FROM THE AAE
THE VIEW FROM THE TOP
Secretary of the Army Dr. Mark T. Esper and Lt. Gen. Thomas C. Seamands, deputy chief of staff, G-1 (Person- nel), visit Fort Knox, Kentucky, in April 2018 to discuss talent management with the senior leadership of the U.S. Army Human Resources Command. (U.S. Army photo by Master Sgt. Brian Hamilton)
require cultural change—and everyone understands that’s difficult. We must also work to make acquisition careers highly rewarding and therefore sought after by top Army talent.
Among other things, the FY19 NDAA loosened some of that rigidity in the current system and gave the Army some flexibility to determine the characteristics of our future, talent-based system.
Authorities enacted in the FY19 NDAA that apply to the acquisition workforce, and that we are studying and looking to leverage, are:
• Direct commission up to O-6 (colo- nel): The Army can access private sector expertise up to the rank of colonel for both the active and reserve components.
• Opting out of a promotion board: An officer can opt out of a promotion board—or get off the conveyor belt temporarily—to avoid the career impact of seeking advanced education, broad- ening assignments or assignments of significant value that affect the compet- itiveness for promotion.
We are looking at both of these (and more) to help us acquire and develop the talent we need. Let’s take the second one first. Opting out of a promotion board would mean that an officer wouldn’t be “punished” for taking the opportunity to
get, for example, a doctoral degree, and miss out on future promotions because he or she is no longer on that conveyor belt. It would also mean that we could hand-pick talent to pursue such studies to the consid- erable advantage of Army acquisition and then retain that talent. We don’t want to pay for someone to get a Ph.D. and then force them out of the Army. Few other Army organizations absolutely need people with doctoral degrees in the way that the Army Acquisition Workforce does.
As to the direct-commission authority, it would mean that, should the Army decide it needs a particular expertise, it could hire an expert and bring that person into our ranks. Such assignments, however, would be temporary.
Tere are contrary perspectives on this. Some think that bringing someone with needed expertise into the Army temporar- ily at the O-6 level could greatly benefit the Army. Others believe putting such individuals in uniform could endan- ger the legitimacy of the very important operational perspective of acquisition offi- cers who came into the Army Acquisition Corps the old-fashioned way.
ON THE CIVILIAN SIDE Other than potentially making civilians temporary Soldiers, what about the civil- ian side of acquisition? At my direction, the DACM Office is pursuing a number
of initiatives in that realm, such as an acquisition-focused recruiting cell, college scholarships and pay, just to name a few.
Secretary Esper has a vision that we would all do well to understand. He is fully aware that he has three distinct populations who serve the Army: officers, noncom- missioned officers and civilians. The Army will pilot its Talent Management Strategy first with officers. When it has gathered sufficient data and developed an understanding of how the talent market- place works, it will continue that pilot by including noncommissioned officers.
Only when those much smaller cohorts have helped us iron out any issues with the implementation of the strategy will we to begin to roll it out to civilians. As you are probably aware, civilian acquisi- tion members make up approximately 96 percent of the workforce, and their jobs are governed by a much different set of regulations. It’s a harder nut to crack and vital to get it right.
Tere is no question that there is much work to be done and we cannot do it all at once, but in the very near future, when we meet contractors at the table to negotiate a contract, we will be on a level playing field.
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