DAU’s certification  training program has a formal process in planning and front-end analysis  to ensure that strategic and tactical changes are promptly incorporated  into training; use of centralized and decentralized training approaches in  design and development; data collection during implementation to ensure  feedback on its training programs; and appropriate analytical approaches  to assess its training during evaluation. However, DOD lacks complete  information on the skill sets of the current acquisition workforce for  planning and front-end analysis and does not have metrics to assess  results achieved in enhancing workforce proficiency and capability  through training efforts during evaluation. We recommended and DOD  agreed to identify and update on an ongoing basis the number and skill  sets of the total acquisition workforce—including civilian, military, and  contractor personnel—that the department needs to fulfill its mission. The assessments completed to date  represent approximately one-fifth of the personnel and career fields. DAU plans the number and location  of its classes based on data submitted by the Directors of Acquisition  Career Management (DACM). However, DOD acquisition and training  officials noted that data are generally incomplete when submitted and  additional steps must be taken during the year to meet new requirements  as they are identified. DAU has identified the need for an integrated  student information system to improve the quality of the data and to  provide greater insight into the workforce it supports. Even though 90 percent of the acquisition personnel who required  certification training for their current position received training on time or  were within allowed time frames to do so, DAU acknowledges that  requests for acquisition workforce training as a whole submitted by the  DOD components and military departments exceed what DAU can  provide. DAU has  supported more classes than in the past, seeing an increase from 1,279  classroom courses in fiscal year 2005 to 1,505 in fiscal year 2009. DOD Has Addressed Most Previous Training Recommendations, However, Some Remain to Be Implemented

DOD reports that most of the training-related recommendations from  previous reviews—the Gansler Commission, the Panel on Contracting  Integrity, and our prior report—have been fully implemented. Two of the four Gansler Commission Report recommendations have been  implemented; however, the Army and Office of the Secretary of Defense  (OSD) need to take additional steps to ensure the Army “trains as it fights”  and that DAU has the resources it needs to train the acquisition workforce. Nine of the 11 Panel on Contracting Integrity recommendations have been  fully implemented. While the Panel reported that all of the recommended actions had been  completed, we determined that two of the recommended actions  pertaining to training had not been fully implemented; we determined that  one was not implemented, but action was taken, and one has been  partially implemented. DOD did not concur with our recommendation that it should develop  milestones for the development of metrics to demonstrate and track how  acquisition certification training improves the acquisition workforce  performance. To determine the efficacy of DOD’s acquisition and audit workforce  training, we assessed (1) DOD’s capability to provide defense acquisition  workforce certification training, (2) the extent that such training reaches  members of DOD’s acquisition workforce, and (3) the extent that training  recommendations from previous reviews, including the Gansler  Commission, have been implemented. To  assess DOD’s capability to provide defense acquisition workforce  certification training, we compared DOD’s certification training programs  and processes with the attributes of effective training and development  programs identified in GAO’s 2004 guide for assessing strategic training  and development efforts in the federal government, which we identified as  the most comprehensive source for attributes of effective training  programs for our purpose. (2) Partially Implemented. We conducted this performance audit from December 2009 to September  2010 in accordance with generally accepted government auditing  standards.
Why GAO Did This Study

The President has announced his intention to improve the acquisition process, particularly given the half a trillion dollars the federal government spent in fiscal year 2009 on acquiring goods and services. The Department of Defense (DOD) spent $384 billion in fiscal year 2009 on goods and services--double what it spent in 2001. A high-quality workforce with the right competencies and skill sets will be critical to improving DOD acquisitions. GAO was mandated to determine the efficacy of DOD's certification training for its acquisition workforce. GAO assessed (1) DOD's capability to provide certification training, (2) the extent that such training reaches members of the workforce, and (3) the extent that previous training recommendations have been implemented. To conduct this work, GAO compared DOD's certification training to GAO guidance for effective training programs and analyzed policies, data, and previous reports on acquisition training.

What GAO Found

DOD's certification training program--provided by the Defense Acquisition University (DAU)--generally demonstrates the capability to provide effective training, though some attributes of an effective training program are lacking. DAU ensures that strategic and tactical changes are promptly incorporated into training; uses centralized and decentralized training approaches in design and development; collects data during implementation to ensure feedback on its training programs; and analyzes its training during evaluation. However, DOD lacks complete information on the skill sets of the current acquisition workforce and does not have outcome-based metrics to assess results achieved in enhancing workforce proficiency and capability through training efforts. In 2009, GAO recommended that the Secretary of Defense identify and update on an ongoing basis the number and skill sets of the total acquisition workforce--including civilian, military, and contractor personnel--that the department needs to fulfill its mission. DOD agreed and to date has completed about one-fifth of its workforce competency assessments. At the end of fiscal year 2009, 90 percent of DOD's acquisition workforce personnel had completed required certification training or were within required time frames to do so, according to DAU data. However, DAU reports that it cannot provide for all training requested for the entire acquisition workforce. DAU has offered more courses in recent years, and high-priority personnel--those needing to complete classes for certification in their current position--constitute the majority in DAU classes. DAU plans the number and location of its classes based on data that DOD officials noted are generally incomplete when submitted, and DAU must adapt during the year to support new requirements as they are identified. DAU has identified the need for a new, integrated student information system that will provide better insight into the workforce it supports and is in the early stages of its procurement. DOD reports that most of the training-related recommendations from previous reviews--the Gansler Commission, the Panel on Contracting Integrity, and a prior GAO report--have been fully implemented and some actions are still under way. DOD has either fully or partially implemented 15 of the 19 recommendations GAO reviewed. Both the Army and the Office of the Secretary of Defense have taken steps to respond to the Gansler Commission recommendations. Most of the recommendations made by the Panel on Contracting Integrity have been implemented, with the exception of two recommendations related to assessing guidance and reviewing a specific training topic. GAO made four recommendations pertaining to the Defense Contract Audit Agency's government auditing standards training and expertise, of which one has been partially implemented and three have not been implemented, but some actions have been taken.

What GAO Recommends

GAO recommends DOD establish milestones for developing metrics to measure how certification training improves acquisition workforce capability and a time frame for acquiring and implementing an integrated information system. DOD concurred with the second but not the first recommendation. GAO continues to believe DOD needs to develop additional metrics.