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Report: Recommendations for building an “IT Acquisition Cadre” based on a private sector best practices study

Building An IT Acquisition Manager Community: Recommendations for building an “IT Acquisition Cadre”, based on a private sector best practices study – David Litman and Raj Sharma, FAIR (Federal Acquisition Innovation & Reform) Institute

  • “Today, rather than being an enabler for successful IT deployment, the IT acquisition process “moves intolerably slow” and works in silos where requirements are developed without adequate input from industry or sufficient communication between key parties. Additionally, acquisition workforce programs exacerbate the above issues by training people in functional silos and placing an unbalanced focus on regulations and process compliance as opposed to critical general management skills. The Obama Administration’s IT reform plan recognizes that fixing IT also requires fixing the IT acquisition workforce. Point 13 of the plan directs the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to “design and develop a cadre of specialized IT acquisition professionals”. This paper, based on a short private sector best practices study conducted by the FAIR Institute, provides recommendations relative to Point 13 of the plan (developing IT acquisition professionals) and broader recommendations for creating “Acquisition Managers” across all agencies within the government. During the course of the study, FAIR spoke with more than 20 commercial IT acquisition executives and subject matter experts from a variety of industries, including manufacturing, insurance and consumer goods.”
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