The Office of Personnel Management, as the federal government’s human capital manager, provides leadership and guidance on establishing and operating efficient federal training and development programs throughout the government. It provides advice and assistance to agencies on training and development programs so that those programs support strategic human capital investment. GAO, Federal Training Investments: Office of Personnel Management and Agencies Can Do More to Ensure Cost-Effective Decisions, GAO-12-878 (Washington, D.C.: Sept. 17, 2012). OFPP has specific responsibilities related to acquisition workforce training to help ensure that the skills needed to handle the complexities of acquisition programs and contracts are maintained. The Office of Federal Procurement Policy Act requires executive agencies and the OFPP Administrator to establish management policies and procedures for the effective management of the acquisition workforce—including education, training, and career development.4 In 2005, OFPP defined the civilian acquisition workforce to include, at a minimum, professionals serving in the contracting series (GS-1102), Contracting Officers, Purchasing series (GS-1105), Program/Project Managers (P/PM), and Contracting Officer’s Representatives (COR) or the equivalent, and additional positions identified by the agency. Participation in the acquisition workforce may be on a full-time, part-time, or occasional basis. 41 U.S.C. § 1703. 41 U.S.C. § 1703(c)(2). The Federal Supply Schedules program consists of contracts awarded by the General Services Administration or the Department of Veterans Affairs for similar or comparable goods or services, established with more than one supplier, at varying prices. Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) § 8.401 and § 8.402. The Schedules offer a large group of commercial products and services ranging from office supplies to information technology services. Governmentwide Acquisition Contracts (GWAC) are considered multi-agency contracts but, unlike other multi-agency contracts, are not subject to the same requirements and limitations, such as documentation that the contract is in the best interest of the government as set forth under the Economy Act. GWACs are contracts for information technology established by one agency for government-wide use that are operated—(1) by an executive agent designated by the Office of Management and Budget pursuant to 40 U.S.C. § 11302(e); or (2) under a delegation of procurement authority issued by the General Services Administration (GSA). FAR § 2.101. The Clinger-Cohen Act of 1996 authorized GWACs to be used to buy information technology goods and services. Pub. L. No. 101-510, § 1202 (1996), (codified at 40 U.S.C. § 11314(a)(2)). All agencies can order goods and services directly through the Schedules contracts and GWACs. Board of Directors, works closely with OFPP as well as the DAU to collaborate on many issues involved with training and developing the federal acquisition workforce. The Defense Acquisition Workforce Improvement Act required the Secretary of Defense to establish and maintain DAU in order to provide training for the DOD acquisition workforce.8 FAI differs notably from DAU, however, in that it shares much of the responsibility for training the civilian acquisition workforce with the agencies and has fewer budgetary and staffing resources. For example, FAI currently has 12 staff, while DAU has over 700 faculty and staff. The Administrator of OFPP is also required to ensure that agencies collect and maintain standardized information on the acquisition workforce. Agencies, in consultation with OFPP, can structure their management and oversight of training for their acquisition workforce in such a manner as best supports the agency. Key agency positions involved in managing the acquisition workforce within the agencies are described in table 1. Acquisition training-related responsibilities Responsible for developing and maintaining an agency acquisition career management program to ensure an adequate professional acquisition workforce. Participates in the strategic planning and performance evaluation process to develop strategies and specific plans for training to rectify deficiencies in the skills and abilities of the acquisition workforce. Responsible, in consultation with the Acquisition Career Manager, for reporting acquisition workforce data to the Human Capital Office for the agency’s human capital plan. Responsible for providing management direction of an agency’s procurement system. In some agencies, CAOs oversee or assume this role to help ensure implementation of agency acquisition workforce policy. Responsible for identifying training and development needs of the acquisition workforce. Leads an agency’s acquisition career management program and ensures that its acquisition workforce meets the skills and capabilities required in OMB, OFPP, and agency policies. 10 U.S.C. § 1746. provided by the agency, which may be taught using in-house staff or contractor employees; (2) government entity training provided by another federal agency, FAI, or the DAU; and (3) vendor training provided by a commercial sector company, which is generally available to multiple agencies at the same time. For the purposes of this report we refer to government entity and vendor training as external sources. OFPP sets standards and policies for the training and development of the federal acquisition workforce. Its efforts include strengthening workforce planning requirements and setting standards for core acquisition training by establishing certification requirements. FAI conducts activities that support and assist civilian agencies in training and development of their acquisition workforces. FAI efforts include: improving the collection and management of training information, including cost data and course evaluations; streamlining the communication of acquisition training guidance; and coordinating efforts to maximize acquisition workforce training investments government-wide. The Federal Acquisition Certification requirements were issued in 2005 for contracting professionals and 2007 for Contracting Officer’s Representatives and Program/Project Managers. provided in the agencies’ plans to develop a government-wide snapshot of the acquisition workforce and to identify practices for sharing throughout the government. Table 2 provides an overview of OFPP’s legislative responsibilities related to acquisition workforce training. 41 U.S.C. § 1201(a)(1). workforce. FAI reported that while its spending plan for fiscal year 2012 could provide $3 million for courses, training requests submitted by the agencies totaled in excess of $18 million. FAI is working with a number of vendors who provide acquisition workforce training to establish government contracts that would provide uniform costs for standardized training courses needed for the FAC programs. FAI plans to have contracts in place in 2013 that would be available for agencies to use to provide fiscal year 2014 training. Assisting federal agencies with their acquisition human capital FAI offers guidance and direction on human capital planning through its instructions for agencies’ annual AHCP submissions. Beginning in 2010, OFPP has required agencies to submit an annual AHCP each March that provides the agency’s strategies and goals for increasing both the capacity and capability of the acquisition workforce. To assist the agencies in preparing each submission, FAI provides them with a report template that includes specific topics to be included. We observed that the fiscal year 2012 AHCP submissions provided information on the agencies’ goals for strengthening the acquisition workforce, including certification goals, and planned training initiatives for the current and future fiscal years. 41 U.S.C. § 1201(a)(11). 41 U.S.C. § 1201(a)(3). FAI recently upgraded the government-wide acquisition career information management system it maintains for all agencies. In 2011, FAI replaced the Acquisition Career Management Information System (ACMIS) with the FAI Training Application System (FAITAS), which allows registration for courses, tracking of individuals’ training records, and other information management tools. For example, agencies can now manage the certification approval process, track an individual’s continuous learning progress, and search for courses offered by FAI and other agencies that use FAITAS to enroll participants in their courses. FAI reports that five agencies currently use the FAITAS registration function to alert other agencies to unfilled seats within a specific agency’s training course. Additional features of the system include a course scheduling module; a business intelligence tool for agencies to identify training locations and course availability; and a communication tool for broader outreach to the acquisition workforce. For example, an OFPP official explained that FAITAS can be used to send e-mail updates on OFPP policy, guidance, or other OFPP or FAI initiatives to all individuals registered in the system. FAI conducts periodic surveys of agencies to collect data about the acquisition workforce for OFPP. For example, FAI conducts the bi- annual Acquisition Workforce Competency Survey to collect information on agency acquisition workforces’ skills and abilities and to identify competency gaps within and across agencies. FAI officials explained that the survey results provide a government-wide view of which courses are in demand that informs their efforts to achieve economies of scale when providing training. FAI reports an annual count of the acquisition workforce as it has done for more than the past decade; however, its count has been limited to professionals serving in four job series—General Business and Industry (GS-1101), Contracting (GS-1102), Purchasing (GS- 1105), and Procurement Clerical and Assistance (GS-1106). FAI began gathering data on CORs and P/PMs as part of the acquisition workforce count in fiscal year 2007. In its recent report on the acquisition workforce count, FAI reported that 33,271 personnel were employed in the acquisition workforce’s four main job series in fiscal year 2010, and an additional 47,959 and 4,186 personnel were identified as CORs and P/PMs, respectively, by the agencies in their AHCPs—which represents about 85,000 individuals in the civilian acquisition workforce for fiscal year 2010. FAI does not directly collect data for the workforce count, and has acknowledged that agencies have some problems identifying CORs and P/PMs but the data have been improving.