Report lauds acquisition workforce training efforts

For the most part, civilian agencies have sound strategies for training their acquisition workforces, but they could also learn valuable lessons from the Defense Department's experience, according to a new report from the General Accounting Office.

After interviewing officials at six civilian agencies with large purchasing offices, including the Energy and Veterans Affairs departments, GAO found the agencies had developed specific plans to strengthen their acquisition workforces, or included acquisition workforce plans in their overall workforce planning strategies.

"Recognizing the importance of acquisition to their mission," the agencies surveyed developed new ideas to help their acquisition staff, the report (GAO-03-55) said. Agencies' plans included programs to strengthen employee training, improve recruiting efforts and boost retention rates in procurement offices.

But civilian agencies should also look to the Defense Department for advice on strengthening their acquisition teams, the report said. Defense has worked hard to improve its acquisition workforce in response to "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," GAO said. Defense underwent significant downsizing over the past decade.

"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," the report said.

The department has acquired the systems and tools needed to develop accurate and accessible data about workforce skills and demographics, and to make projections for the future. Defense is also trying to bring more attention to acquisition workforce development by making a cultural shift from viewing human capital development as a "support function" to viewing it as a "mission function," according to the report.

GAO praised NASA and the VA for developing new information management systems so they can track current acquisition employees' skills sets and identify gaps they need to fill in the future. This is important because many agencies lack good data on their procurement workforces, such as information on workers' knowledge and skills sets, attrition rates and retirement rates, the report said.

To get the most out of the $200 billion in annual government spending, agency procurement offices have started using more complicated methods to buy goods, including performance-based contracting methods and commercial-based pricing approaches. These purchase strategies require employees with more sophisticated technical, financial and management skills, GAO said. Agencies are facing these challenges with acquisition workforces that, in some cases, have decreased as much as 22 percent over the last decade, the report added.

The civilian agencies surveyed agreed with GAO's findings.