The Office of Management and Budget's Acquisition Workforce Development Strategic Plan for Civilian Agencies
Abstract
The President acknowledged that many federal contracting arrangements do not serve the needs of the federal government or the interests of the American taxpayer in a March 2009 memorandum.1 Among many of the issues discussed, the memorandum states that the government needs to ensure that it has the workforce needed to carry out robust and thorough management and oversight of contracts to achieve programmatic goals, avoid significant overcharges, and curb wasteful spending. However, the capacity and the capability of the federal government's acquisition workforce to oversee and manage contracts have not kept pace with increased spending for increasingly complex purchases. For example, federal civilian agencies acquisition spending increased in real terms from $80 billion to $138 billion between fiscal year 2000 and fiscal year 2008, while their acquisition workforce grew at a considerably lower rate. Furthermore, 55 percent of the current acquisition workforce will be eligible to retire in 2018- more than twice the number eligible in 2008- which creates potential future skill shortages. To help address the challenges faced in the federal contracting environment, the Presidents fiscal year 2011 budget identifies the development of the federal acquisition workforce as a priority investment with $158 million requested to support that investment. To help agencies develop plans to increase the size of the acquisition workforce, Congress enacted section 869 of the Duncan Hunter National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2009 (NDAA 2009).2 This provision directs the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to prepare a plan- the Acquisition Workforce Development Strategic Plan (plan)- for federal agencies other than the Department of Defense to develop a specific and actionable 5-year plan to increase the size of the acquisition workforce and operate a governmentwide acquisition intern program.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 23, 2010
- Accession Number
- AD1179413
Entities
People
- Brendan Culley
- Desiree Thorp
- Johana R. Ayers
- John K. Needham
- John Krump
- Kenneth Patton
- Morgan D. Ramaker
Organizations
- United States Government Accountability Office