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41–451 PDF 2008

S. Hrg. 110–424 

BUILDING AND STRENGTHENING THE FEDERAL 

ACQUISITION WORKFORCE 

HEARING 

BEFORE THE

OVERSIGHT OF GOVERNMENT MANAGEMENT, 

THE FEDERAL WORKFORCE, AND THE 

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA SUBCOMMITTEE 

OF THE

COMMITTEE ON 

HOMELAND SECURITY AND 

GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS 

UNITED STATES SENATE 

ONE HUNDRED TENTH CONGRESS 

SECOND SESSION 

FEBRUARY 14, 2008 

Available via http://www.access.gpo.gov/congress/senate 

Printed for the use of the Committee on Homeland Security 

and Governmental Affairs 

( 

(II) 

COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS 

JOSEPH I. LIEBERMAN, Connecticut, Chairman 

CARL LEVIN, Michigan 

DANIEL K. AKAKA, Hawaii 

THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware 

MARK L. PRYOR, Arkansas 

MARY L. LANDRIEU, Louisiana 

BARACK OBAMA, Illinois 

CLAIRE McCASKILL, Missouri 

JON TESTER, Montana 

SUSAN M. COLLINS, Maine 

TED STEVENS, Alaska 

GEORGE V. VOINOVICH, Ohio 

NORM COLEMAN, Minnesota 

TOM COBURN, Oklahoma 

PETE V. DOMENICI, New Mexico 

JOHN WARNER, Virginia 

JOHN E. SUNUNU, New Hampshire 

MICHAEL L. ALEXANDER, Staff Director 

BRANDON L. MILHORN, Minority Staff Director and Chief Counsel 

TRINA DRIESSNACK TYRER, Chief Clerk 

OVERSIGHT OF GOVERNMENT MANAGEMENT, THE FEDERAL 

WORKFORCE, AND THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA SUBCOMMITTEE 

DANIEL K. AKAKA, Hawaii, Chairman 

CARL LEVIN, Michigan 

THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware 

MARK L. PRYOR, Arkansas 

MARY L. LANDRIEU, Louisiana 

GEORGE V. VOINOVICH, Ohio 

TED STEVENS, Alaska 

TOM COBURN, Oklahoma 

JOHN WARNER, Virginia 

RICHARD J. KESSLER, Staff Director 

EVAN CASH, Professional Staff Member 

JENNIFER A. HEMINGWAY, Minority Staff Director 

THERESA MANTHRIPRAGADA, Minority Professional Staff Member 

JESSICA NAGASAKO, Chief Clerk 

(III) 

C O N T E N T S 

Opening statements: Page 

Senator Akaka .................................................................................................. 1 

Senator Stevens ................................................................................................ 2 

Senator Voinovich ............................................................................................. 3 

Prepared statement: 

Senator Carper ................................................................................................. 27 

WITNESSES 

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2008 

Hon. Paul A. Denett, Administrator, Office of Federal Procurement Policy, 

Office of Management and Budget ..................................................................... 4 

Frank J. Anderson, Jr., President, Defense Acquisition University, Department of Defense .................................................................................................... 6 

Karen Pica, Director, Federal Acquisition Institute, General Services Administration ................................................................................................................. 8 

ALPHABETICAL LIST OF WITNESSES

Anderson, Frank J.: 

Testimony .......................................................................................................... 6 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 36 

Denett, Hon. Paul A.: 

Testimony .......................................................................................................... 4 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 29 

Pica, Karen: 

Testimony .......................................................................................................... 8 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 54 

APPENDIX 

Background .............................................................................................................. 63 

Questions and responses for the Record from: 

Mr. Denet .......................................................................................................... 69 

Mr. Anderson .................................................................................................... 74 

Ms. Pica ............................................................................................................. 80 

(1) 

BUILDING AND STRENGTHENING THE 

FEDERAL ACQUISITION WORKFORCE 

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2008 

U.S. SENATE, SUBCOMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT OF GOVERNMENT

MANAGEMENT, THE FEDERAL WORKFORCE, AND THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, OF THE COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY

AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS, Washington, DC. 

The Subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 9:48 a.m., in Room 

342, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Daniel Akaka, Chairman 

of the Subcommittee, presiding. 

Present: Senators Akaka, Voinovich, and Stevens. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR AKAKA 

Senator AKAKA. Aloha and good morning. 

This hearing of the Oversight of Government Management Subcommittee is called to order. 

Over the past year, this Subcommittee, as well as the full Committee, has emphasized the need for better acquisition management across the Federal Government. This is of great importance 

as the government continues to increase spending on contracting 

year after year. Today, we turn our sights to an important aspect 

of acquisition management, and that is the acquisition workforce. 

According to the Government Accountability Office, in Fiscal Year 2006, the government acquired over $400 billion in goods and 

services. That same year, the government only had 20,000 contracting specialists in the acquisition workforce. 

Poor contract execution and oversight inevitably leads to problems like we saw with the Department of Homeland Security’s 

SBInet virtual border fence contract, which was delivered months 

past due, or the dozens of failed contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan. 

Many point to the size of the acquisition workforce as a major 

factor in poor acquisition outcomes. During the 1990’s, the size of 

the acquisition workforce dropped dramatically, leveling off at its 

current size in the last 10 years. However, during the same period, 

spending on acquisitions ballooned. 

Americans need to know if there are enough people to provide 

oversight of contracts so that taxpayers’ dollars are wisely spent. 

It is important that agencies have the right tools to recruit and 

retain a strong acquisition workforce. Agencies already have some 

flexibilities to help with the hiring of certain acquisition professionals. 

2 

In addition, some agencies, such as the Department of Homeland 

Security, are setting up acquisition internship programs to attract 

younger professionals into the Federal workforce and provide realworld on-the-job training for a career in acquisitions. 

Another issue is the skill sets and training of the acquisition 

workforce. Acquisition specialists and program managers need to 

have the best training available and keep the training up to date. 

As contracts become more complex and agencies rely on the contractors themselves to help define contract requirements, training 

is essential to execute contracts effectively and oversee them over 

their lifecycle. 

A problem that I am very concerned about with the Federal 

workforce as a whole, but especially with the acquisition workforce, 

is the looming surge of baby boomers set to retire from Federal 

service. 

According to the Federal Acquisition Institute, 53 percent of the 

acquisition workforce will be eligible for retirement by 2016. 

This is especially worrisome in looking at the acquisition workforce where it can often take several years to get all of the training 

and accreditation needed for certain specialties. With every new retiree, the government is losing important institutional knowledge. 

The government must act aggressively now in analyzing acquisition workforce trends so that a brain drain does not develop in the 

acquisition community. 

To address many of the concerns with acquisition management, 

the Senate passed the Accountability in Government Contracting 

Act, S. 680 last year. 

I am pleased to be a co-sponsor of this bill. S. 680 would establish a government-wide internship program for acquisition professionals, much like the one that is already in place at DHS which 

has shown much promise. 

The bill would also create a contingency contracting corps to ensure that the Federal Government has the acquisition professionals 

it needs during emergencies such as Hurricane Katrina. 

It is my hope that we can work to enact a bill that contains the 

tools to help bolster the workforce. 

This hearing is intended to serve as a benchmark, giving an 

overall view on the current state of the acquisition workforce. This 

is an important aspect of our acquisition management strategy that 

needs continued attention from this Administration, as well as the 

next. 

Recruiting, training, and retaining an outstanding Federal workforce is a difficult job, maybe even more so with the acquisition 

workforce. I hope that our witnesses here today will be able to 

share with us their views on the workforce and what can be done 

to strengthen it. 

I am glad to have Senator Stevens here with us this morning, 

and I am going to ask him for any opening statement. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR STEVENS 

Senator STEVENS. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I have 

dropped in because I have several meetings this morning, and I do 

not have an opening statement. I wanted to hear the comments of 

these witnesses, so I am pleased to be with you. 

3 

Senator AKAKA. Well, thank you very much for being here, Senator Stevens. 

And now I would like to turn to our witnesses. The Subcommittee has invited three witnesses with important roles in recruiting, training, and sustaining the acquisition workforce. Paul A. 

Denett, Administrator of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy 

at the Office of Management and Budget. Frank J. Anderson, Jr., 

President of the Defense Acquisition University with the Department of Defense, and Karen A. Pica, Director of the Federal Acquisition Institute. 

It is a custom of this Subcommittee, as you know to swear in all 

witnesses, so will you please stand and raise your right hand. Do 

you solemnly swear that the testimony you are about to give to this 

Subcommittee is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the 

truth, so help you, God? 

Mr. DENETT. I do. 

Mr. ANDERSON. I do. 

Ms. PICA. I do. 

Senator AKAKA. Thank you. Let the record note that the witnesses responded in the affirmative. 

And now, I would like to call on our Ranking Member, Senator 

Voinovich, for his opening statement. Senator Voinovich. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR VOINOVICH 

Senator VOINOVICH. Yes, Mr. Chairman. I apologize for being 

late. I had something that came up that required my personal attention. Thank you for holding this oversight hearing. 

Senator Akaka, you and I have focused the work of this Subcommittee on understanding the challenges that our government 

faces in recruiting and retaining highly skilled workforce for the 21 

Century. We have been working on this for almost 9 years. 

Today, we are focused on a critical segment of that workforce: 

The acquisition professionals. 

The Federal Government spends a staggering $400 billion annually to procure goods and services. That amount continues to rise 

annually, but the number of individuals responsible for spending 

and managing those contracts does not. 

According to the Federal Acquisition Institute’s latest annual report, by 2016, half of the government’s contracting specialists will 

be eligible for retirement. 

That is only 8 years away, and the risk of such institutional 

knowledge and experience walking out the door is of grave concern 

to all of us. 

The Federal acquisition workforce has a tremendous responsibility in being stewards of the taxpayer dollars. They are the individuals who determine whether the government needs the assistance of the private sector to help meet its mission. They determine 

who will provide the goods or service. They oversee the work of the 

contract partner. 

We see challenges in every department and agency of the Federal 

Government in every stage of the acquisition process. This includes 

award protests, cost overruns, late delivery, and disputes over 

claims and payments. 

4 

1The prepared statement of Mr. Denet appears in the Appendix on page 29. 

When their job is not done well, the acquisition workforce sees 

the impact through countless media reports and Congressional 

hearings. 

They end up on GAO’s High-Risk list, such as DOD weapon systems acquisition, DOD contract management, NASA contract management, and management of interagency contracting. 

I would venture to say, however, the acquisition workforce is not 

at fault. 

After all, it was Congress that mandated the Department of Defense in 1996 to cut 15,000 positions from its acquisition workforce 

and develop a plan to further reduce the workforce by 25 percent. 

For Fiscal Year 1997, Congress further mandated the Department cut another 15,000. Mr. Chairman, I think you would agree 

such arbitrary quotas do not equal strategic human capital management. We have done that too often, in too many places in this 

government. 

All too often, Congress will direct the Executive Branch to do 

something, but we do not appropriate the money to fund those activities. Then, the Executive Branch gets called before Congress to 

explain why they have not accomplished their mission. Too often, 

you do not tell us it is because you did not give us the money to 

hire the people that we need. 

As another example, every day we hear the tragic stories of disabled Americans who are not able to have their disability claims 

approved in a reasonable timeframe. The average processing time 

can exceed a year. However, if we compare the budget request and 

the appropriated funds for the administrative costs to do this work, 

Congress continually has not given the Social Security Administration enough money. 

Mr. Chairman, the acquisition workforce is overworked and does 

not have the appropriate training to do the job they have been 

asked to do. 

We in Congress must recognize the important work of these individuals and provide them with the resources they need to do their 

jobs. That is, the right people with the right skills. And it is significantly less costly for us to do the job right than to have the situation that we have today. Thank you. 

Senator AKAKA. Thank you very much, Senator Voinovich. 

I want to thank our witnesses for being here. Although statements are limited to 5 minutes, I want all of our witnesses to know 

that their entire statements will be included in the record. Mr. 

Denett, will you please proceed with your statement? 

TESTIMONY OF PAUL A. DENETT,1 ADMINISTRATOR FOR FEDERAL PROCUREMENT POLICY, OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT 

AND BUDGET 

Mr. DENETT. Thank you, Chairman Akaka, Senator Voinovich, 

Senator Stevens, and other Members of the Subcommittee. I am 

pleased to appear before you today to discuss the Federal acquisition workforce. I have prepared written remarks that I would like 

the Subcommittee to enter into the record, and would like to briefly 

summarize my comments for you now. 

5 

Strengthening the professionalism of the acquisition workforce is 

a top priority for the Office of Federal Procurement Policy. The 

skills and good judgment of our acquisition workforce are closely 

tied to the government’s ability to buy needed goods and services 

and deliver effective results. 

I thank the Congress for its recent actions to support our workforce by making the acquisition workforce training fund permanent 

and extending direct hire authorities. These are critical authorities 

to ensure our workforce is well equipped to meet our agency needs. 

OFPP has taken unprecedented actions in close partnership with 

the Federal Acquisition Institute and with strong support of the 

Defense Acquisition University to improve the caliber, agility, and 

professionalism of the workforce. 

First, we have developed certification programs that standardize 

training and experience requirements for contracting officers, contracting officers’ technical representatives, and program managers 

across all the civilian agencies. 

These structured programs will help strengthen our employees’ 

capabilities and professionalisms by focusing on all the personnel 

who play a key role in the acquisition process. As opposed to just 

contract specialists, we will significantly improve our stewardship 

of taxpayer dollars. 

Second, we completed the first-ever contracting workforce competency survey to help civilian agencies assess their proficiency in 

core contracting competencies. Each agency, in consultation with 

the Office of Personnel Management, is using the results of this 

survey to develop a tailored plan for closing its own skills gaps that 

is being incorporated into the agency’s human capital plan for the 

acquisition workforce succession planning. 

Third, we launched the Federal Acquisition Intern Coalition to 

improve recruitment and retention strategies among agencies and 

increase the number and caliber of new hires who enter the government. This coalition will make a significant contribution to recruiting talented business-skilled candidates and developing them into 

effective buyers through these intern programs. 

Fourth, we issued guidance to facilitate the hiring of re-hired annuitants to fill critical vacancies in the acquisition field. We appreciate Congress providing this authority, which will enable agencies 

to manage the loss of experience and corporate knowledge as the 

baby boomer generation retires over the next few years. 

Finally, we established the ‘‘SHINE’’ initiative. The SHINE initiative is the first coordinated government-wide initiative dedicated 

exclusively to recognizing individual employees and team achievement of acquisition excellence within our workforce. These achievements have covered all aspects of the acquisition process. 

Today, I would like to briefly acknowledge the exceptional 

achievements of three SHINE award winners. Jean Todd of the 

Army Corps of Engineers supported numerous reconstruction efforts in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, including accelerating removal of water and the construction of over 81,000 temporary roofs. 

The late Commander Philip Murphy Sweet volunteered to be the 

on-site contracting officer in Central Iraq supporting the establishVerDate Aug 31 2005 10:51 Jun 27, 2008 Jkt 041451 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 P:\DOCS\41451.TXT SAFFAIRS PsN: PAT
6 

1The prepared statement of Mr. Anderson appears in the Appendix on page 36. 

ment of a criminal investigative court and helped ensure that the 

project stayed on track. 

The Bureau of Prisons Acquisition Team used an innovative alternative disputes resolution partnering approach in constructing a 

new, environmentally friendly Federal correction facility on time 

and within budget. 

I am confident that these initiatives I have described for you 

today will have a lasting and positive effect on the workforce and 

the performance of the government. I also believe these important 

steps address the acquisition workforce recommendations made by 

the Acquisition Advisory Panel established under the Services Acquisition Reform Act. 

Let me end by reiterating my appreciation for the steps Congress 

has taken to strengthen the workforce, and I look forward to working with you as we build on this progress. 

This concludes my prepared remarks, and I would be happy to 

answer any questions that you may have. 

Senator AKAKA. Thank you very much, Mr. Denett. Mr. Anderson. 

TESTIMONY OF FRANK J. ANDERSON, JR.,1 PRESIDENT, DEFENSE ACQUISITION UNIVERSITY, DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE 

Mr. ANDERSON. Chairman Akaka, Ranking Member Voinovich, 

Senator Stevens, and Members of the Subcommittee, thank you for 

the opportunity to appear before you today. I will address the four 

topic areas you requested, and appreciate your including my full 

statement in the record. 

First, DOD’s initiatives to recruit, train and retain; my views on 

the Acquisition Advisory Panel; training standards; and finally the 

Defense Acquisition University’s (DAU) relationship with FAI. 

The Defense acquisition workforce faces major challenges involving new mission demands, evolving skill requirement, and the projected loss of experienced baby boomers. While hiring is favorable 

today, concerns exist about future talent within the science, engineering, and other discipline. 

Our recruiting and intern programs have been very successful, 

and were recognized by the Acquisition Advisory Panel. They are 

integral to the new Federal Acquisition Intern Coalition. We are 

developing a comprehensive workforce analysis capability. In the 

1990s, the workforce was reduced without robust workforce planning tools. The Hon. John Young, Under Secretary of Defense for 

Acquisition Technology and Logistics, is pushing to provide the 

right tools to shape the future acquisition workforce. We are making real progress. 

From a training perspective, DAU is broadly recognized as one 

of America’s top training institutions. We deliver extensive classroom, online, and knowledge sharing resources. As an example, our 

2007 results included 123,000 course graduates, 244,000 continues 

learning graduates, and over 50 million page views in our online 

knowledge center. This is a national resource for the entire Federal 

workforce. 

7 

Our WebCasts connect senior leaders and the workforce as part 

of our leaders and teachers initiative. 

Under Secretary Young has taken this to a new level by both 

teaching in the classroom and communicating directly with the 

workforce. His weekly notes on lessons learned and leadership 

guidance are a powerful training tool. 

The Deputy Secretary, the Hon. Gordon England, has also led 

training for Lean Six Sigma, and continues process improvement at 

DAU. 

Mr. Young started the Living Library to capture irreplaceable 

knowledge from experts who are leaving the workplace to both support performance today and maintain this knowledge for the future 

workforce. 

I was a member of the Acquisition Advisory Panel. Overall, the 

panel made excellent recommendations. DOD has addressed almost 

every workforce recommendation and action as either completed or 

underway. We are teaming with OFPP and FAI. 

DAU follows three external training standards: Academic accreditation by the Council on Occupational Education, continuing education units by the International Association of Continuing Education and Training, college credits by the American Council on 

Education. 

Also Defense Acquisition Workforce members must meet the 

DAWIA, the Defense Acquisition Workforce Improvement Act 

standards. 

Certification standards are very important to us. We are migrating to common Federal standards. The April 2005 OFFP policy 

States, ‘‘the Federal certification program shall be based on 

DAWIA requirements,’’ and it established a framework that 

leverages DOD’s competencies. 

Mr. Assad, the Director of the Defense Procurement, is leading 

a comprehensive DOD competency update. This will both complement and add to FAI’s competency survey, mentioned by the 

Hon. Paul Denett. 

Finally, I am very proud of the DAU–FAI partnership established in 2005. Since 2005, FAI has co-located at DAU. Over 18,000 

mostly Web-based grads have completed training. Civilian agency 

graduates from the continuing learning center increased even more 

dramatically—nearly 40,000 grads during this period. 

These accomplishments are in great part a reflection of the partnership that we have created, the leadership of Mr. Denett, and the 

partnership with caring. Mr. Chairman, the Under Secretary, John 

Young, has implemented a very important initiative to improve 

management of the Defense acquisition workforce. I am convinced 

his initiatives will yield significant and positive outcomes. 

Again, thank you for this opportunity, and I look forward to your 

questions. 

Senator AKAKA. Thank you for your testimony. Ms. Pica. 

8 

1The prepared statement of Ms. Pica appears in the Appendix on page 54. 

TESTIMONY OF KAREN A. PICA,1 DIRECTOR, FEDERAL ACQUISITION INSTITUTE, U.S. GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION 

Ms. PICA. Good morning, Mr. Chairman, Senator Voinovich, and 

Senator Stevens. I am pleased to appear before you today to discuss the activities of the Federal Acquisition Institute (FAI). 

Since 1976, under the leadership of OFPP and now the Chief Acquisition Officer Council, prior to that the Procurement Executive 

Council, FAI has been providing strategic human capital support to 

promote the professional development of the acquisition workforce. 

The written remarks I have prepared provide more details on 

how FAI is implementing the vision shared by Mr. Denett this 

morning, so I will just highlight a few of those. 

As you just heard from my colleague, Frank Anderson, FAI accomplishes its many and varied missions through partnerships. 

The partnership with DOD actually dates back to about 1999, 

when OFPP and DOD first signed an agreement to share training 

development efforts that were based on the competencies that FAI 

developed and OFPP established as government-wide standards in 

1992. 

The current partnering effort, supported by the Acquisition 

Workforce Training Fund, really opens up the DAU and FAI training to the entire government through a shared platform that Frank 

just mentioned. 

This shared system has contributed to FAI’s increase in training 

completions. Prior to the shared platform about 16,000 per year online, and now we are right about 40,000 a year. In about 2 years, 

we have seen that increase. 

And it opens up training in the small business area. FAI has several small business training modules, and right now about 75 percent of the students completing those modules are in the DOD. So 

we look at the partnership as a great success. 

We also count as strategic partners the Treasury Acquisition Institute, GSA, USDA, and EPA for delivery and training from everything from green procurement to 508 compliance. 

While training is an important FAI mission, strategic human 

capital support for the acquisition workforce is really FAI’s key 

strength and our legacy. 

In partnership with the government’s human capital leaders, the 

Office of Personnel Management, FAI has been a leading acquisition workforce organization since 1976. 

In 1977, we published the first annual report on the acquisition 

workforce. The first set of contracting competencies was delivered 

in 1985, and it has been repeatedly matured to make sure it keeps 

up to date with the changes in the workforce today. 

The first interagency working group dedicated specifically to acquisition workforce was chartered in the 1980s. It is very active 

today with membership from all the Executive Branch agencies, 

several Legislative Branch agencies, members of the Small Agency 

Council, and now the intelligence community as well. 

We published a competency-based contract specialist blueprint in 

1992, which formed the backbone for the current training and has 

9 

been updated through the current training, again, to try to keep up 

with the changes in the workforce needs. 

The first government-wide tool developed exclusively to capture 

information on the acquisition workforce was developed in 2000, 

and we have matured the capability for reporting through that tool 

with our partnership with the Defense Acquisition University. 

In the 18 months of Mr. Denett’s tenure and with an on board 

complement of three permanent government employees and two 

term government employees, FAI continues to be a leader in strategic human capital. As Mr. Denett mentioned, the first government-wide contracting competency survey, reaching over 5,400 contracting professionals in 50 agencies; a report and recommendations on program and project management, to include competencies 

and certification standards that were unanimously agreed to by all 

15 agencies on the work group. 

As Mr. Denett and Mr. Anderson both mentioned, a governmentwide acquisition intern coalition that does not duplicate what is out 

there, but learns from it and creates an umbrella structure so we 

can save some work at the agency level while reaching out with a 

united front to people that are not aware of what contracting can 

do in the government. 

And then also maturing the existing ACMIS to improve data 

gathering capabilities. Again, as Mr. Anderson had mentioned, 

through the Acquisition Workforce Training Fund (AWTF), and our 

partnership with DAU, workforce managers in the agencies now 

have a much better capability to pull out information that they 

need to see who needs training, who has the skills, who has taken 

the emergency response and recovery training that could respond 

in a disaster. 

We also have templates and online tools that the agencies can 

use in developing strategic human capital plans, which are based 

on the OPM best standard practices; tools to implement certification programs, assess the workforce and also forecast agency 

needs. 

The Federal acquisition workforce, much like the national and 

global workforce, does face significant challenges. There is philosophical challenges toward work, expectations of organizations and 

employees. And while these challenges are going to continue, the 

information we have today does not represent a full solution for everything, but we think it is certainly a good start. It will help us 

to provide continued support for the agencies in recruiting, developing, and retaining a professional acquisition workforce to be the 

stewardship of the resources, as you all mentioned in your statements. 

I am happy to answer any questions about these initiatives or 

the FAI annual reports. Thank you. 

Senator AKAKA. Thank you very much, Ms. Pica. Thank you for 

your testimony. 

I would like to direct my first question to the entire panel. As 

I pointed out in my opening statement, Federal contracting has had 

a negative image due to some high-profile problem contracts over 

the past several years. 

10 

Do you think this negative image affects prospective employees 

from choosing a career in the Federal acquisition workforce? Mr. 

Denett. 

Mr. DENETT. Well, we never want to project a negative image. I 

think we have a really positive story to say. As you heard in my 

opening remarks, we have launched the SHINE initiative. 

I think that for every bad apple or somebody who does something 

that they should not, there are thousands that are doing great 

work. There are contracting officers that are working with NIH 

prize winners in curing diseases. They are working with Agriculture and Interior to fight forest fires. They are supporting the 

war fighter. Just lots of very positive things, and I think through 

the SHINE initiative, we are drawing more attention to these outstanding men and women that are doing good contracting, and I 

think that helps us recruit. 

It is true that we occasionally have the bad story, but I think you 

have to keep things in proportion and recognize that we are the 

ones that are aggressively working with the Justice Department to 

catch those few bad apples and prosecute them. 

So we want to get out the positive story. We want to remind people of all the good things we are doing, how meaningful it is, how 

they, if they join the acquisition workforce can be part of a very important thing to our Nation and all the wide range of things that 

we contract for now. I mean, we virtually support every department in accomplishing their mission—are absolutely dependent on 

good contract support. 

Senator AKAKA. Thank you. Mr. Anderson. 

Mr. ANDERSON. Yes, sir. I do believe that when the public is 

bombarded with lots of negative stories, that it certainly has a negative impact on our ability to recruit. 

But as I indicated in my statement, today we are being very successful in recruiting for the workforce. Our concern is our ability 

to continue that process. But in trying to deal with this issue of 

image, we have taken two specific actions in the department. 

We are initiating now a program that we are calling the Employee Value Proposition, to frame and tell the positive side of 

being in this business. We have really exciting work. Individuals 

pick up an awful lot of responsibility. We have some very thoughtful training programs that we know are important to the future 

generations that we are recruiting today. 

So we think it is a part of our leadership in the organization to 

make sure that the employees we have today feel valued. And, by 

the way, the initiatives that are sponsored by the Congress, they 

are important to us. And then specific communication that we initiate. In fact, this weekend, I am participating in an awards ceremony for college grads for engineering. And that is up in Baltimore. So there are a lot of outreach programs. The SMART program that is in the Department of Defense. The STEM program 

that have been sponsored by the Congress. These are all outreach 

tools that allow us to get to the public from K through 12 to college 

communities to positively communicate the benefits of being a part 

of public service. 

Senator AKAKA. Thank you. Ms. Pica. 

11 

Ms. PICA. Yes, I do believe that there is an impact, both for people that are interested potentially in coming into the workforce and 

also for those that are in the workforce in terms of staying or leaving. 

Over the past 5 years, the government as a whole has been successful in recruiting more people into the 1102 series, the contract 

specialist series, than have left. To make sure that continues, I 

think one of the things that we have to do is make sure we are 

conducting outreach. And part of that outreach talks about what 

Mr. Denett mentioned with the SHINE initiative sharing those 

positive stories. 

So for the 57,000 plus people that are in the 1100 procurement 

traditional series, you have a few people that are mentioned in the 

press. Recently, yesterday, there were some more that there are 

some problems with. 

So what we would like to do is share success stories through the 

SHINE initiative. OPM also has a wealth of knowledge about what 

I did at work today that highlights kind of the neat things that you 

do with acquisition and contracting. 

When I am out speaking, a lot of people are not aware that, for 

example, disaster recovery certainly has a significant support that 

comes from contracting. We need to share those stories. 

The Partnership for Public Service has an outreach program 

that’s called Making a Difference and what they do is they highlight with videos and testimonials different success stories about 

this is what I did at my job today. 

The highlights are targeted towards those initiatives that OPM— 

not those initiatives, but those triggers that attract people to public 

service that OPM has identified through a body of knowledge. So 

part of the Federal Acquisition Intern Coalition is going to include 

those vignettes. 

We also have to make sure that we are caring and feeding, if you 

will, the existing workforce, and that is what Mr. Denett is trying 

to do through the SHINE initiative. 

So absolutely, I think it has an impact. Absolutely, it is informing what we do every day, and we are working closely with OPM 

and such leaders as the Partnership for Public Service, because we 

need to leverage what they already have to tell the good story that 

government has and create more vignettes for the contracting professionals so we can reach more people. 

Senator AKAKA. Ms. Pica, there seems to be a problem growing 

here. The 2006 Acquisition Workforce Report found that only about 

20 percent of workers who left the Federal acquisition workforce 

were eligible to retire. Now this means that 80 percent of these 

workers left without being eligible to retire. So that is a growing 

problem. 

Has FAI done any additional analysis that would tell us why 

these workers are leaving and where they are going? 

Ms. PICA. Well, thank you for asking. Actually, this year, in the 

report, we are adding a new section that is about where these people are going. And so, what we are going to have now is for the 

people that are—it is—right now, we are looking at for the people 

that are staying in government which career field they went into 

and for the people that are leaving, we are going to actually try to 

12 

start doing some, if we can, interviews. It is hard to sometimes 

track people when they leave. 

Some of the agencies do exit interviews to see why people are 

leaving the workforce. So what we are going to start with is those 

people that we have identified that left the 1102 series and went 

into another government series, we can track who those people are, 

and what we are going to do is ask them first why they left the 

contracting series to move into another series to see if we can develop some data from that. And then see if we can find some of the 

people who actually left the government to interview them as well. 

So thank you for noticing. 

Senator AKAKA. What is the government doing to hold onto workers already in the acquisition workforce? 

Ms. PICA. That question is a little more challenging to answer. 

As Mr. Denett had mentioned, the SHINE initiative is one thing, 

because one of the things that we have learned as human capital 

leaders people need care and feeding. They need to have attention, 

highlighted for when they are doing great things, and then also not 

be—I will not say reprimanded—but be provided learning opportunities for maybe some activities if they are not quite in the right 

direction. 

So what we are looking at—the SHINE initiative. We are also 

looking at some mentoring. And the mentoring is not just for people that are in the entry-level programs. People need mentoring all 

throughout their career. Maybe it is mentoring as a contract professional. Maybe it is mentoring to be able to see where they can go 

as a career. 

OPM has what is called career paths that are identified for various elements of the workforce. And what they do is they say if you 

have a member of the workforce in this particular generational category, these are some things that you can do to help coax them, 

I guess if you will, in staying in the career field they are in. 

So we are working with the career path information. We are 

working with OPM on more research, but also the agencies have 

programs, and so you see agencies giving out rewards. You see 

agencies recognizing people, high profile, maybe articles in newsletters bringing attention to that. 

What we are also doing is for awards that are given out, whether 

they are through Mr. Denett’s SHINE initiative or at the agency 

level, we are inviting those award winners to give presentations 

through our learning seminars. 

So, for example, we have the GSA Expo coming up where we 

have 14 or 15 different training tracks, so we are bringing those 

people in to say can you repeat and share with others what you 

did. 

What we are finding is people love to talk about what they have 

done when it has been a success. And that gives them a sense of 

pride and accomplishment, which they then take back to their office. And they say, I do make a difference. And that is part of what 

we are working to do, and we are also trying to get them to see 

that it is not moving paper from one place to another. It is providing food for in a disaster environment. It is putting out forest 

fires, like Mr. Denett had mentioned. 

Senator AKAKA. Thank you very much. Senator Voinovich. 

13 

Senator VOINOVICH. I had not had the opportunity to read your 

testimony, so I want to say that I have been very impressed with 

what I have heard today. Ms. Pica, I impressed with your enthusiasm. How long have you been with the agency? 

Ms. PICA. I have been in this job for 16 months, and prior to 

that, I was privileged to work at the Department of Homeland Security to set up their acquisition workforce program. So I have only 

been with FAI about 16 months, but I have been doing this kind 

of work for a few years. 

Senator VOINOVICH. Are you a civil servant or are you a political 

appointee? 

Ms. PICA. I am civil service, sir. 

Senator VOINOVICH. Mr. Anderson, are you a civil servant or a 

political appointee? 

Mr. ANDERSON. Civil service. 

Senator VOINOVICH. Mr. Denett, what are you? 

Mr. DENETT. An appointee. 

Senator VOINOVICH. Well, it is comforting to me, Mr. Chairman, 

that the government has some people that are going to be continuing this work into the next Administration. One of the things 

that Senator Akaka and I are concerned about is that in a lot of 

agencies where we are starting to see some real transformation is 

whether or not the people will be there to pass the baton onto the 

next Administration. 

How much coordination is there between your efforts and the 

chief human capital officers, the CHCO Council? 

Mr. DENETT. We are working really close with OPM and the 

CHCO group. In fact, this time we have included the acquisition 

function as part of their human capital plan. It included projections 

of who would be retiring in the next several years. 

Senator VOINOVICH. And what plan? 

Mr. DENETT. This is the human capital plan that is submitted to 

the Office of Personnel Management. It was submitted just in the 

last month. 

Senator VOINOVICH. Strategic human capital management was 

not part of Government Performance and Results plans until 2003. 

So now, each department is required to include this in their annual 

plans. 

Mr. DENETT. Right. They have now submitted that, and we are 

analyzing that and then whatever number they put down—let us 

say they say we know these many people are going to retire. Here 

are the skills gaps we need. How do we fill it through training and 

through additional hires and at what grade level? And at the Office 

of Management and Budget, we will be working—— 

Senator VOINOVICH. So this goes beyond acquisition. It looks at 

the whole gamut of things for a change? 

Mr. DENETT [continuing]. On everything connected to acquisitions. The program managers, the contracting officers and specialists, because we need all of them if we are going to succeed. 

Senator VOINOVICH. Now, is it just on acquistion workforce or 

does it extend to other areas where we have need? 

Mr. DENETT. Well, I think it covers the whole gamut, but I have 

obviously focused—— 

Senator VOINOVICH. But your piece of it is—— 

14 

Mr. Denett [continuing]. On the acquisition piece. 

Senator VOINOVICH. OK. Go ahead. 

Mr. DENETT. Well, anyway, so we are going to monitor that to 

make sure they, in fact, fill those vacancies because we want to 

know the right number. As has been stated earlier here, it is a couple of misnomers. We talk about we have gone from $200 billion 

to $400 billion in spending, and that is true. And there was the significant dip that you pointed out that happened in the 1990s, significant cutbacks in acquisition. But we have turned that trend 

around. We, in fact, have a few thousand additional contracting 

people in the 1102 series now than we had 2 or 3 years ago. 

So the truth is that we are now increasing the amount of resources that we are dedicating to the acquisition field. 

The tough question is finding out what is the right number. So 

now, we are going up. So we are going in the right direction, but 

we do not want to go up dramatically the way we cut dramatically 

without doing it strategically. 

And what you have just described, working with the human capital plans and OPM, we are trying to make sure that each department knows the right number so they can try to attract and hire 

and retain the right number rather than just do a simplistic, well 

if we went from $200 billion to $400 billion, then I guess we should 

double the acquisition workforce. Well, it is not as simple as that. 

Senator VOINOVICH. But are agencies being forthright in giving 

you their best estimate of what resources or are they holding back 

because they are fearful that it is too expensive and will be turned 

down. 

Mr. DENETT. Well, I know Homeland Security and others have 

asked for hundreds of additional people, and we have been supportive of that. And they are embarking on an aggressive program 

to hire. 

Senator VOINOVICH. And I want to say that I notice that the Department of Homeland Security has requested $3 million to fund 

an acquisition intern program. 

Mr. DENETT. Right. 

Senator VOINOVICH. But that kind of transparency in money requesting is not common. For instance, at the Department of Defense, there is no way to tell what the budget allocation is for the 

acquisition workforce. 

Mr. ANDERSON. Senator Voinovich, as you may be aware, in the 

NDA 2008 authorization, there is a section 851 that specifically requires that we develop a human capital strategic plan and that in 

that plan that the acquisition workforce will have a dedicated section to look at—— 

Senator VOINOVICH. Was there any money just specifically requested? 

Mr. ANDERSON. I would have to go back and look specifically—— 

Senator VOINOVICH. Would you find out for me? 

Mr. ANDERSON. Yes, sir. 

Senator VOINOVICH. Yes, I would like to know, because they put 

everything under personnel. 

Mr. ANDERSON. Yes, sir. But I can tell you for sure that there 

are active intern programs already ongoing, so we are not starting 

15 

a new program. We have had active programs for many years that 

have been very successful. 

There is already an intern program office for the Air Force at 

Randolph Air Force Base. We have been successful with the Palace 

Acquire Intern Program. So this is not a new requirement that we 

are starting. 

We are stepping back to take a look at whether or not we need 

to increase the size of those intern programs because of our concerns about projected losses. 

Senator VOINOVICH. You are talking about an intern program. 

That means that you hire people while they are in school to be an 

intern? Tell me about that. 

Mr. ANDERSON. This is recruiting people out of college who come 

in and go into dedicated and specific development programs for the 

acquisition community. And they are ongoing programs in all of the 

services. 

Senator VOINOVICH. But are they on the payroll? 

Mr. ANDERSON. They are. 

Senator VOINOVICH. Yes, and congratulations on working with 

the Partnership for Public Service. Max Stier’s group has been 

doing work. 

Mr. ANDERSON. Right. 

Senator VOINOVICH. But the fact is that you go to the colleges 

and let them know what opportunities are available. 

Mr. ANDERSON. We do. In addition, for the technical community, 

we are very concerned about the programs that have been supported by the Congress, the SMART program, the STEM program 

that gives us outreach to K through 12 to get people interested. 

Senator VOINOVICH. Another question I would like answered, and 

I will have my staff get it to you, is that we passed the America 

Competes Act in response to the National Academy of Sciences report. 

Mr. ANDERSON. Yes, sir. 

Senator VOINOVICH. Rising Above the Gathering Storm. Yes. 

Mr. ANDERSON. Yes, sir. 

Senator VOINOVICH. I would be interested to know just what impact you think the America Competes Act is going to have on your 

ability to attract folks in the STEM area. 

Do you have an opportunity to go out to a school and say to find 

a bright student that might be interested in going to work for the 

government and offer him a scholarship in exchange for working at 

an agency after graduation. 

Mr. ANDERSON. I would like to take that as a question and get 

back to you. 

Senator VOINOVICH. My other question is regarding workforce 

flexibilities, do you think you have enough flexibility for hiring? 

Our legislation provided some more flexibilities to departments. 

The question is are they using those flexibilities? 

Last but not least, if you are in a position to be losing people, 

and there are experienced retirees, do you have the capability to 

bring back an annuitant, to help train the new people without 

them losing their annuity? 

Mr. ANDERSON. Right. 

16 

Senator VOINOVICH. We are concerned about the government 

ability to get the right people. Is one of the reasons why acquisition 

professionals are leaving because in the private sector there is such 

a demand for companies to offer more money. 

Mr. ANDERSON. I would like to respond to that. We do have turnover in the workforce, but we are being very successful at retaining 

our fair share of the workforce. In fact, our studies have indicated 

that on average the members in the acquisition workforce actually 

stay in the workforce longer than other DOD employees. 

The turnover rate, as we have looked at that inside the Department, and it should be noted that 70 percent of the 1102 series employees are in the Department of Defense. So when we go look at 

turnover rates, we have people who are moving out of the acquisition career field into other career fields, and it is primarily because 

of people who are seeking promotion opportunities. 

We also have people out of other career fields who are migrating 

into the acquisition workforce, so that provides a healthy mobility 

for people within government. 

Our big concern is that there is a large number of people who 

are surely heading to a point of retirement, and we want to ensure 

that we do have the right programs in place today that will allow 

us to continue to be successful at bringing employees in so that we 

can train and have people prepared—as you mentioned Chairman 

Akaka—to get them now in the timeline to get to a fully qualified 

employee. 

So we are going back through and we are re-looking at all of our 

certification programs to convince ourselves that we are, in fact, 

producing the fully qualified individuals to do the work that we 

need them to do. 

We have also started through the online programs that we have 

in place where we do interviews with existing experts to capture 

their expertise today so that it will be available for the future 

workforce. 

So we are not losing all of that expertise. 

I mentioned in my statement that Under Secretary Young had 

started this program of a living library. So we are going through 

now trying to identify those unique experts to get interviews with 

them that will be available where a person can get to it through 

Web casts, through captured knowledge that we will archive in 

videos. 

So if we were in a position, we could tape this hearing and frame 

that so that people in the future can come look at it and we do not 

lose benefit of this knowledge and expertise of the existing workforce. 

And that is an evolving initiative to help deal with this challenge. 

Senator VOINOVICH. Thank you. Senator, you are generous with 

your time. 

Senator AKAKA. Thank you very much, Senator Voinovich. 

To follow up, Mr. Anderson, the Department of Defense requires 

both a bachelor’s degree as well as academic credit hours in a business-related field. But to qualify to be in the 1102 series—— 

Mr. ANDERSON. Yes, sir. 

17 

Senator AKAKA [continuing]. While only one or the other is required outside of DOD. 

Does the Defense Acquisition University still offer contracting 

training courses, even the online courses, to individuals from other 

agencies that have either a bachelor’s or the business degree, but 

not both? 

Mr. ANDERSON. Yes, sir. In terms of the offering of courses, and 

this is a reflection of the partnership that we have in place with 

Mr. Denett and Ms. Pica, our Web training is available to everyone. 

And we have specific initiatives, so if an individual is identified as 

being in the contracting community, they can get to our Web training. That is a part of our partnership. And that has been very successful. As I mentioned, over 18,000 grads during the previous 3 

years have completed certification courses; and then the over 

40,000 people who have gone through the continuous learning center. So there is a very large collection of courses that are available. 

At the continuous learning center, we have over 200 courses that 

address a number of the gaps that have been identified that is 

available to an individual today, and we are working at developing 

more targeted initiatives. 

The challenge is the resident courses that we have that is really 

driven by the internal demands in the Department. So what we 

have done, we take the material that we have. We make it available to Ms. Pica who works contracts so that external providers can 

take the same learning content and deliver in resident courses to 

members in all of the Federal agencies. 

Senator AKAKA. Now, Mr. Denett, the 2006 Annual Report on the 

Federal Acquisition Workforce found that the average general 

schedule level for contracting specialists in the 1102 series is a GS– 

12. 

Out of the entire 1102 workforce, only 706 individuals were GS– 

15. If individuals are willing to put in the training to become an 

acquisition professional, is there a career track for them to stay in 

the acquisition community and continue to advance in that area? 

Mr. DENETT. Absolutely. It is a great time to be in the acquisition field. Because of baby boomers who are retiring, there are vacancies occurring each year at the highest ranks, at the senior executive service rank. And that spills down into the GS–14’s and 

GS–15’s. 

I think there is improvement in classification recognizing the 

complexity of acquisition jobs; that there are more contracting officers that are able to get GS–14’s and GS–15’s. I think the fact that 

they can move among departments is a real plus, too, because 

when we are trying to attract the people, we say, you go work for 

General Motors. If they have a bad year, you might have to leave 

and start all anew on your benefits. When you are in the Federal 

Government, you might be working for Agriculture for 5 or 10 

years and then you move over to the Army and then you go to the 

Interior. 

Well, they do not lose the longevity. They keep their benefits 

package, the health care. They’re earning—accruing annual and 

sick leave. That is portable with them as they move among the government. 

18 

So I think there are definitely career paths. Many of them are 

formal, like in the beginning, this new initiative of our coalition— 

we have a nice little flyer here, which I could give you a copy of, 

that has come out just in the last few months, but the whole theme 

is ‘‘Be America’s Buyer.’’ And it talks about all the pluses of that 

and how there is career advancement opportunities. 

The intern program itself has two promotion spots after they 

have completed a year each time. Then once they leave that and 

go with the residing agency, they have ladders all the way up to 

and including GS–15’s. 

So it is a great field for them to get into and I think we have 

to do a better job of publicizing it, and I think we are doing that 

now. This ‘‘Be America’s Buyer’’ accents all the positives. We can 

forgive college loans. We can give various retention bonuses, opportunity to work with some really neat people and great programs. 

So they have got a ladder, and I think we are going to do a good 

job of getting our share of the talent pool and retaining them as 

long as we keep them engaged in doing contracts. 

Every now and then, we have a hiatus. I mean, I am really glad 

that you all got us the direct hire authority, but unfortunately, it 

did lapse on September 30, and we had a few months where Homeland Security and others had people queued up and they could not 

exercise the authority. That is behind us now. We had it restored. 

But anything you can do to try to prevent having any of those 

hiatuses in the future would be very helpful to us. 

Senator AKAKA. Thank you. Well, Mr. Anderson and Ms. Pica, I 

am pleased that many agencies have implemented their own acquisition internship programs, as you have mentioned. They have 

shown great promise as a tool to recruit new workers. 

However, I think the Federal Government may benefit from 

reaching out, and I would like to use the word ‘‘reach out’’ to potential Federal workers before they have even graduated. And you 

have mentioned that you do this with some of the high schools as 

well as colleges. 

Have you worked with colleges or universities to develop training 

partnerships that give undergraduates a strong foundation to move 

more easily into the acquisition workforce? 

Mr. ANDERSON. Yes, sir. I would like to address that. And this 

is a very strong initiative that we have ongoing today. In fact, next 

week, I will be traveling to Fayetteville State University in North 

Carolina, and as part of that, we will be meeting with administrators from historically Black colleges and universities. And I will be 

making a pitch relative to both the opportunities and the importance and job satisfaction of being a public servant. So that is one 

avenue. 

I am doing that, but we have numerous other leaders who are 

doing that. 

A program that we recently established with one of our local organizations, Warner Robbins in Georgia, we created a partnership 

between that organization, Macon State University, and DAU, 

where we are getting programs in place that allows them to cover 

a lot of the competencies that are important to us in the acquisitions, specifically contracting community, so these students when 

they go into Macon State they start to target public service early. 

19 

And when they come on board, because of the prescribed program that they have gone through, it will give them advanced 

standing relative to their Federal certification day one. 

So there are a number of initiatives that we have across the 

board. In fact, I believe we have more than 50 partnerships in 

place now with academic institutions. So we think that your perspective is absolutely on target. We are working that hard, and trying to expand the program. In fact, it is one of the things that we 

have done collaboratively with FAI. We have brought them into the 

partnership program, because we believe this is also important to 

the Federal sector. 

Senator AKAKA. All right. Ms. Pica. 

Ms. PICA. I think there is a two-part solution to what you had 

talked about. In the past, as Frank had mentioned, FAI had been 

working with universities to put some of that information in the 

curriculum. And so that certainly DOD has made extensive roadway into that piece of it. So we are going to leverage what they 

have. 

The other piece is, as you have mentioned, that reach out capability that you need to have for getting people interested. So one 

of the things that we are working with, and this goes back to, Mr. 

Voinovich, what you had said about the hiring authorities. There 

is a lot of hiring authorities that people are not aware of, and one 

of the things that we are doing in the intern coalition is make them 

aware of them. So you can go to the junior college level. You can 

get people when they are sophomores in college. You actually can 

bring them into the work environment on a part-time basis. They 

can get some of the training that they need both on the job and 

in the classroom to become a contracting professional, and because 

the hiring authorities are there—what you do is you work people 

through them. 

I have done this before in a previous position I had with the 

Coast Guard. I brought somebody in that was a sophomore in college. She ended up then being a GS–12 down in Norfolk, which 

again, for that area, a GS–12 is top tier. She does not want to be 

a GS–15 in DC. She wants to stay down where she is. 

But because the hiring authority allowed us to bring her in while 

she was in college, she got training. She got experience. She got 

mentoring. She was able to be non-competitively appointed to the 

next level and then brought into the Federal sector just like that. 

And so what she was able to do, like the old shampoo commercial, she told two friends and they told two friends and then there 

was a huge push to try to get more people in that program in Norfolk. 

So along with the curriculum that is existing or being put in 

place at colleges, you have to mirror that with more knowledge of 

these hiring authorities so people understand how to use them to 

attract more people. 

And I tell you when some of those college kids at the vocational 

level or the junior college level or even when they are juniors and 

sophomores in college, they get real excited about making what we 

might think is not a lot of money. But when you are in college, that 

can be a lot of money. 

20 

So working with the HBCUs—I was up meeting with NAFEO the 

other day to talk about how to bring kids in—they have an excellent program where they bring kids in for the summer, sometimes 

semesters. And then all those people are eligible for the training 

while they are in the programs. So I think it is an excellent idea, 

and along with Mr. Anderson, we are taking some action with the 

agencies to help them use those flexibilities to be able to do that. 

Senator AKAKA. Well, it is great to hear your responses, and I 

know Senator Voinovich and I are hearing some good things in this 

hearing and I am happy to hear that. Senator Voinovich. 

Senator VOINOVICH. I do not think I got an answer to the question of reemployed annuitants. If you need them, do you have the 

flexibility to rehire them? 

Mr. DENETT. We are bringing in reemployed annuitants. In fact, 

Homeland Security is getting reemployed annuitants to actually 

mentor the new interns. Their dilemma was with all the additional 

contracting that they are doing at Homeland Security, they needed 

all their contracting officers to work on live contracts and found 

themselves short staffed to peel some of those people out to mentor 

new incoming interns. 

So they are going to rely heavily on reemployed annuitants to fill 

that role. 

Senator VOINOVICH. So they have the flexibility to do it? 

Mr. ANDERSON. We do. The one piece that we are working on is 

the direct hire authority that was written into law for the Federal 

agencies, and we are working to ensure that we also have that 

flexibility. 

Senator VOINOVICH. OK. But, so you are not sure that you have 

authority to reemploy annuitants? 

Mr. ANDERSON. No, for the reemployed annuitants, we do have 

the flexibility—— 

Senator VOINOVICH. You are in a good position then. 

Mr. ANDERSON [continuing]. To work that. 

Senator VOINOVICH. Yes, you said that your direct hire authority 

ended at the end of September. Is that because it was part of the 

Defense Authorization bill which was not enacted in time? 

Mr. ANDERSON. Right. 

Senator VOINOVICH. Or it lapsed, and so you were there, ready 

to hire somebody but unable to do so. I am going to be giving a 

floor speech on the issue of the impact of not passing our appropriations on time. We have omnibus appropriations bills that contribute to chaos in the Federal Government. Agencies do not know 

what their budget will be or, in this particular case, your authority 

lapsed. Why have you not sought direct hire authority through the 

Office of Personnel Management? 

Mr. ANDERSON. I am not sure about that, sir. I will have to 

check. We are working with our HR community. We do not believe 

that this is an issue of getting the authority. We just need to get 

it worked—everything in terms of our relationship with the Senate 

I believe is very positive and the feedback has been positive. So it 

is being worked on the direct hire authority. 

Senator VOINOVICH. Yes, but we—— 

Mr. ANDERSON. And I would have to check. I do not believe that 

we have that authority now, but I would have to confirm that. 

21 

Senator VOINOVICH [continuing]. Gave OPM the authority to approve direct hire. I do not know why you would seek authority in 

the Defense Authorization bill. You have the authority and I am 

asking why should it expire because we do not get the Defense Authorization bill passed on time? 

There ought to be some permanent thing there so that we do not 

have that situation. 

Mr. DENETT. I agree with that. And we would welcome that. 

Mr. ANDERSON. We would agree with that. Right. Because if it 

is something that we have all collectively decided that we need to 

do, we should not have to continue to ask for it. 

Senator VOINOVICH. Absolutely. I am really quite pleased with 

your SHINE program. I would like you to tell me a little bit more 

about it. One of the things that I did when I was Governor of Ohio 

was institute a program to recognize employees, and I would 

present certificates. Do you have a program to recognize who comes 

up with ideas on how they can be more efficient or save money? 

Mr. ANDERSON. Yes, sir. 

Senator VOINOVICH. In Ohio, we used to give out cash rewards 

to people for ideas that saved money. We also had the choice of 

money or we had a catalogue where they could get a TV set or 

other gifts. And I am telling you it was great. 

Mr. DENETT. Yes, some of our SHINE awards do include monetary recognition. Some of them are just certificates. At the Ronald 

Reagan Building this last year, we had big posters with pictures 

of the winners with little captions of what they had accomplished. 

We then had panels where award winners met before thousands of 

people in workshops to explain what they had done. 

FAI, DAU, and others then export this as best practices that people can tap into and share and try to copy. So it is very uplifting 

to have a gathering like that where these people do that kind of 

work behind the scenes tirelessly get recognized by their peers. It 

goes through a scrub with judges from academia, from Federal and 

from private, and it is quite an accomplishment to win one of these. 

Senator VOINOVICH. Now is this just in your acquisitions area in 

OMB? 

Mr. DENETT. Well, acquisition throughout the Federal Government; yes. 

Senator VOINOVICH. Throughout the Federal Government. 

Mr. DENETT. I do not know if you two want to add to that or not. 

Mr. ANDERSON. I would like to say that I think the SHINE program has been extremely successful. We were very proud of the 

nominees from the Department of Defense who were selected. So 

it is a program that I think is having a very positive impact across 

the Federal enterprise. 

I would like to also mention a program that we have started in 

the Department of Defense, which is our Acquisition Workforce Development Award, which is presented annually and that was operated under the leadership of the Hon. John Young, where every 

year we recognize the organizations who have created what we 

view as being the most innovative workforce development award, 

because when you really go look at it, at the corporate DOD level, 

we can set guidance, metrics, policy, but to be successful, we really 

do need field organizations that have embraced these programs. 

22 

And what he is attempting to do through this is to create healthy 

competition at all of our bases and locations so that we have all 

of the leadership team involved and actively developing healthy, 

rigorous workforce development programs at the local level. 

And annually, we submit—or will select a gold, silver, and 

bronze award winners from our field programs that look at what 

they are doing outside of the structured training for workforce development, local recruiting, partnering with local colleges and universities. 

Chairman Akaka, you had mentioned the outreach, how important you believe that is, and the whole purpose of this program is 

to create structured energy throughout the Department and reach 

through all of the acquisition leadership team and that program is 

being very successful. 

Senator VOINOVICH. Thank you. 

Senator AKAKA. Thank you. Here is one that Senator Voinovich 

has been working on, and I just want to hear what you feel about 

this. This question occured to me, too, when he was asking whether 

you are civil service or appointee? 

Mr. Denett, under current law, all agencies large enough to have 

a Chief Financial Officer must also have a Chief Acquisition Officer. That position is responsible for overseeing overall acquisition 

management at agencies, and it is supposed to be focused primarily 

on acquisition issues and is required to be a non-career political position. However, contracts do not end at the close of an Administration, as it is a concern of my friend, Senator Voinovich. 

Do you believe the Chief Acquisition Officer should have to be political positions? 

Mr. DENETT. Yes, I am supportive of that, but a thing to remind 

ourselves of is immediately under that are senior executive positions called the Senior Procurement Executive. Those are all filled 

with career people. So even though there is political appointees 

that have the Chief Acquisition Officer position, they always have 

a SES Senior Procurement Executive underneath them that has 

continuity, career status, frequently have 20 plus years of service 

at various departments. I work very closely with the Senior Procurement Executives and draw on them constantly on working 

groups to have knowledge and push programs forward. 

So I think as long as we have that combination of the political 

Chief Acquisition Officer with the career Senior Procurement Executive that formula works well for us. 

Senator AKAKA. Thank you so much. Now to all of you, the Acquisition Workforce Competency Survey, recently released by FAI, 

found that the average proficiency level of the acquisition workforce 

for many contracting skills is intermediate at best. 

Some of the lowest proficiency levels were in the important areas 

of performance-based acquisitions and competitive sourcing, where 

workers were only rated about a two out of five. 

Now what steps are being taken to apply the results of this survey modifying training as well as providing additional training to 

the workforce? 

Mr. DENETT. I think that Ms. Pica and Mr. Anderson could address that the most, but I am pleased at the results that they have 

gotten. There are some existing courses that they are modifying. 

23 

They are offering them online and in the classroom. And they are 

specifically developing some to address the shortcomings that the 

survey showed. So I will yield to you two. 

Ms. PICA. Thank you. The Competency Survey actually certainly 

did identify gaps, which is an excellent point of the survey. One of 

the things that we did, we have been doing continuing analysis on 

the report, and what we have noticed the competencies in the 1102 

series are higher than for the general series. So what you have 

from that report, while overall there was a gap, there were 26 different job series that responded to that because there were at least 

that many different job series performing essentially contracting 

work in the government. 

So the 1102 skills set is a little bit higher and is where we think 

it should be versus the overall competency survey. 

That said, there are still gaps. So what we are doing to address 

those gaps, for example, in negotiation, there was a desire for more 

training in negotiation. That was an expressed desire. What we are 

doing is we are working with—the Air Force has a really strong 

practical negotiation course, so you have a little bit of information 

you get, but then you get in the classroom and you actually do 

practice negotiation, which we are finding because people are not 

as confident maybe in their knowledge and abilities when they are 

face to face with potentially somebody from the private sector, that 

that is an area of risk for them. 

And so, by May, we will have that pilot course underway, and 

it will have a service focus on it. So we are going to be looking at 

changing the scenario that is in that class into a more service focused scenario. 

The performance-based acquisition; absolutely. That was identified as another area. And what we are finding is it is more about 

defining the metrics. How do you build a good metric? 

So what we are doing, we have a class—FAI offers a classroom 

around the country that is a workshop in how to build a good performance work statement, and that includes a segment on what is 

a really good metric? How would I know I am going to get the result that I need? 

We also have through DAU’s online learning platform, there is 

an online course people can take in that, and we are going to be 

rolling that out in 2008, if resources permit, another course that is 

designed really for the people that are in the requirements community so that they can identify and build good metrics and support 

the contracting community to get the results that they need. 

So that is something that we have worked with the General Accountability Office. They have identified that as an area that they 

can help us in. 

So we have additional training—toolkits. Another area that was 

in the survey that was spoken to was the contract management 

section. And again, the Partnership for Public Service has had 

about a year’s worth of research they have done in best practices 

in contract administration and management. 

We are taking that research, and we are turning that into some 

online toolkits that people can use and access and then finally 

what we are doing is we are analyzing—when we first started looking at the Competency Survey, we noticed that there was in some 

24 

cases a gap between the training that currently exists and the competencies that are required. So we are doing further analysis to 

identify those and then develop—as Mr. Anderson had mentioned, 

there are supplemental solutions, about 200 through the online environment—targeting those particular areas. 

Some of the solutions will be in place this year, so when we redo 

the survey we might see some results, and some of the solutions 

might not be in place until next year because of some resource 

issues. 

Senator AKAKA. Does the Acquisition Workforce Annual Survey 

also count all of those individuals in the Competencies Survey? 

Ms. PICA. No. Actually one of the benefits of the survey it highlighted for us there are a lot more series doing contracting. So that 

is something we need to look at. 

Senator AKAKA. All right. 

Mr. ANDERSON. I would like to respond to that, also. In the Department of Defense, Shay Assad, who is the Director of Defense 

Procurement, is leading a very comprehensive competency survey. 

Our approach is a little different. And in order to get a closer fix 

on exactly what the competencies are, it has focused on what we 

view as being the major contracting areas—base operations, major 

systems. 

So when you go look at the community, it is kind of important 

to get a good fix on what they are doing. 

The approach also is a little different in that we are doing what 

we refer to as couple assessments. So we get feedback from both 

the individual and their supervisor, our paired assessment, where 

we can look at them and get a fix 

What we hope to do, the work that came out of the survey is very 

important to us. We are looking at it and using it as we deploy initiatives, but there is a point where we hope that we will get integration between what has come out of that survey and ours as we 

start to look. 

We expect to have the contracting assessments that is being led 

by Mr. Assad completed in July, and at that point in time, we will 

step back and take a look at the specific training initiatives to deploy. 

Some of the areas that Ms. Pica mentioned we absolutely agree 

with. We know that those are issues that we need to take on. So 

we are not waiting. We are moving out, but we really do want to 

convince ourselves that the feedback from the survey is, in fact, a 

clear indication of where our gaps are. 

So we are moving a little slower. We are taking advantage of the 

work that has occurred. But it will be this summer before we have 

completed our competency survey. 

Senator AKAKA. Thank you. 

Mr. DENETT. I am encouraged by the cooperation between Defense Acquisition University and FAI. It is heartwarming, a lot of 

sharing, and a lot of making real improvements. I mean, we are 

tackling not just the contracting officer, but now for the first time, 

we are having mandatory requirements for program managers. 

They have to be trained. They have to have experience. You cannot 

just take the new kid on the block and say here you are in charge 

of this program, but they have got to learn through classroom and 

25 

online training how they can do a good job at being program managers and being part of the acquisition team. 

Senator AKAKA. Well, thank you for that statement, Mr. Denett. 

Many acquisition specialist jobs require security clearance, especially at the Department of Defense and at the Department of 

Homeland Security. 

This Subcommittee has held several hearings already relating to 

the backlogs and problems with the clearance process at DOD and 

across the government as a whole. 

Does the clearance backlog hurt agencies’ ability to get new 

uncleared workers into the acquisition workforce? 

Mr. DENETT. I would say the answer to that is yes, but I know 

it has been brought up. You have been pressing it. I know Clay 

Johnson at OMB is making it personal to really press the Departments to honor one another’s clearances. 

Obviously, when we finally go through all this trouble, do the 

selling to be America’s buyer with our little brochures and reach 

out and the campus visits they are doing and we get that close and 

then they find out that something has to be delayed a few more 

months while additional checks are going on, we are at a disadvantage when we do not complete those quickly and when we do not 

honor one another’s because while that time lapse takes place, 

guess what? Many of them decide, I am going to go work for IBM 

or some other private enterprise. 

So we need to continue to work hard to process those as quickly 

as possible and to honor one another’s clearances. 

Senator AKAKA. Well, thank you very much. I want to again 

thank all of our witnesses for your testimony, and your responses 

have been excellent. 

The challenge of building the entire Federal workforce, as you 

know better than I, is not an easy job. Within the acquisition community, the government faces especially important challenges that 

must be confronted. The acquisition workforce is unique in that the 

government is putting great trust in the hands of those spending 

taxpayers’ dollars on goods and services from the private sector. 

It is important that the government continue to earn that trust 

from the public through better acquisition outcomes, created by an 

even stronger acquisition workforce. 

And I want to thank you again for this hearing, and the hearing 

record will be open for 14 days for additional statements or questions for the record by other Members as well. 

This hearing is adjourned. 

[Whereupon, at 11:14 a.m., the Subcommittee was adjourned.] 

(27) 

A P P E N D I X 

STATEMENT OF SENATOR CARPER 

First, I would like to thank Chairman Akaka and ranking Member Voinovich for 

holding this timely hearing to learn about how we are going to solve the pervasive 

problems facing the Federal Government’s acquisition workforce. 

Just last month, I chaired a hearing on the management and oversight of contingency contracting in Iraq. Time and again the panelists described to me situations 

where hospitals and community centers built by contractors violated building codes 

and presented dangerous health hazards to American troops and the Iraqi population. Other examples detailed how contractors were paid to construct needed local 

infrastructure that was never built and the money never refunded. However, the 

worst situation described by First Sergeant Perry Jefferies, U.S. Army (Ret.) was 

when American troops on patrol had to ration their scarce food and water for days 

because contractors failed to deliver needed supplies in a timely manner. 

In addition, Senator Coburn and I have held several hearings on the lack of contractor oversight in the government’s information technology portfolio. My subcommittee has been investigating millions of dollars in danger of being wasted due 

to poorly planned IT investments. Previous hearings that I have chaired uncovered 

government investments that lacked clear goals, expectations, and most surprisingly, qualified project managers—all essential ingredients for an investment to be 

successful. This year doesn’t look to be any better. 

Recently, the President has requested $71 billion dollars for fiscal year 2009 to 

fund IT investments. However, 72 percent of these projects are listed by OMB as 

‘‘poorly planned’’ leaving American taxpayers highly susceptible to waste, fraud, and 

abuse. 

These are just two of many examples we have seen in recent years of poor acquisition practices leading to bad outcomes and waste. I know there are efforts underway—and the full Committee has done its part through some legislation put forward 

by Senator Collins last year—but we can and should do more. 

With almost half of the Federal Government’s workforce able to retire in the next 

10 years, these problems aren’t going away anytime soon. I am interested to hear 

from our panel today and learn about what we can do now to solve these pervasive 

problems and ensure that the Federal Government is effectively overseeing contractors. 

Once again, I would like to thank Chairman Akaka and Ranking Member 

Voinovich for holding this hearing and look forward to questioning the panel to 

learn how Congress can play a constructive role to solve our government’s acquisition workforce problem. 

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