It could take up to 20 years to recruit and train enough acquisition specialists to meet the federal government’s demand, said the U.S. Coast Guard’s top procurement officer.
“Right now we run about a 15 percent to 20 percent vacancy rate in some of our professions,” said Rear Adm. Gary Blore, the Coast Guard’s assistant commandant for acquisition.
Despite aggressive hiring programs and internships, the Coast Guard is still not finding enough qualified professionals to manage large acquisition programs, Blore told reporters. If filling these government jobs is tough in today’s economy, it is only going to get more difficult when the nation begins to recover from the recession, he noted.
Blore said it takes about three-and-a-half years to fully train a contracting officer. And it takes 10 years of experience before that contracting officer can be put in charge of a major project.
The initial certification for program managers takes two to three years, said Blore. “And certainly you're going to want 10, 15 years' experience before that person starts going solo on a major project.”
The Coast Guard and other federal agencies need to start building a workforce that may not be ready to take over big-ticket programs for about two decades, he added.
The Coast Guard’s acquisition operation is staffed by 850 federal employees, and fewer than half are military. Blore would like to see that workforce expand by about 100 civilian acquisition specialists.
Blore also wants to encourage military officers to attain Level 3 certification -- the highest level of program management. “Right now we have about 19 Level 3-certified commanders and captains,” said Blore.
