DoD increased its acquisition workforce from about 126,000 to about 153,000 from September 2008 to March 2015, GAO has said, but that growth wasn’t concentrated in areas the department has identified as high priority.
It added that some of the growth came on the military side of the acquisition workforce, while some resulted from re-categorizing existing positions, and some by bringing in-house some work previously performed by contractors. Even with the growth, it added, the department did not meet growth goals set in 2010 in six of the 13 acquisition-related fields, including three deemed of highest priority: contracting, business and engineering.
DoD has completed workforce competency assessments for 12 of the career fields and has added training classes to address some skill gaps, GAO said, but “it is unclear the extent to which skill gaps remain, in part because 10 of the career fields have not conducted follow-up competency assessments to gauge progress. DoD has not established time frames for doing so. Office of Personnel Management standards state that identifying skill gaps and monitoring progress towards addressing gaps are essential steps for effective human capital management,” it added.
Further, DoD has not updated its acquisition workforce plan, which would allow it to be better positioned to meet future needs, GAO said, saying that its analysis “indicates that many career fields will continue to be significantly over or under the growth goals . . . especially in priority career fields such as contracting and engineering.”
“An updated plan that includes revised career field goals, coupled with guidance on how to use the Defense Acquisition Workforce Development Fund, could help DoD components focus future hiring efforts on priority career fields. Without an integrated approach, the department is at risk of using the funds to hire personnel in career fields that currently exceed their targets or are not considered a priority,” it said.
