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Experts Tackle Acquisition Woes

Confusion abounds when it comes to the government acquisition process, and the general consensus is that the system is in serious need of repair. Experts in the acquisition field agree that some of the top priorities are additional training for the work force, a revamp of requirements approaches and adoption of a logical method for leveraging commercial products.

Two former government officials who dealt with acquisition issues on a daily basis offer valuable insights and possible solutions. One of these experts is the Honorable Jacques S. Gansler. Before he became a professor, Gansler was the U.S. Defense Department’s undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics.

Last year, Secretary of the Army Pete Geren asked Gansler to head a commission to conduct an independent study of the U.S. Army’s acquisition and program management in expeditionary operations and offer recommendations for improvement. The review, now known as the Gansler Commission report, is a snapshot of acquisition issues that plague the federal government.

The commission noted that after the Cold War ended, the budget dropped drastically. The Defense Department decided to reduce acquisition personnel rather than reduce the number of warfighters, Gansler explains.

 
Col. Al Moseley, USAF (Ret.) (l), professor of program management, DefenseAcquisitionUniversity, discusses the attributes of good leaders with employees of Hanscom Air Force Base. In addition to sharing his ideas, Col. Moseley split the class into five teams that analyzed a leadership-problem scenario and determined a solution or decision.
The situation is likely to worsen during the next several years. Data reveals that 20,000 people in the acquisition work force are now eligible to retire. To make matters worse, more baby boomers are reaching retirement age, so over the next five years, an additional 18,000 will be retirement eligible.

Because of plummeting budgets during the post-Cold War period, government agencies did not fill many open positions, resulting in few acquisition professionals in middle management today. Gansler believes this is creating two problems. First, many eligible retirees will decide to continue to work but do not possess modern skills required to operate in today’s procurement environment. Second, those who choose to retire will take their knowledge and experience with them.

Diann McCoy is another expert who knows about the challenges facing government acquisition personnel. Until summer 2008, McCoy was the component acquisition executive at the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), Arlington, Virginia. Today, McCoy is the account executive, Defense Department sector, Acquisition Solutions Incorporated, Arlington.

McCoy believes the federal government should examine how it determines its requirements, how it articulates them and then how it expects those requirements to be satisfied.

Several options are available, McCoy notes. Requirements can be stated as a set of objectives, specifications or outcomes. “I believe in the information technology arena, it’s better to state your requirements based upon your expected outcomes versus doing any type of detailed specifications. That’s one of the areas that is a challenge in the acquisition process,” she states.

It also is important that industry understand the timing and other aspects of the decision-making process. It has not always been clear to contractors just who makes the decision in an agency about going to the next phase of a project or how this process works, McCoy adds. A better understanding of this process would help government program managers as well, she notes.

McCoy and Gansler agree that the government acquisition field needs additional and new types of training. Gansler says it is imperative that today's procurers be trained to purchase equipment and services in a new environment.

McCoy believes the government must do a better job in giving acquisition professionals what she calls "fast-learning opportunities." In addition to classroom instruction, McCoy recommends that they have the opportunity to attend workshops or be given real-world projects as practice.

Gansler says Secretary Geren has moved ahead on several initiatives for the Army, and John J. Young Jr., undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics, has instituted a competitive prototyping model and an emphasis on funding research.

“But there’s still a lot more that can be done, and I think there’s a hesitation to take major additional steps with only a couple of months left in the administration. But view it in a positive way and say this is an opportunity for the next administration,” Gansler states.