Modeling the Department of Navy Acquisition Workforce with System Dynamics

Abstract

Acquiring effective and efficient materiel solutions that support naval missions is critical to meeting Department of the Navy (DON) objectives. Maintaining readiness of the current Navy to fight and win; accelerating delivery of war-fighting capability for the next Navy; and researching and transitioning new technologies for the Navy after next all require that DON maintain a healthy acquisition workforce that is large enough and qualified enough to be smart buyers over 30+ year time horizons. 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. Leaders throughout DON are challenged to identify and implement actionable levers to sustain required workforce capability and capacity. 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.