U.S. Army on a Hiring Spree to Bulk Up Its Contracting WorkforceSeptember 24, 2010
 The talk across the U.S. Defense Department is about cutting back and finding efficiencies in existing systems and processes. The U.S. Army, however, is on a run to grow its military contracting workforce by 600% and its civilian contracting workforce by 25%, Defense News reported. Edward Harrington, the deputy assistant secretary of Army Procurement, recently said that the service has “very good support” of its expansion efforts because it fits the goal to create efficiencies. The idea is to develop “savvy, seasoned buyers” who will get the best deal for the Army, he said. Congress is closely watching the hiring spree because the Army's contracting makes up 25% of all federal contracting. The Army has about $585 billion in active contracts, according to an Army acquisition official. When the Army downsized in the 1990s, its workforce lost its mid-and senior-level contracting executives, Harrington said, according to Defense News. That led to a five-fold increase in workload for the remaining workforce. "I think there's a recognition that we need to have additional personnel to handle these acquisitions and these contracting matters, and that we need a much improved and skilled workforce to do that," said Jeffrey Parsons, the executive director of the Army Contracting Command. The Command was set up in 2007 after a commission found that the Army was incapable of managing contracting for missions in Iraq and Afghanistan. A lack of oversight became fertile grounds for bribery and corruption, and the draining of million in federal dollars, Defense News reported. "There are lots of ways to get work done other than having one's own employees do it," said Peter Cappelli, a management professor at Wharton. "But especially for the military, it is difficult to outsource or otherwise have outsiders do oversight." |
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