Defense Acquisition Organizations

By reducing infrastructure costs, the Defense Department hopes to realize savings that can pay for forces modernization. As an element of that infrastructure, the defense acquisition workforce is a logical place to look for efficiencies and savings. This testimony focuses on the three main reasons this will be a complex and challenging undertaking. First, there is no agreed-upon definition of what constitutes the acquisition workforce. This makes targeting changes and measuring their progress very difficult. Second, the workforce cuts made to date have not yielded expected savings and have kept the basic organizational structure relatively intact. Third, decisions to restructure or reduce the acquisition workforce should be linked to getting better outcomes from the acquisition process. Cutting personnel levels without changing how acquisition organizations generate weapon system requirements and estimates will miss an opportunity to address the deep-seated causes of acquisition problems.

GAO noted that: (1) there is no agreed-upon definition of what constitutes the acquisition workforce; (2) this makes targeting changes and measuring their progress very difficult; (3) the workforce cuts made to date have not resulted in expected savings and have kept the basic organizational structure relatively intact; (4) decisions to restructure or reduce the acquisition workforce should be linked to getting better outcomes from the acquisition process; and (5) cutting personnel levels without changing how acquisition organizations generate weapon system requirements and estimates will miss an opportunity to address the deep-seated causes of acquisition problems. GAO also offered some preliminary observations on DOD's plan to reduce and restructure its acquisition workforce submitted in January in response to legislation.