The problems with government contracting--lengthy processes, mediocre results, and excessive litigation--cannot and will not be solved through rules reform. There is abundant documented history and analysis to support that assertion. All reform has done is create churn and needless complexity.
Government contracting is large scale, rules-bound, and procedurally complicated. It requires a highly-educated and well-trained workforce to achieve full operational effectiveness. That is essential to a force that obligates almost a trillion dollars a year in support of government civilian and military operations. But our workforce development is based on a generally weak master-apprentice OJT model with poor quality formal education.
Governmental incompetence is increasingly apparent in all the Western democracies. And it's not due to inherent bureaucratic laziness. The workforce personnel that I meet on a weekly basis really want to do a good job.
The only long-term and effective solution to government contracting problems is through intensive workforce development. Currently, we take people with bachelor's degrees and MBAs and throw them into the government contracting vortex without preparing them properly. Our fighting forces in the military get far better training at the school and unit level, thank God, than the people who support them. That's due to poor leadership at the contracting agency, contracting activity, and contracting office unit level. Infantry company commanders, platoon leaders and NCOs know that they must train their people to fight. That's nurturing, motivational leadership.
What do heads of contracting activities, chiefs of contracting offices, and contracting officers do to nurture and develop their people?
We need Airborne School, Pathfinder School, Ranger School, Q Course, and SEAL quality (not style) training for would-be heads of contracting activities, chiefs of contracting offices, contracting officers, and contract specialists. In other words, we need deep and top-quality contracting workforce education and training. But we don't have it.
And I doubt we'll get it, because we are in the hands of a political and bureaucratic cult of incompetence.
By
Vern Edwards ·
