Social Security Administration has workforce issues in IT contracting space, GAO says
The Social Security Administration is facing issues tied to IT acquisition, having fallen behind on training to get contracting officers up to speed on some areas of tech procurement, a new Government Accountability Office report found.
According to the congressional watchdog, the SSA’s senior-level contracting officers have “deficiencies” when it comes to acquisition practices involving IT, and an existing agency training plan to address those shortcomings hasn’t been updated since 2019.
The lackluster workforce expertise in this area is especially problematic for the agency, given that it obligated at least $1.4 billion annually on IT acquisitions from fiscal years 2020 through 2024, according to the GAO.
The Social Security Administration “relies on IT hardware and software to deliver services that touch the lives of virtually every American,” the watchdog noted.
The GAO seemingly expressed some skepticism over whether the SSA would “prioritize implementing training to address these gaps,” noting that workforce education of that kind “remains vital” and that IT contracting officers “have the skills” to support the agency’s current and future tech needs.
It’s imperative that agency leadership takes ownership of its IT-related contract support given the limited data on workloads provided by SSA’s Office of Acquisition and Grants, the GAO said, noting that that data should be used to “inform staffing assessments.”
The SSA’s Office of the Chief Information Officer could also theoretically fill in data-related gaps, having “completed workload assessments for contracting officer’s representatives who support software contracts,” according to the report. But the OCIO’s workforce assessments on supporting hardware and service contracts have also been “limited,” the GAO found.
“Executive orders and related guidance from early 2025 direct executive agencies, including SSA, to reduce their workforces and consolidate certain procurements at the General Services Administration,” the report stated. “SSA is in the process of identifying changes to its IT acquisition workforce as of May 2025.”
Officials in SSA’s IT office said the agency has “halted” its hiring efforts to comply with the Trump administration’s EOs and guidance, and “it plans to use reduction-in-force actions to achieve its targeted workforce number.” Because of RIF plans and cost-reduction measures, SSA officials acknowledged to GAO that such “reorganization efforts could affect the IT acquisition workforce.”
The GAO made three recommendations to the SSA, calling on the commissioner to have the agency’s senior procurement executive assess IT contracting officers’ staffing needs and implement a training plan, in addition to directing the CIO to take similar workforce-related steps.
The agency agreed with the watchdog’s recommendations, noting that the Office of Acquisitions and Grants plans to address training needs for contracting officers.
