§353 Acquisition professional career program

Summary

Creates a career program in the Department to train and hire a group of acquisition professionals. The Under Secretary for Management must run the program. They must pick which job series, grades, and how many positions are included and manage those jobs centrally. They must post eligibility rules on the Department’s website, recruit candidates from colleges (including schools with acquisition programs, historically Black colleges and universities, and Hispanic‑serving institutions), people with non‑Federal work experience, and those with military service, and hire eligible candidates. The program must give structured training, on‑the‑job experience, Department‑wide rotations, mentoring, shadowing, and extra specialized acquisition training such as small business contracting and innovative techniques. No later than one year after December 27, 2021, and annually thereafter through 2027, the Secretary must send a report to the House Committee on Homeland Security and the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. The report must cover numbers approved and started, participant backgrounds (no personal identifiers), job-type breakdowns, participating offices and rotation lengths, attrition and retention data with year-to-year comparison, and recruiting and retention efforts. The terms Hispanic‑serving institution, historically Black colleges and universities, and institution of higher education are defined in title 20.