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Audit Reports

Date

FAA Policies and Plans are Insufficient to Ensure an Adequate and Effective Acquisition Workforce

Project ID
ZA2011148
File Attachment

On August 3, 2011, we issued our final report on the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) acquisition workforce.  In 2009, the President identified acquisition workforce development as a pillar for improving agency acquisition practices and performance. In response, the Office of Management and Budget initiated a strategic plan to improve the capacity and capability of the acquisition workforce.  The FAA issued an initial Acquisition Workforce Plan on the agency’s workforce needs from fiscal year 2009 through fiscal year 2011, and updated the plan in 2010 to project these needs through fiscal year 2014.  Our audit objectives were to assess FAA’s Acquisition Workforce Plan to determine whether it: (1) comprehensively identifies FAA’s acquisition workforce and the required skills and competencies needed now and in the future; (2) addressed gaps in the hiring and development of this important workforce; and (3) identified and implemented the programs, policies, and practices needed to ensure it has an adequate acquisition workforce.

We found that FAA's Acquisition Workforce Plan is not comprehensive and has not sufficiently addressed gaps in hiring and developing its acquisitions workforce.  In addition, FAA has not fully implemented the programs, policies, and practices needed to ensure an adequate workforce.  We made 11 recommendations aimed at strengthening FAA’s acquisition workforce planning, of which the agency concurred with all but one recommendation and has provided acceptable actions for 8 recommendations.  The FAA has begun actions to address many of the issues identified during our audit, and we requested that the agency clarify how it plans to meet the intent of the remaining three recommendations and provide corrective action plans and target dates for completion.

Recommendations

Closed on
No. 1 to FAA
To ensure FAA comprehensively identifies its acquisition workforce and required competencies, we recommend that FAA's Director of Acquisition Policy, Workforce Development, and Evaluation: Develop a standard definition of acquisition workforce and clarify which employees are included in each acquisition discipline. Communicate this definition to all staff involved in identifying the acquisition workforce.
Closed on
No. 2 to FAA
To ensure FAA comprehensively identifies its acquisition workforce and required competencies, we recommend that FAA's Director of Acquisition Policy, Workforce Development, and Evaluation: Identify the entire FAA acquisition workforce, including contracted and Federal employees for all lines of business. Develop and implement tools and internal controls to ensure that FAA accurately identifies its acquisition workforce.
Closed on
No. 3 to FAA
That FAA's Director of Acquisition Policy, Workforce Development, and Evaluation determine the best mix of labor resources by identifying the proper roles of both contractors and Federal employees, along with the skills sets and expertise needed for each group.
Closed on
No. 4 to FAA
To ensure FAA comprehensively identifies its acquisition workforce and required competencies, we recommend that FAA's Director of Acquisition Policy, Workforce Development, and Evaluation: Assess the function and role of TORs. Determine the need to include TORs as a part of FAA's acquisition workforce.
Closed on
No. 5 to FAA
To ensure FAA comprehensively identifies its acquisition workforce and required competencies, we recommend that FAA's Director of Acquisition Policy, Workforce Development, and Evaluation:
Closed on
No. 6 to FAA
To ensure FAA comprehensively identifies its acquisition workforce and required competencies, we recommend that FAA's Director of Acquisition Policy, Workforce Development, and Evaluation determine the need for certification programs for each acquisition discipline, and review existing certification programs to determine whether certifications should be internal or external. Document justifications for decisions made, and include these justifications in the next update of the plan.
Closed on
No. 7 to FAA
To ensure that FAA sufficiently addresses gaps in hiring and developing its acquisition workforce, we recommend that the Director document reasons for when FAA cannot meet its hiring goals, both overall hiring goals and specific hiring targets, for FAA's lines of business and acquisition disciplines.
Closed on
No. 10 to FAA
To ensure FAA fully implements the programs, policies, and practices needed to ensure an adequate workforce, we recommend that the Director include details on the resources, specific steps, timelines, milestones, and deliverables needed to implement future updates to the Acquisition Workforce Plan.
Closed on
No. 11 to FAA
To ensure FAA fully implements the programs, policies, and practices needed to ensure an adequate workforce, we recommend that the Director notify all acquisition employees of their acquisition roles and duties and ensure that they are aware of applicable certification requirements.