WASHINGTON -- The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) cannot easily identify its

acquisition workforce and ensure it has the skills needed to manage its $31.5 billion

procurement portfolio, concludes a new report from the Treasury Inspector General for

Tax Administration (TIGTA).

Like other Government agencies, the IRS is faced with both increases in procurement

spending and the number of acquisition staff eligible for retirement. TIGTA assessed the

IRS's efforts to determine the size, skills, and competencies of its acquisition workforce.

TIGTA found that the IRS cannot easily identify all employees who work on acquisition

activities. The IRS's acquisition workforce is split between contracting officers and

contracting specialists working in the Office of Procurement, and employees in other

offices who perform contracting activities. Although the IRS Office of Procurement

could easily identify its acquisition workforce, it had difficulty identifying the acquisition

workforce working in other offices. These employees, including contracting officers'

technical representatives and program managers, are more difficult to track as part of the

acquisition workforce because their acquisition duties may be performed in addition to

their normal job responsibilities.

Previous TIGTA audits have raised concerns over the adequacy of the IRS's acquisition

workforce. If the IRS does not take action to improve its acquisition workforce planning,

it may not be able to easily determine whether it has enough people with the right skills

to perform acquisition duties. In addition, the IRS may be understaffed to handle the

anticipated acquisition workload, and may not have all the prerequisite skills to oversee

its procurements.

"Our review found that the IRS is at risk on two counts: wasting scarce resources by

paying more for procurements than necessary and not receiving adequate goods and

services to meet its mission," said J. Russell George, Treasury Inspector General for Tax

Administration.

TIGTA recommended that the IRS develop and document a Service-wide approach to

ensure that it can identify, track, and monitor the adequacy of its acquisition workforce.

The IRS agreed with TIGTA's recommendation and is planning to take appropriate

action.