Government Contracts Monitor

Obama & Procurement: The Federal Contracting Workforce

January 16, 2009

Looking at its procurement “to do” list, one of the more pressing priorities of the Obama Administration (especially the new director of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy) will be the recruitment and development of a skilled contracting workforce.

As the size of the federal budget and the number of acquisitions continue to grow, the federal government has been unable to keep up with the demand for qualified individuals to manage the procurement system.  According to GAO and the Federal Acquisition Institute, there were only 20,000 contracting specialists in 2006 – half of whom will be eligible for retirement by 2016 – handling over $400 billion in procurements.  Agency contracting departments have been unable to keep up with the workflow and in light of the increased complexity of federal contracts, acquisition personnel are in need of retraining.

Fortunately, not all is lost.  Enter the Obama Administration.  Boosting the acquisition workforce will be one of its key procurement priorities and Obama has promised to “hire more contract managers and improve training.”  Optimists predict a renewed interest in and enthusiasm for government doing what government is supposed to do – solving the country’s problems.  This means more government jobs and more interest in those jobs.

Federal Computer Week quotes Steve Soloway, president of the Professional Services Council:

The Obama administration should enact policies designed to improve the skills of agency employees, particularly those in the acquisition work-force.  ‘That’s the place that’s going to deliver the greatest payback.’

Obama seems poised to pull work back into the government – reducing dependence on contractors.  According to a campaign white paper, Obama has promised to increase the contracting workforce and improve training:

The federal government's ability to manage contracts has not kept up with the increase in the volume and complexity of federal contracts.

But, the “blended” force of contractors and government employees working side-by-side is “here to stay,” said to Rob Burton, former director of OFPP.

What this means for the contracting community is up in the air.  Hopefully, President Obama’s “call to service” will result in a larger, better-trained acquisition workforce.  This could lead to fewer mistakes in the procurement process - reversing the growing number of protests submitted to GAO(up 17% last year) – saving taxpayers, and contractors, time and resources.