Army contracting workforce development building core competencies and skills

Abstract

Operational contracting support provided by the Army Mission and Installation Contracting Command to the warfighter includes everything from acquiring the necessary equipment, supplies, and services vital to the mission to the overall well-being of the Army Soldiers and their families. The Army faces issues and challenges throughout the acquisition process, particularly in the contracting career field. Assessing any contracting knowledge gap can be a challenge because of the sheer magnitude of the required knowledge involved in Department of Defense contract management. To capture the data needed to measure and analyze tacit knowledge and explicit knowledge, a knowledge assessment tool was used. Following the distribution of the assessment tool, an analysis of the knowledge gap was performed on multiple demographic categories. This information enables organizations to develop an on the job training task management guide that will not only train contracting personnel in all of the contracting phases but also focus in on the knowledge gaps identified within the research. Furthermore, there will be an increased visibility for supervisors and contracting officers to provide the feedback necessary through supplemental training to ensure the readiness of the contracting specialists within the 1102 career field.