The President’s 2011 budget proposal provides $158 million for an initiative to improve the capacity and capabilities of the civilian agency acquisition workforce, building on a similar initiative at the Department of Defense.
The budget said the initiative provides resources for most civilian agencies to increase their acquisition workforce by five percent and to invest in training and technology that will make the acquisition workforce more effective.
It would also provide funds for government-wide investments in the acquisition workforce, such as curriculum development, competency and certification management, and collection of data on acquisition workforce capacity and needs.
The document notes that the government currently spends over $500 billion a year on contacts, but that the acquisition workforce has remained constant since 2001 when the amount spent was less than half that.
The initiative is related to guidance OMB issued in July providing agencies with an in-sourcing framework whose goal is to correct an over-reliance on contractors and the erosion of in-house capabilities of core functions.
