Sec. 862. Independent study on the acquisition workforce of the Department of Defense
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Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall seek to enter into a contract or other agreement with a qualified organization to conduct an independent examination of the acquisition workforce of the Department of Defense. The study required under subsection
(a)shall include an assessment and comprehensive review of— the effectiveness of the acquisition workforce in managing procurements and facilitating positive acquisition outcomes for the warfighter, including through the use of process performance measures or other business health metrics; the process and authorities for recruiting and retaining the workforce, including a comparison of pay scales with other Federal agency and commercial analogues, the use of specialization within the acquisition field, and the use of career incentives or other specialized opportunities, such as job-broadening assignments or external training opportunities; current training of the workforce, including training offered by and the structure of Defense Acquisition University and the Eisenhower School at National Defense University, as well as commercially available training or identification of certification or stackable micro-certification opportunities; the size and mix of the acquisition workforce, including for acquisition-adjacent fields such as industrial security, counterintelligence, and finance; the workload and span of control over contracting actions, based on contract award value and total number of individual awards; the dependencies between contracting actions and the impact on the industrial security needs to support National Industrial Security Program requirements, including additional compliance costs, increased workload for security-related action, transparency on needs and requirements between the acquisition and security communities, and mechanisms to improve communication on needs and requirements between acquisition and security professionals; the role of the acquisition workforce and its communication and integration with the requirements and budget communities; and the data, productivity tools, and other information systems available to support acquisition workloads, including the availability of commercial tools. Following the completion of the study under subsection (a), the qualified organization that conducts the study shall submit to the Secretary of Defense a report on the results of the study. The report shall include— a summary of the research and other activities carried out as part of the study; and recommendations to improve all aspects of acquisition workforce, including recruiting, retention, training, management, and workforce mix. Not later than December 31, 2027, the Secretary of Defense shall submit to the Committees on Armed Services of the Senate and the House of Representatives an unaltered version of the report required under subsection (c), together with the Secretary’s assessment of the findings and recommendations of the study, including a plan for implementing the recommendations.