Running head: CRITICAL THINKING TRAINING 1 A Study of Critical Thinking Training in the Army Contracting Workforce Cheryl L. Jones Defense Acquisition University Senior Service College Fellowship 2015-2016 Huntsville, Alabama 23 March 2016 This research paper is presented to the Defense Acquisition University for partial fulfillment of the academic requirements for the Army’s Senior Service College Fellowship (SSCF) under the direction of SSCF Director Mr. John Daniels and Research Advisor Mrs. Diane Whitmore. Distribution Statement A, Approved for Public Release, 7 April 2016, U.S. Army Contracting Command CRITICAL THINKING TRAINING 2 Approval Page Title: A Study of Critical Thinking Training in the Army Contracting Workforce Author: Cheryl L. Jones Organization: DAU-South, Senior Service College Fellowship (SSCF) Date of Paper: 18 March 2016 Informed Consent Forms Completed and On-file: 18 March 2016 Research Advisor [Diane Whitmore] Approval Date: 18 March 2016 SSCF Director [John Daniels] Approval Date: 23 March 2016 OPSEC Approval Date: 7 April 2016 Approval for Public Release Date: 7 April 2016 Date submitted for Journal Publication: CRITICAL THINKING TRAINING 3 Acknowledgements I would like to acknowledge the efforts of the U.S. Army Contracting Command’s contracting professionals, staff, and leadership for their assistance and support in this research project. I would like to thank the Defense Acquisition University Contracting Management faculty members, the Defense Acquisition University South Region leadership and staff, and my research advisor for their support and guidance, which was instrumental in completing this research paper. CRITICAL THINKING TRAINING 4 Abstract With the simultaneous challenges of an increasingly fiscally constrained environment and the continuing need for advancements in our Warfighting capabilities, the imperative to do more with less was manifested in the Department of Defense’s (DoD’s) Better Buying Power (BBP) initiatives. The BBP goals of restoring affordability, increasing efficiencies, delivering better value, and achieving technical excellence and innovation in DoD acquisitions all require the Army’s acquisition workforce to think critically about programs and to craft sound acquisition decisions to successfully implement the BBP initiatives. The research gathered the perspectives of the Army contracting workforce and Defense Acquisition University (DAU) contracting faculty members regarding the readiness of the Army contracting workforce in the area of critical thinking skills. The research examines the question, “Does the current required Defense Acquisition Workforce Improvement Act contracting training address the training of critical thinking skills sufficient to implement Better Buying Power initiatives?” The study identifies methods the Army contracting workforce uses to obtain or improve critical thinking skills and the effectiveness of those methods. The research also examines the DAU mandatory contracting curriculum to determine if the current curriculum was effective in teaching critical thinking skills and if improvements are warranted. The objective of this research is to provide Army contracting and DAU leadership with additional information and recommendations to assist in the development of improved critical thinking skills within the Army contracting workforce. CRITICAL THINKING TRAINING 5 Table of Contents Abstract ........................................................................................................................................... 4 List of Figures ................................................................................................................................. 7 Chapter 1 – A Study of Critical Thinking Training in the Army Contracting Workforce ............. 9 Better Buying Power ................................................................................................................... 9 DoD Budgets and Spending ........................................................................................................ 9 Better Buying Power and Critical Thinking .............................................................................. 10 Critical Thinking Definition and Skills ..................................................................................... 12 Teaching and Testing Critical Thinking Skills ......................................................................... 15 Certification Standards for the Acquisition Workforce ............................................................ 17 Contracting Curriculum............................................................................................................. 19 Problem Statement .................................................................................................................... 21 Chapter 2 – Literature Review ...................................................................................................... 22 Better Buying Power Initiatives ................................................................................................ 22 Critical Thinking Definition and Skills ..................................................................................... 23 Teaching Critical Thinking ....................................................................................................... 23 Certification Standards and Contracting Curriculum ................................................................ 24 Chapter 3 – Research Methodology .............................................................................................. 24 Research Method and Scope ..................................................................................................... 24 Data Collection .......................................................................................................................... 26 Validity of the Research ............................................................................................................ 27 Limitations of the Study ............................................................................................................ 28 Chapter 4 – Findings and Analysis ............................................................................................... 31 Contracting Workforce Survey Findings .................................................................................. 31 Contracting Faculty Survey Findings ........................................................................................ 42 Contracting Curriculum Analysis.............................................................................................. 56 Discussion/Interpretation of Survey Results ............................................................................. 58 Chapter 5 – Conclusion and Recommendations ........................................................................... 65 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................. 65 Recommendations ..................................................................................................................... 66 Summary ................................................................................................................................... 69 CRITICAL THINKING TRAINING 6 References ..................................................................................................................................... 70 Glossary of Acronyms .................................................................................................................. 74 Appendix A – Better Buying Power Summary............................................................................. 75 Appendix B – Contracting Certification Curriculum.................................................................... 77 Appendix C – Contracting Workforce Survey .............................................................................. 86 Appendix D – Contracting Faculty Survey ................................................................................... 94 Appendix E – Survey Attachments ............................................................................................. 108 Appendix F – Survey Demographics .......................................................................................... 110 CRITICAL THINKING TRAINING 7 List of Figures Figure 1. Fiscal year 2015 obligations and contract actions. ....................................................... 10 Figure 2. Core critical thinking skills. ......................................................................................... 13 Figure 3. Approaches to life that characterize the ideal critical thinker. ..................................... 14 Figure 4. Survey data statistics. ................................................................................................... 28 Figure 5. Experience with training methods (workforce). ........................................................... 32 Figure 6. Effectiveness of training methods (workforce). ........................................................... 33 Figure 7. Methods to increase training effectiveness (workforce). ............................................. 34 Figure 8. Reasons for not taking critical thinking training (workforce). ..................................... 35 Figure 9. Adequacy of training opportunities (workforce). ......................................................... 36 Figure 10. Most effective training methods (workforce). ............................................................ 36 Figure 11. Average importance of critical thinking skills (workforce). ...................................... 38 Figure 12. Skills assessment (workforce). ................................................................................... 38 Figure 13. Accuracy of skills assessment (workforce). ............................................................... 39 Figure 14. Disposition assessment (workforce). .......................................................................... 39 Figure 15. Accuracy of disposition assessment (workforce). ...................................................... 40 Figure 16. Disposition assessment methods (workforce). ........................................................... 40 Figure 17. Involvement in BBP contracting issues (workforce).................................................. 41 Figure 18. Frequency of skills used for BBP issues (workforce). ............................................... 42 Figure 19. Recent courses with critical thinking (faculty). .......................................................... 44 Figure 20. Level I courses – critical thinking curriculum effectiveness (faculty). ...................... 45 Figure 21. Level II courses – critical thinking curriculum effectiveness (faculty). ..................... 45 Figure 22. Level III courses – critical thinking curriculum effectiveness (faculty). ................... 46 Figure 23. Overall average effectiveness of Level I, II & III courses (faculty). ......................... 46 Figure 24. Extent critical thinking skills exhibited in Level I, II, & III classes (faculty). ........... 47 Figure 25. Average effectiveness of critical thinking skills training methods (faculty). ............. 49 Figure 26. Confidence in workforce ability to use critical thinking (faculty). ............................ 50 Figure 27. Critical thinking areas for improvement (faculty). ..................................................... 51 Figure 28. Critical thinking related course revisions (faculty). ................................................... 52 Figure 29. Critical thinking improvements related to course revisions (faculty). ....................... 52 Figure 30. Faculty suggestions for critical thinking training improvements (faculty). ............... 54 Figure 31. Case-based scenario & simulations course addition (faculty). ................................... 54 Figure 32. Comments on case-based scenario course (faculty). .................................................. 55 Figure 33. Critical thinking in CON curriculum. ......................................................................... 57 Figure 34. Comparison of training methods effectiveness rankings............................................ 59 Figure 35. CLM 058 draft course description. ............................................................................. 61 Figure 36. Respondent status (workforce). ................................................................................ 110 Figure 37. Respondent rank or paygrade (workforce). .............................................................. 111 Figure 38. Generational breakdown (workforce)....................................................................... 111 CRITICAL THINKING TRAINING 8 Figure 39. Gender breakdown (workforce). .............................................................................. 112 Figure 40. Contracting experience (workforce). ........................................................................ 112 Figure 41. Contracting certification levels (workforce). ........................................................... 113 Figure 42. Education levels (workforce). .................................................................................. 113 Figure 43. ACC command representation (workforce). ............................................................ 114 Figure 44. Survey participation by DAU region (faculty). ........................................................ 115 Figure 45. Gender of survey participants (faculty). ................................................................... 115 Figure 46. Teaching experience and how gained (faculty). ....................................................... 116 Figure 47. Professional experience and how gained (faculty). .................................................. 116 CRITICAL THINKING TRAINING 9 Chapter 1 – A Study of Critical Thinking Training in the Army Contracting Workforce The quotation “Gentlemen, We Have Run Out Of Money; Now We Have to Think.” is widely attributed to Winston Churchill (Churchill, n.d.), but the idea is pertinent to today’s Department of Defense (DoD) acquisition activities. With the simultaneous challenges of a fiscally constrained environment and the ever continuing need for advancements in our warfighting capabilities, the imperative for DoD to do more with less was manifested in the DoD’s Better Buying Power (BBP) initiatives (Defense Acquisition University, 2016). Better Buying Power According to the Defense Acquisition University (DAU) website discussion of BBP, BBP is “the implementation of best practices to strengthen the Department of Defense’s buying power, improve industry productivity, and provide an affordable, value-added military capability to the Warfighter” (2016, Better Buying Power section). BBP is a series of memos issued by the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics (USD(AT&L)) and has seven focus areas: achieving affordable programs, controlling costs, incentivizing innovation and productivity, eliminating unproductive processes, promoting competition, improving the acquisition of services, and improving the professionalism of the Acquisition Workforce (Defense Acquisition University, 2016). Appendix A provides more information on BBP. DoD Budgets and Spending According to the DoD Fiscal Year (FY) 2016 Budget Request Overview, DoD’s FY 2016 budget is an increase over the FY 2015 budget, but it comes after several years of declining budgets each year starting in FY 2010 (Department of Defense, 2015). The recent trend of declining DoD budgets and the threat of executing the DoD mission under sequestration spending levels adds to DoD’s fiscal uncertainty (Department of Defense, 2015). CRITICAL THINKING TRAINING 10 How much does DoD spend? The total enacted FY 2015 DOD budget was $560.4B (Department of Defense, 2015). Department of the Army (DA) contracting professionals obligate large sums of money annually and are responsible for many of the business decisions that shape a large number of contract actions. According to the Federal Procurement Data System-Next Generation reporting system, the DoD, DA, and the U.S. Army Contracting Command (ACC) reported the following amounts to Congress for fiscal year (FY) 2015: Dollars obligated Percentage of Number of contract Percentage of DoD actions DoD actions obligations DoD $273.7 billion 100% 12,576,818 100% DA $72.6 billion Over 26.5% 281,284 Over 2.2% ACC $51.8 billion Over 18.9% 165,330 Over 1.3% Figure 1. Fiscal year 2015 obligations and contract actions (Federal Procurement Data System-Next Generation, 2015). According to DoD’s series of BBP guidance, a professional contracting workforce with advanced critical thinking skills is better equipped to help shape improved business arrangements, resulting in increased efficiency, effectiveness, and innovation within Army acquisition and savings for DoD and the Army (Carter, 2010; Kendall, 2012, 2014). Better Buying Power and Critical Thinking The Honorable Ashton Carter, USD(AT&L), first introduced the idea of Better Buying Power initiatives to the acquisition workforce in June 2010. Restoring affordability, increasing efficiencies, and delivering better value to the warfighter and the taxpayer for DoD goods and services were the primary focus areas of the new initiative (Carter, 2010). Under Secretary Carter introduced the importance of critical thinking by stating that a “process of analysis and dialogue is necessary to make sure our actions are effective and soundly based” (Carter, 2010, para. 7). This philosophy continued with his successor.