CAREER CORNER
USAASC PERSPECTIVE FROM THE DIRECTOR, U.S. ARMY ACQUISITION SUPPORT CENTER
TO BUILD A STRONGER WORKFORCE, RAISE THE VALUE OF THEIR WORK
I
n his initial guidance memo to the Defense Acquisition Workforce (DAW) on Oct. 7, 2011, Frank Kendall, Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and
Logistics (USD(AT&L)), said a top priority for him is to continue strengthening the Acquisition Workforce. “We have increased the number of people in the acquisition workforce over the last few years. While some growth may still be pos- sible, we will increasingly turn our attention to improving the capability of the workforce that we have. Every supervisor should consider a stronger workforce to be his or her most important legacy.”
During the initial meetings this spring, the
team discussed several avenues to achieve the goal of promoting the defense acquisition pro- fession, including awards; branding, marketing, and publicity; building a more exclusive acquisi- tion corps; setting higher certification standards; creating DAW quality metrics; special seminars and meetings hosted by senior DoD leaders; and
Craig A. Spisak Director, U.S. Army Acquisition Support Center
To advance this priority, the DAW Management Group (WMG) created nine projects to implement and integrate Kendall’s guid- ance (see Figure 1). In this Career Corner, we’ll take an in-depth look at Project 3’s objective—create the aura of prestige, status, and fraternity/sorority—led by my organization, the U.S. Army Acquisition Support Center.
Four teams were established to focus on this project’s four objec- tives, which also include focusing on competency; following competency with accountability; and setting “right” standards and selection processes.
MISSION AND GOALS Our team’s mission is to create initiatives for the DAW and ensure that the prestige and status of the workforce are well rec- ognized both inside and outside the acquisition community. In other words, what else can be done to make DAW members valued, recognized as part of an exclusive club, and known for their first-class contributions to the Soldier?
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“halls of excellence” to recognize the achieve- ments of current and former DAW members.
Many good initiatives are already underway
to recognize the value of DAW. Current nota- ble efforts to create an aura of prestige, status,
and fraternity/sorority include the Navy’s PMT 401 Service Day; multiple acquisition websites, videos, and pamphlets (such as
careerfields/sciandeng/ and
http://asc.army.mil/),
those at
http://www.afciviliancareers.com/careers/ service
acquisition magazines (Defense AT&L, Army AL&T, Access AL&T); numerous service award programs (Army Acquisition Excellence Award, Air Force Special Recognition Award in Acquisition Leadership, and the Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development, and Acquisition’s Top Scientists and Engineers of the Year Awards, to name a few); program manager forums; Acquisition Career Field Councils; and pro- gram executive office breakfasts.
The challenge is that each of these products exists very much within its own service and community. The motivational ideas and creative communication techniques are not equal, nor shared across the services. Determining how to pick and choose from the best, approach is the next step.
integrate them, and create a unified
Army AL&T Magazine
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