DOD’s acquisition mission represents the largest buying enterprise in the world. The defense acquisition workforce—which consists of military and civilian program managers, contracting officers, engineers, logisticians, and cost estimators, among others—is responsible for effectively awarding and administering contracts totaling more than $250 billion annually. The contracts may be for major weapon systems, support for military bases, consulting services, and commercial items, among other things. A skilled acquisition workforce is vital to maintaining military readiness, increasing the department’s buying power, and achieving substantial long-term savings through systems engineering and contracting activities. DOD’s acquisition workforce experienced significant cuts during the 1990s following the end of the Cold War and, by the early 2000s, began relying more heavily on contractors to perform many acquisition support functions. DOD reported that from 1998 through 2008, the number of military and civilian personnel performing acquisition activities decreased 14 percent from about 146,000 to about 126,000 personnel. Amid concerns about the growing reliance on contractors and skill gaps within the military and civilian acquisition workforce, in April 2009, the Secretary of Defense announced his intention to rebalance the workforce mix to ensure that the federal government has sufficient personnel to oversee its acquisition process. To support that objective, DOD’s April 2010 strategic workforce plan stated that DOD would add 20,000 military and civilian personnel to its workforce by fiscal year 2015. Further, in 2008, Congress created DAWDF, codified in section 1705 of title 10 of the U.S. Code, to provide DOD a dedicated source of funding for rebuilding capacity, improving quality, and rebalancing the workforce. Congress has specified in statute the level of DAWDF funding for a given fiscal year and has adjusted that level several times. For example, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010 specified $100 million for fiscal year 2010; $770 million for fiscal year 2011; $900 million for fiscal year 2012; $1.2 billion for fiscal year 2013; $1.3 billion for fiscal year 2014; and $1.5 billion for fiscal year 2015. In the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013, Congress extended the requirement for DOD to fund DAWDF through 2018 and revised the funding levels to $500 million for fiscal year 2013; $800 million for fiscal year 2014; $700 million for fiscal year 2015; $600 million for fiscal year 2016; $500 million for fiscal year 2017; and $400 million for fiscal year 2018. Currently, the law mandates $500 million in DAWDF funding for a fiscal year. However, the law also authorizes the Secretary of Defense to reduce annual funding if the Secretary determines that the mandated amount is greater than what is reasonably needed for a fiscal year. The amount may not be reduced to less than $400 million for a fiscal year. Section 1705 of title 10, U.S. Code, specifies three ways that DAWDF can be funded: Appropriations made for DAWDF. Appropriations were made for the fund in fiscal years 2010 through 2015 and were available for obligation for 1 fiscal year—the fiscal year for which they were appropriated. Credits, or funds that are remitted by DOD components from operation and maintenance accounts. Funds credited to the account are available for obligation in the fiscal year for which they are credited and in the 2 succeeding fiscal years. Transfers of expired funds. During the 3-year period following the expiration of appropriations to DOD for research, development, test and evaluation; procurement; or operation and maintenance, DOD may transfer such funds to DAWDF to the extent provided in appropriations acts. To date, Congress has granted authority for DOD to transfer operation and maintenance funds included in the appropriations acts for fiscal years 2014, 2015, and 2016 to DAWDF. Funds transferred to DAWDF are available for obligation in the fiscal year for which they are transferred and in the 2 succeeding fiscal years. Under current law, DOD is required to credit the fund $500 million for a fiscal year, as previously mentioned. However, the law directs that the amount required to be remitted by DOD components be reduced by any amounts appropriated for or transferred to DAWDF for that fiscal year. Collectively, from fiscal years 2008 through 2016, about $4.5 billion has been deposited into DAWDF using various combinations of these processes (see table 1). From fiscal years 2008 through 2016, DOD obligated about $2.2 billion— or about 60 percent—for recruiting and hiring and about $1.2 billion—32 percent—for training and development. The remaining $269 million, or 7 percent, was used for retention and recognition. To help support rebuilding the workforce, DOD obligated the most funds for recruiting and hiring through fiscal year 2015; however, in fiscal year 2016, DOD obligated slightly more for training and development than for recruiting and hiring (see fig. 1). Several organizations within DOD play key roles in the management and oversight of DAWDF (see table 2). DOD’s acquisition workforce management framework includes centralized policy, decentralized execution by the DOD components, and joint governance forums. DOD established the Senior Steering Board and the Workforce Management Group in 2008 to oversee DAWDF activities. The senior acquisition executives for the military departments, DOD functional acquisition career field leaders, and heads of major DOD agencies were designated as members of the Senior Steering Board, along with representatives from the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller) and Chief Financial Officer and the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness. This board is expected to meet quarterly and provide strategic oversight of DAWDF. The Workforce Management Group includes representatives from the offices on the Senior Steering Board, among others. It is expected to meet bimonthly and oversee DAWDF operations and management (see table 3). In June 2012, we reported on DOD’s initial implementation of DAWDF; we found that the ability of DOD components to effectively plan for and execute efforts supported by DAWDF was hindered by delays in DOD’s DAWDF funding processes and the absence of clear guidance on the availability and use of funds. We also found that HCI and Comptroller officials had differing views on how best to manage the DAWDF funding process. Comptroller officials acknowledged that they delayed sending out credit remittance notices and allowed components to delay crediting DAWDF funds. At that time, we recommended that DOD revise its DAWDF guidance to clarify when and how DAWDF funds should be collected, distributed, and used. We also recommended that DOD clearly align DAWDF’s funding strategy with the department’s strategic human capital plan for the acquisition workforce. DOD concurred with these recommendations. In October 2016, DOD completed an updated acquisition workforce strategic plan. We discuss our assessment of the extent to which DOD has taken action to address these recommendations later in this report. Further, we also recommended in June 2012 that DOD establish performance metrics for DAWDF to allow senior leadership to track how the fund is being used to support DOD’s acquisition workforce improvement goals. DOD concurred and subsequently established four metrics to track the defense acquisition workforce: (1) the size of the acquisition workforce, (2) the shape of the acquisition workforce, (3) defense acquisition workforce improvement act certification rates, and (4) the education level of acquisition workforce personnel. In its October 2016 acquisition workforce strategic plan, DOD reported that the cumulative efforts of the DOD components from fiscal year 2008 through fiscal year 2015 increased the size of the acquisition workforce by 24 percent, from about 126,000 to 156,000 personnel. The department accomplished this by hiring additional personnel, converting contractor positions to civilian positions, adding military personnel to the acquisition workforce, and administratively recoding existing personnel. DAWDF contributed to this success by helping to increase the size of the acquisition workforce and achieve a better balance of early-, mid-, and senior-career personnel. DOD reported that more than 96 percent of the acquisition workforce either met or was on track to meet certification requirements within required time frames. DOD also reported that the number of personnel with bachelor’s degrees or higher increased from 77 percent in fiscal year 2008 to 84 percent in fiscal year 2015, while those with graduate degrees increased from 29 percent to 39 percent over the same time period. These changes were accomplished during a period of budget uncertainties and sequestration, during which time DOD imposed hiring freezes and curtailed travel, training, and conferences, among other actions. In December 2015, we reported that DOD had accomplished some of its goals in rebuilding the acquisition workforce and used DAWDF to help in these efforts. While DOD increased the size of its acquisition workforce, we found that it had not reached its targets for 6 of 13 acquisition career fields, including those for 3 priority fields—contracting, engineering, and business. To ensure that DOD has the right people with the right skills to meet future needs, we recommended that DOD complete competency assessments, issue an updated acquisition workforce strategic plan, and issue guidance on prioritizing the use of funding. DOD concurred with our recommendations. We discuss DOD’s efforts to address these recommendations later in this report. DOD, enabled by recent congressional action, has improved its ability to fund DAWDF, which allowed DOD to fund DAWDF in 2 months, compared to the 24 months the credit funding process took in fiscal year 2014. Specifically, in the DOD Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2014, Congress authorized DOD to transfer operation and maintenance funds appropriated by the act to DAWDF consistent with section 1705 of title 10 of the U.S. Code, which permits DOD to transfer expired funds for 3 years following their expiration.