Key information about the size and composition of the federal acquisition workforce cannot be had without using a consistent benchmark to measure it and none is currently available, the panel said.
It also said that agencies have not engaged in systematic human capital planning to assess their acquisition workforce in the present or for the future, concluding that human capital planning requires prompt attention.
The government needs to follow private sector practices by investing substantially in a corps of high-level business managers –through better pay and superior approaches to recruitment and retention — to ensure that the sourcing, procurement and the management of functions yields the highest returns.
However, the demands placed on the acquisition workforce have outstripped its capacity, the panel said.
It called on the Office of Federal Procurement Policy to prescribe a single, consistent government-wide definition of the acquisition workforce that addresses the broader understanding of the functions outside of procurement that must be addressed without overstating management resources.
OFPP should be responsible for the creation, implementation and maintenance of a mandatory government-wide database for members of the acquisition workforce identified using the new criteria, the report said.
