DEFENSE 

ACQUISITION

WORKFORCE

The Air Force Needs 

to Evaluate Changes 

in Funding for 

Civilians Engaged in 

Space Acquisition

Report to Congressional Committees

July 2013

GAO-13-638

United States Government Accountability Office
United States Government Accountability Office

Highlights of GAO-13-638, a report to 

congressional committees

July 2013

DEFENSE ACQUISITION WORKFORCE

The Air Force Needs to Evaluate Changes in Funding 

for Civilians Engaged in Space Acquisition

Why GAO Did This Study

The United States and DOD depend 

on space assets to support national 

security, civil, and commercial 

activities. Having sufficient quantities of 

qualified personnel to acquire space 

assets—on which DOD expects to 

spend $8 billion in fiscal year 2013—is 

critical to DOD’s ability to carry out its 

mission. Approximately 1,800 federal 

civilians at the Air Force SMC manage 

the acquisition of space systems. 

During fiscal year 2012, the Air Force 

implemented a pilot program that 

moved $187.1 million for SMC's 

acquisition civilian personnel from its

O&M to its RDT&E appropriation.

GAO was mandated to review the Air 

Force pilot program. This report

addresses (1) the extent to which the 

Air Force evaluated the impact of the 

pilot, and (2) the processes in place to 

manage realignment of the funds. GAO 

obtained and reviewed documentation 

of the pilot implementation; compared 

the implementation with established 

practices GAO has identified for 

implementing and evaluating pilot

programs; and interviewed officials at 

the Air Force and DOD. GAO also 

reviewed applicable regulations and 

guidance about realigning funds and 

interviewed knowledgeable officials.

What GAO Recommends

GAO recommends that the Air Force 

evaluate the pilot program, to 

determine the impact of moving 

funding for acquisition civilian 

personnel to the RDT&E appropriation, 

and the value of expanding this change

to other Air Force civilian workforces.

In written comments on a draft of this 

report, DOD concurred with all four 

recommendations.

What GAO Found

The Air Force did not evaluate its pilot program that moved funding for Space 

and Missile Systems Center (SMC) acquisition civilian personnel from its 1-year

Operation and Maintenance (O&M) appropriation to its 2-year Research, 

Development, Test, and Evaluation (RDT&E) appropriation. In addition, the Air 

Force is considering using this pilot program to inform funding changes for other

sections of its civilian workforce. GAO’s prior work has identified the following 

practices for implementing and evaluating pilot programs: (1) develop objectives 

that link to the goals of the pilot; (2) develop processes for monitoring the pilot; 

(3) develop and implement a data collection and analysis plan for evaluating the 

pilot; and (4) communicate evaluation results to stakeholders. When 

implementing the pilot program, the Air Force did not follow these practices, and 

primarily focused on ensuring that administrative changes were made accurately 

such as ensuring employees received pay on time. For example, while a variety 

of potential goals were identified for the pilot program by the Air Force in various 

documents; they were not clear or consistent. As a result, anecdotal opinions on 

the advantages or disadvantages of the pilot varied significantly. Air Force 

acquisition officials stated that the pilot program could protect the funding from 

general reductions, while conversely, Air Force financial management officials 

said that the pilot would not necessarily mean that space acquisition personnel 

would be excluded from general reductions to civilian personnel funding. Further, 

Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller) officials stated that they 

are relying on the Air Force to report to them on the pilot’s outcomes, but the Air 

Force has not completed a data collection plan to evaluate the pilot program and 

has not developed processes for monitoring the pilot program and

communicating evaluation results to stakeholders. Without systematically 

evaluating the pilot program, the Air Force cannot determine if there is an 

advantage to expanding the pilot to other sections of the civilian workforce.

The Air Force used existing approval processes identified by DOD to realign 

funds appropriated for acquisition civilian personnel to other purposes. Following 

the move of SMC acquisition civilian personnel funding to its RDT&E

appropriation, the Air Force determined that $29.5 million of the $187.1 million 

appropriated for SMC acquisition civilian personnel in fiscal year 2012 was 

unneeded due to the civilian hiring controls the Air Force began implementing in 

May 2011. The Air Force realigned these funds to other requirements. 

Specifically, the Air Force realigned $6.7 million to other programs within its 

RDT&E appropriation—including $5.7 million to the Small Business Innovative 

Research fund—and obtained prior approval from Congress to realign $22.8 

million out of the RDT&E appropriation as part of an Omnibus Reprogramming

request. The Omnibus Reprogramming request process does not identify where 

specific funds are to be realigned—instead the request identifies funding 

increases or decreases by individual program.

View GAO-13-638. For more information, 

contact Brenda S. Farrell at (202) 512-3604 or 

farrellb@gao.gov.
Page i GAO-13-638 Defense Acquisition Workforce

Letter 1

Background 3

The Air Force Did Not Evaluate the Impact of the Pilot Program 8

The Air Force Used Existing Approval Processes Identified by 

DOD to Realign Funds Appropriated for Acquisition Civilian 

Personnel to Other Purposes 12

Conclusions 15

Recommendation for Executive Action 15

Agency Comments and Our Evaluation 15

Appendix I Comments from the Department of Defense 18

Appendix II GAO Contact and Staff Acknowledgements 19

Table

Table 1: Examples of Occupations Included in the Space and 

Missile Systems Center Pilot Program 5

Figures

Figure 1: Guidelines for Realigning Funds in Department of 

Defense Operation & Maintenance and Research, 

Development, Test & Evaluation Appropriations 7

Figure 2: Processes Used to Realign Space and Missile Systems 

Center Acquisition Civilian Personnel Funding in Fiscal 

Year 2012 13

Contents
Page ii GAO-13-638 Defense Acquisition Workforce

Abbreviations

DOD Department of Defense

FMR Financial Management Regulation 

OMB Office of Management and Budget

O&M Operation and Maintenance

RDT&E Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation

SMC Space and Missile Systems Center

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Page 1 GAO-13-638 Defense Acquisition Workforce

441 G St. N.W.

Washington, DC 20548

July 8, 2013

Congressional Committees

The United States and the Department of Defense (DOD) depend on 

space assets to support national security and civil and commercial 

activities. The Air Force Space Command’s Space and Missile Systems 

Center (SMC)—employing approximately 1,800 federal civilians—

provides DOD with operational space and missile systems, launch 

systems, and command and control infrastructure in support of global 

military and national security operations. Prior to fiscal year 2012, funding 

for SMC acquisition civilian personnel was provided from the Air Force 

Operation and Maintenance (O&M) appropriation, along with funding for 

most other Air Force civilian employees. According to an Air Force official, 

about 89 percent of Air Force civilian personnel are directly funded from 

its O&M appropriation, with 11 percent funded from its Research, 

Development, Test, and Evaluation (RDT&E) appropriation.

During the budget formulation process for fiscal year 2012, the Air Force 

requested that Congress approve a pilot program to move funding for 

SMC’s acquisition civilian personnel from its O&M appropriation, which 

typically has a 1-year period of availability, to its RDT&E appropriation, 

which typically has a 2-year period of availability.1 The Air Force 

characterized this move of $187.1 million as a pilot initiative, and has 

stated that it is considering expanding this program to other acquisition 

workforce communities, such as the acquisition civilian personnel at Air 

Force Materiel Command. The Senate Report accompanying a proposed 

bill for the Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2013, mandated 

GAO to report on the impacts of this move.2

 1 After the appropriation’s period of availability, budget authority expires and is no longer 

available to incur new obligations. Expired funds remain available for 5 additional years 

after the expiration of the appropriation for recording, adjusting, and liquidating obligations 

properly incurred before the period of availability expired. At the end of the fifth year 

following the end of the period of availability, the unexpended funds cancel. Once funds 

cancel, they are no longer available for obligation or disbursement. See GAO, A Glossary 

of Terms Used In the Federal Budgeting Process, 

In response to this mandate, 

we determined (1) the extent to which the Air Force evaluated the impact 

GAO-05-734SP (Washington, D.C.: 

September 2005) and GAO, Principles of Federal Appropriations Law, Vol. 1, Chapter 2, § 

A.4.d, GAO-04-261SP (Washington, D.C.: January 2004).

2 S. Rep. No. 112-196, at page 207-208 (2013).
Page 2 GAO-13-638 Defense Acquisition Workforce

of moving funding for SMC acquisition civilian personnel from its O&M 

appropriation to its RDT&E appropriation, and (2) the processes that are 

in place to manage realignment of funds intended for acquisition civilian 

personnel to other purposes.

To determine the extent to which the Air Force evaluated the impact of 

the pilot program to move SMC acquisition civilian personnel funding from 

its O&M appropriation to its RDT&E appropriation, we obtained and 

reviewed documentation related to the process the Air Force used to 

decide upon, plan for, and implement the pilot. We also interviewed 

officials from the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller), 

SMC, Space Command, Air Force Materiel Command, the office of the 

Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, the office of the 

Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Financial Management and 

Comptroller, and Air Force Manpower and Personnel to discuss the 

decision to use a pilot program to move the SMC funding, as well as 

obtain their views on the advantages and disadvantages of the pilot 

program and the process used to decide upon, plan for, and implement 

the pilot. We compared the Air Force implementation of the pilot program 

with the following established management and evaluation practices GAO 

has previously identified for implementing pilot programs: (1) developing 

objectives that link to the goals of the pilot; (2) developing processes and 

procedures for approving, reporting, and monitoring and providing 

program support (3) developing and implementing a data collection and 

analysis plan for evaluating the pilot; and (4) communicating evaluation 

results to stakeholders.3

To determine the processes in place to manage realignment of funds 

intended for acquisition civilian personnel to other purposes, we reviewed 

applicable law, guidance from the Office of Management and Budget 

(OMB), the DOD Financial Management Regulation (FMR), and Air Force 

guidance. We interviewed officials knowledgeable about the procedures 

for realigning funds within and between appropriations at the Office of the 

Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller), the office of the Assistant 

 3

GAO, Designing Evaluations: 2012 Revision (Supersedes PEMD-10.1.4), GAO-12-208G 

(Washington, D.C: Jan. 31, 2012); Catastrophic Planning: States Participating in FEMA’s 

Pilot Program Made Progress, but Better Guidance Could Enhance Future Pilot Programs, 

GAO-11-383 (Washington, D.C.: Apr. 8, 2011); and Tax Administration: IRS Needs to 

Strengthen Its Approach for Evaluating the SRFMI Data-Sharing Pilot Program, 

GAO-09-45 (Washington, D.C.: Nov. 7, 2008).
Page 3 GAO-13-638 Defense Acquisition Workforce

Secretary of the Air Force for Financial Management and Comptroller, 

and SMC.

We conducted this performance audit from September 2012 to June 2013 

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.

Having sufficient quantities of qualified personnel to design, oversee, and 

acquire space assets—on which DOD expects to spend $8 billion in fiscal 

year 2013—is critical to DOD’s ability to carry out its mission. Our prior 

work—including our most recent update of our High-Risk Series—

emphasizes that strategic human capital planning is critical to ensuring 

DOD will be able to address future challenges, such as shortages of 

trained acquisition personnel to oversee and manage contracts that have 

become more expensive and increasingly complex.4

DOD has made rebuilding its acquisition workforce a strategic priority, 

and our most recent review of the Defense Acquisition Workforce 

Development Fund found that DOD continues to face challenges in 

strategic workforce planning for its acquisition workforce.

As DOD faces the 

challenge of sustained budget constraints, including sequestration, 

prioritizing needs and carefully allocating resources will have increased 

importance.

5

 4

GAO, High-Risk Series: An Update, 

In April 2009, 

the Secretary of Defense announced his intent to increase the size of the 

acquisition workforce, in part to (1) address concerns that DOD had 

become too reliant on contractors to support core acquisition functions, 

and (2) rebuild the capacity and skill sets for acquisition that had been 

GAO-13-283 (Washington, D.C.: February 2013); 

Human Capital: Critical Skills and Competency Assessments Should Help Guide DOD 

Civilian Workforce Decisions, GAO-13-188 (Washington, D.C.: Jan. 17, 2013); Human 

Capital: DOD Needs Complete Assessments to Improve Future Civilian Strategic 

Workforce Plans, GAO-12-1014 (Washington, D.C.: Sept. 27, 2012); and Defense 

Acquisition Workforce: Improved Processes, Guidance, and Planning Needed to Enhance 

Use of Workforce Funds, GAO-12-747R (Washington, D.C.: June 20, 2012).

5

GAO-12-747R.

Background
Page 4 GAO-13-638 Defense Acquisition Workforce

eroded in the years that followed the downsizing of the acquisition 

workforce in the 1990s. DOD’s April 2010 acquisition workforce strategic 

plan identified an objective to increase its acquisition workforce from 

approximately 133,000 (as of September 2009) to 153,000 by fiscal year 

2015.

The type of account used to fund the defense acquisition workforce varies 

across the military services. For example, according to an Army official, 

funding for Army acquisition civilian personnel is in reimbursable 

accounts, such as the Army Working Capital Fund, as well as its O&M 

and RDT&E appropriations. According to a Navy official, funding for more 

than half of Navy acquisition civilian personnel is managed through its 

working capital fund, with others funded through a mix of its O&M and 

RDT&E appropriations. Funding for other DOD civilian personnel is 

generally located in the O&M appropriation.

In the Air Force prior to fiscal year 1988, acquisition civilian personnel, 

including space acquisitions civilian personnel, were funded through its 

RDT&E appropriation. According to Air Force officials, in fiscal year 1988, 

the funding was moved to its O&M appropriation to add stability to the 

annual funding cycle; to achieve more consistent treatment across the Air 

Force; resolve reprogramming issues; and provide flexibility to move 

funding in the year of budget execution. However, the officials stated that 

around 2008, the Air Force began considering requesting congressional 

approval to move the funding back to its RDT&E appropriation. 

Concurrent with these discussions, in 2009, an assessment of the Air 

Force acquisition process recommended the Air Force seek to move the 

funding for acquisition civilian personnel to RDT&E to “reduce personnel 

turbulence.”6

 6

CNA (Officially known as CNA’s Center for Naval Analyses), CNA Independent 

Assessment: Air Force Acquisition: Return to Excellence (Feb. 2009). The report did not 

provide more specific information regarding this recommendation.

Also in 2009, the Air Force created an Acquisition 

Improvement Plan, which outlined an effort to rebuild an Air Force 

acquisition culture that delivers products and services as promised—on 

time, within budget, and in compliance with all laws, policies and 

regulations. The plan listed five initiatives and associated actions, with the 

goal of addressing longstanding acquisition issues the Air Force 

identified: (1) revitalize the acquisition workforce; (2) improve the 

requirements generation process; (3) instill budget and financial 

DOD Acquisition Civilian 

Personnel Are Funded

through Multiple 

Appropriations and 

Accounts
Page 5 GAO-13-638 Defense Acquisition Workforce

discipline; (4) improve Air Force major systems source selections; and (5) 

establish clear lines of authority and accountability within acquisition 

organizations.

Following the implementation of the Acquisition Improvement Plan, as 

part of the budget process for fiscal year 2012 the Air Force requested 

that Congress approve a pilot program to move funding for SMC 

acquisition civilian personnel to its RDT&E appropriation. The pilot 

program was implemented in fiscal year 2012, moving the funding for 

1,559 acquisition civilian personnel positions at SMC to a new program 

element in its RDT&E appropriation.7

Table 1: Examples of Occupations Included in the Space and Missile Systems 

Center Pilot Program

The funding totaled about $187.1 

million and the personnel included in the pilot program represented 73 

different occupational series. The 10 occupational series with the most 

employees included in the move—representing 79 percent of the relevant 

population—are included in table 1.

Occupation Number of Employees

Contracting 195

General business and industry 174

General engineering 126

Misc. administration and program 110

Logistics management 101

Budget analysis 99

Financial administration and program 96

Electronics engineering 86

Information technology 44

Secretary 41

Source: GAO analysis of Air Force data

The Air Force is also considering requesting that Congress approve a 

move of funding for other acquisition workforce communities to its RDT&E 

appropriation, specifically acquisition civilian personnel at the Air Force 

 7

The program element budgeted for 1,559 positions. As of the end of fiscal year 2012, 

SMC had assigned 1,336 personnel to this program element.
Page 6 GAO-13-638 Defense Acquisition Workforce

Materiel Command. According to Air Force officials, this move would 

include approximately 10,000 personnel and $1.2 billion of funding.

The processes that manage realignment of funds within and among 

appropriations are established by law, OMB guidance, and the DOD 

Financial Management Regulation (FMR). The Antideficiency Act requires 

that agencies prescribe, by regulation, a system of administrative control 

of funds.8 OMB Circular A-11 specifies the funds control regulations that 

must be present in each agency,9 and the DOD FMR outlines the 

structure of these controls within DOD.10

Congress recognizes that unforeseen requirements occur during the year 

of budget execution, and permits the realignment of funds within certain 

guidelines. Both statutory and regulatory rules govern realignment of 

funds, and Congress typically provides DOD with authority to realign 

funds between programs to manage resources when circumstances 

change during the fiscal year through both transfers and 

reprogrammings.

Specifically, the DOD FMR 

directs statutory and regulatory financial management requirements, 

systems, and functions for all activities within DOD.

11 A transfer of funds is shifting of all or part of the 

budget authority in one appropriation or fund account to another, and 

requires specific statutory authority.12

 8

31 U.S.C. § 1514(a).

Reprogramming, by contrast, is the 

shifting of funds within an appropriation account for purposes other than 

9

Office of Management and Budget Circular A-11, Preparation, Submission, and 

Execution of the Budget (Aug. 3, 2012).

10Department of Defense Financial Management Regulation 7000.14-R, Introduction, at I3 (June 2011).

11See, for example, the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2013, 

Pub. L. No. 113-6, § 8005 (2013), which provides DOD with general transfer authority in 

the amount of $4 billion, and places limitations and conditions on the use of both transfer 

and reprogramming authority by DOD in fiscal year 2013.

12GAO, A Glossary of Terms Used In the Federal Budgeting Process, GAO-05-734SP 

(Washington, D.C.: September 2005).

OMB Guidance and DOD 

Regulations Specify the 

Processes That Apply to 

Realigning Funds between 

Programs and 

Appropriations
Page 7 GAO-13-638 Defense Acquisition Workforce

those contemplated at the time of appropriation.13

Figure 1: Selected Guidelines for Realigning Funds in Department of Defense Operation & Maintenance and Research, 

Development, Test & Evaluation Appropriations

According to DOD 

guidance, all uses of DOD’s general transfer authority require prior 

congressional approval, and the oversight of reprogramming actions 

varies depending on the amount of funding realigned and the relevant 

appropriations involved (see Figure 1).

 13GAO-05-734SP. While GAO’s definitions of transfer and reprogramming are mutually 

exclusive, the DOD Financial Management Regulation (FMR) takes a broader view of 

reprogramming, defining it as “realignment of budget authority from the purpose for which 

appropriated to finance another (usually emergent, unfunded) requirement.” DOD FMR 

7000.14-R, Glossary (December 2008). In keeping with this broader view, the DOD FMR 

requires that all transfers of funds not directed by Congress be accompanied by a 

reprogramming action as well. DOD FMR 7000.14-R, Volume 3, Chapter 3, § 030404 

(May 9, 2011).
Page 8 GAO-13-638 Defense Acquisition Workforce

DOD’s FMR specifies when prior approval must be obtained from the 

congressional defense committees for reprogrammings or transfers. 

Specifically, the FMR requires that prior approval must generally be 

obtained when the realignment (1) increases the procurement quantity of 

a major end item,14 (2) affects a congressional special interest item, (3) 

involves the use of general transfer authority, (4) exceeds the monetary 

thresholds established for each appropriation, (5) establishes new 

programs, or (6) terminates appropriated programs. For reprogramming 

of funds appropriated in the O&M budget, prior approval by the 

congressional defense committees is required if there is a cumulative 

increase or decrease greater than $15 million in a given budget activity. 

For reprogramming of funds appropriated in the RDT&E budget, prior 

approval by the congressional defense committees is required if there is a 

cumulative increase or decrease greater than $10 million or more than 20 

percent of the program base amount (i.e., the program element amount)–

whichever is less.15

Funding realignments that do not require prior congressional approval are 

generally termed “below-threshold reprogrammings” and are usually 

managed at the component level. Below-threshold reprogrammings 

provide DOD components with the discretionary flexibility to realign—

within prescribed funding limits—congressionally approved funding to 

satisfy unforeseen, higher priority requirements.

The DOD FMR requires that DOD obtain approval 

from the congressional committees for reprogrammings above these 

funding thresholds prior to implementation of the funding realignment.

The Air Force did not evaluate the benefits of its pilot program that moved

funding for SMC acquisition civilian personnel from its 1-year O&M 

appropriation to its 2-year RDT&E appropriation. As a result, at this time, 

the Air Force does not know if there is an advantage to expanding this 

pilot program to other civilian workforce communities. As identified in our 

 14 Examples of a major end item are an individual aircraft, missile, naval vessel, or tracked 

combat vehicle.

15The limitation is the net value of realignments into or out of a program element at the 

specified level. For example, realignments using below-threshold reprogramming authority 

of $5.0 million out of an RDT&E program element and a realignment of $4.0 million into 

the same RDT&E program element would result in a total realignment of $1.0 million, with 

the consequence that the reprogramming with regard to that program element would 

represent a net $1.0 million increase.

Congressional Prior Approval 

(Above-Threshold) 

Reprogramming

Internal Approval (BelowThreshold) Reprogramming

The Air Force Did Not 

Evaluate the Impact 

of the Pilot Program
Page 9 GAO-13-638 Defense Acquisition Workforce

prior work,16

The Air Force did not establish clear and consistent goals for the pilot 

program. The practice of establishing goals for pilot programs is 

fundamental to determining whether the objectives of the pilot have been 

met. While a variety of potential goals were identified by the Air Force in 

budget justification documents and an internal briefing, and by officials we 

met with in the course of our review, these were not clear or consistent. In 

the Air Force budget justification materials provided to Congress 

describing the fiscal year 2012 request to move funding for SMC 

acquisition civilian personnel to its RDT&E appropriation, the Air Force 

stated that the pilot program would provide program managers with the 

flexibility to hire civilian personnel using RDT&E funding rather than hiring 

additional contractors.

the following established practices for implementing and 

evaluating pilot programs allow agencies to more effectively inform future 

program rollout: (1) develop objectives that link to the goals of the pilot; 

(2) develop processes and procedures for approving, reporting, and 

monitoring; (3) develop and implement a data collection and analysis plan 

for evaluating the pilot; and (4) communicate evaluation results to 

stakeholders. When implementing the pilot program the Air Force did not 

follow these practices, and primarily focused on ensuring that 

administrative changes were made accurately such as ensuring 

employees received pay on time and maintaining consistency of data 

across financial management systems.

17

• Stabilize the acquisition workforce funding across the planning, 

programming, budgeting, and execution system

However, a briefing document the Air Force 

presented to internal stakeholders, in April 2009, listed the following goals 

for the pilot program that were not consistent with the goals listed by 

officials in the course of our review, and not the same as what was listed 

in the budget justification materials:

18

 16

by decreasing 

GAO-11-383.

17Department of Defense, Fiscal Year 2013 President’s Budget Submission: Air Force 

Justification Book Volume 2, Research, Development, Test & Evaluation. Air Force Vol. II 

– Part 2 (February 2012).

18The planning, programming, budgeting, and execution system is a formal, systematic 

structure DOD uses for making decisions on policy, strategy, and the development of 

forces and capabilities to accomplish anticipated missions. The annual process produces 

the Secretary of Defense’s Defense Planning and Programming Guidance, the 5-year 

Program Objectives Memoranda, and 1-year Budget Estimate Submissions for the military 

departments and defense agencies, and the DOD portion of the President’s Budget.
Page 10 GAO-13-638 Defense Acquisition Workforce

general Air Force and congressional reductions to funding for 

acquisition civilian personnel;

• Identify the acquisition civilian personnel funding by placing it in a 

single program element;

• Align mission and acquisition civilian personnel funding in the same 

appropriation;

• Resource new acquisition missions immediately; and

• Allow for funding flexibility so that RDT&E funding could be used to 

hire additional civilian personnel if an urgent need arose, rather than 

hiring additional contractors.

Further, when we asked Air Force officials at several different levels 

within the organization what the goals were for the pilot program, they 

cited goals that were different from those stated in the internal briefing.19

Further, the Air Force has not made plans to evaluate the outcome of the 

pilot program. As a result, it remains unclear if the potential impacts cited 

by Air Force officials during our review can be characterized as 

advantages or disadvantages. For example, although the Air Force 

internal briefing identified a goal to decrease general Air Force and 

congressional reductions to acquisition civilian personnel funding, officials 

did not develop a plan to evaluate whether or not moving this funding to 

its RDT&E appropriation achieved this goal. Officials responsible for 

managing the acquisition workforce believe that moving funding to its 

RDT&E appropriation could prevent acquisition civilian personnel from 

being subject to any general O&M reductions, thus allowing the 

For example, officials at one office stated that the goals of the pilot 

program were to make sure there was no negative impact to the 

acquisition workforce (i.e., employee pay was not interrupted) and to 

increase the transparency of decisions regarding funding of the 

acquisition workforce, while other officials stated the goal was to increase 

visibility of the acquisition civilian workforce so that—if directed by 

Department leadership—the workforce could be more efficiently identified 

and excluded from general funding reductions, such as hiring freezes or 

furloughs. Yet other officials stated the goal of the pilot program was to 

ensure that any future expansion of the effort to additional workforce 

communities would be approved by the Office of the Secretary of Defense 

and the Congress.

 19Officials in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller) told us that they 

do not have an opinion on the pilot program.
Page 11 GAO-13-638 Defense Acquisition Workforce

acquisition workforce to have more stable funding. However, Air Force 

financial management officials told us that moving funding to its RDT&E 

appropriation would not necessarily mean that space acquisition 

personnel would be excluded from any general reductions to civilian 

personnel funding, and SMC officials confirmed that SMC acquisition 

civilian personnel funding has continued to be impacted by general 

reductions following the pilot program. In another example, Air Force 

officials told us that moving acquisition civilian personnel funding to a 

specific program element in its RDT&E appropriation would increase the 

visibility of both the funding and any decisions to realign the funding to 

other purposes. Officials responsible for the acquisition workforce told us 

that the additional visibility would improve their ability to manage funding 

for the acquisition workforce, because the funding would be located in a 

single program element in the RDT&E appropriation, and hence funding 

decisions would be more informed. In contrast, Space Command officials 

told us that the move of SMC acquisition personnel funding to RDT&E 

has caused challenges for Space Command. Specifically, according to 

agency officials, Space Command faced funding shortfalls in fiscal year 

2012, but officials could not simply realign unobligated funds from the 

SMC acquisition civilian personnel program element to alleviate these 

shortfalls because such a realignment requires the prior approval of the 

congressional defense committees.

Moreover, Air Force officials told us that RDT&E funding is generally 

considered less flexible than O&M funding because of different 

requirements for realigning the funding. For example, Air Force officials 

stated that when SMC acquisition civilian personnel funding was located 

in O&M, unobligated funds were generally available to be used for other 

purposes within the same O&M activity—such as utilities and base 

operations—subject to the required approval. The officials stated that 

when the funding is located in RDT&E, it is more difficult to realign 

unobligated funds because of the rules governing the realignment of 

RDT&E funds, which are more likely to require additional steps and 

authorizations prior to being able to use unobligated funds for other 

purposes compared with when the funding is in O&M. The officials added 

that the loss of flexibility in O&M funding may be a disadvantage for the 

management of O&M budgets. However, moving funding to the RDT&E 

appropriation may be an advantage for the acquisition community, who 

might be able to use the unobligated funds for other RDT&E acquisition 

priorities, if appropriate approvals are obtained.

As previously mentioned, the Air Force has expressed interest in 

expanding the program to other civilian acquisition workforce 
Page 12 GAO-13-638 Defense Acquisition Workforce

communities, such as the acquisition civilian personnel at Air Force 

Materiel Command. Office of the Under Secretary of Defense 

(Comptroller) officials told us that—while they do not have an opinion of 

the pilot program—they are relying on the Air Force to report to them on 

the pilot’s outcomes. However, because the Air Force did not establish 

clear and consistent program objectives or a data collection plan to 

evaluate the benefits of its pilot program, they were unable to evaluate 

whether potential impacts resulting from the pilot were advantages or 

disadvantages. Without establishing goals and completing a data 

collection plan to evaluate the pilot program, the Air Force also has not 

applied the remaining two established practices—developing processes 

for approving, reporting, and monitoring the pilot program as well as 

communicating evaluation results to stakeholders. As a result, 

stakeholders within the Air Force, DOD, and Congress do not have the 

necessary information to know if there is value in, or what would be 

accomplished by, expanding the effort to other civilian workforce 

communities.

Following the move of SMC acquisition civilian personnel funding to its 

RDT&E appropriation, the Air Force did not obligate $29.5 million of the 

$187.1 million appropriated for SMC acquisition civilian personnel in fiscal 

year 2012, and Air Force officials told us that these funds were unneeded

due to the civilian hiring controls the Air Force began implementing in 

May 2011.20

 20Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force, Implementation of Civilian Hiring 

Controls (Washington, D.C.: May 12, 2011); and Continuation of Hiring Freeze

(Washington, D.C.: Nov. 18, 2011).

Some of these funds were realigned to other programs within 

its RDT&E budget, while most were realigned to unspecified requirements 

within its O&M and Overseas Contingency Operations budgets (see 

figure 2).

The Air Force Used 

Existing Approval 

Processes Identified 

by DOD to Realign 

Funds Appropriated 

for Acquisition 

Civilian Personnel to 

Other Programs
Page 13 GAO-13-638 Defense Acquisition Workforce

Figure 2: Processes Used to Realign Space and Missile Systems Center Acquisition 

Civilian Personnel Funding in Fiscal Year 2012

a

The program element is specifically identified in the Air Force RDT&E budget materials as containing 

funding only for SMC acquisition civilian personnel. According to officials, the Air Force tracks the 

cumulative realignment of funding into or out of the program element, and prior approval by the 

congressional defense committees is required for further realignments if the cumulative total reaches 

prescribed thresholds.

Specifically, the Air Force used the following processes to realign SMC 

acquisition civilian personnel funding to other purposes:

• First, the Air Force realigned $6.7 million to other programs within its 

RDT&E appropriation, including $5.7 million to the Small Business 
Page 14 GAO-13-638 Defense Acquisition Workforce

Innovative Research fund.21

• Second, the Air Force included a request to realign $22.8 million out 

of the RDT&E appropriation containing the SMC acquisition civilian 

personnel funds in the Omnibus Reprogramming request submitted to 

the congressional defense committees for prior approval on June 26, 

2012. DOD’s Omnibus Reprogramming process consolidates various 

reprogrammings and transfers, and typically uses the Department’s 

general transfer authority to realign funding between appropriations 

once prior approval of the congressional defense committees has 

been obtained. The committees approved this request on August 21, 

2012.

The realignment of $5.7 million to this 

fund did not require congressional notification because it did not use 

DOD’s general transfer authority and was used to address mandatory 

spending requirements; the realignment of an additional $1 million to 

other Air Force needs was below the $10 million threshold DOD has 

identified for prior approval by the congressional defense committees.

According to Air Force officials, the Omnibus Reprogramming request 

process does not identify where specific funds are realigned to—instead 

the request identifies funding increases or decreases by individual 

program. The Omnibus Reprogramming request of June 26, 2012, 

outlined $7.9 billion that DOD was requesting to realign to the O&M and 

Overseas Contingency Operations appropriations.

The $157.6 million remaining in the SMC acquisition civilian program 

element that was not realigned to other purposes was obligated for SMC 

acquisition civilian personnel. Air Force officials explained that the 

realigned funds were not needed for SMC acquisition civilian personnel 

because fewer SMC acquisition civilian employees were hired than 

expected due to the Air Force’s civilian hiring controls. SMC officials told 

us that fiscal constraints will likely continue to impact hiring of acquisition 

civilian personnel, but added that they have not adjusted their budget 

request to reflect this. The Air Force has requested $192.3 million for 

SMC acquisition civilian personnel funding in the fiscal year 2014 budget 

 21The Small Business Innovative Research program (governed by 15 U.S.C. § 638) 

assists small business concerns to obtain government contracts for research and 

development. Each federal agency and military department with a research and 

development contract budget in excess of $100 million is required to allocate a set 

percentage of that budget for the Small Business Innovative Research program. In fiscal 

year 2012 the required minimum percentage for allocations was 2.6 percent of the total 

amount used to contract for research and development.
Page 15 GAO-13-638 Defense Acquisition Workforce

request—a 22 percent increase over the $157.6 million obligated in fiscal 

year 2012.

During a time of changing national security threats, challenging fiscal 

realities, and continuing increases of weapon systems acquisition costs, it 

is important that decision makers in DOD and the Air Force take a 

strategic approach to managing their acquisition civilian workforce. When 

making a decision about managing the workforce, decision makers 

should consider and weigh tradeoffs, such as mitigating potential erosion 

of the acquisition enterprise and maintaining flexibility in budgeting. 

However, the Air Force did not consider the potential impact of moving 

funds for SMC’s acquisition civilian personnel and did not follow 

established practices we have identified for implementing and evaluating 

pilot programs. As a result, the Air Force is unable to determine what 

impacts the move may have on its acquisition enterprise or other Air 

Force needs, and therefore does not know whether there are advantages 

for the pilot program to be expanded to include other workforce 

communities, such as the acquisition civilian personnel at Air Force 

Materiel Command.

To determine the impact of moving funds for SMC acquisition civilian 

personnel to the RDT&E appropriation, and whether this change should

be expanded to other acquisition civilian workforce communities, we 

recommend that the Secretary of the Air Force direct the Assistant 

Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, in conjunction with the Assistant 

Secretary of the Air Force for Financial Management and Comptroller, to 

take the following four actions:

• Develop objectives that link to the goals of the pilot program.

• Develop processes and procedures for approving, reporting, and 

monitoring the pilot program.

• Develop and implement a data collection and analysis plan for 

evaluating pilot performance.

• Communicate the evaluation results to stakeholders.

In written comments on a draft of this report, DOD concurred with our four 

recommended actions (see app. I). In concurring with our 

recommendations, DOD stated that the Air Force will evaluate the pilot 

program to ensure any conversion places the control of the resources at 

the appropriate level as they are vetted through the Air Force for 

Conclusions

Recommendation for 

Executive Action

Agency Comments 

and Our Evaluation
Page 16 GAO-13-638 Defense Acquisition Workforce

approval. The Air Force attached technical comments to its response, 

which we have addressed in the report text, where applicable.

We are sending copies of this report to the appropriate congressional 

committees, the Secretary of Defense, and the Secretary of the Air Force. 

In addition, the report is available at no charge on the GAO website at 

http://www.gao.gov.

If you or your staff have any questions about this report, please contact 

us at (202) 512-3604 or farrellb@gao.gov. Contact points for our Offices 

of Congressional Relations and Public Affairs may be found on the last 

page of this report. GAO staff who made major contributions to this report 

are listed in appendix II.

Brenda S. Farrell

Director, Defense Capabilities and Management 
Page 17 GAO-13-638 Defense Acquisition Workforce

List of Addressees

The Honorable Carl Levin

Chairman

The Honorable James M. Inhofe

Ranking Member

Committee on Armed Services

United States Senate

The Honorable Richard J. Durbin

Chairman

The Honorable Thad Cochran

Ranking Member

Subcommittee on Defense

Committee on Appropriations

United States Senate

The Honorable Howard P. “Buck” McKeon

Chairman

The Honorable Adam Smith

Ranking Member

Committee on Armed Services

House of Representatives

The Honorable C.W. Bill Young

Chairman

The Honorable Peter J. Visclosky

Ranking Member

Subcommittee on Defense

Committee on Appropriations

House of Representatives
Appendix I: Comments from the Department of 

Defense

Page 18 GAO-13-638 Defense Acquisition Workforce

Appendix I: Comments from the Department 

of Defense
Appendix II: GAO Contact and Staff 

Acknowledgements

Page 19 GAO-13-638 Defense Acquisition Workforce

Brenda S. Farrell, (202) 512-3604 or farrellb@gao.gov

In addition to the contact named above, Lori Atkinson, Assistant Director; 

Bruce Brown; Foster Kerrison; and Amanda Manning made key 

contributions to this report. Grace Coleman and Amie Steele assisted in 

report development, and Michael Willems provided legal support.

Appendix II: GAO Contact and Staff 

Acknowledgements

GAO Contact

Acknowledgements

(351771)
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