Spanberger Urges Evaluation of Arbitrary Education Requirements for Federal Contractors & Emphasizes Skills-Based Hiring

The Congresswoman’s Effort Is Supported by Northern Virginia Community College & the Northern Virginia Chamber of Commerce

WOODBRIDGE, Va. — U.S. Representative Abigail Spanberger today urged the federal government to evaluate arbitrary education and experience requirements that exclude many skilled workers — including those who gained their skills at community colleges, through apprenticeships, and by enrolling in other training programs — from supporting government contracts.

As demand for qualified technical talent continues to rise, a growing number of American workers are choosing to forego a traditional four-year college degree in favor of community college and on-the-job training. Many Fortune 500 companies have dropped bachelor’s degree requirements for an increasing percentage of their middle-skill and high-skill jobs in recent years in an effort to recruit additional workers and diversify their workforces. However, the federal government continues to impose bachelor’s degree requirements on workers supporting federal contracts.

In a letter to Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Deputy Administrator for Federal Procurement Policy Lesley Field, Spanberger urged the agency to apply recent findings focused on creating skills-based hiring assessments for federal jobs to an evaluation of hiring requirements for federal contract services. Additionally, the Congresswoman underscored the vital contributions of the federal acquisitions workforce to Virginia’s economy. She also expressed how strict degree requirements for federal contract work are keeping Virginians out of the workforce and blocking local businesses from hiring skilled workers to support their contract work.

“The majority of workers today have developed their skills through alternative routes outside of the traditional four-year college degree, such as community college, apprenticeships, and on-the-job experience,” wrote Spanberger. “­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­I represent many of these highly skilled individuals in Virginia who wish to enter the acquisitions workforce — as well as many small businesses who wish to hire these individuals to support their contract work with the federal government. However, unnecessarily strict minimum education requirements imposed by federal agencies in these contracts keep qualified workers from being matched with employers who need them.”

Spanberger continued, “The important work OPM has undertaken to promote skill-based hiring in the federal workforce is encouraging, and the federal government should continue to build upon this success by including contractors.”

The Congresswoman’s effort to improve skills-based hiring in federal contracting is supported by several local institutions and organizations whose students and members would benefit from these changes — including Northern Virginia Community College and the Northern Virginia Chamber of Commerce.

“The federal government has an opportunity to strengthen and deepen its talent pool for contractors by joining the national trend of emphasizing skills-based hiring. NOVA is the largest public higher education institution in Virginia and the largest provider of talent in our region. Yet, the four-year degree requirement attached to many government contracts means Northern Virginia contractors are losing out on highly skilled NOVA grads,” said Dr. Anne M. Kress, President, Northern Virginia Community College. “NOVA joins in encouraging the government to think ‘outside the degree’ to widen the talent pathway and close the workforce gap in areas critical to national security and essential services.”

“Federal contracting is crucial to the workforce pipeline in Northern Virginia, and it’s integral to our region’s economy. Our region is home to many highly skilled workers, and local businesses are eager to hire them,” said Julie Coons, President & CEO, Northern Virginia Chamber of Commerce. “However, outdated federal requirements mandating a traditional four-year college degree for contract employees disqualify many individuals with extensive on-the-job experience or skills training from contributing to federal government work. We support Congresswoman Spanberger’s efforts to promote skills-based hiring, strengthen our local workforce, and help our businesses succeed.”

Click here to read the letter, and the full letter text is below.

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Dear Administrator Field,

Thank you for your leadership at the Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) and for your important work overseeing our nation’s federal contracting system. As the Representative for Virginia’s Seventh District, I am proud to represent many small businesses who contract with the federal government, as well as many individuals who work to support the federal government as contract employees.

I write to request information about government-wide federal procurement policies on agencies’ inclusion of minimum education requirements in their solicitations for proposed contractor personnel. The majority of workers today have developed their skills through alternative routes outside of the traditional four-year college degree, such as community college, apprenticeships, and on-the-job experience. However, federal contracts too often exclude skilled and qualified candidates from participating in the workforce due to their strict minimum education requirements for a bachelor’s degree. I represent many of these highly skilled individuals in Virginia who wish to enter the acquisitions workforce — as well as many small businesses who wish to hire these individuals to support their contract work with the federal government. However, unnecessarily strict minimum education requirements imposed by federal agencies in these contracts keep qualified workers from being matched with employers who need them.

As you know, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) released the “Federal Workforce Competency Initiative (FWCI) Competency Handbook” last year in compliance with Executive Order 13932, Modernizing and Reforming the Assessment and Hiring of Federal Job Candidates. This Executive Order calls on agencies to increase the use of skills- and competency-based hiring for employment with the federal government instead of overly relying on educational requirement. The handbook identified core competencies for occupations across the federal government, based on data gathered through government-wide surveys OPM conducted in 2021, to support agency human resources professionals in using skill-based assessments and other competency models to replace educational degree requirements in their hiring and workforce planning.

The important work OPM has undertaken to promote skill-based hiring in the federal workforce is encouraging, and the federal government should continue to build upon this success by including contractors. As such, I request responses to the following questions:

1. What is the prevalence of minimum education requirements for a bachelor’s degree for proposed contractor personnel in contract solicitations across the federal government? Please provide a breakdown by agency of the percentage of contract solicitations which included such minimum education requirements in the past year. Please include any additional details that may be helpful to understand these data and the current landscape.

2. How might the core competencies and findings from OPM’s government-wide surveys be translated to occupations in federal contract services?

3. If OPM’s findings cannot be translated, what resources and support does OFPP need to identify core competencies and skill-based models for hiring in federal contract services?

4. Would it be feasible to expand Federal Acquisition Regulation 39.104 — which prohibits federal agencies from describing any minimum educational requirement for proposed contractor personnel when acquiring information technology services, unless the contracting officer determines that the needs of the agency cannot be met without that requirement — to include other contract services across the federal government?

Thank you for your commitment to ensuring our federal government can operate at its best through the support of contractors. Ensuring that arbitrary educational degree requirements do not impede highly skilled individuals from entering the federal acquisitions workforce is crucial to enabling our federal agencies to function at their strongest and most efficient levels. I look forward to your response.

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