Training The 21st Century Acquisition Work Force

摘要

Initiatives already are in the works that address procurement challenges. John J. Young Jr., undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics, has established specific strategic objectives, one of which is to create a future acquisition work force. To ensure that this goal is met, the Defense Acquisition University (DAU) has spent more than a year examining the data quality regarding the work force and then analyzing it.rnGarry Shafovaloff is the special assistant to Frank J. Anderson Jr., DAU president and director of Human Capital Initiatives, a program underway through Young's office. Shafovaloff explains that a report released in January 2007 outlined the issues the government faces concerning the acquisition work force. "It basically said that we're understaffed and overworked, and that we need to rebuild it. Out of that came new pieces of legislation-most of which were directed at the U.S. Defense Department-that told us to assess our gaps and rebuild our work force," Shafovaloff says. At one point, the number of department personnel involved in acquisition was 179,000; today it is somewhere between 126,000 and 128,000.