Defense Acquisition Organizations

In 1994, Defense Department (DOD) acquisition organizations, including the Defense Contract Audit Agency, employed about 464,000 persons--398,000 civilian and 66,000 military. In addition to acquisition duties, the acquisition organizations have other significant responsibilities, such as logistics, maintenance, and supply. The workforce includes "white collar" jobs, such as engineering, accounting, and computer specialists, as well as "blue collar" jobs, such as machine tool operators, pipefitters, and shipyard workers. The civilian workforce in DOD's acquisition organizations increased with the defense buildup of the early 1980s and decreased following the reductions that began in the mid-1980s. However, this decline occurred without a commensurate decline in civilian payroll costs, due in part to the significant decline in blue collar workers. DOD officials attributed the rise in civilian payroll costs to several factors, such as the advent of locality pay and changes in grade structure. Against the backdrop of the civilian workforce decline in DOD's acquisition organizations, defense contract awards for services have risen about $10 billion since 1980. About $4 billion of this increase was for engineering and architectural and computer services. Even with the decline in both the defense procurement budget and the civilian workforce since 1990, the number of acquisition organizations remains relatively constant. GAO notes that each acquisition organization employs persons in similar jobs, such as personnel and budgeting, and opportunities may exist to improve efficiencies in these areas.

GAO found that: (1) in 1994, DOD acquisition organizations, including the Defense Contract Audit Agency, had a combined workforce of about 464,000, including 398,000 civilian and 66,000 military personnel; (2) in addition to acquisition missions, the acquisition organizations have other significant roles and related responsibilities, such as logistics, maintenance, and supply; (3) the workforce represents such white collar occupational fields as engineering, contracting, accounting, and computer specialization; (4) the workforce also includes such blue collar occupations as machine tool operators, pipefitters, shipyard workers, and warehouse personnel; (5) within this workforce, there are about 41,000 supervisors, or 1 supervisor for every 9 staff members; (6) the civilian workforce in DOD's acquisition organizations increased with the defense buildup of the early 1980s and decreased following the reductions that began in the mid-1980s; (7) in 1994, DOD's civilian acquisition workforce had about 53,000 fewer employees (12 percent lower) than in 1980; (8) however, this decline occurred without a commensurate decline in civilian payroll costs (measured in constant 1996 dollars), due in part to the significant decline in blue collar workers; (9) in addition, DOD officials stated that civilian payroll costs increased because of many factors, such as the advent of locality pay and changes in grade structure; (10) against the backdrop of the civilian workforce decline in DOD's acquisition organizations, defense-wide contract awards for services increased about $10 billion since 1980 (measured in constant 1996 dollars); (11) about $4 billion of this increase was for engineering/architectural and computer services, two large occupational groups in the acquisition organizations; (12) some of the savings from staff reductions in the acquisition organizations may have been offset by increases in contract awards for similar services; (13) even with declines in both the defense procurement budget and the civilian workforce since 1990, the number of acquisition organizations remains relatively constant; (14) DOD officials stated that it is possible that the workforce in the acquisition organizations will increase as it has in the past with the expected increase in the defense procurement budget; (15) however, each acquisition organization maintains similar occupational fields in common areas, such as personnel, budgeting, computer specialists, and contracting, and many of the duties performed in these occupations are not unique to an acquisition organization's mission; and (16) as a result, there may be opportunities to improve efficiencies in these areas.