Clinger-Cohen further requires civilian agencies to separately identify the funding levels requested for acquisition workforce education and training in their congressional budget justification documents submitted in support of the President’s budget and provides that agencies may not obligate funds appropriated for acquisition workforce education and training under the act for any other purpose. Neither GSA Nor VA Has Organizationwide Training Data, But Some Training Is Being Provided

Neither GSA nor VA has comprehensive organizationwide data showing the extent to which its acquisition workforce has received required training. GSA and VA each have both automated information systems and manual records that have some information on their acquisition workforces. GSA and VA have established core training for acquisition personnel who need a warrant. According to a GSA Greater Southwest Regional Office official, the one contracting officer who had not completed the training did not need the warrant, and the warrant was suspended for this individual. We reviewed the training records for the 46 GSA and 8 VA contracting officers at the two field locations we visited, who were required by OFPP policy to meet continuing education requirements by December 1999, and found that 22 out of 46 (48 percent) of GSA’s and 4 out of 8 (50 percent) of VA’s contracting officers had not met the OFPP requirements. Although in September 1997 OFPP tasked the Federal Acquisition Institute with developing a management information system to assist departments and agencies in collecting and maintaining standardized data, the system has not yet been developed. OFPP’s Policy Letter 97-01 tasked the Federal Acquisition Institute to work with agencies and OPM to develop a governmentwide management information system that would allow departments and agencies to collect and maintain standardized acquisition workforce information, including training data. Recommendations

To ensure that the skills of their acquisition workforces are current, we recommend that the Administrator of GSA and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs fully adhere to OFPP’s policy associated with Clinger-Cohen’s training provisions by (1) establishing core training requirements for all contracting officer representatives and contracting officer technical representatives; (2) ensuring that all acquisition personnel receive the required core training and continuing education, consistent with OFPP’s policy; (3) directing appropriate agency personnel to collect and maintain accurate and up-to-date data showing the extent to which acquisition personnel meet training requirements; and (4) seeing that all funding that agencies plan to use for educating and training their acquisition workforces is identified in appropriate budget documents and that all related expenditures for such education and training are tracked. Objectives, Scope, and Methodology

Our objectives were to determine whether (1) the General Services Administration (GSA) and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) had assurance that their acquisition workforces met training requirements as defined by the Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) and whether contracting officers at one GSA and one VA field location met each agency’s training requirements; (2) OFPP had ensured that federal civilian departments and agencies collected and maintained standardized acquisition workforce information, as required by the 1996 Clinger-Cohen Act; and (3) GSA and VA were taking actions to comply with the Clinger- Cohen Act’s funding requirements.
Why GAO Did This Study

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the training of the acquisition workforce in certain federal civilian departments and agencies, focusing on whether: (1) the General Services Administration (GSA) and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) had assurance that their acquisition workforces met training requirements as defined by the Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) and whether contracting officers at one GSA and one VA field location met each agency's training requirements; (2) OFPP had taken action to ensure that civilian departments and agencies collected and maintained standardized acquisition workforce information, as required by the 1996 Clinger-Cohen Act; and (3) GSA and VA were taking actions to comply with Clinger-Cohen Act funding requirements.

What GAO Found

GAO noted that: (1) both GSA and VA have efforts under way to train their acquisition workforces; (2) however, neither had assurance that all members of their acquisition workforces had received core training and continuing education, as required by OFPP's policy; (3) neither agency had complete readily accessible information on the overall extent to which their acquisition workforces had received required training; (4) contrary to OFPP's policy, neither GSA nor VA had established core training requirements for some segments of their acquisition workforces--contracting officer representatives and contracting officer technical representatives who do not have authority to award contracts; (5) by reviewing agency training records and obtaining documentation directly from GSA's Greater Southwest Regional Office and VA's medical center in Dallas, GAO determined that 99 percent of GSA and 72 percent of VA contracting officers at these two locations met core training requirements that GSA and VA had established for such personnel; (6) however, only about half of GSA's and VA's contracting officers in these locations who were to have continuing education requirements completed by December 1999 had met those requirements by the due date; (7) to help explain why some officers had not completed the required training, agency officials cited conflicts in scheduling the training and a lack of awareness of training requirements; (8) OFPP has not yet ensured that civilian departments and agencies were collecting and maintaining standardized information, including training data, on their acquisition workforces, as required by Clinger-Cohen; (9) in September 1997, OFPP tasked the Federal Acquisition Institute to work with departments and agencies and the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to develop a governmentwide management information system, including specifications for the data elements to be captured, to assist departments and agencies in collecting and maintaining standardized data; (10) system development was significantly delayed because the Institute and OPM had not reached agreement on final system requirements and specifications; (11) neither GSA nor VA identified all the funds it planned to use for acquisition workforce training in its congressional budget justification documents as required by Clinger-Cohen; (12) Clinger-Cohen provides that agencies may not obligate funds specifically appropriated for acquisition workforce education and training under the act for any other purpose; and (13) appropriations acts GAO reviewed for GSA and VA did not specify a funding level for acquisition workforce education and training.