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Moshe Nelson

A January 2017 article in The Public Manager explores how government can balance the drive for innovative thinking with preserving a level playing field in acquisition.

Innovation and the Acquisition Workforce

January 2017 - The Public Manager

How can government balance the drive for innovative thinking with preserving a level playing field in acquisition?Government today faces an ever-present challenge to meet expansive and dynamic mission imperatives with limited budgets and resources. Accomplishing these missions efficiently and effectively requires harnessing the best thinking available.As a new administration develops its management agenda, a priority must be placed on improved industry engagement. To access the best that industry has to offer, the federal acquisition environment requires experienced professionals who are empowered to act as stewards of the public interest, a culture that enables risk taking, and processes that drive true innovation.Innovation and the Acquisition WorkforceGovernment organizations are charged with complex missions, whether they are addressing immigration reform, national defense, housing and educating America's poorest citizens, or space exploration. Effective delivery of these missions requires an optimal mix of government and private industry contributions. To understand, collaborate with, and harness offerings from the private sector requires an acquisition workforce that is highly trained, empowered, and forward thinking.A recent government-wide survey of 80 federal acquisition executives conducted by Grant Thornton Public Sector and the Professional Services Council (PSC), Aligning for Acquisition Success: Overcoming Obstacles to Results, identified workforce-related barriers to accessing innovation (see Figure 1). Figure 1 The top barrier is agency workforce skills (29 percent), followed by fear of oversight and protests (26 percent). These elements are related and reinforce the need for focused attention on capability development.Specific skill gaps uncovered in the survey reinforce this challenge. While recognized as highly important for successful acquisition outcomes, skills related to selecting appropriate contract type and evaluation strategies were relatively weak (see Figure 2).Figure 2Tapping innovative solutions to problems facing government agencies requires both a keen understanding of how to use all the tools and techniques available under the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) as well as an understanding of how businesses are incentivized and apply their research and development investments. Acquisition executives reported a substantive gap in the workforce skills for understanding the approach to decision making from business perspectives. While nearly three-quarters of all respondents gave this skill its highest importance rating, current workforce skills were heavily rated in the low-middle range (see Figure 3).Figure 3Likewise, the survey found challenges in workforce capabilities for executing complex information technology acquisitions. Nearly three-quarters of respondents rated these skills as highly important, but more than 60 percent rated the skills as less than competent. Deficiencies in these areas form critical barriers to creating acquisition strategies and approaches that allow for creative outcomes.Beyond these core skills, the very work of procurement and acquisition is evolving. Introducing innovation requires the integration of recent related acquisition policies, such as the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act (FITARA) and the government's category management approach to acquisition.In addition, data analytics is the constant that drives the flow of meaningful information across the life cycle of an acquisition. It is becoming more of a requirement than an option to have a workforce well educated in data analytics.Acquisition Culture and Risk TakingA lack of confidence in acquisition professionals' skills breeds a fear of protests and extra oversight. One of the insights from the Grant Thornton-PSC survey was that oversight is at times viewed as destructive rather than constructive. Acquisition professionals may fall back on low-risk approaches to avoid the extra exposure. Creative concepts, such as Agile and "failing fast," pioneered within the private sector are particularly at risk in such an environment, ultimately affecting the quality of innovation achieved downstream.The skills gap, combined with a fear of protests, has resulted in a culture less open to communication with industry, use of qualitative assessment measures, and a lack of openness to alternative contract pricing structures that are not entirely directed by the solicitation prescriptions. Agencies that have done well in this environment, such as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Innovative Lunar Demonstrations Data Program, have proven the benefits of creative contract use.The U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has long worked to enable better communication with industry. OMB published its "Mythbusters" memoranda in 2011 and 2012, which sought to provide clear guidelines on how government should engage with private industry.The survey found that this area had gotten better over the past two years and was expected to continue along that positive trend (see Figure 4). For instance, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) established Acquisition Innovations in Motion to facilitate industry-government discussions that drive faster development and implementation of acquisition solutions.Figure 4Ultimately, the acquisition community needs a culture supportive of risk taking and appropriate engagement with industry during the presolicitation phases of an acquisition. A 2016 OMB memo notes that "agency leadership must recognize that the greatest catalyst for innovation rests inside the agency and its willingness and ability to embrace a culture that continuously encourages new ideas as well as rethinking of existing practices."The Current Agenda for Innovation in AcquisitionUnder the Obama administration, the focus of the Strategy for American Innovation has been the support and encouragement of innovation "labs" for incubating solutions and streamlining procurement processes. Digital services improvements have included work on streamlining online communication and engagement between government and industry, and there has been some limited investment and focus on training the acquisition community in the IT arena.In March 2016, OMB published its policy summary for acquisition labs that advised federal agencies to do five things:Identify an acquisition innovation advocate (AIA).Establish an innovation lab or equivalent mechanism to test and document new acquisition practices and create a network of support.Consider applying for a digital acquisition lab pilot.Participate in the Acquisition Innovation Advocates Council to share best practices and lessons learned.Contribute to Innovation Hallway on the Acquisition Gateway for broader sharing of insights, tools, and support.

Moshe Nelson

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