Shield Acquisition Workforce from Budget Cuts, Procurement Chief Says
June 29, 2012
Agencies should avoid cutting their acquisition workforces to meet budget cuts in the coming year, said Joseph Jordan, the federal procurement policy chief.
The administration intends to keep growing the acquisition workforce in order to more effectively manage the government's $500 billion annual contracting operation, said Jordan.
"[During] the eight years of the Bush administration, contract spending went from $200 million to $500 million," he told the Professional Services Council trade association on Thursday. "The acquisition workforce did not grow anything like that. We've spent the last couple years bending the cost curve, reducing contract spending for the first time while increasing the acquisition workforce, trying to narrow that gap."