Defense Intelligence Agency

Defense Intelligence Agency

Overview 

Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) Office of the Acquisition Executive (AE

Mitigating the Loss of Knowledge Due to Workforce Turnover

The Office of the Acquisition Executive, like other members of the federal acquisition workforce, faced acquisition workforce knowledge loss as knowledgeable and experienced professionals at various levels in the AE organization turned over for any number of reasons.  The situation was increasingly serious as there was not a ready and equally knowledgeable pool of successors to replace them due to the unique nature of AE’s acquisition activities and the additional security challenges they had to address.

The KM Team delivered a three phase workforce knowledge capture and retention solution addressing AE’s challenges of workforce turnover, knowledge retention, and the impact of lost knowledge on mission accomplishment. The Team co-delivered the project with the AE Knowledge Management (KM) champion in three phases:

  • Phase 1:  The KM Team completed a comprehensive study of the organization’s workforce dynamics and an organizational KM assessment.
  • Phase 2:  The KM Team, along with the Acquisition Executive, used these results to define a baseline for piloting a capture, adapt, transfer, and reuse strategy and relevant implementing practices that formed a starting point for expanding KM techniques for capturing and retaining critical knowledge across the AE organization, including the creation of a working baseline for the sustainment of communities of practice.
  • Phase 3:  The KM Team, co-delivered with the AE KM champion, a KM pilot project focused on capturing and retaining the critical and relevant knowledge of the Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR) to demonstrate the value of KM concept, strategies, and implementing practices integrated into the COR workflow.

CORs are an essential part of the contract management process in any federal organization and are responsible for managing and reporting on contractor technical performance  and working closely with contracting officers and program managers to ensure that the products and services procured by the government are delivered effectively and efficiently.  There are over 500 CORs in DIA.

The project was delivered on time, met all technical requirements, and was within budget.