This week Vern was in looking around in his library when he found this study:

Quote

The Quality and Professionalism of the Acquisition Workforce

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Report of the Investigations Subcommittee, 

Committee on Armed Services, House of Representatives,

One Hundred First Congress, Second Session

MAY 8, 1990

 

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The full 776 page study is available at Google Books.

The Contents page of the study contains links that you can click for the different chapters.  Vern mentions 2 chapters from the study. 

Chapter V:  The Contracting Workforce, contains a 12-page section devoted to the contracting officer.  He highlighted some text from the chapter about what Congress thought of contracting officers in 1990.  He explains that the study is out-of-date in some ways but it is still revealing about what Congress thought of contracting officers in those days:

“The contracting officer is the fulcrum of the acquisition process.”

and

Chapter VII, Professionalism of the Acquisition Workforce, is a 50-page discussion of the state of professionalism, education, and training, begins with a discussion of the concept of professionalism.

 

From the Oxford Languages Dictionary:

ful·crum

/ˈfo͝olkrəm,ˈfəlkrəm/

noun

the point on which a lever rests or is supported and on which it pivots.

a thing that plays a central or essential role in an activity, event, or situation.

"research is the fulcrum of the academic community"