The Army needs more contracting staff, said Brig. Gen. Lee Price, program executive officer for Command Control, Communications - Tactical, speaking Jan. 26 at an AFCEA Belvoir event at Fort Belvoir, Va.

"We definitely have a shortage of personnel in contracting," she said, reflecting what's held to be a common problem across the Defense Department and federal government.

"With the criticism that a lot of people have about contracting, I would clarify to say, the criticism is that we don't have enough people, not that we don't have enough good people. Because the people that we have don't have any issues with anybody on our contracts. We just can't push them through," explained Price.

PEO-C3T has resorted to using some General Services Administration contracts even though the office prefers to keep things "close to home," Price added.

Contracting staff can be hard to recruit, since acquisition workers are almost constantly overworked and oftentimes under pressure from program offices to act quicker than a measured process of market research coupled with fair and open competition or a thorough fair opportunity would allow.

As the PEO-C3T staff move from Ft. Monmouth to Aberdeen Proving Ground as a result of a Base Closure and Realignment Commission decision, Price said the organization is taking time to assess current assets and reorganize.

Price said PEO-C3T has had a "free ride for about 10 years" and "gotten everything that we've asked for."

"Anyone in APG right now will talk to you about rebuilding human capital," said Price. "And we're also faced with the two equities that we serve--and how do we do that consistently at a superior level--and that's the warfighter and the taxpayer."

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