Department of Homeland Security
A Strategic Approach Is Needed to Better Ensure the Acquisition Workforce Can Meet Mission Needs Gao ID: GAO-09-30 November 19, 2008The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is one of the largest procurement spending agencies in the federal government. In fiscal year 2007, DHS obligated about $12 billion for a wide range of goods and services to meet complex mission needs. Like other federal agencies, DHS has faced challenges in building and sustaining a capable workforce to support its acquisitions. GAO was asked to identify and assess DHS's efforts to build and sustain an effective acquisition workforce and determine the extent to which DHS has planned strategically for the acquisition workforce. To conduct the work, GAO collected and reviewed data and interviewed officials from the Office of the Chief Procurement Officer (CPO), DHS's nine procurement offices, and nine program offices, and reviewed in detail workforce information and data for acquisition support contracts from selected offices.
DHS has undertaken several initiatives, mostly focused on contract specialists, to begin addressing acquisition workforce challenges. Initiatives related to recruiting, hiring, and training have made progress. In January 2008, CPO implemented a contract specialist intern program, and 49 contract specialists were hired through this initiative as of September 2008. In addition, CPO developed DHS-specific training for program managers through a training program begun in spring 2008. However, most initiatives related to defining and identifying the acquisition workforce and assessing workforce needs have not yet produced results and in some cases are progressing more slowly than originally projected. CPO is considering expanding some of its recruiting and hiring initiatives to address identified shortages in acquisition-related positions other than contract specialists, but has not determined how it will implement such an expansion. Moreover, DHS generally lacks documented performance goals and implementation steps--such as actions to be taken, needed resources, and milestones--for its current initiatives. Without developing this foundation, DHS will not be in a position to effectively monitor and evaluate implementation of these initiatives. DHS has not developed a comprehensive strategic acquisition workforce plan to direct its future acquisition workforce efforts and generally lacks several elements key to developing such a plan: a coordinated planning process; a comprehensive acquisition workforce definition; and sufficient data on workforce size and skills, including the use of acquisition support contractors. DHS has not set an overall direction for acquisition workforce planning or fully involved key stakeholders, such as the Office of the Chief Human Capital Officer and component procurement and program offices. However, DHS has recently taken steps that may help to include program office stakeholders in workforce planning. The department's narrow acquisition workforce definition, which includes only a portion of the employees performing acquisition-related functions, further limits the scope of planning. While DHS recognizes the importance of expanding the definition, it has not yet established an interim definition that identifies which positions should be included. DHS also lacks sufficient data to fully assess its acquisition workforce needs, including gaps in the numbers of employees needed or the skills of those employees. Understanding such workforce gaps is key to developing effective strategies to address current and future workforce needs. Further, prior GAO work has found that agencies should develop workforce strategies that include contractors; however, DHS has limited insight into the numbers of contractors supporting its acquisition function or the types of tasks performed. While GAO has previously reported that strategic acquisition workforce planning is not an easy task and can take several years to accomplish, government agencies will not be in a sound position to ensure they have capable acquisition workforces without this planning.
RecommendationsOur recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.
Director: Team: Phone:GAO-09-30, Department of Homeland Security: A Strategic Approach Is Needed to Better Ensure the Acquisition Workforce Can Meet Mission Needs
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Report to Congressional Requesters:
United States Government Accountability Office:
GAO:
November 2008:
Department of Homeland Security:
A Strategic Approach Is Needed to Better Ensure the Acquisition
Workforce Can Meet Mission Needs:
GAO-09-30:
GAO Highlights:
Highlights of GAO-09-30, a report to congressional requesters.
Why GAO Did This Study:
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is one of the largest
procurement spending agencies in the federal government. In fiscal year
2007, DHS obligated about $12 billion for a wide range of goods and
services to meet complex mission needs. Like other federal agencies,
DHS has faced challenges in building and sustaining a capable workforce
to support its acquisitions.
GAO was asked to identify and assess DHS‘s efforts to build and sustain
an effective acquisition workforce and determine the extent to which
DHS has planned strategically for the acquisition workforce. To conduct
the work, GAO collected and reviewed data and interviewed officials
from the Office of the Chief Procurement Officer (CPO), DHS‘s nine
procurement offices, and nine program offices, and reviewed in detail
workforce information and data for acquisition support contracts from
selected offices.
What GAO Found:
DHS has undertaken several initiatives, mostly focused on contract
specialists, to begin addressing acquisition workforce challenges.
Initiatives related to recruiting, hiring, and training have made
progress. In January 2008, CPO implemented a contract specialist intern
program, and 49 contract specialists were hired through this initiative
as of September 2008. In addition, CPO developed DHS-specific training
for program managers through a training program begun in spring 2008.
However, most initiatives related to defining and identifying the
acquisition workforce and assessing workforce needs have not yet
produced results and in some cases are progressing more slowly than
originally projected. CPO is considering expanding some of its
recruiting and hiring initiatives to address identified shortages in
acquisition-related positions other than contract specialists, but has
not determined how it will implement such an expansion. Moreover, DHS
generally lacks documented performance goals and implementation
steps”such as actions to be taken, needed resources, and milestones”for
its current initiatives. Without developing this foundation, DHS will
not be in a position to effectively monitor and evaluate implementation
of these initiatives.
DHS has not developed a comprehensive strategic acquisition workforce
plan to direct its future acquisition workforce efforts and generally
lacks several elements key to developing such a plan: a coordinated
planning process; a comprehensive acquisition workforce definition; and
sufficient data on workforce size and skills, including the use of
acquisition support contractors. DHS has not set an overall direction
for acquisition workforce planning or fully involved key stakeholders,
such as the Office of the Chief Human Capital Officer and component
procurement and program offices. However, DHS has recently taken steps
that may help to include program office stakeholders in workforce
planning. The department‘s narrow acquisition workforce definition,
which includes only a portion of the employees performing acquisition-
related functions, further limits the scope of planning. While DHS
recognizes the importance of expanding the definition, it has not yet
established an interim definition that identifies which positions
should be included. DHS also lacks sufficient data to fully assess its
acquisition workforce needs, including gaps in the numbers of employees
needed or the skills of those employees. Understanding such workforce
gaps is key to developing effective strategies to address current and
future workforce needs. Further, prior GAO work has found that agencies
should develop workforce strategies that include contractors; however,
DHS has limited insight into the numbers of contractors supporting its
acquisition function or the types of tasks performed. While GAO has
previously reported that strategic acquisition workforce planning is
not an easy task and can take several years to accomplish, government
agencies will not be in a sound position to ensure they have capable
acquisition workforces without this planning.
What GAO Recommends:
GAO recommends that DHS take several actions to better address
acquisition workforce challenges, including: establishing an interim
acquisition workforce definition and an implementation plan for current
initiatives; developing plans as appropriate to expand current
initiatives; establishing a coordinated planning process; and improving
acquisition workforce data. DHS generally concurred with these
recommendations and noted efforts under way to address them.
To view the full product, including the scope and methodology, click on
[hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-09-30]. For more
information, contact John Hutton at (202)512-4841 or huttonj@gao.gov.
[End of section]
Contents:
Letter:
Results in Brief:
Background:
DHS Has Taken Initial Steps to Address Acquisition Workforce
Challenges, but Has Primarily Focused on Contract Specialists:
DHS Generally Lacks Several Elements Key to Planning Strategically for
the Acquisition Workforce:
Conclusion:
Recommendations for Executive Action:
Agency Comments and Our Evaluation:
Appendix I: Objectives, Scope, and Methodology:
Appendix II: Comments from the Department of Homeland Security:
Appendix III: Procurement and Program Offices Reviewed:
Tables:
Table 1: DHS Contract Specialist Staffing and Vacancy Rates for Federal
Employees as of February 2008:
Table 2: DHS Acquisition Workforce Initiatives:
Figures:
Figure 1: DHS Components with Heads of Contracting Activity and Lines
of Reporting:
Figure 2: Cumulative Percentage of the Contract Specialist Population
at DHS Eligible to Retire as of the End of Each Fiscal Year:
Abbreviations:
CBP: Customs and Border Protection:
CHCO: Office of the Chief Human Capital Officer:
COTR: contracting officer's technical representative:
CPO: Office of the Chief Procurement Officer:
DHS: Department of Homeland Security:
DOD: Department of Defense:
FAR: Federal Acquisition Regulation:
ICE: Immigration and Customs Enforcement:
OFPP: Office of Federal Procurement Policy:
OPM: Office of Personnel Management:
TSA: Transportation Security Administration:
[End of section]
United States Government Accountability Office:
Washington, DC 20548:
November 19, 2008:
The Honorable Joseph I. Lieberman:
Chairman:
The Honorable Susan M. Collins:
Ranking Member:
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs:
United States Senate:
The Honorable Daniel K. Akaka:
Chairman:
The Honorable George V. Voinovich:
Ranking Member:
Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management, the Federal
Workforce, and the District of Columbia:
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs:
United States Senate:
The Honorable Bennie G. Thompson:
Chairman:
Committee on Homeland Security:
House of Representatives:
The federal acquisition workforce plays a key role in ensuring the
government receives the best value for the hundreds of billions of
dollars it spends each year for goods and services. However, changes in
the federal acquisition environment have created significant challenges
to building and sustaining a capable acquisition workforce across the
government. While the federal acquisition workforce has decreased in
number, the size and complexity of investments and the acquisition
workload have increased. As a result, agencies have increasingly relied
on contractors to support the acquisition workforce. Despite these
significant changes, agencies have not given adequate attention to the
size of the acquisition workforce and the skills it needs and planned
accordingly.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which began operations in
March 2003, is one of the largest agencies for procurement spending
within the federal government. In fiscal year 2007, DHS obligated about
$12 billion to acquire a wide range of goods and services. DHS and its
components--which are jointly responsible for managing the department's
acquisition workforce--have faced a number of challenges related to
procurement of services and major acquisitions. Specifically, our prior
work has shown negative cost and schedule implications for complex
services acquisitions at DHS that did not have adequate staff to
effectively plan and execute contracts.[Footnote 1] In addition, our
work over a period of 7 years on the Coast Guard's Integrated Deepwater
System--a multibillion dollar effort to upgrade an array of critical
Coast Guard assets that has experienced significant cost, schedule, and
performance problems--has highlighted ineffective program management
due, in part, to staffing shortfalls and the Coast Guard's inability to
adequately oversee its contractors.[Footnote 2] Most recently, we
reported in June 2008 that despite positive changes to management and
acquisition approaches, the Coast Guard continued to have difficulties
in building an adequate government workforce to acquire and manage
Deepwater and relied on contractors to provide critical skills and
knowledge.[Footnote 3]
Given the acquisition workforce challenges DHS faces, you asked us to
(1) identify and assess DHS's efforts to build and sustain an effective
acquisition workforce and (2) determine the extent to which DHS has
planned strategically for the acquisition workforce. To conduct our
work, we reviewed available documents and interviewed representatives
from DHS's Office of the Chief Procurement Officer (CPO), the Office of
the Chief Human Capital Officer (CHCO), and the nine procurement
offices that support DHS's components.[Footnote 4] We also selected
program offices of major investments associated with each of DHS's
procurement offices that included a range of investment sizes, staffing
levels, and project phases. In addition to collecting information from
each office on the composition of its workforce, we also interviewed
key program representatives. To gather more detailed information, we
selected three procurement offices--the Office of Procurement
Operations, Transportation Security Administration's (TSA) Office of
Acquisition, and Customs and Border Protection's (CBP) Procurement
Directorate--and two program offices--TSA's Electronic Baggage
Screening Program and CBP's Automated Commercial Environment Program--
for in-depth review. To learn about the type of work performed by
acquisition support contractors, we collected and analyzed statements
of work for all acquisition support contracts active as of the end of
fiscal year 2007 associated with these procurement and program offices.
Finally, we reviewed data from the Office of Personnel Management's
(OPM) Central Personnel Data File on contract specialists in DHS's
workforce to assess the department's hiring and retention of this
population.[Footnote 5] We have previously assessed the reliability of
the Central Personnel Data File and based on that assessment and
information provided by OPM in February 2008, we found it sufficiently
reliable for our purposes.[Footnote 6] We conducted this performance
audit from September 2007 until November 2008 in accordance with
generally accepted government auditing standards. Those standards
require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain sufficient,
appropriate evidence to provide a reasonable basis for our findings and
conclusions based on our audit objectives. We believe that the evidence
obtained provides a reasonable basis for our findings and conclusions
based on our audit objectives. See appendix I for additional
information on our scope and methodology.
Results in Brief:
DHS has undertaken several initiatives, mostly focused on contract
specialists, to begin addressing acquisition workforce challenges.
DHS's recruiting, hiring, and training initiatives have made progress
in hiring new contract specialists and expanding access to training. In
January 2008, CPO implemented the Acquisition Professional Career
Program and, as of September 2008, had hired 49 contract specialist
interns through the program. In addition, CPO established an
Acquisition Training Program in spring 2008 that has developed DHS-
specific training for program managers and formed a council to
coordinate acquisition workforce training opportunities across
components. However, most of DHS's initiatives related to defining and
identifying the acquisition workforce and assessing acquisition
workforce needs have not yet produced results and in some cases are
progressing more slowly than originally projected. CPO is considering
expanding some recruiting and hiring initiatives to address identified
shortages for acquisition-related positions other than contract
specialists, but has not determined how it will implement an expansion.
Moreover, DHS generally lacks documented performance goals and
implementation steps--such as actions to be taken, needed resources,
and milestones--for its current acquisition workforce initiatives.
Without establishing this foundation, DHS will not be in a sound
position to effectively monitor and evaluate the implementation of
these initiatives.
DHS has not developed a comprehensive strategic acquisition workforce
plan to direct the department's future acquisition workforce efforts
and generally lacks several elements key to developing such a plan.
These elements include: a coordinated planning process fully involving
stakeholders; a comprehensive acquisition workforce definition; and
sufficient data to completely assess workforce needs including the use
of acquisition support contractors. DHS has not set an overall
direction for acquisition workforce planning or fully involved key
stakeholders, such as CHCO and component procurement and program
offices, actions that our past work has shown can increase the
likelihood of success for workforce planning. However, DHS has recently
taken steps that may help to include program office stakeholders in
workforce planning. The department's narrow acquisition workforce
definition, which includes only a portion of the employees performing
acquisition-related functions, further limits the scope of planning.
While DHS recognizes the importance of expanding the department's
definition, it has not yet established an interim definition that
identifies which positions should be included. DHS also lacks
sufficient data to fully assess its acquisition workforce needs,
including the gaps in the numbers of employees needed or the skills of
those employees. Understanding such workforce gaps is key to developing
effective strategies to address current and future workforce needs.
Further, our prior work has found that agencies should develop
workforce strategies that include contractors; however, DHS has limited
insight into the numbers of contractors supporting its acquisition
function or the types of tasks performed. While we have previously
reported that strategic acquisition workforce planning is not an easy
task and can take several years to accomplish, government agencies will
not be in a sound position to ensure they have capable acquisition
workforces without this planning.
To improve DHS's ability to effectively manage its acquisition
workforce initiatives and plan strategically for its acquisition
workforce, we are recommending that the Under Secretary for Management
take several actions. These actions include establishing an interim
definition of the acquisition workforce and an implementation plan for
current acquisition workforce initiatives; developing plans as
appropriate to expand current recruiting and hiring initiatives to
positions beyond contract specialists; establishing a process to
coordinate future acquisition workforce planning efforts between CPO,
CHCO, and the components; and improving the department's acquisition
workforce data. In written comments on a draft of this report, DHS
generally concurred with our recommendations and provided information
on efforts under way and plans to address them. While the efforts cited
by DHS are important steps toward building an effective acquisition
workforce, we believe additional actions are needed to fully address
our recommendations. The department's comments are reprinted in
appendix II. DHS also provided technical comments, which we
incorporated as appropriate.
Background:
In fiscal year 2007, federal agencies spent over $450 billion to
acquire goods and services. Under the Services Acquisition Reform Act
of 2003, Congress authorized the establishment of a panel to review all
federal acquisition laws, regulations, and certain policies and
recommend changes to them that would result in improved federal
acquisition practices.[Footnote 7] In its 2007 report, the panel found
that the federal acquisition workforce's shortcomings in terms of size,
skills, and experience could affect a variety of areas addressed by its
findings and recommendations, such as commercial practices and the use
of performance-based acquisition.[Footnote 8] Among the acquisition
workforce issues raised by the Acquisition Advisory Panel's report was
the substantial reduction in the federal acquisition workforce during
the 1990s, which led to a period when the hiring of new acquisition
professionals virtually ceased, thereby contributing to a current lack
of experienced personnel. The Acquisition Advisory Panel's report and
our prior work have also raised concerns about the reliance on
contractors to support acquisition-related functions. Our prior work at
DHS found that the department did not always assess the risk of
contractors performing selected professional and management support
services that closely support the performance of inherently
governmental functions. Further, the level of oversight DHS provided
for these services, which include those for acquisition support, did
not always ensure accountability for decisions or the ability to judge
whether the contractor was performing as required.[Footnote 9]
A number of governmental organizations play critical roles in assisting
civilian agencies in building and sustaining their acquisition
workforces. Among these agencies, OPM provides human capital advice and
leadership to ensure federal agencies have an effective civilian
workforce; the Office of Management and Budget's Office of Federal
Procurement Policy (OFPP) provides governmentwide guidance on
acquisition workforce issues for agencies other than the Department of
Defense (DOD); and the Federal Acquisition Institute promotes the
development of the civilian acquisition workforce as well as an
information management system that collects and maintains acquisition
workforce information.
In 2005, OFPP issued guidance to civilian agencies on defining and
identifying their acquisition workforces.[Footnote 10] The guidance
provides minimum categories of positions that define an agency's
acquisition workforce, which include positions such as contract
specialist, program manager, and contracting officer's technical
representative (COTR). Contract specialists perform a range of
acquisition services, such as market research, preparation of
statements of work, and the development and management of acquisition
plans. Some contract specialists receive warrants as government
contracting officers and thereby have the authority to enter into,
administer, or terminate contracts.[Footnote 11] Program managers
perform duties such as developing government requirements, defining
measurable performance standards, and managing contractor activities to
ensure that intended outcomes are achieved. COTRs, who are federal
employees appointed by contracting officers, perform certain contract
administration duties, including inspection and acceptance of supplies
or services. The OFPP guidance further suggests that the acquisition
workforce may be broadened to include all individuals who perform
functions related to acquisition. Examples of functional positions
given in the guidance, such as test and evaluation, and business and
finance, provide key support for the management of programs and extend
beyond the few procurement-related positions that have been
traditionally considered in OFPP guidance as part of the civilian
acquisition workforce.
Agencies addressing workforce challenges similar to those facing the
federal acquisition workforce have used strategic workforce planning to
position themselves to meet these challenges. Strategic workforce
planning is an iterative, systematic process that addresses two
critical needs: (1) aligning an organization's human capital program
with its current and emerging mission and programmatic goals and (2)
developing long-term strategies for acquiring, developing, and
retaining an organization's workforce to achieve programmatic goals.
Agency approaches to such planning can vary, as necessary, to address
each agency's particular needs and mission. However, our prior work
suggests that irrespective of the context in which workforce planning
is done, such a process should incorporate five key principles: (1)
involve management and employees, (2) analyze workforce gaps, (3)
employ workforce strategies to fill the gaps, (4) build the
capabilities needed to support workforce strategies, and (5) evaluate
and revise strategies.[Footnote 12]
Within DHS, CPO is responsible for creating the departmentwide policies
and procedures for managing and overseeing the acquisition function,
including procurement.[Footnote 13] For the purposes of this report,
the term procurement refers to the actual transaction to acquire goods
and services, while the term acquisition includes the development of
operational and life-cycle requirements, such as formulating concepts
of operations, developing sound business strategies, exercising prudent
financial management, assessing trade-offs, and managing program risks.
DHS relies on a structure of dual accountability and collaboration
between the CPO and the heads of DHS's components to carry out the
acquisition function. Seven DHS components have internal procurement
offices with a Head of Contracting Activity who has overall
responsibility for the day-to-day management of the procurement
function for his or her respective DHS entity.[Footnote 14] Component
Heads of Contracting Activity report directly to the head of the
component and are accountable to the CPO. Two other procurement offices
are located within DHS headquarters and have Heads of Contracting
Activity who report directly to the CPO. Figure 1 shows the
organizational relationship between Heads of Contracting Activity,
heads of components, and the CPO.
Figure 1: DHS Components with Heads of Contracting Activity and Lines
of Reporting:
[See PDF for image]
This figure is a flow chart depicting the lines of reporting of DHS
components with heads of contracting activity, as follows:
DHS Secretary/DHS Deputy Secretary:
Direct lines of reporting with:
* Federal Law Enforcement Training Center;
* Transportation Security Administration;
* Federal Emergency Management Agency;
* Immigration and Customs Enforcement;
* Customs and Border Protection:
- Secure Border Initiative;
* Secret Service;
* Coast Guard;
* Under Secretary for Management (Chief Acquisition Officer).
Under Secretary for Management (Chief Acquisition Officer):
Direct lines of reporting with:
* Chief Procurement Officer (Senior Procurement Executive):
- Office of Procurement Operations;
- Office of Selective Acquisitions.
Through the respective head of contracting activity, each of these
agencies has an indirect line of reporting to the Chief Procurement
Officer (Senior Procurement Executive):
* Federal Law Enforcement Training Center;
* Transportation Security Administration;
* Federal Emergency Management Agency;
* Immigration and Customs Enforcement;
* Customs and Border Protection;
* Secure Border Initiative;
* Secret Service;
* Coast Guard.
Source: DHS (data); GAO (analysis and presentation).
[End of figure]
Similarly, CPO and the components rely on a structure of dual
accountability and collaboration to manage DHS's acquisition workforce.
Although DHS has not formally defined its acquisition workforce,
according to CPO representatives, the definition currently includes
contract specialists, program managers, and COTRs. To address workforce
needs, in 2004 CPO established an Acquisition Workforce Branch with
responsibility for leading departmentwide efforts on recruitment,
development, training, certification, and retention of the acquisition
workforce. This branch has been developing its capacity and had 10
staff in place as of August 2008. Components are responsible for
accomplishing these same efforts as well as for planning and budgeting
for their acquisition workforce positions and hiring individuals to
fill those positions.
DHS Has Taken Initial Steps to Address Acquisition Workforce
Challenges, but Has Primarily Focused on Contract Specialists:
DHS has identified staffing level and training challenges related to
the acquisition workforce. Over the past 2 years, CPO has undertaken
several acquisition workforce initiatives, largely focused on contract
specialists, in an effort to begin addressing these challenges. DHS
identified contract specialists as one of its most critical staffing
shortage areas. CPO's initiatives related to recruiting, hiring, and
training have made progress. However, most initiatives related to
defining and identifying the acquisition workforce and assessing needs
have not yet produced results and in some cases are not progressing as
projected. Although CPO is considering expanding some of its recruiting
and hiring initiatives to include positions other than contract
specialists, it has not yet determined how this expansion will be
implemented. Moreover, DHS generally lacks documentation of key
elements needed to monitor and evaluate the progress of its acquisition
workforce initiatives, including performance goals for the initiatives
and implementation steps such as actions to be taken and related
milestones.
DHS Has Identified Acquisition Workforce Staffing Level and Training
Challenges:
DHS has identified contract specialist staffing levels as a serious
concern for the department. According to OPM data, DHS increased its
government contract specialist population from 577 to 1041, or
approximately 80 percent, from the department's inception in 2003 to
the end of fiscal year 2007, with the largest annual increase of 180
federal employees from 2006 to 2007. However, in February 2008, DHS's
procurement offices reported contract specialist vacancy rates for
federal employees ranging from 12 percent to 35 percent (see table 1).
To help address the need for government employees, DHS has hired
contractors to perform some acquisition support functions.
Table 1: DHS Contract Specialist Staffing and Vacancy Rates for Federal
Employees as of February 2008:
DHS Procurement Office: Customs and Border Protection[B];
Authorized full time equivalent positions: 220;
Filled full time equivalent positions: 143;
Vacancies: 77;
Vacancy rate[A]: 35.
DHS Procurement Office: Office of Procurement Operations;
Authorized full time equivalent positions: 190;
Filled full time equivalent positions: 135;
Vacancies: 55;
Vacancy rate[A]: 29.
DHS Procurement Office: Immigration and Customs Enforcement;
Authorized full time equivalent positions: 170;
Filled full time equivalent positions: 133;
Vacancies: 37;
Vacancy rate[A]: 22.
DHS Procurement Office: Federal Emergency Management Agency;
Authorized full time equivalent positions: 154;
Filled full time equivalent positions: 131;
Vacancies: 23;
Vacancy rate[A]: 15.
DHS Procurement Office: Coast Guard;
Authorized full time equivalent positions: 343;
Filled full time equivalent positions: 290;
Vacancies: 53;
Vacancy rate[A]: 15.
DHS Procurement Office: Secret Service;
Authorized full time equivalent positions: 26;
Filled full time equivalent positions: 22;
Vacancies: 4;
Vacancy rate[A]: 15.
DHS Procurement Office: Federal Law Enforcement Training Center;
Authorized full time equivalent positions: 41;
Filled full time equivalent positions: 36;
Vacancies: 5;
Vacancy rate[A]: 12.
DHS Procurement Office: Transportation Security Administration;
Authorized full time equivalent positions: N/A[C];
Filled full time equivalent positions: 87;
Vacancies: N/A[C];
Vacancy rate[A]: N/A[C].
Source: GAO analysis of DHS data.
[A] Vacancy rate is calculated by dividing the number of vacancies by
the number of authorized positions reported.
[B] Data for the Secure Border Initiative Acquisition Office is
included with the CBP data.
[C] A contract specialist vacancy rate cannot be calculated for TSA's
Office of Acquisition because it does not request or authorize
positions by series or function.
[End of table]
Representatives from DHS's procurement offices told us that they had
difficulty finding contract specialists to fill available government
positions, particularly for those positions that required experience.
They attributed this condition to factors such as competition from
other federal agencies and private industry in the Washington, D.C.,
area and the lengthy federal hiring process, and reported that this
condition has led to hiring individuals who lack the experience needed
to handle DHS's complex acquisitions and needing support contractors to
perform some contract specialist duties. Procurement office
representatives also noted difficulty in retaining qualified staff. Our
analysis of OPM data showed that DHS's fiscal year 2007 attrition rate
for contract specialists, 7 percent, was somewhat above the overall
rate for cabinet-level departments of 5.4 percent.[Footnote 15] In
addition to transfers outside of DHS, the data also showed
approximately 40 contract specialist transfers among DHS components in
fiscal year 2007, which adds to the retention challenge for some
components. DHS also has identified increased retirement eligibility of
its contract specialists as a concern. OPM data show that nearly one
third of contract specialists at DHS will be eligible to retire by the
end of fiscal year 2012 (see fig. 2).[Footnote 16]
Figure 2: Cumulative Percentage of the Contract Specialist Population
at DHS Eligible to Retire as of the End of Each Fiscal Year:
[See PDF for image]
This figure is a line graph depicting the following data:
Fiscal year: 2007;
Percentage: 8.67.
Fiscal year: 2008;
Percentage: 12.6.
Fiscal year: 2009;
Percentage: 16.73.
Fiscal year: 2010;
Percentage: 20.46.
Fiscal year: 2011;
Percentage: 25.3.
Fiscal year: 2012;
Percentage: 29.64.
Note: The percentages eligible to retire are for those contract
specialists at DHS in September 2007. Actual percentages eligible to
retire in future years could change with movement of contract
specialists into and out of DHS over the next 4 years.
[End of figure]
DHS also faces staffing shortages in other acquisition-related
positions, including certified program managers, business and financial
management staff, and technical support staff. For example, we recently
reported that during fiscal year 2007, more than 40 percent of DHS's
major investments lacked a program manager certified by DHS as having
the required knowledge and skills to oversee complex acquisition
programs.[Footnote 17] In March 2007, DHS's Under Secretary for
Management stated that the department had a shortage of people
experienced in program management and related functional areas, such as
acquisition logistics and cost analysis.[Footnote 18] Similarly, a 2007
CPO review determined that program offices had very limited technical
support staff such as systems engineers, and that very few offices had
someone functioning as a business or financial manager. Our past work
has also raised concerns about adequate training and numbers of COTRs
at DHS. For example, we reported in September 2007 on cases in which
COTRs lacked the capacity to oversee contractor performance because of
limited expertise and workload demands.[Footnote 19] Additionally, our
work on contracting issues following Hurricane Katrina indicated that
the number of contract monitoring staff was not always sufficient.
[Footnote 20] CPO generally does not collect data on attrition and
retirement eligibility of program managers, COTRs, or other program
management-related employees. However, overall retirement eligibility
trends for federal employees could challenge the department's ability
to attain and maintain sufficient staffing levels for these positions.
Further, DHS representatives have expressed concerns about providing
adequate training to the department's acquisition workforce, and the
Under Secretary for Management has stated that advanced training
programs for the acquisition workforce are necessary to reduce the
department's reliance on contractors.[Footnote 21] The DHS acquisition
workforce obtains training through various means, such as attending
component-sponsored training or courses offered by the Defense
Acquisition University or Federal Acquisition Institute.[Footnote 22]
However, according to DHS representatives, none of these sources
satisfies DHS's long-term requirement for training to meet its specific
needs. For example, the representatives explained that relying on
components to provide training makes it difficult to ensure that the
workforce will be able to obtain and maintain certifications because
components have to obtain funding through their own budgets and funding
levels can fluctuate. In addition, the representatives noted that
Defense Acquisition University courses are not tailored specifically to
DHS's homeland security mission and that Federal Acquisition Institute
courses are primarily focused on contracting.
DHS Has Undertaken Several Acquisition Workforce Initiatives:
At the departmental level, CPO has identified building the DHS
acquisition workforce as one of the office's top priorities. To assist
procurement and program offices in building and sustaining their
workforces, CPO launched several initiatives during 2007 and 2008 for
defining and identifying the acquisition workforce, assessing
acquisition workforce needs, recruiting and hiring acquisition
workforce professionals, and training the acquisition workforce (see
table 2). Most of these initiatives are targeted at contract
specialists. To some extent, this focus was the result of DHS's
identifying contract specialists as one of its most critical staffing
shortages.
Table 2: DHS Acquisition Workforce Initiatives:
Initiative: Define and identify the acquisition workforce:
Initiative: Define and identify the acquisition workforce: Pilot test
to identify acquisition workforce positions;
Description: Define and identify the acquisition workforce: Effort to
identify and code all DHS acquisition workforce positions in the
National Finance Center database; the pilot test is focused on contract
specialists;
Current target population: Contract specialists.
Initiative: Define and identify the acquisition workforce: Expanding
the acquisition workforce definition;
Description: Define and identify the acquisition workforce: Effort to
expand DHS's existing acquisition workforce definition to include
additional acquisition-related functions, such as business and
financial management, logistics, and systems engineering;
Current target population: Program offices.
Initiative: Assess acquisition workforce needs: Procurement office
workforce model/CPO procurement staffing work group;
Description: Define and identify the acquisition workforce: Effort
focused on developing a staffing model for DHS procurement offices;
after considering the results of a contractor-developed study, CPO
formed an internal work group focused on developing a contract
specialist staffing model suitable to DHS;
Current target population: Contract specialists.
Initiative: Assess acquisition workforce needs: Contract specialist
human capital plan;
Description: Define and identify the acquisition workforce: DHS is
preparing a contract specialist human capital plan in preparation for a
succession plan required by the National Defense Authorization Act for
Fiscal Year 2008;
Current target population: Contract specialists.
Initiative: Assess acquisition workforce needs: Pilot test of program
office staffing model;
Description: Define and identify the acquisition workforce: Pilot
effort focused on identifying program office staffing needs using a
contractor-developed model;
Current target population: Program offices.
Initiative: Recruit and hire acquisition professionals: Acquisition
Professional Career Program;
Description: Define and identify the acquisition workforce: Program
that includes three 1 year placements in different components, after
which participants are eligible for permanent placement with a
component based on mutual interest;
Current target population: Contract specialists.
Initiative: Recruit and hire acquisition professionals: Human capital
hiring flexibilities;
Description: Define and identify the acquisition workforce: Direct hire
authority allows DHS to expedite hiring by eliminating, among other
things, competitive rating and ranking. DHS is also authorized to hire
reemployed annuitants to fill acquisition-related positions, including
contract specialist vacancies;
Current target population: Contract specialists.
Initiative: Recruit and hire acquisition professionals: Centralized
hiring initiative;
Description: Define and identify the acquisition workforce: CPO, in
conjunction with CHCO, coordinates departmentwide vacancy announcements
for contract specialists and works with components in the selection
process;
Current target population: Contract specialists.
Initiative: Train the acquisition workforce: Acquisition Training
Program;
Description: Define and identify the acquisition workforce: Effort to
develop or procure training classes and training related services to
meet acquisition workforce certification requirements; also includes a
qualitative training needs assessment of DHS procurement and program
office staff;
Current target population: Contract specialists, program managers,
COTRs.
Source: GAO analysis of DHS data.
[End of table]
DHS's components also have initiatives to address their acquisition
workforce needs. For example, in fiscal year 2007, the Immigration and
Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Office of Acquisition Management began
tracking attrition data for its employees--who are primarily contract
specialists--including their release date, reason for leaving, and new
employer. Each employee is also given an opportunity to participate in
an exit interview. ICE representatives noted that they are gathering
this attrition data for the purpose of identifying areas where
improvements could be made to reduce employee turnover. In addition, in
2007, TSA's Acquisition and Program Management Support Division
developed and proposed a staffing model for TSA's program offices that
recommends positions and staffing levels for program offices in various
program phases. According to TSA representatives, several programs have
used the model to assess staffing. For example, the Electronic Baggage
Screening and Passenger Screening Programs used the model to
restructure their offices. However, the model has not been adopted
across TSA, and it is too soon to tell whether the model addresses
concerns about program office staffing.
Recruiting, Hiring, and Training Initiatives Have Made Progress, but
Focus Largely on Contract Specialists:
DHS's initiatives have been used to hire new contract specialists. For
example, as of September 2008, DHS had hired 49 contract specialist
interns through its Acquisition Professional Career Program, which
started in January 2008. According to CPO representatives, these
contract specialists will be working in eight of DHS's nine procurement
offices. In addition, CPO has implemented two statutory hiring
flexibilities to assist in recruiting qualified contract specialists--
direct hire authority and reemployed annuitant authority. According to
OPM data, DHS used direct hire authority for just over half of the 265
contract specialists hired during fiscal year 2007.[Footnote 23] DHS
uses its centralized hiring initiative in conjunction with direct hire
authority to assist components with finding qualified candidates.
According to CPO representatives, as of July 2008, DHS had made more
than 300 resumes available to the components through the centralized
hiring initiative. CPO and component representatives stated that the
use of direct hire authority has expedited the hiring process and makes
it easier to hire candidates who are the best fit for DHS. DHS is also
using reemployed annuitants to supplement its contract specialist
workforce. Since the beginning of 2007, DHS procurement offices have
hired four annuitants--three with the Coast Guard and one with the
Office of Procurement Operations--and recommended two other annuitants
to be hired.[Footnote 24]
CPO has also begun to improve DHS's ability to train its acquisition
workforce through the establishment of its Acquisition Training
Program, which aims to centralize required training classes for all
acquisition professionals across DHS. The program was established in
spring 2008, and since that time, CPO has developed, in coordination
with the Defense Acquisition University, customized certification
training courses for DHS program managers. Courses for the first level
of certification have been implemented, and according to CPO
representatives, courses for the second level are in the process of
being developed and will be offered in the third quarter of fiscal year
2009, while the third and final level of program manager courses should
be completed by the end of fiscal year 2010. CPO has also established a
training coordinators' council that consists of component
representatives who coordinate training opportunities across the
components and advertise these opportunities to a wider audience within
DHS.
Overall, while these initiatives have shown preliminary results, they
have largely targeted one career field: contract specialists. However,
DHS has also identified shortages among other acquisition-related
staff, but has not yet developed strategies to fully address those
gaps. Developing strategies to address identified workforce gaps
creates the road map needed to move from the current to the future
workforce. According to CPO representatives, DHS is considering
expanding some recruiting and hiring initiatives, including the
Acquisition Professional Career Program and the centralized hiring
initiative, to other acquisition career fields. For example, CPO
representatives told us they recently met with representatives from
three components to gauge interest in an expanded Acquisition
Professional Career Program. However, CPO has not fully assessed its
recruiting and hiring initiatives to determine whether they are
appropriate for other workforce needs or developed plans for how they
would be expanded.
Most Efforts to Define and Identify the Workforce and Assess Needs Have
Not Yet Produced Results:
While CPO's recruiting, hiring, and training initiatives are positive
steps toward building and sustaining DHS's acquisition workforce, most
initiatives to define and identify DHS's acquisition workforce and
determine workforce needs have not yet produced results. Specifically,
while the department's pilot test of a contractor-developed program
office staffing model has been completed and the model has been
approved by the department for components to use as an optional tool
for forecasting staffing needs, CPO's other initiatives in these areas
have not yet been completed. For example, CPO's human capital plan for
the contract specialist career field is not expected to be completed
until January 2009, when DHS and other agencies are required by
Congress to have developed acquisition workforce succession plans.
[Footnote 25] In addition, CPO's effort to conduct a pilot test of a
process for identifying members of the acquisition workforce had not
been completed as of September 2008. CPO representatives expect this
initiative, which involves coding individuals performing acquisition-
related functions in the National Finance Center database, will help to
ensure these positions are filled with qualified applicants and to
monitor the certifications and training of individuals in the
acquisition workforce. CPO representatives reported that they provided
CHCO with the data needed to conduct the pilot test in January 2008,
but CHCO representatives told us their workload required them to put
the testing effort on hold and that they did not expect to be able to
focus on it until fiscal year 2009.
DHS's effort to develop an improved method for assessing contract
specialist staffing needs has also not yet produced results. Since
2004, DHS has projected its staffing needs using a method that relies
on a ratio of staffing-related expenses to contract obligations. DHS
has established a metric for a minimal staffing level of staffing-
related expenses of at least 1.2 percent and optimally at 1.9 percent
of total contract obligations. However, this method is limited as it
does not account for the complexity of an acquisition, or the type of
contract--variables that can affect the time and skills needed to
complete required tasks. In 2005, we found the department had not
conducted an assessment of whether contracting staff are properly
distributed for the varying workloads in each procurement office and
recommended that it conduct such an assessment[Footnote 26]. We also
recently identified the need for the Office of Procurement Operations
to determine the number of contract specialists needed to help ensure a
sufficient contracting workforce to execute other transaction authority
at DHS's Science and Technology Directorate.[Footnote 27] In August
2007, DHS initiated a study to develop an improved staffing model.
After considering the results of the study, in May 2008 the CPO formed
a work group of representatives from each of DHS's procurement offices
and tasked this group with developing a method for the department to
assess contract specialist staffing needs. At the time of our review,
CPO had not released the results of this work, which CPO
representatives told us was originally planned to be released at the
end of July 2008.
Moreover, DHS generally lacks documented performance goals and other
implementation steps--such as actions to be taken, milestones, needed
resources, responsible parties, and an evaluation process--for its
current acquisition workforce initiatives. Our prior work has shown
that developing such implementation steps is part of pursuing a results-
oriented management approach.[Footnote 28] DHS has focused on getting
acquisition workforce initiatives up and running rather than on how
results will be measured. However, without developing this foundation,
DHS will not be in a sound position to effectively monitor and evaluate
the implementation of its current initiatives to ensure the intended
purpose of building and sustaining the acquisition workforce is met.
DHS Generally Lacks Several Elements Key to Planning Strategically for
the Acquisition Workforce:
DHS has not developed a comprehensive strategic acquisition workforce
plan to direct the department's future acquisition workforce efforts
and generally lacks several elements key to developing such a plan.
These elements include: a coordinated planning process fully involving
stakeholders; a comprehensive acquisition workforce definition; and
sufficient data to fully assess workforce needs including the use of
contractors. Our prior work has found that planning strategically for
the acquisition workforce can facilitate good acquisition outcomes.
[Footnote 29] The Acquisition Advisory Panel noted in its 2007 report
that most federal agencies have not engaged systematically in human
capital planning for their acquisition workforces.[Footnote 30]
However, while our past work at DOD has shown that acquisition
workforce planning is not an easy task and can take several years to
accomplish, we have also emphasized that government agencies will not
be in a sound position to adjust to the systemic challenge of creating
a capable acquisition workforce without proper strategic workforce
planning.[Footnote 31]
DHS Has Not Developed a Coordinated Acquisition Workforce Planning
Process:
Our prior work has shown that strategic workforce planning is most
likely to succeed if top management officials set the overall goals and
direction of the effort and involve stakeholders in developing and
implementing strategies to achieve the goals. For example, we found
that workforce planning efforts at the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration were facilitated by the agency's leaders and human
capital managers setting the agency's overall direction and goals and
further involving the mission directorates and centers in developing
human capital strategy documents.[Footnote 32] However, DHS has not set
an overall direction or fully involved stakeholders--including
component procurement and program offices, CHCO, and component human
capital offices--for acquisition workforce planning. DHS's current
departmentwide human capital planning documents provide only limited
information about the contract specialist career field and do not
include data on other acquisition-related career fields. While these
documents will be revised for fiscal year 2009, CPO and CHCO
representatives told us they do not expect the acquisition workforce
will be more fully addressed in the updated documents, but instead that
CPO will develop a separate plan in the future.
Currently, DHS components have the primary responsibility for workforce
planning, and representatives from the procurement and program offices
we reviewed generally told us that workforce needs are identified
within their offices as they arise or on an annual basis, such as
during the budget process. Some components and offices independently
developed acquisition-related workforce plans. For example, the Coast
Guard developed a strategic human capital plan for its acquisition
workforce; TSA developed a human capital plan for its Office of
Acquisition as we recommended in 2004; and the United States Visitor
and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology program developed a strategic
human capital plan.[Footnote 33] However, DHS has not developed
guidance that outlines specific goals or expectations for acquisition
workforce planning, such as the types of acquisition-related positions
to be included, a time frame for planning, or how results should be
communicated between components and CPO.[Footnote 34] CPO
representatives told us their goal is to play a supporting role with
the components, providing assistance and tools for workforce planning,
but noted that they do not have a formal role in reviewing components'
acquisition workforce planning efforts.
In addition, the department generally has not established focal points
within the components on acquisition workforce issues that extend
beyond procurement. This situation inhibits CPO's efforts to inform
planning for acquisition workforce needs outside of the procurement
offices. Acquisition Workforce Branch representatives told us that they
do not have points of contact who would enable them to understand
program office staffing needs or obtain input from program office
stakeholders on workforce planning. DHS has recently taken steps that
may help to better address program office staffing needs, although it
is not yet clear whether these steps will fully address this challenge.
In fiscal year 2007, DHS created a Program Management Council that
included DHS and CPO program management personnel and program managers
from the various components to address departmentwide program
management issues, including workforce issues. CPO also formed an
Acquisition Program Management Division to provide oversight and
support for acquisition program offices throughout DHS. Finally, DHS
representatives told us that they are considering establishing a
position with authority for acquisition issues within components, a
step that could provide a centralized point of contact for program
office information.
Further, while our prior work has shown the importance of human capital
professionals partnering with agency leaders and managers, including
acquisition officials, to develop workforce plans, CHCO has a limited
role in strategic planning for the acquisition workforce. According to
CHCO representatives, only one person within the office is responsible
for workforce planning. In addition, for two of the three procurement
offices where we conducted in-depth reviews of workforce planning, DHS
representatives noted that their human capital offices had no
involvement in procurement office workforce planning efforts.
DHS's Narrow Acquisition Workforce Definition Limits the Scope of
Planning:
According to CPO representatives, formally incorporating a workforce
position into the acquisition workforce definition encompasses
identifying the current career field population, determining core
competencies, developing certification standards, and ensuring relevant
training. DHS's current acquisition workforce definition-- composed of
contract specialists, program managers, and COTRs-- generally parallels
the minimum set of acquisition functions outlined in OFPP guidance but
does not encompass the range of acquisition activities beyond the
minimum standard.[Footnote 35] DHS officials acknowledge the need to
expand their acquisition workforce definition as suggested by OFPP
guidance, but have not yet established an interim definition that
identifies which positions should be included. CPO representatives told
us that while they expect to add some positions from DOD's acquisition
workforce definition, they believe DHS's definition and certification
standards need to be tailored to its homeland security mission and the
statutes and executive orders under which the department operates.
[Footnote 36]
The current definition does not include most of the acquisition-related
functions we found staff performing in the nine program offices we
reviewed. In these offices, some of the most commonly reported
acquisition-related functions beyond those already included in the
current definition are budgeting, logistics, systems engineering, and
test and evaluation. Since CPO generally only monitors staff included
in the current definition of the acquisition workforce, DHS has limited
insight into the number and skill sets of the full range of employees
performing acquisition-related work. Without a broader acquisition
workforce definition that reflects the workforce performing acquisition-
related functions, DHS cannot determine critical skills and
competencies needed by particular positions and establish a baseline
count of personnel currently performing acquisition-related functions-
-key information needed for an effective workforce plan. A narrow
definition also hinders CPO's ability to monitor staff performing
acquisition-related functions and ensure that these staff receive
appropriate training, both of which are steps toward monitoring
progress in closing workforce gaps. For example, according to the CPO,
expanding the definition would lead to improved tracking of the broader
acquisition workforce and development of certification standards and
competencies for additional career fields.
While DHS has recognized the benefits of expanding its acquisition
workforce definition, and officials have stated that expanding the
definition is part of the agency's human capital planning efforts, the
department is in the early stages of doing so. The department has taken
initial steps towards adding its first new career field--test and
evaluation--to its definition, but, according to CPO representatives,
staff turnover and competing priorities have significantly slowed this
expansion effort. Estimated time frames and current allocation of staff
resources suggest that it will likely be many years before the
acquisition workforce definition expansion is complete. CPO
representatives estimated that determining core competencies and
developing DHS-specific certification standards for each career field
would take between 12 and 18 months and would require the full-time
commitment of one staff member. Currently, one staff member in CPO is
responsible for the acquisition workforce definition expansion, but
this individual is also partly responsible for managing acquisition
workforce training and certification for existing career fields. As a
result, CPO is only able to expand the definition one career field at a
time. However, in September 2008, CPO representatives told us that they
anticipated they would implement an interim certification process that
will leverage DOD certification standards while they work to develop
DHS-specific certification standards, and that they plan to hire
additional staff to support the expansion effort.
DHS Lacks Sufficient Data to Fully Assess Total Acquisition Workforce
Needs:
DHS also lacks sufficient data to fully assess total acquisition
workforce needs, including the use of contractors. For example, DHS
does not have data to comprehensively determine where workforce gaps
exist in the competencies, skills, and staffing levels required to meet
programmatic goals. Understanding these needs is key to helping
agencies develop effective workforce strategies. For example, in
October 2007 we reported that OPM used a combination of agencywide and
division-level strategies to assess the skills and competencies of its
mission critical occupations and used the results to develop plans to
address current and projected deficiencies in these occupations.
[Footnote 37]
CPO collects and maintains some data on positions in DHS's current
acquisition workforce definition, such as the numbers of personnel
employed and certified. However, CPO generally does not have other
information on these employees that is critical to acquisition
workforce planning, such as a workforce inventory of employees'
knowledge, skills, and competencies and data on the use of incentives,
the average time period to fill vacancies, and attrition, including
feedback from exit interviews. Without such data, DHS cannot create a
comprehensive profile of its current acquisition workforce to help
identify workforce gaps for these positions, develop effective
workforce strategies, or evaluate the effectiveness of its current
human capital approaches. For example, while Congress requires DHS and
other agencies to develop an acquisition workforce succession plan that
focuses on warranted contracting officers and program managers by
January 2009, CPO representatives told us that they lack sufficient
data on program managers to include these positions in the plan.
Further, while DHS officials have identified various other positions
that they consider important for successful acquisitions, such as test
and evaluation and business and financial management, DHS generally
does not collect workforce data to identify the number of department
personnel performing these functions.
DHS's lack of comprehensive acquisition workforce data is due in part
to inadequate systems for collecting and maintaining data. For example,
some acquisition-related positions, such as program managers, are not
directly associated with specific government position classification
series and therefore cannot be identified through DHS's human capital
information systems. In addition, DHS does not have an effective system
for maintaining training and certification data on its current
acquisition workforce. The DHS Inspector General reported in May 2008
that DHS and three of its components likely do not have all of the
training and certification information they need to make sound
acquisition workforce management decisions, such as a current inventory
of certified personnel and the acquisitions to which they are assigned.
[Footnote 38] Further, the department, like other executive civilian
agencies, is required to maintain such information in the Federal
Acquisition Institute's Acquisition Career Management Information
System; however, CPO representatives told us they have several issues
with this system, including difficulty in importing data from existing
DHS systems and restrictions on what reports can be produced and who
can view the reports.
DHS has recognized the need to improve its collection and maintenance
of acquisition workforce data, but is just starting to address these
issues. In addition to beginning a pilot test with CHCO to identify
acquisition-related positions in one of DHS's human capital systems,
CPO has also begun exploring a web-based training registration system
as an option for identifying acquisition-related workforce positions.
Efforts to improve staffing and certification data on its current
acquisition workforce are also under way. For example, CPO recently
revised a data collection instrument that gathers staffing and
certification data from procurement offices as part of a larger
acquisition oversight effort, but it is too early to assess the results
of this modification.[Footnote 39]
DHS also has little insight into the extent of its components' use of
contractors to support the acquisition function and the types of
activities performed--despite the department's reliance on these
contractors. Representatives from the procurement and program offices
we reviewed noted that in some cases, contractor support is intended to
be a temporary measure, and they would prefer to use government
employees. However, DHS's reliance on acquisition support contractors
was evidenced by the number of offices we found using these contractors
and the types of tasks performed. Each of the nine procurement offices
we reviewed, except the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, hired
acquisition support contractors.[Footnote 40] Procurement offices hired
contractors to perform tasks such as solicitation formation, contract
award and management support, and contract closeout, as well as
conducting audits and compliance reviews. Within the three procurement
offices for which we reviewed statements of work, we found 14
statements of work that called for acquisition support contractors to
provide services similar to those provided by government contract
specialists. Five of the fourteen statements of work were for contracts
that had been in effect for 1 year or longer as of the end of fiscal
year 2007. In addition, six of the nine program offices we reviewed
reported that support contractors were performing acquisition-related
functions such as program management support, budgeting, cost
estimating, logistics, or test and evaluation. In the two program
offices for which we reviewed statements of work, contractors were
hired to perform such tasks as preparing project and budget documents,
monitoring and assisting with the development of program requirements
and performance measures, supporting program oversight requirements,
and developing strategic plans.
CPO generally does not collect data on the numbers of contractors
performing acquisition-related functions or the types of tasks
performed. CPO representatives explained that they do not consider
contractors to be part of the acquisition workforce. Even at the
component level, insight into the use of acquisition support
contractors is likely limited. For example, according to ICE
representatives, ICE does not collect data on the use of support
contractors, and TSA Office of Acquisition representatives told us that
program offices decide when to use support contractors, and that the
Office of Acquisition may not know when a program office has hired a
contractor. Our prior work has found that agencies need appropriate
workforce planning strategies that include contractor personnel and
that agencies' workforce plans should include data on the deployment of
contractors and a consideration of which acquisition functions to
maintain in house.[Footnote 41] In addition, our work and the work of
others has identified risks associated with increased reliance on
contractors, including acquisition support contractors, and has noted
that additional staff resources may be needed to monitor contractors'
performance of certain mission critical functions.[Footnote 42] Without
greater insight into the department's use of acquisition support
contractors, DHS cannot adequately assess its overall need for these
contractors and determine the appropriate workforce mix, or ensure that
oversight of these contractors is sufficient.
Conclusion:
The magnitude and complexity of DHS's acquisition portfolio demands a
sufficient, capable, flexible, and properly trained workforce. DHS's
initiatives are positive steps toward building an effective acquisition
workforce; however, these initiatives focus primarily on contract
specialists and only partially address identified workforce challenges.
While DHS has acknowledged the need to expand its efforts beyond
contract specialists, it has not yet determined how it would implement
such an expansion. DHS also has acknowledged the need for a broader
acquisition workforce definition, but without establishing such a
definition, even on an interim basis, the department will be challenged
to more fully address acquisition workforce needs. Further, without
documented performance goals and implementation steps for its current
initiatives, DHS will not be able to evaluate the extent to which these
initiatives are helping to build and sustain the acquisition workforce.
Even if fully implemented, these initiatives are not a substitute for
long-term strategic workforce planning. Such planning would allow DHS
to fully assess its actual acquisition workforce needs and determine
whether its current efforts are sufficient and prioritized
appropriately. To develop a comprehensive strategic acquisition
workforce plan, DHS needs to incorporate key elements of effective
planning, such as a coordinated planning process that fully includes
stakeholders and a comprehensive analysis of acquisition workforce
gaps. While DHS has made strides toward broadening its focus to more
fully include program management stakeholders, the department has not
developed a CPO and CHCO led planning process to provide the
organizational vision and stability needed. Further the department has
not collected and maintained comprehensive data on its government and
contractor workforce to develop the insight required to assess
acquisition workforce gaps. Until DHS improves its strategic
acquisition workforce planning, the department will continue to be at
risk of not having a sufficient acquisition workforce to support
current and future homeland security mission needs.
Recommendations for Executive Action:
To improve DHS's ability to effectively manage its current initiatives
and plan strategically for its acquisition workforce, we recommend that
the Under Secretary for Management implement the following five
actions:
* establish an interim working definition of the acquisition workforce
that more accurately reflects the employees performing acquisition-
related functions to guide current efforts, while continuing to
formally add career fields to the definition;
* determine whether the department's current initiatives related to
recruiting and hiring are appropriate for acquisition-related career
fields other than contract specialists and, if so, develop plans to
implement the initiatives within the broader acquisition workforce;
* develop a comprehensive implementation plan to execute the existing
DHS acquisition workforce initiatives. The implementation plan should
include elements such as performance goals, time frames, implementation
actions and related milestones, and resource requirements;
* direct CHCO and CPO to establish a joint process for coordinating
future acquisition workforce planning efforts with the components for
the purpose of informing departmentwide planning efforts; and:
* improve the collection and maintenance of data on the acquisition
workforce by:
- assessing what additional data on current acquisition workforce
members, such as attrition data, would help inform workforce planning
efforts and then developing a strategy to collect that information;
- expanding the collection of acquisition workforce data from the
appropriate component point of contact to include all positions that
DHS determines to be acquisition-related;
- collecting data on the use of acquisition support contractors to
inform the strategic acquisition workforce planning process; and:
- conducting an assessment of options for creating systems to maintain
comprehensive acquisition workforce data and selecting the appropriate
system.
Agency Comments and Our Evaluation:
We provided a draft of this report to DHS for review and comment. In
written comments, the department generally concurred with our
recommendations, citing actions taken and efforts under way to address
acquisition workforce challenges. The department's comments are
reprinted in appendix II. DHS also provided technical comments, which
we incorporated as appropriate.
Many of the initiatives DHS cites in its comments, such as the
Acquisition Professional Career Program to hire entry-level contract
specialists, centralized hiring for contract specialists, and plans to
add career fields to the acquisition workforce definition, are noted in
our report and are important steps toward building an effective
acquisition workforce. Building and sustaining an acquisition workforce
has been an ongoing challenge since the department was created;
continued progress and successful implementation of these recent
efforts will require sustained leadership and management attention.
In response to our first recommendation, to establish an interim
working definition of the acquisition workforce that more accurately
reflects the employees performing acquisition-related functions, DHS
agreed and stated that it has established an interim acquisition
workforce definition that includes positions that devote a minimum of
50 percent of time and responsibilities to performing acquisition
duties. The department further noted that this interim definition
includes contract specialists, program managers, and COTRs, and that
efforts have been initiated to add four additional positions. However,
as we describe in this report, the three positions that comprise this
interim definition were already considered by the department to be
included in its definition. Since CPO generally only monitors staff
included in the current definition, without a broader definition, DHS
has limited insight into the number and skill sets of the full range of
employees performing acquisition-related work. Therefore, we continue
to believe that in order to guide current acquisition workforce
efforts, the interim definition should be broadened to reflect the
career fields that the department plans to add.
Regarding our second recommendation, that DHS determine whether the
department's current recruiting and hiring initiatives are appropriate
for acquisition-related career fields other than contract specialists
and, if so, develop expansion plans accordingly, DHS stated it plans to
expand its Acquisition Professional Career Program. We agree this is a
step in the right direction. However, assessing the appropriateness of
the department's two other current recruiting and hiring initiatives--
the use of human capital hiring flexibilities and the centralized
hiring initiative--for additional career fields could provide further
opportunities for DHS to leverage existing initiatives to address
identified acquisition workforce shortages. Further, the department's
response did not address the development of implementation plans for
the expansion of the Acquisition Professional Career Program, a key
step for guiding the department's efforts in this area going forward.
In response to our third recommendation, that DHS develop a
comprehensive implementation plan to execute the existing acquisition
workforce initiatives, DHS stated that the Acquisition Workforce Branch
has a comprehensive strategy focused on eight current initiatives.
However, DHS has not developed some of the key elements contained in
our recommendation, including implementation actions and related
milestones and resource requirements. Developing a plan that includes
these elements is important to ensuring that the department can
effectively monitor and evaluate the implementation of these
initiatives.
Regarding our fourth recommendation, that CHCO and CPO establish a
joint process for coordinating future acquisition workforce planning
efforts with the components, the department noted several ways in which
CHCO and CPO currently work together on acquisition workforce issues.
However, DHS's response does not address what process the department
will use for CHCO and CPO to coordinate future acquisition workforce
planning efforts with the components. As we explain in this report, a
process to facilitate the involvement of key stakeholders--such as
component procurement and program offices, CHCO, and component human
capital offices--can increase the likelihood of success for workforce
planning. Further, although DHS's response noted that members of the
Acquisition Career Managers committee provide feedback and guidance on
workforce initiatives, component acquisition career managers are
primarily located within procurement offices and therefore represent
only some of the key stakeholders needed to provide input on a
comprehensive strategic acquisition workforce plan that would include
program office staffing needs.
In response to our recommendations to improve the department's
collection and maintenance of acquisition workforce data, DHS noted its
ongoing efforts to collect data on the current acquisition workforce
through quarterly reports as well as its pilot test with CHCO to
identify members of the acquisition workforce in an existing human
capital system. While these efforts are an important part of beginning
to improve acquisition workforce data, we believe DHS needs to take
additional steps. Specifically, the only new plans mentioned are to
collect attrition and retirement eligibility data on the current
acquisition workforce and to collect data on additional acquisition
career fields after those career fields are formally defined. However,
as we found in this report, DHS lacks other information on employees in
its current workforce critical to acquisition workforce planning, such
as an inventory of employees' knowledge, skills, and competencies, and
data on the use of incentives and the average time period to fill
vacancies. DHS also generally lacks basic information on acquisition-
related positions not in the current definition, such as the number of
employees performing these functions, which could help in workforce
planning efforts. Moreover, although acquisition support contractors
were used by more than three quarters of the procurement and program
offices we reviewed, DHS does not have data to adequately assess its
overall need for these contractors, determine the appropriate workforce
mix of government and contractor employees, or ensure sufficient
oversight. Without taking further actions to address the need for
comprehensive acquisition workforce data, the department will continue
to be challenged to effectively develop and evaluate acquisition
workforce strategies.
We are sending copies of this report to the Secretary of Homeland
Security, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, and
other interested parties. This report will also be available at no
charge on GAO's Web site at [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov].
If you have any questions concerning this report, please contact me at
(202) 512-4841 or by e-mail at huttonj@gao.gov. Contact points for our
Offices of Congressional Relations and Public Affairs may be found on
the last page of this report. Other staff making key contributions to
this report were Amelia Shachoy, Assistant Director; Anne McDonough-
Hughes; Janet McKelvey; Anthony Bova; Kathryn O'Dea; Ann Marie Udale;
Karen Sloan; Sylvia Schatz; Arthur James Jr.; and Gregory Wilmoth.
Signed by:
John P. Hutton:
Director:
Acquisition and Sourcing Management:
[End of section]
Appendix I: Objectives, Scope, and Methodology:
Our objectives were to identify and assess the Department of Homeland
Security's (DHS) efforts to build and sustain an effective acquisition
workforce and determine the extent to which DHS has planned
strategically for the acquisition workforce.
To identify and assess DHS's efforts to build and sustain an effective
acquisition workforce, we interviewed representatives from the Office
of the Chief Procurement Officer (CPO)--including the Chief Procurement
Officer and members of the Acquisition Workforce Branch within the
Contracts Operation Division and the Acquisition Program Management
Division--the Office of the Chief Financial Officer, and the Office of
the Chief Human Capital Officer (CHCO). We discussed topics such as the
current status of the acquisition workforce, planning and budgeting
processes for the acquisition workforce, current and planned
acquisition workforce initiatives, and the use of acquisition support
contractors. When available, we obtained and reviewed supporting
documents, such as plans for acquisition workforce initiatives and
acquisition workforce data collected by CPO. In addition, we reviewed
recent testimonies given by senior DHS leadership as well as relevant
reports issued by GAO and the DHS Inspector General. Finally, we
reviewed data from the Office of Personnel Management's (OPM) Central
Personnel Data File on contract specialists in DHS's workforce to
assess the department's hiring and retention of this population.
[Footnote 43] We have previously assessed the reliability of the
Central Personnel Data File and based on that assessment and
information provided by OPM in February 2008, we found it sufficiently
reliable for our purposes.[Footnote 44]
To gain additional perspective on acquisition workforce issues, we
interviewed representatives from the nine procurement offices that
support DHS headquarters and components.[Footnote 45] Also, we selected
nine program offices of major investments--one associated with each of
DHS's procurement offices--that included a range of investment sizes,
staffing levels, and project phases (see app. III for a list of
programs). At procurement offices, topics we discussed included the
current status of the acquisition workforce, planning and budgeting
processes for the acquisition workforce, acquisition workforce
initiatives, and the use of acquisition support contractors. For each
program, we interviewed key program representatives--such as the
program manager, the contracting officer's technical representative,
and the contract specialist assigned to that program. We discussed
subjects such as the composition of the program office, the process for
identifying and filling acquisition workforce needs, and the program's
use of acquisition support contractors. In addition, we collected
information from each program office on the functional composition of
its workforce as of the end of March 2008. At both procurement and
program offices, we also requested and reviewed available
documentation, such as acquisition workforce staffing reports and human
capital planning documents.
To gather more detailed information about selected acquisition
workforce topics, such as the use of acquisition support contractors,
we selected three procurement offices and two program offices for in-
depth review. Specifically, the Office of Procurement Operations,
Transportation Security Administration's (TSA) Office of Acquisition,
and Customs and Border Protection's (CBP) Procurement Directorate were
selected based on fiscal year 2007 procurement spending, the office's
history and reporting structure, and consideration for GAO's ongoing
work. We also reviewed the previously selected program offices
associated with TSA and CBP (the Electronic Baggage Screening Program
and the Automated Commercial Environment Program, respectively). To
learn about the type of work performed by acquisition support
contractors, we reviewed statements of work for all acquisition support
contracts active as of the end of fiscal year 2007 associated with the
selected procurement and program offices. We also spoke with
representatives from the component human capital offices and budget
offices associated with these procurement and program offices.
To determine the extent to which DHS has planned strategically for its
acquisition workforce, we reviewed the information gathered during
interviews with CPO and procurement and program offices. In addition,
we reviewed and analyzed recent testimonies given by senior DHS
leadership and past GAO reports on DHS acquisition and workforce issues
and other reports on the federal acquisition workforce.
We conducted this performance audit from September 2007 until November
2008 in accordance with generally accepted government auditing
standards. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit
to obtain sufficient, appropriate evidence to provide a reasonable
basis for our findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives.
We believe that the evidence obtained provides a reasonable basis for
our findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives.
[End of section]
Appendix II: Comments from the Department of Homeland Security:
Homeland Security:
U.S. Department of Homeland Security:
Washington, DC 20528:
November 12, 2008:
Mr. John Hutton:
Director, Acquisition and Sourcing Management:
Government Accountability Office:
Washington, D.C. 20548:
Dear Mr. Hutton:
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) appreciates the opportunity
to review and comment on Draft Report GAO-09-30, Department of Homeland
Security: A Strategic Approach Is Needed to Better Ensure the
Acquisition Workforce Can Meet Mission Needs (GAO Job Code 120688).
The Department's Office of the Chief Procurement Officer (OCPO)
generally concurs with the recommendations. As with other federal
agencies, DHS faces challenges in building and sustaining a capable
acquisition workforce, and, as the youngest and in many ways most
visible Department, DHS faces even steeper challenges in this regard.
Although many challenges remain, significant progress has been made
since we began to resource acquisition workforce activities in late
summer and fall of 2007. Since that time, several initiatives highlight
our commitment to a strategic approach that will enable the
Department's acquisition workforce to meet its needs.
While aggressive progress continues to be made in defining all DHS
acquisition career fields, OCPO officials have established an interim
acquisition workforce definition, to include contracting officers,
program managers, and contracting officer technical representatives.
Further, we have initiated the expansion of the workforce to include
Test and Evaluation, Logistics, Systems Engineering, and Program Cost
Estimating. In addition, that office continues its close partnership
with the Office of the Chief Human Capital Officer (CHCO) on numerous
strategic human capital planning initiatives, to include but not
limited to the use of existing federal databases to capture critical
workforce data. The OCPO's Acquisition Career Managers (ACM) Committee
continues its groundbreaking work in defining the individual
components' human capital priorities. The ACM Committee is comprised of
the individual component acquisition career managers and OCPO
representatives. CHCO is also represented, adding valuable insight into
the processes necessary for the success of the committee's initiatives.
The committee's work has resulted in DHS-wide acquisition hiring,
training, and retention initiatives impacting acquisition personnel
across all DHS component organizations.
Positions within the Department that devote a minimum of 50% of time
and responsibilities to performing acquisition duties comprise our
interim-defined workforce. Currently, DI-IS has established two
acquisition workforce career fields and one acquisition workforce
assignment specific specialty: (1) contract specialists, (2) program
managers, and (3) contracting officer's technical representatives.
Further, the Department has initiated the expansion of the workforce to
include Test and Evaluation, Logistics, Systems Engineering, and
Program Cost Estimating. OCPO personnel will begin by utilizing the
Department of Defense definition and competencies for the new career
fields until such time as DHS specific or Federal-wide certification
programs are developed.
To address long-term projected skill gaps, OCPO personnel initiated and
executed a successful entry-level program to hire extremely talented
individuals. The success of this effort is enabling the program's
expansion in dual tracks (business and technical). Furthermore, OCPO
personnel are partnering with the Federal Acquisition Institute for
support services to develop strategies to recruit mid-level career
professionals.
Despite an average attrition rate of 15% per year for contract
specialists across the Department, DHS has a net gain of 19% from the
end of FY 2007 to the end of FY 2008. OCPO plans to leverage this
success in centralized recruiting to successfully staff all acquisition
DHS billets.
OCPO officials understand the need to engage systemically in
acquisition workforce human capital planning. Data gathering and
analysis are key to our understanding of the acquisition workforce. The
OCPO quarterly Operational Status Reports provide insight into on-board
and vacancy totals for our defined acquisition career fields and
specialties across all component organizations, and OCPO is waiting for
Department of Defense and/or Office of Federal Procurement Policy
methodology for effectively capturing contractor support data. As we
implement current initiatives and consider future efforts, OCPO
personnel will be sure not to duplicate existing federal-wide
initiatives such as those prescribed in the FY 2009 National Defense
Authorization Act, Section 869, Acquisition Workforce Development
Strategic Plan. Accordingly, OCPO will continue to coordinate with the
DHS Office of the Chief Human Capital Officer, the Office of Management
and Budget's Office of Federal Procurement Policy, and other federal
workforce organizations as DHS develops its strategic plan that
complements the federal initiatives and addresses the GAO
recommendations.
Various OCPO initiatives have merged into a consolidated plan of
action. Each initiative is a critical part of the recruitment-hiring-
training-certifying-retention continuum. Specific actions to be taken
are detailed herein, and timelines where applicable are also noted.
GAO recommends that the Under Secretary for Management take five
actions to improve DHS's ability to effectively manage its current
initiatives and plan strategically for its acquisition workforce. We
have taken or plan to take the following actions.
Recommendation 1:
Establish an interim workforce definition of the acquisition workforce
that more accurately reflects the employees performing acquisition-
functions to guide current efforts, while continuing to formally add
career fields to the definition.
Response:
The Department agrees with the recommendation and has established the
following interim workforce definition: Positions within the Department
that devote a minimum of 50% of time and responsibilities to performing
acquisition duties. Currently, DHS has established two acquisition
workforce career fields and one acquisition workforce assignment
specific specialty: (1) contract specialists, (2) program managers, and
(3) contracting officer's technical representatives. Further, the
Department has initiated the expansion of the workforce to include Test
and Evaluation, Logistics, Systems Engineering, and Program Cost
Estimating.
Recommendation 2:
Determine whether the Department's current initiatives related to
recruiting and hiring are appropriate for acquisition-related career
fields other than contract specialists and, if so, develop plans to
implement the initiatives within the broader acquisition workforce.
Response:
The Department agrees with the recommendation. DHS will leverage the
successful execution of the Department-wide Acquisition Professional
Career Program (APCP) to help build the broader acquisition workforce.
Plans are to expand the program by 52 additional participants in FY
2009 in dual tracks (business and technical) by the fourth quarter of
FY 2009, equating to a cumulative total of 100 participants.
Furthermore, DHS will partner with the Federal Acquisition Institute
for support services to develop a plan and execution strategy to
recruit mid-level career professionals seeking to transition to an
acquisition career field.
Recommendation 3:
Develop a comprehensive implementation plan to execute the existing DHS
acquisition workforce initiatives. The implementation plan should
include elements such as performance goals, time frames, implementation
actions and related milestones, and resource requirements.
Response:
We agree. The DHS Acquisition Workforce Branch in the OCPO has a
comprehensive implementation strategy focusing on these current
initiatives:
1. Further expand the Department definition of the Acquisition
Workforce by developing the Test and Evaluation, Logistics, Systems
Engineering, and Program Cost Analysis certification programs.
2. Develop and implement a process to code all acquisition billets to
better identify positions within the Department that devote a minimum
of 50% of time and responsibilities to performing acquisition duties.
3. Develop and execute a Department-wide, Acquisition Workforce Human
Capital and Succession Plan by January 28, 2009 in accordance with the
FY 2008 National Defense Authorization Act.
4. Continue the successful execution of the Department-wide Acquisition
Professional Career Program to help build the broader acquisition
workforce. Expand the program by 52 additional participants in FY 2009
in dual tracks (business and technical) by the fourth quarter of FY09,
equating to a cumulative total of 100 participants.
5. Continue the successful leveraging of the direct hire and reemployed
annuitant hiring flexibilities to expedite hiring and to fill critical
vacancies.
6. Grow the centralized hiring concept through assumption of the lead
role in all Department-wide acquisition-related vacancy announcement
postings.
7. Develop and execute a centralized acquisition workforce training
program comprising of certification, targeted, and developmental
training opportunities.
8. Publish a DHS course catalog and implement a central registration
system to be deployed by the third quarter of FY 2009.
Recommendation 4:
Direct CHCO and CPO to establish a joint process for coordinating
future acquisition workforce planning efforts with the components for
the purpose of informing Department-wide planning efforts.
Response:
The Department agrees with the recommendation. The OCPO's primary
interface with CHCO is close coordination on the development of the FY
2008 National Defense Authorization Act-required acquisition workforce
human capital plan and succession plan as well as on reporting
requirements on the Department's use of the Direct Hire and Reemployed
Annuitant hiring authorities. In addition, OCPO and CHCO jointly work
on a quarterly Office of Personnel Management requirement for a
Contracting Specialist Competency Gap Analysis. OCPO staff partner with
OCHCO personnel to code all DHS acquisition billets in the National
Finance Center personnel database. This effort will help identify the
workforce. Further joint efforts with CHCO include the current
leveraging of the successful work of the Department's Acquisition
Career Manager's (ACM) Committee allowing CHCO membership, thus
enabling increased committee focus on recruitment, hiring, training,
certification, and retention initiatives. Component members regularly
offer feedback and guidance on workforce initiatives. CHCO has
reciprocated by allowing OCPO to participate with senior component
human resources (HR) representatives in the Department's HR Council.
Recommendation 5:
Improve the collection and maintenance of data on the acquisition
workforce by:
A. Assessing what additional data on current acquisition workforce
members, such as attrition data, would help inform workforce planning
efforts and then developing a strategy to collect that information.
We agree. OCPO has leveraged its work in revamping the quarterly
Operational Status Reports to include additional data points for
analysis. Current data collected focuses on authorized, on-board,
vacancy, and certification information, but plans call to expand the
data collected to include attrition and retirement eligibility data as
well.
B. Expanding the collection of acquisition workforce data from the
appropriate component point of contact to include all positions that
DHS determines to be acquisition-related.
We generally concur with this part of the recommendation. OCPO is
working with CHCO to utilize an existing system to capture all
workforce data. Data specific to Contracting Specialists, Program
Managers, and COTRs is currently captured via the quarterly Operational
Status Reports. As additional acquisition career fields are formally
defined, data on each defined career field will be specifically
captured.
C. Collecting data on the use of acquisition support contractors to
inform the strategic acquisition workforce planning process.
We generally concur. We are waiting for Department of Defense and/or
the Office of Federal Procurement Policy methodology for effectively
capturing this data.
D. Conducting an assessment of options for creating systems to maintain
comprehensive acquisition workforce data and selecting the appropriate
system.
The Department agrees with this part of the recommendation. OCPO is
working with CHCO to utilize an existing system to capture all
workforce data. Data specific to Contracting Specialists, Program
Managers, and COTRs is currently captured via the quarterly Operational
Status Reports. As additional acquisition career fields are formally
defined, data on each defined career field will be specifically
captured.
Sincerely,
Signed by:
Thomas W. Essig:
Chief Procurement Officer:
Department of Homeland Security:
[End of section]
Appendix III: Procurement and Program Offices Reviewed:
Component: DHS Headquarters/National Protection and Programs
Directorate[A];
Procurement office: Office of Procurement Operations;
Program office: United States Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator
Technology;
Program description: Program to provide biometric identity verification
services to DHS components, including U.S. immigration and border
management officials, and state and local law enforcement.
Component: Coast Guard;
Procurement office: Office of Contracting and Procurement;
Program office: Rescue 21;
Program description: Command, control, and communication system that
improves mission execution in the coastal zone and results in improved
response to distress calls and better coordination and interoperability
with other government agencies and first responders.
Component: Customs and Border Protection;
Procurement office: Procurement Directorate;
Program office: Automated Commercial Environment;
Program description: Web-based import/export system consolidates seven
systems into one portal; will provide advanced technology and
information to decide, before shipment reaches U.S. borders, what cargo
should be targeted, and what cargo should be expedited.
Component: Customs and Border Protection;
Procurement office: Secure Border Initiative Acquisition Office;
Program office: Secure Border Initiative Tactical Infrastructure
Program;
Program description: Program is responsible for two major construction
projects: Pedestrian Fence 225, the construction of 225 miles of
pedestrian fence; and Vehicle Fence 300, the construction of 300 miles
of vehicle fence. Tactical infrastructure includes fencing, roads, and
lighting.
Component: Federal Emergency Management Agency;
Procurement office: Office of Acquisition Management;
Program office: Flood Map Modernization;
Program description: Program establishes a technology-based, cost
effective process for updating, validating, and distributing flood risk
data and digitalized flood maps nationwide.
Component: Federal Law Enforcement Training Center;
Procurement office: Procurement Division;
Program office: Student Administration and Scheduling System;
Program description: System will provide the support required for the
integration of partnering organization recruitment, resource
scheduling, student registration, student enrollment, marks processing,
exam scheduling, automated testing, and transcript production.
Component: Immigration and Customs Enforcement;
Procurement office: Office of Acquisition Management;
Program office: Student and Exchange Visitor Program;
Program description: Web-based system manages data on schools, program
sponsors, foreign students, exchange visitors, and their dependents
during their approved participation in the U.S. education system so
that only legitimate visitors enter the U.S.
Component: Secret Service;
Procurement office: Procurement Division;
Program office: Enterprise Financial Management System;
Program description: Integrated financial system provides for more
efficient and effective business processes.
Component: Transportation Security Administration;
Procurement office: Office of Acquisition;
Program office: Electronic Baggage Screening Program;
Program description: Program implements a national checked-baggage
screening system to protect against criminal and terrorist threats,
while minimizing transportation industry and traveling public burdens.
Source: DHS data and GAO analysis.
[A] The Office of Procurement Operations provides contracting support
to multiple DHS components that do not have their own acquisition
staff, and its head of contracting activity reports directly to the
chief procurement officer. The office provides contracting support to
the United States Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology
Program, which is under the National Protection and Programs
Directorate.
[End of table]
[End of section]
Footnotes:
[1] GAO, Department of Homeland Security: Better Planning and
Assessment Needed to Improve Outcomes for Complex Service Acquisitions,
[hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-08-263] (Washington,
D.C.: Apr. 22, 2008).
[2] GAO, Coast Guard: Status of Efforts to Improve Deepwater Program
Management and Address Operational Challenges, [hyperlink,
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-07-575T] (Washington, D.C.: Mar.
8, 2007); and GAO, Contract Management: Coast Guard's Deepwater Program
Management Needs Increased Attention to Management and Contractor
Oversight, [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-04-380]
(Washington, D.C.: Mar. 9, 2004).
[3] GAO, Coast Guard: Change in Course Improves Deepwater Management
and Oversight, but Outcome Still Uncertain, [hyperlink,
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-08-745] (Washington, D.C.: June
24, 2008).
[4] In April 2008, DHS established a new procurement office, the Office
of Selective Acquisitions. As of June 2008, this office had three staff
members. Because this office was not in existence at the time we began
our work, we did not include it in our review. For the purposes of this
report, we refer to offices that carry out contracting functions as
procurement offices, although some components use different titles for
these offices (see app. III for a full list of office titles).
[5] Of the positions in DHS's current acquisition workforce definition,
only contract specialists are associated with a specific job series, so
it was the only position for which we could obtain reliable data from
OPM.
[6] GAO, OPM's Central Personnel Data File: Data Appear Sufficiently
Reliable to Meet Most Customer Needs, [hyperlink,
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO/GGD-98-199] (Washington, D.C.:
Sept. 30, 1998). Also, in a document dated February 28, 2008, an OPM
official confirmed that OPM continues to follow the Central Personnel
Data File data quality standards and procedures contained in our 1998
report. OPM's data do not include uniformed Coast Guard personnel.
[7] Pub. L. No. 108-136, § 1423 (2003).
[8] Report of the Acquisition Advisory Panel to the Office of Federal
Procurement Policy and the United States Congress, January 2007.
[9] GAO, Department of Homeland Security: Improved Assessment and
Oversight Needed to Manage Risk of Contracting for Selected Services,
[hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-07-990] (Washington,
D.C.: Sept. 17, 2007).
[10] Office of Federal Procurement Policy, Developing and Managing the
Acquisition Workforce, Policy Letter 05-01 (Washington, D.C.: Apr. 15,
2005).
[11] OPM identifies those federal employees in the General Schedule
Contracting series (GS-1102) as contract specialists. Contracting
officers are federal employees with the authority to bind the
government by signing a contract. Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR)
2.101. This authority is delegated to them through "warrants" issued by
the head of their contracting activity. DHS has stated that all of the
warrants currently held at the department are held by GS-1102s. For
this reason, and in the interest of clarity, our use of the term
contract specialist throughout this report refers to unwarranted
contract specialists and warranted contracting officers.
[12] GAO, Human Capital: Key Principles for Effective Strategic
Workforce Planning, [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-
04-39] (Washington, D.C.: Dec. 11, 2003).
[13] The FAR and the Homeland Security Acquisition Manual do not
distinguish between the terms "acquisition" and "procurement."
[14] Within CBP, there are two procurement offices: the CBP Procurement
Directorate, and the Secure Border Initiative Acquisition Office, which
supports the Secure Border Initiative program.
[15] For the purposes of this analysis, we defined attrition as
resignations and transfers of permanent employees to other departments
and agencies outside of DHS. The attrition rate does not include
retirements.
[16] Eligibility to retire was calculated according to the age and
years of service requirements for the Civil Service Retirement System,
the Federal Employees Retirement System, and retirement plans for law
enforcement officers. For Federal Employees Retirement System
employees, we defined eligibility to retire as eligible to retire with
an unreduced annuity.
[17] GAO, Department of Homeland Security: Billions Invested in Major
Programs Lack Appropriate Oversight, [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/cgi-
bin/getrpt?GAO-09-29] (Washington D.C.: Nov. 18, 2008). Per DHS
Management Directive No. 0782, Acquisition Certification Requirement
for Program Managers, DHS Program Managers must be certified at a level
commensurate with the responsibilities of the acquisition being managed
or eligible for certification within 18 months of designation. The DHS
CPO may consider temporary waivers to training requirements in rare
cases.
[18] The Department of Homeland Security's Management Directorate:
Goals and Objectives of the New Under Secretary: Hearing Before the
House Committee on Homeland Security, Subcommittee on Management,
Investigations, and Oversight, 110th Cong. (2007).
[19] [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-07-990].
[20] GAO, Catastrophic Disasters: Enhanced Leadership, Capabilities,
and Accountability Controls Will Improve the Effectiveness of the
Nation's Preparedness, Response, and Recovery System, [hyperlink,
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-06-618] (Washington, D.C.: Sept.
6, 2006).
[21] The Department of Homeland Security's Management Directorate:
Goals and Objectives of the New Under Secretary: Hearing Before the
House Committee on Homeland Security, Subcommittee on Management,
Investigations, and Oversight, 110th Cong. (2007).
[22] Although Defense Acquisition University courses are primarily
geared towards DOD, DHS has been able to obtain slots for its
acquisition workforce in some of the University's courses.
[23] Services Acquisition Reform Act of 2003, enacted as part of the
National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2004, Pub. L. No.
108-136, § 1413 (2003) allowed most federal agencies to exercise direct
hire authority to recruit and appoint highly qualified persons using
existing statutory authorities by determining, under regulations issued
by OPM, that certain federal acquisition positions (including GS-1102s)
are shortage category positions. This authority was extended to
September 30, 2012, by the National Defense Authorization Act for
Fiscal Year 2008, Pub. L. No. 110-181, § 853.
[24] General Services Administration Modernization Act, Pub. L. No. 109-
313, § 4 (2006) granted agency heads authority, after consulting with
OPM and OFPP, to approve reemployment of annuitants in acquisition-
related positions.
[25] Section 855(e) of the National Defense Authorization Act for
Fiscal Year 2008 requires that not later than 1 year after the date of
the enactment of the act, each Chief Acquisition Officer for an
executive agency develop, in consultation with the Chief Human Capital
Officer for the agency and the Associate Administrator for Acquisition
Workforce Programs, a succession plan consistent with the agency's
strategic human capital plan for the recruitment, development, and
retention of the agency's acquisition workforce, with a particular
focus on warranted contracting officers and program managers of the
agency.
[26] GAO, Homeland Security: Successes and Challenges in DHS's Efforts
to Create an Effective Acquisition Organization, [hyperlink,
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-05-179] (Washington, D.C.: Mar.
29, 2005).
[27] GAO, Department of Homeland Security: Improvements Could Further
Enhance Ability to Acquire Innovative Technologies Using Other
Transaction Authority, [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/cgi-
bin/getrpt?GAO-08-1088] (Washington, D.C.: Sept. 23, 2008). Other
transactions are agreements other than government contracts, grants,
and cooperative agreements.
[28] GAO, Defense Space Activities: Additional Actions Needed to
Implement Human Capital Strategy and Develop Space Personnel,
[hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-04-697] (Washington
D.C.: Aug. 11, 2004).
[29] GAO, Framework for Assessing the Acquisition Function at Federal
Agencies, [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-05-218G]
(Washington, D.C.: September 2005).
[30] Report of the Acquisition Advisory Panel to the Office of Federal
Procurement Policy and the United States Congress, January 2007.
[31] GAO, Acquisition Workforce: Status of Agency Efforts to Address
Future Needs, [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-03-55]
(Washington, D.C.: Dec. 18, 2002) and GAO, Federal Acquisitions and
Contracting: Systemic Challenges Need Attention, [hyperlink,
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-07-1098T] (Washington, D.C.: July
17, 2007).
[32] GAO, NASA: Progress Made on Strategic Human Capital Management,
but Future Program Challenges Remain, [hyperlink,
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-07-1004] (Washington, D.C.: Aug.
8, 2007).
[33] GAO, Transportation Security Administration: High-Level Attention
Needed to Strengthen Acquisition Function, [hyperlink,
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-04-544] (Washington, D.C.: May
28, 2004).
[34] In July 2007, CHCO issued a departmentwide guide that includes
principles and a model for workforce planning, but this guide does not
address the acquisition workforce specifically.
[35] OFPP Policy Letter 05-01. According to the letter, the Services
Acquisition Reform Act of 2003 defines acquisition to include, among
traditional contracting functions, requirements definition, measurement
of contract performance, and technical and management direction. One of
the principal purposes of this letter is to include formally these
individuals in the definition of the acquisition workforce so they can
be trained and developed using common standards.
[36] The Defense Acquisition Workforce Improvement Act of 1990 (10
U.S.C. §1701 et seq.) recognized acquisition as a multidisciplinary
career field for DOD comprised of 11 functional areas and directed the
Secretary of Defense to establish minimum education, training, and
experience requirements.
[37] GAO, Office of Personnel Management: Opportunities Exist to Build
on Recent Progress in Internal Human Capital Capacity, [hyperlink,
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-08-11] (Washington, D.C.: Oct.
31, 2007).
[38] Department of Homeland Security, Office of Inspector General,
Acquisition Workforce Training and Qualifications, OIG-08-56
(Washington, D.C.: May 2008).
[39] See GAO, Department of Homeland Security: Progress and Challenges
in Implementing the Department's Acquisition Oversight Plan,
[hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-07-900] (Washington,
D.C.: June 13, 2007) for more information on DHS's Acquisition
Oversight Plan.
[40] Federal Law Enforcement Training Center representatives told us
there are some contractors performing acquisition support functions,
such as competitive sourcing, outside of the Procurement Division.
[41] GAO, Defense Management: DOD Needs to Reexamine Its Extensive
Reliance on Contractors and Continue to Improve Management and
Oversight, [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-08-572T]
(Washington, D.C.: Mar. 11, 2008) and [hyperlink,
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-05-218G].
[42] GAO, Department of Homeland Security: Progress and Continuing
Concerns with Acquisition Management, [hyperlink,
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-08-1164T] (Washington, D.C.:
Sept. 17, 2008) and [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-
07-990].
[43] Of the positions in DHS's current acquisition workforce
definition, only contract specialists are associated with a specific
job series, so it was the only position for which we could obtain
reliable data from OPM.
[44] GAO, OPM's Central Personnel Data File: Data Appear Sufficiently
Reliable to Meet Most Customer Needs, [hyperlink,
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO/GGD-98-199] (Washington, D.C.:
Sept. 30, 1998). Also, in a document dated February 28, 2008, an OPM
official confirmed that OPM continues to follow the Central Personnel
Data File data quality standards and procedures contained in our 1998
report. OPM's data do not include uniformed Coast Guard personnel.
[45] In April 2008, DHS established a new procurement office, the
Office of Selective Acquisitions. As of June 2008, this office had
three staff members. Because this office was not in existence at the
time we began our work, we did not include it in our review. For the
purposes of this report, we refer to offices that carry out contracting
functions as procurement offices, although some components use
different titles for these offices (see app. III for a full list of
office titles).
[End of section]
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