Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO reviewed the Department of Defense's (DOD) compliance with the Defense Acquisition Workforce Improvement Act's waiver provisions.

GAO found that: (1) during fiscal year (FY) 1994, the military services and DOD agencies granted a total of 63 waivers (50 from the military services and 13 from DOD agencies) to 59 individuals not meeting the education, training, and experience requirements of the act; (2) FY 1994 was the first time defense agencies reported granting waivers; (3) of the waivers granted: (a) 44 were for military personnel; (b) 20 were for program managers and deputy program managers; (c) 18 were for individuals in critical acquisition positions; (d) 13 were for program managers or deputy program managers not meeting tenure requirements; and (e) 10 were for contracting officers; (4) no waivers were granted for the act's program management course requirement for program and deputy program managers; (5) the Air Force is requiring individuals already occupying critical acquisition positions to meet the act's training, education, and experience requirements; (6) instead of grandfathering those already in critical positions, the Air Force has issued temporary waivers to 177 individuals not meeting the act's requirements; (7) these temporary waivers are different from the other waivers in that they are set to expire in 17 months; (8) since the temporary waivers were granted, 75 of the individuals have met the requirements; (9) the other services are grandfathering individuals already occupying critical positions; and (10) the services did not have detailed data on personnel being grandfathered.