Federal officials strategize on boosting acquisition workforce

Lawmakers and agency officials outlined plans for strengthening the size and skill of the government's acquisition workforce at a Senate hearing Thursday.

The shrinking acquisition workforce has been an ongoing problem for years, especially as the number of procurements continues to grow. According to the Government Accountability Office, the government bought $400 billion in goods and services in fiscal 2006 with only 20,000 contracting specialists in the workforce. Half of the government's contracting specialists will be eligible for retirement by 2016, the latest annual report from the Federal Acquisition Institute estimated.

"With every new retiree, the government is losing important institutional knowledge," said Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii. "The government must act aggressively now in analyzing acquisition workforce trends so that a brain drain does not develop. . ."

Both Congress and the administration say they are taking steps to avoid such a crisis. Office of Federal Procurement Policy Administrator Paul Denett told a Senate subcommittee that the administration has made strides over the last 18 months to strengthen the acquisition workforce. He touted new certification programs for contracting officers, program managers and contracting officer technical representatives to standardize training and experience, as well as recruitment initiatives such as internships.

Denett also highlighted the first competency survey of the contracting workforce, which is now being used to help civilian agencies improve employees' skills. The Office of Personnel Management is using the results from the 2007 survey to help each agency develop a tailored plan to address existing and anticipated personnel deficiencies, Denett said.

Karen Pica, director of the Federal Acquisition Institute, and Frank Anderson Jr., president of the Defense Acquisition University, testified that the three-year-old partnership between the two institutions is extremely beneficial to the training, recruitment and retention of the contracting workforce. In particular, the cooperation has expanded training resources, Anderson said. Since the partnership was established in 2005, there has been a 529 percent increase in the number of people graduating from DAU's certification training program.

Along with better training for present employees, the administration wants to ensure the government hires enough qualified new acquisition professionals. In addition to a federal acquisition internship, the administration also is framing the field of government acquisition as a desirable career path for students and other potential employees.

Thursday's witnesses said that publicly recognizing the achievements of acquisition employees, promoting opportunities for advancement and using direct hiring authorities are all important ways of attracting talented individuals.

"It's a great deal for them to get into," Denett said. "I think we have to do a better job of publicizing that and we are doing that … accenting all the positives. We can forgive college loans, give various retention bonuses, give an opportunity to work with some great people on some really neat programs and climb the ladder."