO- 03- 55 Aquisition Workforce
Department of Energy Size and Role of Acquisition Workforce
DOE has about 14, 100 federal employees, with a contracting workforce of
464. The contracting workforce includes contracting officers and contract
specialists (GS 1102), purchasing specialists (GS 1105), and other series
with significant acquisition responsibilities assigned to DOE procurement
offices. DOE contracts out about 94 percent of its budget, using a
widespread network of contractors. In fiscal year 2001, DOE spent
approximately $18. 6 billion on contracts. The department manages an
extensive array of energy programs over a nationwide complex that includes
headquarters organizations, operations offices, field offices, national
laboratories, power marketing administrations, special purpose offices,
and sites now dedicated to environmental cleanup. With over 100,000
contractor employees who manage approximately 50 major installations
across the county, acquisition is critical to accomplishing the
department*s mission.
In addition to the series listed above, the DOE acquisition workforce
includes procurement clerks (GS 1106), project/ program managers, property
managers, financial assistance specialists, and contracting officer
representatives.
Condition of Acquisition Workforce
In fiscal year 1995, DOE began a 5- year period of downsizing. During this
period, it essentially stopped hiring. As a result, the average age of the
DOE workforce increased. In 1998, the DOE procurement executive conducted
a demographic study of the acquisition workforce because of concerns that
4 years of downsizing had created potential short- and long- term problems
regarding the ability of the workforce to meet future needs. The study
found that DOE was likely to lose its acquisition leadership because of
retirements and therefore needed to develop leadership skills in the
remaining workforce. In addition, DOE*s assessment of the acquisition
environment identified education and developmental needs in project/
program management, property management, financial assistance, and
contractor human resource management. A survey conducted in 2001 showed
that the department would continue to face the same issues as revealed by
the 1998 study.
In response to the 1998 study, DOE initiated its Acquisition Career
Development Program to address the gaps identified. The program is
designed to ensure that the department will have sufficient numbers of
personnel with adequate education and training to perform the acquisition
mission.
Status of Overall Workforce Strategic Plans
Agency has published/ drafted human capital strategic plan
Defined vision/ objectives
Identified competencies needed
Identified competencies present
Gap analysis
Transition plans
Evaluate/ adjust
Status of Acquisition Workforce Strategic Plans
Separate human capital strategic plan for acquisition workforce
Defined vision/ objectives
Identified competencies needed
Identified competencies present
Gap analysis
Transition plans
Evaluate/ adjust
Efforts
The elements of the Acquisition Career Development Program include an
intern program, a training and certification program, and a program to
develop future leaders of the acquisition workforce by providing
educational and experiential opportunities. This program includes course
work in acquisition- related areas, rotational assignments with industry,
attendance at a leadership institute, and a developmental assignment as
Acting Director at Headquarters.
Challenges
Some of the challenges cited by DOE officials included the difficulty of
forecasting the mission of the agency in an environment of shifting
budgets and priorities, the lack of lower- level (i. e., below office
director level) management support for workforce planning efforts, and the
lack of funding and resources to implement developmental programs.
Page 13 GAO- 03- 55 Aquisition Workforce
Department of Veterans Affairs Size and Role of Acquisition Workforce
The VA sees its acquisition workforce as integral part to accomplishing
its mission. The acquisition workforce of 6,000 represents about 2. 5
percent of the total workforce of 240,000. The acquisition workforce*s
primary role is to purchase pharmaceuticals, medical- surgical supplies,
prosthetic devices, information technology, construction, and services for
America*s veterans and their families. VA spent about $5. 9 billion on
contracts in fiscal year 2001, which represented about 12 percent of its
budget.
The acquisition workforce includes contract specialists (GS 1102),
purchasing specialists (GS 1105), contracting officers, contracting
officer representatives, contracting officer technical representatives,
and other acquisition- related positions such as program managers and
procurement clerks.
Condition of Acquisition Workforce
The Secretary of Veterans Affairs established a Procurement Reform Task
Force in June 2001 to review VA's acquisition system and develop specific
recommendations for optimizing the system. The task force found that the
acquisition workforce is in a vulnerable position because the nature of
its work is changing rapidly, requiring broader competencies and more
complex skill sets. In addition, it found an increased need for employees
with higher educational levels, general management proficiency, and the
ability to leverage information technology. The task force also recognized
that a critically high number of VA*s acquisition employees are eligible
for retirement.
Status of Overall Workforce Strategic Plans
Agency has published/ drafted human capital strategic plan
Defined vision/ objectives
Identified competencies needed
Identified competencies present
Gap analysis
Transition plans
Evaluate/ adjust
Status of Acquisition Workforce Strategic Plans
Separate human capital strategic plan for acquisition workforce
Defined vision/ objectives
Identified competencies needed
Identified competencies present
Gap analysis
Transition plans
Evaluate/ adjust
Efforts
The procurement reform task force proposed a workforce development
strategy consisting of several initiatives that would ensure a sufficient
and talented acquisition workforce. However, the task force report noted
that the implementing a strategic plan for the acquisition workforce would
bind these initiatives together and ensure that the workforce is managed
as a single entity, rather than as a loose collection of related
occupations.
VA is in the early stages of developing a strategic workforce plan for its
acquisition workforce and is in the process of implementing some of the
task force*s recommendations. For example, it has implemented the Center
for Acquisition and Materiel Management Education On- line (CAMEO), a
centralized management information system to capture data on the training
and education of its acquisition workforce. This data will help identify
the skills and competencies the acquisition workforce has currently. VA
acquisition personnel began populating the CAMEO database in January 2002.
In addition to serving as a database, CAMEO provides on- line training.
VA*s first on- line training course became available to its acquisition
workforce in December 2001. VA develops and provides training programs and
courses following the curriculum established by the FAI. VA also conducts
continuing education sessions tailored to the nonmanagerial and managerial
members of the acquisition workforce.
Challenges
While the task force report articulated a broad vision for the acquisition
workforce, VA is trying to identify the specific skills and competencies
the acquisition workforce currently has and what will be needed in the
future. VA does not have a centralized database with complete and accurate
data that will enable it to identify the skills and competencies for its
current workforce. Because the VA is in the process of changing its
acquisition practices and processes, it cannot yet predict precisely what
kind of workforce will be needed.
Page 14 GAO- 03- 55 Aquisition Workforce
Department of Treasury Size and Role of Acquisition Workforce
Treasury*s acquisition workforce provides a support function for the
department*s 15 bureaus. The Treasury acquisition workforce of 640
represents less than 1 percent of the total workforce of 134,577. The
total of 134,577 does not include seasonal workers. Treasury does not plan
to develop an acquisition workforce plan since it does not identify the
acquisition workforce as a challenge in accomplishing its mission.
Treasury*s acquisition workforce includes contract specialists (GS 1102),
purchasing agents (GS 1105), and procurement clerks (GS 1106).
Condition of Acquisition Workforce
Historical data indicate that Treasury GS 1102s have a low attrition rate
of 13 percent, which is balanced by a one- for- one new hire ratio of 12.
9 percent. About 22 percent of the GS 1102s will be eligible to retire in
2004, with the percentage rising to 44 in 2009. However, an October 2001
Workforce Planning Report by the Treasury Deputy Assistant Secretary for
Human Resources cites OPM data that indicate most federal employees wait 3
years past their eligibility date to actually retire. In light of the
above data, the department has not identified the acquisition workforce as
a management challenge. However, Treasury has recognized that the role of
the acquisition workforce is evolving from simply purchasing to that of
business advisor as the government procurement environment changes.
Status of Overall Workforce Strategic Plans
Agency has published/ drafted human capital strategic plan
Defined vision/ objectives
Identified competencies needed
Identified competencies present
Gap analysis
Transition plans
Evaluate/ adjust
Status of Acquisition Workforce Strategic Plans
Separate human capital strategic plan for acquisition workforce
Defined vision/ objectives
Identified competencies needed
Identified competencies present
Gap analysis
Transition plans
Evaluate/ adjust
Efforts
Treasury is implementing initiatives to ensure that the acquisition
workforce does have the skills and competencies needed currently and in
the future. For example, the agency has established the Treasury
Acquisition Institute, which offers a curriculum to meet the needs of its
acquisition workforce. Besides procurement, the institute offers courses
in interpersonal communication and computer capabilities, as well as
courses in project management, competitive sourcing, and leadership. The
institute and the office of the Treasury Procurement Executive also
conduct nontraditional training such as procurement conferences and other
procurement training as needed.
Treasury has established a Treasury Procurement Intern Program to recruit
hire and train new contract specialists, an Acquisition/ Business Career
Management Program and a Fulfillment Program.
Treasury officials stated that the department is actively participating
with the FAI to develop and establish a standard set of skills and
competencies that may be used governmentwide. FAI planned to implement the
set of skills and competencies by late 2002.
Challenges
Treasury officials noted that the lack of a standardized, governmentwide
set of skills and competencies for the future acquisition workforce made
it difficult to assess the current workforce.
Page 15 GAO- 03- 55 Aquisition Workforce
Department of Health and Human Services Size and Role of Acquisition
Workforce
The acquisition workforce is considered a mission support activity that
provides assistance to the 11 operating divisions to accomplish their
mission of protecting the health of all Americans and providing essential
human services, particularly for those least able to help themselves. The
HHS acquisition workforce of 963 makes up 1.5 percent of the total HHS
workforce of 64, 836. In fiscal year 2001, the agency spent about $6. 2
billion on federal contracts, which represented about 1 percent of its
total budget.
The acquisition workforce includes contracting officers (GS 1102),
purchasing agents (GS 1105), and procurement technicians.
Condition of Acquisition Workforce
About 15 percent of the acquisition workforce is currently eligible to
retire. However, according to HHS officials, this percentage is not out of
line with the HHS workforce as a whole. In addition, neither retirements
nor overall attrition among this workforce has shown itself to be a
problem in recent years. Consequently, HHS does not view the acquisition
workforce as a management challenge.
In terms of the future acquisition workforce, HHS, like other agencies,
envisions its acquisition workforce evolving into business managers.
Status of Overall Workforce Strategic Plans
Agency has published/ drafted human capital strategic plan
Defined vision/ objectives
Identified competencies needed
Identified competencies present
Gap analysis
Transition plans
Evaluate/ adjust
Status of Acquisition Workforce Strategic Plans
Separate human capital strategic plan for acquisition workforce
Defined vision/ objectives
Identified competencies needed
Identified competencies present
Gap analysis
Transition plans
Evaluate/ adjust
Efforts
HHS and its operating divisions have developed human capital plans for
ensuring that the overall workforce has the skills needed to manage their
programs. HHS has implemented initiatives such as the HHS Emerging Leaders
program and a training program for its acquisition workforce. The
department has also participated in the governmentwide Acquisition
Management Intern Program. These initiatives are aimed at ensuring that
the acquisition workforce will have the skills and competencies to
accomplish the agency*s mission and evolve into the business managers/
advisors that will be needed in the future.
Challenges
HHS officials said they faced the following challenges in trying to
address their future acquisition workforce needs: the lack of standardized
equivalencies for acquisition training courses taken at other government
agencies to help determine skill levels and competencies, a lack of data
to identify/ characterize the workforce, and a need to improve focus on
the agency mission and develop competencies for effective acquisitions to
support that mission.
Page 16 GAO- 03- 55 Aquisition Workforce
DOD has been working for several years to strengthen its civilian
acquisition workforce. 4 The acquisition workforce comprises a large
proportion of the overall workforce, and DOD views the acquisition
workforce as critical to accomplishing its mission. 5 DOD has analyzed its
current workforce and made projections for the future. But in doing so, it
recognized that implementing a strategic approach to reshaping the
workforce involves substantial challenges. The overriding challenge for
DOD was the need to overcome cultural resistance to the strategic approach
and build a solid foundation for planning, which DOD recognized could take
years to accomplish. The civilian agencies we studied may face some of the
same challenges as they press forward with their own planning efforts. The
specific lessons learned from DOD*s efforts to address its challenges are
highlighted in table 4. 6
Table 4: Highlights of DOD*s Lessons Learned Leadership Planning
Foundation
Because the strategic planning effort takes time, particularly when key
planning tools are lacking, sustained commitment by managers is needed.
Ensure that the organization has accurate and accessible data to carry out
workforce analyses. Acquire new systems or modify legacy systems, if
needed. Ensure that planning is carried out at the appropriate level of
the organization. Individual components or business units may be better
suited than headquarters to develop plans because they have a better sense
of current and future needs and capabilities.
Ensure that the organization has the right tools to make projections about
the workforce. Acquire the tools, if necessary, and provide training on
their use.
If planning is being carried out at lower organizational levels, be sure
managers have the authority they need and that they support the effort.
Provide guidance for the planning effort. Make sure it clearly identifies
strategic and performance goals.
Source: GAO analysis of agency- provided data.
4 DOD refers to its acquisition workforce as its acquisition, technology,
and logistics workforce.
5 DOD includes a wider variety of disciplines in its acquisition
workforce, compared to most civilian agencies. See U. S. General
Accounting Office, Acquisition Workforce: Agencies Need to Better Define
and Track the Training of Their Employees, GAO- 02- 737 (Washington D. C.:
July 2002) for a discussion of this issue.
6 Department of Defense, Report to the Committees on Armed Services of the
Senate and House of Representatives: Implementation of the Acquisition
Workforce 2005 Task Force Recommendations (Washington, D. C.: March 2002).
DOD Experience in
Workforce Planning Provides Useful Lessons Learned
Page 17 GAO- 03- 55 Aquisition Workforce
During the past decade, DOD has downsized its civilian acquisition
workforce by half. It now faces what it considers to be serious imbalances
in the skills and experience of its remaining workforce and the potential
loss of highly specialized knowledge if many of its acquisition
specialists retire. DOD created the Acquisition 2005 Task Force to study
this problem and develop a strategy to replenish personnel losses. The
task force*s first recommendation was to develop and implement a human
capital strategic plan for the civilian acquisition workforce. 7
In response to this recommendation, DOD components 8 undertook a strategic
planning effort in 2001 in tandem with an array of other initiatives aimed
at strengthening the acquisition workforce, including personnel
demonstration projects 9 and new recruiting and new training initiatives.
In its first strategic planning cycle, DOD engaged a consultant to provide
training on the workforce planning process, which took about 2 days, and
then set out to develop the plans.
According to DOD officials, despite encountering problems during the first
cycle, the effort was useful in that the components had begun to think
strategically about their workforce. However, the officials recognized
that the results were imperfect. For example, none of the initial plans
submitted by DOD*s components contained a complete analysis of potential
gaps for the civilian acquisition workforce. The components attributed
this problem to deficiencies in the first attempt at the planning process.
Specifically, due to the time constraints and the timing of the process,
the components lacked sufficient planning guidance from the Office of the
Secretary of Defense, such as the Defense Planning Guidance and the
Quadrennial Defense Review, which had not yet been issued. In addition,
inadequate modeling capability made the process less than optimum.
Furthermore, the output was hampered somewhat by inconsistent accuracy of
personnel data.
7 Department of Defense, Acquisition 2005 Task Force Final Report, Shaping
the Civilian Acquisition Workforce of the Future (Washington, D. C.:
October 2000).
8 DOD components refer to the military services (i. e., Air Force, Army,
and Navy) and the defense agencies. Strategic plans were prepared by the
Air Force, Army, and Navy and three defense agencies: the Defense Contract
Audit Agency (DCAA), Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA), and the
Defense Logistics Agency (DLA).
9 See U. S. General Accounting Office, Acquisition Workforce: Department
of Defense*s Plans to Address Workforce Size and Structure Challenges,
GAO- 02- 630 (Washington, D. C.: July 29, 2002), for a discussion of DOD*s
Acquisition Workforce Personnel Demonstration Project. DOD Planning
Efforts
Page 18 GAO- 03- 55 Aquisition Workforce
DOD still found that the first cycle provided a valuable experience
because it highlighted the key planning barriers that needed to be
overcome. In addition to a lack of specific guidance, data, and modeling
tools, other barriers included ad hoc policy decisions, cultural
resistance to workforce planning, limited strategic workforce planning
expertise, and the lack of an institutional structure to support strategic
workforce planning. DOD also recognized that overcoming these barriers
would not be easy because they require DOD to acquire new systems and
tools and to make a cultural shift from viewing human capital as a support
function to a mission function. As figure 1 illustrates, DOD now estimates
that it will take as long as 5 years to mature the human capital strategic
planning process. 10
10 Department of Defense, Report to the Committees on Armed Services of
the Senate and House of Representatives: Implementation of the Acquisition
Workforce 2005 Task Force Recommendations (Washington, D. C.: March 2002).
Page 19 GAO- 03- 55 Aquisition Workforce
Figure 1: DOD*s Framework for Developing a Mature Human Capital Strategic
Planning System
Several specific lessons learned from DOD*s experience are highlighted
below.
An overriding lesson learned from DOD has been that making the cultural
shift from viewing human capital as a support function to a mission
function requires strong and sustained leadership involvement. GAO*s
guidance on human capital strategic planning also emphasizes the shift in
the role of the human capital function from a support function to one that
is integral to achieving the agency*s mission. In addition, leadership is
needed to foster an agency*s vision, align organizational components, and
build commitment to the vision at all levels of the organization. 11
11 U. S. General Accounting Office. Human Capital: A Self- Assessment
Checklist for Agency Leaders, GAO/ OCG- 00- 14G (Washington, D. C.:
September 2000). Leadership
Page 20 GAO- 03- 55 Aquisition Workforce
For DOD, leadership involvement from leaders at lower levels of the
organization was particularly critical since it became apparent in the
first cycle of planning that attempting to develop a workforce plan at an
agencywide level for a disparate organization such as DOD was almost
impossible. This is because the various business units within an agency
have very different missions, workforce characteristics, and needs. At the
same time, DOD recognized that additional authority needed to be provided
to managers within business units for making any needed changes as they
developed their plans. For example, these managers might not have had
additional hiring authority to address the gaps they identified. DOD
officials noted that providing such authority may require policy,
regulatory, or statutory changes.
Another leadership challenge facing DOD was that some DOD components
lacked buy- in on the importance of acquisition workforce planning. A
consultant hired to assist DOD*s acquisition workforce planning efforts
said that one reason managers view workforce planning skeptically is
because the results of such efforts are difficult to measure, and the
costs can be significant. DOD officials acknowledged, however, that
although the costs may be significant, the costs of making decisions
without the necessary information would be equally significant and could
lead to worse problems. Our guidance reflects this view as well. 12
Another deficiency identified by DOD in its first planning effort was the
lack of guidance that identified what DOD*s goals were for human capital
and how planning efforts should be carried out. Without a clearly
articulated statement of intent, DOD components lacked a strong rationale
for developing a view of what the future workforce should look like.
Moreover, without guidance on how the planning should be done, components
took differing approaches to their analyses.
In assessing the results of its first planning cycle, DOD found that it
lacked essential strategic planning tools, including systems that could
accumulate and report all data needed for its forecasting efforts, models
for projections, and planning guidance. Our own guidance recognizes such
tools as essential to successful strategic planning. For example, our
guidance points out that valid and reliable data are critical not only to
12 U. S. General Accounting Office, Exposure Draft: A Model of Strategic
Human Capital Management, GAO- 02- 373SP (Washington, D. C.: March 2002).
Planning Tools
Page 21 GAO- 03- 55 Aquisition Workforce
assess an agency*s workforce requirements, but also to heighten an
agency*s ability to manage risk by allowing managers to spotlight areas
for attention before crises develop and identify opportunities for
enhancing agency results. 13
Another factor complicating the components* workforce planning efforts was
the difficulty in obtaining data needed to develop plans. Officials at one
DOD component, for example, told us that they had to use three different
data systems in an attempt to identify the characteristics of the current
workforce, and even then they were not sure that the data was accurate.
One system was used to obtain data on such things as pay grade, job
series, and location; another system was used to extract retirement data;
and a *home- grown* attrition model was used to project how many people
would leave, die, and retire based on historical trends. A consultant in
the first planning effort also told us that most of the models used to
make projections were rudimentary, at best, and that forecasting data
important to making projections was incomplete, missing, and/ or
inaccurate.
DOD is working to overcome the problems experienced during the first
planning cycle. It held working group meetings with the components to
gather lessons learned and develop recommendations to improve the quality
of the data for the second planning cycle, which began in January 2002.
For the second cycle, DOD issued guidance that was expected to help
components identify future workforce requirements. DOD officials expect
that each cycle will improve as the planners gain experience.
As part of the institutionalization of the human capital strategic
planning process, the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition,
Technology and Logistics has issued a policy directing that the planning
will occur annually. The policy also directs that forecast data will be
tied to budget information. DOD components will collect and array data
that includes a focus on end- strength projections and expected costs to
reach those projections. According to DOD officials, the issuance of this
policy and the guidance provided previously should help to overcome
resistance to strategic planning. They noted that the number of DOD
components that want to participate in the next cycle has increased to 11
(from 6 in the first
13 GAO- 02- 373SP. DOD Has Taken Steps to
Address Challenges
Page 22 GAO- 03- 55 Aquisition Workforce
year), because the components see the value of strategic planning for the
acquisition workforce.
DOD is now implementing a workforce data management strategy to improve
the collection and storage of personnel data. The intent is to identify
new data requirements and information needs for strategic planning. In
addition, DOD is working to develop more sophisticated modeling tools. As
part of the second strategic planning cycle, DOD hosted a workshop for its
components to discuss tools that would support the workforce planning
effort. These tools included a workforce model that provides a current
view of the workforce, an aging projection model that predicts what the
current acquisition workforce inventory would look like within a certain
period of time, and a future requirements determination model that ties
workload to resource allocation and projects how changes in workload will
affect resource use in the future. DOD officials expect that these tools
will improve the results of the second planning cycle and also expect the
tools themselves to improve in the future.
Procurement reforms, technological changes, and downsizing have placed
unprecedented demands on the acquisition workforce. Acquisition workers
are now expected to have a much greater knowledge of market conditions,
industry trends, and the technical details of the commodities and services
they procure. For this reason, any agency that relies heavily on
acquisition to accomplish its mission stands to benefit greatly by
developing strategic human capital plans that define the capabilities that
will be needed by the workforce in the future, as well as strategies that
can help the workforce meet these capabilities.
While the civilian agencies we reviewed are generally in the early stages
of this process, DOD*s experience highlights the need to provide the right
foundation for planning. This includes obtaining appropriate data
collection and modeling tools, planning expertise, and management buy- in.
More important, DOD*s experience has shown that strategic workforce
planning is not an easy task and can take several years to accomplish.
This makes it especially important for agencies to sustain strong
leadership and support for the planning effort and to be able to learn
from each other*s experiences, with assistance from procurement executives
and organizations such as the OFPP.
In order to leverage the experiences of federal agencies* efforts,
including those of DOD, to address future acquisition workforce needs, we
Conclusions
Recommendation
Page 23 GAO- 03- 55 Aquisition Workforce
recommend that the OFPP Administrator work with procurement executives to
ensure that the lessons learned from these efforts are shared with all
federal agencies as they continue with their initiatives to improve the
acquisition workforce.
DOD, NASA, HHS, and DOE provided written comments on a draft of this
report. OFPP and Treasury provided comments via e- mail. VA and GSA chose
not to provide comments. All the agencies generally agreed with our
findings and recommendation. However, OFPP noted that the role of the PEC
is likely to change in the future and therefore suggested our
recommendation direct the Administrator of the OFPP to work with
procurement executives, rather than with the PEC. We have made this
change.
DOD and NASA concurred with our findings and had no further comment. Their
comments appear in appendix I and appendix II, respectively.
HHS concurred with our findings, but provided technical comments,
including clarifying that it views acquisition as critical to mission
success, although acquisition is not a primary function of the agency. We
incorporated these technical comments as appropriate. HHS*s formal
comments appear in appendix III.
Treasury provided technical comments, including one focused on
distinguishing between permanent and seasonal workers in its workforce. We
incorporated the comments as appropriate.
DOE provided technical comments, which we incorporated as appropriate, and
it expressed four concerns. First, DOE made the distinction between its
acquisition workforce and its contracting workforce. We added language to
reflect this distinction. Second, DOE noted that our report does not
appear to recognize its ongoing efforts to evaluate and adjust its overall
workforce and acquisition workforce strategic plans, nor does our report
note that DOE continually evaluates the effectiveness of its programs. We
asked DOE to provide more information on the evaluation process, and a DOE
official stated that while evaluation does occur, there is no formal
process for doing so, nor is there any documentation of such evaluation.
Third, DOE asked us to provide more detail about its formal succession
plan program. We believe our report already captures this information, but
in a summarized manner. The information on pages 10 to 15 is meant to
display the highlights of agencies* efforts to address acquisition
workforce issues. Finally, DOE Agency Comments
and Our Evaluation
Page 24 GAO- 03- 55 Aquisition Workforce
believed that the lack of management support did not pose a challenge to
its efforts to improve the acquisition workforce, but that a lack of
resources to implement developmental programs has been a challenge. While
we agree that DOE*s top management has been supportive of workforce
planning, our allusion to the lack of management support for workforce
planning efforts refers to a lack of support at lower levels of
management. We have modified the report to explain this issue and to
address the lack of resources. DOE*s comments appear in appendix IV.
To determine civilian agencies* efforts to address their future workforce
needs, we interviewed the procurement executives and other acquisition
officials at GSA, NASA, DOE, VA, HHS, and Department of Treasury, and we
reviewed documents that they provided. These six agencies accounted for
about 72 percent of the federal dollars contracted by civilian (nonDOD)
agencies in fiscal year 2001. We did not assess the effectiveness of the
agencies* efforts or validate the data they provided. In addition, we
contacted officials at OPM and OFPP to determine what guidance may have
been provided to assist agencies with their acquisition workforce planning
efforts. We also interviewed officials with the PEC to obtain their views
on future acquisition workforce issues.
To identify the lessons learned from DOD*s efforts to develop strategic
plans for its acquisition workforce, we reviewed DOD*s report on the
implementation of the Task Force 2005 recommendations. We interviewed
officials from the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for
Acquisition, Technology and Logistics; acquisition management officials
for the military services; and other officials representing DCAA, DCMA,
and DLA. In addition, we obtained relevant documents and interviewed DOD
and contractor officials involved in DOD*s strategic planning efforts.
We conducted our review between December 2001 and October 2002 in
accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards.
As agreed with your office, unless you publicly announce the contents of
this report earlier, we plan no further distribution of it until 30 days
from the date of this letter. At that time, we will send copies to other
interested congressional committees; the secretaries of Defense, Army, Air
Force, Navy, Energy, Health and Human Services, Treasury, and Veteran*s
Affairs; and the administrators of the General Services Administration,
the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the Office of
Federal Procurement Policy. We will also make copies available to others
upon Scope and
Methodology
Page 25 GAO- 03- 55 Aquisition Workforce
request. In addition, the report will available at no charge on the GAO
Web site at http:// www. gao. gov.
Please contact me at (202) 512- 4125, or Hilary Sullivan at (214) 777-
5652, if you have any questions regarding this report. Major contributors
to this report were Vijay Barnabas, Cristina Chaplain, William Doherty,
Enemencio Sanchez, Sylvia Schatz, and Edward Stephenson.
Sincerely yours, David E. Cooper Director Acquisition and Sourcing
Management
Appendix I: Comments from the Department of Defense
Page 26 GAO- 03- 55 Aquisition Workforce
Appendix I: Comments from the Department of Defense
Appendix II: Comments from NASA Page 27 GAO- 03- 55 Aquisition Workforce
Appendix II: Comments from NASA
Appendix III: Comments from the Department of Health and Human Services
Page 28 GAO- 03- 55 Aquisition Workforce
Appendix III: Comments from the Department of Health and Human Services
Appendix IV: Comments from the Department of Energy
Page 29 GAO- 03- 55 Aquisition Workforce
Appendix IV: Comments from the Department of Energy
Appendix IV: Comments from the Department of Energy
Page 30 GAO- 03- 55 Aquisition Workforce (120108)
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