Modeling the Department of Navy Acquisition Workforce

Abstract

Acquiring effective and efficient materiel solutions that support naval missions and other operations is critical to meeting Department of the Navy (DON) objectives. This requires that the Navy maintain an acquisition workforce that is large enough and qualified enough to fill acquisition demands. The naval acquisition workforce faces losses of experience and capacity as the current workforce ages and retires, as knowledge half-life diminishes relevance of current skills and experience, and as a tightening labor market draws government employees to the private sector. This study developed a realistic simulation model of a portion of the naval acquisition workforce and demonstrated its potential use in workforce planning and management.