How many times have you heard that Army contracting officers (KOs) are very marketable outside the Army? Is it true that most KOs retire at 20 years to pursue more lucrative opportunities outside the Army because of long deployments, lack of career progression, and a stop-loss policy that has been in effect since the global war on terrorism began?

What if the above statements are true? How do you keep these needed professionals in the Army? How do you retain the current force of approximately 290 KOs and grow the force by 400 as recommended by the report by the Commission on Army Acquisition and Program Management in Expeditionary Operations, better known as the Gansler Commission Report (GCR)?

Army contracting is undergoing major changes based upon recommendations identified in the GCR. One major recommendation from the GCR is to “increase the stature, quantity, and career development of military and civilian contracting personnel (especially for expeditionary operations).” The warfighter needs competent professional advice in exercising the expeditionary contracting mission. Accordingly, the Army requires more trained and experienced contracting personnel.

The question remains as to how the Army can retain 290 KOs and grow by 400. This article’s purpose is to offer specific ideas about how the Army can retain and grow the military contracting workforce. I believe that the Army must create new ways to access, train, develop, educate, incentivize, and retain its KOs.

Access
The GCR recommended accessing Army officers and noncommissioned officers (NCOs) into contracting earlier in their careers. Army KOs and NCOs are expected to be technically competent and to provide leadership to teams and organizations. Army officers should be required to serve as platoon leaders in a basic branch before being allowed to access into contracting. Army NCOs should be required to serve as squad leaders in a military occupational specialty before being allowed to access into contracting.

Train
The purpose of training is to prepare KOs to perform satisfactorily in contracting positions. Initial assignments for KOs should be in contracting support brigades (CSBs) as contingency KOs. CSBs serve a critical role as the training ground for military contracting personnel, but the Army must make sure that personnel are not left to “develop” themselves. Each person must be assigned to a team to learn basic contracting, and the team must train and eventually deploy together to conduct real-world contracting. Additionally, military contracting personnel should be assigned to a Directorate of Contracting (DOC) for a minimum of 1 year, thus exposing them to increasingly complex contract actions. A standard development plan must be created and adhered to by DOC leadership to ensure contracting personnel are receiving relevant and progressively challenging training.

Develop
The U.S. Marine Corps believes that every Marine’s first job is that of an infantryman, while their second job is their secondary specialty. The U.S. Army Acquisition Corps (AAC) can increase the total number of contracting personnel by adopting this policy and requiring that the contracting specialty is every AAC officer’s first specialty. Personnel would be allowed to transition into other acquisition specialties after gaining at least 2 years of contracting experience. This option would allow personnel to decide whether to single-track in contracting or to pursue multiple tracks such as contracting and program management.

Educate
When educating a KO, the Army must consider the following question: what does it take to educate a business consultant? A KO serves as a warrior/business advisor to the warfighter. What skills does the KO need to serve as a consultant for acquiring goods and services for the warfighter? The Army should create a course titled “How to be a Warrior/Business Advisor” and teach it to all KOs.

Incentivize
The GCR recommends that “the Army must provide incentives to civilians.” The military contracting workforce was left out of this recommendation. Incentives are one way to reward people for performance. The Army may want to explore providing KOs with skill pay based upon certification level obtained. This pay would be similar to skill pay currently provided to aviation, medical, and dental communities. Certification skill pay would reward current contracting personnel and serve as an incentive for recruiting new contracting personnel.

Retain
Retaining current KOs is a key component of building the military contracting workforce. The Army may want to develop a retention package for current KOs that includes the ability to influence assignment locations, career status bonuses, educational opportunities, leadership training, and other developmental opportunities that would make it more attractive for KOs to stay in the Army.

The Army must look far and wide for new ideas to retain and grow the military contracting workforce. One way to accomplish this is to create new and better ways to access, train, develop, educate, incentivize, and retain its KOs.