Examination of the U.S. Air Force's Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Workforce Needs in the Future and Its Strategy to Meet Those Needs (2010) / Chapter Skim
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4 STEM Personnel in the Acquisition Workforce
4 STEM Personnel in the Acquisition Workforce
Pages 45-58
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From page 45... ...
2008, noting that the Air Force acquisition workforce is considerably smaller than those of other services. A search of the Air Force Personnel Center's Interactive Demographic Analysis System in December 2008 found 5,606 civilian personnel in the occupational series that require a STEM degree,2 or 35 percent of the civilian acquisition workforce of 16,080 shown in Table 4-1.
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From page 46... ...
Supervisory NSPS3 pay band 2 personnel who meet Acquisition Corps requirements and are selected for assignment to a CAP will automatically be admitted to the corps. These individuals are eligible for Acquisition Corps membership after they have reached Level II APDP certification in any functional discipline (including acquisition management)
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From page 47... ...
. DAWIA and APDP Educational Requirements for the Acquisition Corps Air Force implementation of DAWIA requires that members of the Acquisition Corps have baccalaureate degrees (but does not specify that they must be STEM degrees)
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From page 48... ...
. Officer Manning Issues in the Acquisition Workforce This section extends the discussion of manning issues, begun in Chapter 3, from the five officer career fields that require a STEM degree to the acquisition workforce.
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From page 49... ...
a STEM degree. The discussion here includes the 61S Scientist and 62E Developmental Engineer career fields, as well as the 63A Acquisition Management field, for two reasons.
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, resulting in below-average field-grade manning because of the disconnect between the "required" strength and the available qualified inventory. Due to inadequate promotion rates from the company grades and/or migration to other AFSCs, sustainment of field-grade 63A officers has required migration from other career fields.
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From page 51... ...
Accordingly, they believe a technically qualified organic workforce is vital in this discovery process. The AFFTC commander stated that the test center has a good balance of civilian scientists and engineers in both numbers and education levels.
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Providing adequate oversight challenges its ability.11 He shares the concern about the technical skill balance between its organic and much larger contractor workforce and told the committee that a stronger organic technical staff provides more-effective contractor oversight and makes AEDC a "smart buyer" when procuring contract services. This assessment was based on his observations of declining experience within the in-house workforce, with insufficient technical knowledge among the remaining civilian scientists and engineers.
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From page 53... ...
The DACM pointed out that, just as the flow of officers from the 62E to the 63A career field is beneficial to acquisition program management, he would like to see a similar flow of civil servants from engineering to higher-grade positions in the program management occupational series. However, it is difficult to convince engineers to make the move because the program management positions are filled using an occupational series that does not require a STEM degree, which many engineers consider a step down in status.
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. As further evidence of this continuing decrease in STEM workforce, ASC has concluded that the increased number of support contractors to provide STEM capability means that ASC lacks sufficient organic STEM-degreed (or STEM-cognizant)
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As a result of these ongoing reviews, the ASC commander concluded that recent drawdowns have decreased mission capability and resulted in a long-term loss of experienced employees. Specifically, ASC authorized organic workforce strength has gone from nearly 12,000 in FY 1993 to under 7,000 in FY 2009, while the portion of the workforce in acquisition positions has dropped from 6,133 to 3,086 – literally cut in half.
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From page 56... ...
16 Joe Sciabica, Executive Director, AFRL, AFMC, briefing to the committee on October 30, 2008. 17 Section 852 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008 directed the Secretary of Defense to establish a "Department of Defense Acquisition Workforce Fund" to "provide funds, in addition to other funds that may be available, for the recruitment, training, and retention of acquisition personnel of the Department of Defense." The stated purpose of the fund was "to ensure that the Department of Defense acquisition workforce has the capacity, in both personnel and skills, needed to properly perform its mission, provide appropriate oversight of contractor performance, and ensure that the Department receives the best value for the expenditure of public resources." Section 852 defined "acquisition workforce" to mean personnel in positions designated as acquisition positions under U.S.
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However, the experience criteria in DAWIA and Air Force directives are often waived for the senior ranks of the Air Force acquisition community. For example, general officers have often been placed in important acquisition positions -- although not designated as critical acquisition positions (CAPs)
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The Air Force should review its training and career development plan for the acquisition management career field/occupational series to strengthen the opportunities for STEM-degreed personnel to acquire hands-on experience to develop their technical skills during the first five years of their Air Force careers.
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