Department of Defense Office of Small Business programs

Department of Defense

Small Business Professionals in the

Acquisition Workforce

Office of Small Business Programs

Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for

Acquisitions, Technology and Logistics

The estimated cost of this report or study for the Department of Defense is approximately $355,000 for the 2013 Fiscal Year.

This includes $0 in expenses and $355,000 in DoD labor.

Generated on 2014May27 RefID: 7-C538BBF

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Table of Contents

Introduction ................................................................................................................... 2

Demographic Summary ................................................................................................ 3

Changes to the Workforce ............................................................................................ 7

Addressing Challenges Ahead .................................................................................... 8

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Introduction:

Small business professionals are responsible for leading the acquisition workforce to maximize

small business opportunities and achieving success in the Department’s small business

programs. These professionals perform a wide range of functions, including but not limited to:

 Market research

 Formulation of acquisition strategies

 Managing innovation research and technology programs

 Acting as subject matter experts on socioeconomic programs

 Performing advocacy and outreach

 Influencing small business legislation

 Providing business advice to small businesses owners and entrepreneurs

 Other activities related to growing the DoD small business industrial base.

Despite the fact that these professionals are responsible for influencing over 20 percent of the

Department’s discretionary spend each year, there is no established career field, or associated

criteria for hiring individuals with the requisite knowledge, skills, or abilities to perform necessary

job functions.

To compound matters, there are no professional development requirements (training, education,

experience) for achieving excellence in this function and the limited small business training

embedded in existing DoD acquisition curriculum is inadequate to influence workforce

performance. In response to this need, the Director of the Department of Defense (DoD) Office

of Small Business Programs (OSBP) was appointed the Functional Leader (FL) for small

business professionals. The role of the FL is to serve as the senior DoD subject-matter expert

for small business matters relating to the oversight and management of the small business

professional workforce. The FL has a responsibility to work with DoD acquisition training

organizations and Component Directors for acquisition career management to build the proper

training and qualification platforms necessary to meet present and future workforce needs.

The Small Business FL with the support of the Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition,

Technology, and Logistics (USD(AT&L)), has embarked on a workforce initiative aimed at

bringing structure and discipline to the development of the small business workforce.

The key points of the small business workforce initiative are:

1. Improve proficiency and performance. Training and quality experiences for small business

professionals and other career fields across the DoD workforce are the critical tools for

improving performance against Department goals. Comprehensive training must be developed

for small business professionals to increase their competency in managing small business

programs at all levels of the Department where acquisitions are made. Training is also

necessary across the DoD workforce, including DoD leadership. To accomplish this, the Small

Business Functional Leader has established a supporting organizational structure, including a

Functional Integrated Product Team (FIPT), to fully engage in DoD acquisition workforce

planning that includes consideration small business professionals. Ensuring the expertise and

size of the acquisition workforce, which includes small business professionals, are

commensurate with their fundamental responsibilities is critical to the sustained health of the

Defense industrial base and ultimately serves to encourage marketplace competition.

2. Shape the small business workforce. Workforce shaping requires not only an

interdisciplinary approach to developing competencies and skill sets, but a strategic look at the

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size of the workforce and the structure of program offices. Existing analysis, as described in

the Demographic Summary, indicates that a variety of skills and experience are critical in

supporting the overall DoD mission. The Small Business FL is working with the FIPT to

establish the essential career planning models that demonstrate clear opportunity, as well as

flexibility for individuals from other acquisition workforce functional areas to enter and exit the

Small Business career field. The number and size of DoD acquisitions each fiscal year far

exceed the capacity of the existing small business workforce, forcing a reprioritization of

workload to an already thin workforce and increasing the risk of incomplete and inadequate

execution of key acquisition functions. Such challenges will be addressed during the course of

this Report.

3. Bolster DoD readiness through small business. Ensuring that the small business workforce

has both the capacity and qualifications to successfully perform functions critical to the

acquisition mission is necessary for overall Department readiness. DoD OSBP has a

responsibility to train the small business workforce and adhere to public laws in the process.

DoD Directive 4205.01 (Encl 2, Para 3) delegates this authority to the Director, DoD OSBP.

The directive states “the Director, DoD OSBP, under the authority, direction, and control of the

USD(AT&L), shall…establish and support a small business training program for Small Business

Specialists and other acquisition personnel.” In addition to this, there are several other factors

driving DoD training efforts. These include: Public Law directing DoD to train (either small

business subjects or acquisition workforce); new small business laws such as the 2010 Jobs Act

that need to be disseminated to the workforce through training; training recommendations from

Executive Orders and Administration initiatives; and training related to DoD-unique small

business initiatives, including those located in the Defense Planning Guidance (DPG) and Better

Buying Power 2.0.

Demographic Summary:

Demographic data for this career field currently consists of information collected as part of data

calls developed by the United States Office of Personnel Management’s (OPM) Human

Resources Solutions Division (HRS) for the purpose of the workforce and competency

assessments, and DoD Office of Small Business Programs (OSBP) in efforts to establish formal

workforce accounting capability. The collaborative effort with OPM provided preliminary

demographic data about the small business professional workforce and provided the baseline

for the formalization of competencies for the career field. In addition, OSBP has worked with

the Enterprise HR Information Systems Directorate (EHRIS) of the DoD Office of Civilian

Personnel Policy (CPP) to ensure that small business professionals are coded within the

Defense Civilian Personnel Data System (DCPDS). This capability sets the stage for formal

workforce tracking, planning, and shaping, as is done with other more established career fields

with in the acquisition-specific workforce database. The discussion below is informed by the

aforementioned data calls.

Current Shape. The current small business workforce is made up of approximately 686

employees (Table 1)

, responsible for an estimated three million actions per year. As of June

2013, most small business professionals were performing small business duties 50 percent or

more of the time (Table 2), coded in the 1102 series (Table 3), and were GS-11 through GS-15

(or equivalent pay bands) (Table 4). According to data (as of April 2009) reported in the OPM

study, over 70 percent had at least a Bachelor’s degree (Table 5); however, greater than 55

Based upon self-identified civilian workforce data. This data does not include a full representation of the Small

Business S&T community.

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percent of this workforce were reported as eligible to retire by 2014, and greater than 80 percent

were reported as eligible to retire by 2019 (Table 6). While the results confirm many of the

anecdotal notions about the small business community, such as most are currently in the

Contracting occupational series. Other results highlighted ongoing concerns about staffing and

training. It is important throughout the workforce development initiative to ensure that the

workforce composition is optimized for current and future requirements.

Table 1. Small Business Manpower Profile (as of June 2013)

Component

Total

Army

206

Navy

150

Air Force

176

Estate

154

Total SB Professionals

686

Table 2. Percentage Small Business Duties

Percentage of Respondents

Percentage Small Business Duties

65%

Perform 100% small business duties

21%

Perform > 50% of small business duties

14%

Perform < 50% small business duties

Table 3. Career Series

Percentage of Respondents

Series

87%

1102 – Contracting

0343 – Management & Program Analysis

1101 – General Business & Industry

0801 – General Engineering

Table 4. Grade Level

Percentage of

Respondents

Grade Level Group

Performing at entry level (GS-9 or below)

58%

Performing at full performance level (GS-11/GS-12/GS-13)

16%

Performing at leadership level (GS-14/GS-15)

Performing at senior executive service level (SES)

22%

Other – Military, other pay bands (incl. AcqDemo), not reported

Table 5. Level of Education Completed

Percentage of Respondents

Education Level Completed

High School Graduate or GED

Attended College, no degree

Associate degree or equivalent (2 years of college)

Other Defense Agencies, including OSD.

Additional occupational series, including 0301 (Misc. Administration & Programs), 0340 (Program Management),

0501 (Financial Administration and Program), and 1515 (Operations Research) accounted for an additional four

percent of reported occupational series among small business professionals.

Data as of April 2009 from study completed by OPM Human Resources Solutions team for OSBP.

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25%

College graduate (bachelor degree)

Some graduate school, no degree

46%

Master’s degree (MBA, MPA, MA, MS etc.)

Doctoral degree (PhD, MD, JD, EdD, etc)

Table 6. Retirement Eligibility

Future Shape. The OPM report additionally included results from a competency assessment,

identifying at least 23 technical competencies associated with the small business workforce.

These competencies, along with the associated gap assessment (Table 7), provided the

baseline used by the FIPT to finalize a competency set for small business professionals. In

Spring of 2013, the FIPT completed a competency validation effort, leading to a small business

competency set comprised of 37 technical and 13 professional competencies in categories that

include small business utilization, contracting, science and technology, and entrepreneurship.

This significant accomplishment provides the basis for determining the courses to develop for

the small business certification curriculum. The competency set is an enterprise-wide look at

the skills necessary to be a small business professional. Therefore, some of the competencies

are position-specific and are meant to address unique proficiency requirements for certain

members of the workforce (e.g., SBIR program managers).

Table 7. Critical Competency Gaps

Competency

% Below Required Level

Agency Needs and Requirements Analysis

45.6

Market Analysis

38.1

Small Business Law and Regulations

35.7

Small Business Advocacy

32.3

Counseling

29.1

Following the framework established in DoDI 5000.66 (Figure 1), the FIPT is working DAU to

crosswalk the competencies into the topics and learning objectives that are the backbone of

course development. The FIPT has additionally worked, with DAU leading, to complete an initial

gap analysis to determine what courses may already exist across DAU curricula that offer

content that may be used in the small business curriculum. This measure is meant to minimize

redundancies and drive down costs associated with said redundancies.

Percentage of Respondents

Reported Retirement Eligibility

31%

Eligible to retire next year

26%

Eligible to retire in 1-5 years

26%

Eligible to retire in 6-10 years

17%

Eligible to retire in more than 10 years

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Figure 1. Learning Asset Development Framework

A draft certification guide with be complete by the end of second quarter, FY 2014 and course

developments will commence prior to the end of FY 2014.

Moving forward, these continuing competency and course development efforts will integrate with

the competency-based workforce qualification efforts. The FIPT has partnered with the

Acquisition Workforce Qualification Initiative (AWQI) team to establish a continuous qualification

assessment that addresses capability trends, changes in mission requirements, and needs of

the Small Business workforce so that workforce planning initiatives can be adjusted to address

the given environment.

The future workforce will be structured to meet the needs of small business offices ranging from

installation level, major command level, program offices, DoD Component headquarters and the

DoD OSBP. The career field will be designed to provide opportunities for advancement, and the

necessary training and experiences required to reach the highest levels of performance in all

types of acquisition environments. The future small business professional force should have a

composition reflective of all the functional areas represented in Table 8. This composition

expands upon the common view of small business professionals solely as socioeconomic

experts, and emphasizes their influence on and responsibility to the Defense industrial base.

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Table 8. Small Business Professional Functional Areas

Functional Area

Description

Small Business

(SB) Legislation,

Regulation, &

Policy

Develops, manages, and/or tracks procurement laws and regulations,

particularly those affecting small business utilization. Evaluates small

business elements in proposals and solicitation criteria to ensure FAR

and DFARS compliance.

Subcontracting

Develops and manages subcontracting program to ensure overall

compliance with subcontracting requirements, from the inception of the

solicitation through contract award and closeout.

SB Program

Evaluation &

Goals

Determines and recommends the appropriate level of small business

participation during the acquisition planning process to maximize

utilization opportunities for small businesses.

SB Industrial Base

Analysis,

Characterization,

& Monitoring

Assesses and analyzes the effectiveness of established command or

agency small business program initiatives and objectives to develop a

strategy for achievement of objectives and accomplishment of the

command or agency mission.

SB Market

Research &

Acquisition

Strategy

Formulation

Collects and analyzes information regarding commercial capabilities

processes, pricing, initiatives, warranties, delivery, and other standard

terms and conditions.

SBIR/STTR

Manages or oversees the implementation of laws and regulations for

Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR and Small Business

Technology Transfer (STTR).

Mentor/Protégé

Manages or oversees the implementation of laws and regulations for the

Mentor/Protégé Program.

SB Advocacy &

Outreach

Develops, participates, and represents the Department in small business

advocacy and outreach events aimed at expanding competition across

the industrial base.

Socioeconomic

Programs

Ensures regulation compliance that promotes utilization of small

businesses that fall into socioeconomic categories as specified by the

Small Business Administration (SBA).

Headquarters-

level Functions

Manages or oversees programs and initiatives at the headquarters or

OSD level. Examples include workforce development, Science,

Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM), entrepreneurship,

oversight, and Director support functions.

Changes to the Workforce:

Targeting the small business portion of the acquisition workforce for hiring and shaping will

enhance weakened areas, help fill critical skills gaps and address the increasing demands

placed on small business professionals in the acquisition process. This expansion of

requirements and the rapid changes to legislation and policy is evidence of the need to increase

the size and improve the qualifications and training of the small business workforce.

Requirements include:

 Division E of the FY2012 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) (Public Law 112-

81), signed December 31, 2011. Reauthorization of the SBIR and STTR programs

increased the administrative and reporting burden under the programs.

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 FY2012 NDAA, Section 4201, Public Law 112-81 and FY2011 NDAA, Section 1073,

Public Law 111-383 for the implementation of the Rapid Innovation Fund program

contains additional requirements managed by DoD OSBP.

 Additional requirements established by the Federal Small Business Procurement Group

chaired by the Office of Management and Budget related to simplified acquisitions,

multiple award contracts, and outreach to the small business community.

 Small business participation in DoD Peer Reviews as required by USD(AT&L)

memorandum dated September 14, 2010 regarding better buying power initiatives.

 Responsibility to address training requirements for Senior Executives involved in

acquisitions that will be held accountable for the mandatory small business performance

requirement in Deputy Secretary of Defense Memorandum “Advancing Small Business

Goals in FY 2012” issued February 10, 2012.

 Additional requirements are included in Title 16 of the FY2013 National Defense

Authorization Act (NDAA).

 Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, & Logistics (USD(AT&L)) April

24, 2013 memo: Implementation Directive for Better Buying Power 2.0 – Achieving

Greater Efficiency and Productivity in Defense Spending. Directs development of

certification curriculum for small business professionals.

Additionally, small business initiatives were included in the 2012 Defense Planning Guidance

(DPG) targeting the readiness, innovation, cost savings, and contribution to current and future

capability of the Department. Specifically, the DPG requires building and sustaining the small

business industrial base by conducting proper planning, using forward-looking estimates as the

basis for small business prime contracting goals, and developing plans to integrate SBIR and

STTR planning into programs of record.

The inclusion of the small business workforce hiring and shaping plans is fully aligned with the

priorities of the Department and the dynamic role the small business workforce plays within the

Department. It is imperative that we build the proper qualification standards to meet present

and future needs. This will ensure that we professionalize the workforce and that our

performance aligns with the expectations of Congress, Industry, and the Department.

Addressing Challenges ahead:

As DoD continues to strive to meet statutorily mandated small business goals, it has become

evident that building small business workforce capacity and capability is paramount to improving

performance and ensuring proper execution of small business programs. Efficient DoD

acquisition requires the small business workforce to maintain measurable proficiency in

competency areas identified within the competency model. Based on workforce planning efforts

to date, the following key factors must be considered as future development efforts are

executed:

 A large number of employees are eligible to retire in 2014.

 The attractiveness of Small Business as a career is an issue due to lack of structure.

 The majority of small business professionals are currently in the contracting career field.

The top priority for the Small Business Professionals functional area is to develop standardized

knowledge, skills, and experience requirements for entry-level, journeyman, expert, and

executive personnel. Furthermore, the existing force must be protected while working to

augment the future force. At present, neither certification standards nor a position category

description exists; however the Small Business Functional Integrated Product Team (FIPT) is on

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track to complete these guides by the end of fiscal year 2014. It is critical to define a career

progression standard that would aid in recruitment, development, and retention of quality

candidates in this important career field.

Once the career field with the associated certification curriculum is in place, workforce planning

efforts will evolve. The continuing efforts will integrate competency-based management efforts

for the small business community into the Defense Acquisition Workforce Improvement Strategy

and utilize the Small Business FIPT to maintain and update the Small Business Competency

Model to reflect lessons learned and future requirements. The Small Business FIPT will also:

 Tailor/augment the Small Business Competency Model as required to reflect job-specific

and organization-specific competencies in order to target specialty areas.

 Establish a continuous competency/capability assessment strategy. This strategy will

address capability trends, changes in mission requirements, and needs of the Small

Business workforce so that workforce planning initiatives can be adjusted to address the

current environment.

 Develop and enhance methods to measure and evaluate the effectiveness of workforce

initiatives and strategies to address competency gaps.

 Investigate strategies and develop initiatives that support recruitment, hiring, and career

development.

The workforce plans outlined throughout this report will for the first time establish a baseline of

current and future requirements for the DoD small business workforce. This is the beginning of

a workforce strategy for the small business community. Senior leaders must be committed to

establishing ownership and accountability in the improvement of the small business workforce

and to sharing lessons learned.