Pentagon Lays Out Game Plan To Address Workforce Losses.

• Author: Erwin, Sandra I.

Civilian Pentagon leaders believe that the military services should be concerned about the Defense Department's ability to manage future weapon programs. The reason, officials said, is that, by 2005, more than 60,000 members of the Defense Department acquisition workforce will be eligible to retire.

Replacing these workers will not be easy, these officials stressed, because the acquisition bureaucracy, after a decade of downsizing, is not equipped or trained to hire fresh talent. Recruiting and retaining younger workers, additionally, will be hampered by the lack of flexibility in government personnel policies, said a report titled "The Acquisition Workforce 2005," published in October by a special task force, funded by the offices of the defense undersecretary for acquisition, technology and logistics, and the undersecretary for personnel and readiness.

The task force plans to introduce a series of personnel and administrative reforms, some of which require legislative approval. These efforts are designed to help lure young workers to the government and to ensure the Pentagon has in-house skills in critical areas such as information technology and various engineering disciplines. Implementing the task force program is expected to cost $230 million between 2001 and 2007.

Between 1989 and 1999, the defense acquisition workforce was cut by 50 percent. The Defense and Energy Departments accounted for nine out of 10 jobs cut during that time. There are approximately 152,000 workers in defense acquisition jobs today, and about 124,000 are civilian. The remaining are military officers.

The director of the task force, Keith Charles, said that more "awareness" is needed within the military services about a looming personnel crisis in the acquisition workforce. The bottom line, he said, is that "there are implications for new weapon systems."

The uniformed leaders should understand that the procurement of new equipment would be affected by future shortages of acquisition workers, Charles said during a briefing to defense industry representatives. "They can't assume that a contractor just backs up [a truck] in front of the Pentagon and dumps off a new helicopter."

The nation's demographics worsen the problem, he explained, because the so-called baby-boom generation will begin to retire in droves in 2007. That means the Defense Department will face greater competition for workers from the rest of the federal government and from the private sector. By...