§ 1701a — Management For Acquisition Workforce Excellence

(a) The purpose of this chapter is to require the Department of Defense to develop and manage a highly skilled professional acquisition workforce— (1) in which excellence and contribution to mission is rewarded; (2) which has the technical expertise and business skills to ensure the Department receives the best value for the expenditure of public resources; (3) which serves as a model for performance management of employees of the Department; and (4) which is managed in a manner that complements and reinforces the management of the defense acquisition system pursuant to chapter 205 of this title. (b) In order to achieve the purpose set forth in subsection (a), the Secretary of Defense shall— (1) use the full authorities provided in subsections (a) through (d) of section 9902 of title 5, including flexibilities related to performance management and hiring and to training of managers; (2) require managers to develop performance plans for individual members of the acquisition workforce in order to give members an understanding of how their performance contributes to their organization’s mission and the success of the defense acquisition system (as defined in section 3001 of this title); (3) to the extent appropriate, use the lessons learned from the acquisition demonstration project carried out under section 1762 of this title related to contribution-based compensation and appraisal, and how those lessons may be applied within the General Schedule system; (4) develop and implement a career path, as described in section 1722(a) of this title, for each career field designated by the Secretary under section 1721(a) of this title as an acquisition workforce career field; (5) direct continuing education and training; (6) authorize a member of the acquisition workforce to participate in professional associations, consistent with the performance plan of such a member in order to provide the member with the opportunity to gain leadership and management skills; (7) develop appropriate procedures for warnings and consequences during performance evaluations for members of the acquisition workforce who consistently fail to meet performance standards; (8) take full advantage of the Defense Civilian Leadership Program established under section 1112 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010 (Public Law 111–84; 123 Stat. 2496; 10 U.S.C. 1580 note prec.); (9) use the authorities for highly qualified experts under section 9903 of title 5, to hire experts who are skilled acquisition professionals to— (A) serve in leadership positions within the acquisition workforce to strengthen management and oversight; (B) provide mentors to advise individuals within the acquisition workforce on their career paths and opportunities to advance and excel within the acquisition workforce; and (C) assist with the design of education and training courses and the training of individuals in the acquisition workforce; (10) use the authorities for expedited security clearance processing pursuant to section 1564 of this title; and (11) ensure the participation in the public-private talent exchange program established under section 1599g of this title of up to 250 members of the acquisition workforce in each fiscal year. (1) The Secretary of Defense shall implement a certification program to provide for a professional certification requirement for all members of the acquisition workforce. Except as provided in paragraph (2), the certification requirement for any acquisition workforce career field shall be based on standards developed by a third-party accredited program based on nationally or internationally recognized standards. (2) If the Secretary determines that, for a particular acquisition workforce career field, a third-party accredited program based on nationally or internationally recognized standards does not exist, the Secretary shall establish the certification requirement for that career field that conforms with the practices of national or international accrediting organizations. The Secretary shall determine the best approach for meeting the certification requirement for any such career field, including by implementing such certification requirement through entities outside the Department of Defense, and may design and implement such certification requirement without regard to section 1746 of this title. (d) Any action taken by the Secretary under this section, or to implement this section, shall be subject to the requirements of chapter 71 of title 5. (e) Any rules or regulations prescribed pursuant to this section shall be deemed an agency rule or regulation under section 7117(a)(2) of title 5, and shall not be deemed a Government-wide rule or regulation under section 7117(a)(1) of such title.