CAREER CORNER
USAASC PERSPECTIVE FROM THE DIRECTOR,
U.S. ARMY ACQUISITION SUPPORT CENTER MAKING THE MOST OF OPPORTUNITIES I
n FY11, there was an increase in Defense Ac- quisition University (DAU) resident course no-shows and attritions, both of which are unacceptable toward achieving a successful
acquisition career.
Whether it’s a course cancellation because of low fill or a loss of seats because of no-shows or at- trition, every Army seat that is not filled is an avoidably missed training opportunity that could affect every acquisition workforce member’s certi- fication requirements.
for acquisition certification. DAU studies the entire complex system to estimate the training that should be offered, and then asks its primary customers, including the Army, what classes they need for their workforce to achieve certifi- cation requirements.
Craig A. Spisak Director, U.S. Army Acquisition Support Center
Although most of our workforce are highly motivated professionals who continually work at nurturing a successful acquisition career, it takes only a few to adversely affect the training opportunities afforded us through DAU.
However, before I address these issues, I would like to explain how DAU decides what classes to offer to the DoD Acquisition Workforce—it’s quite an intricate process.
CLASS OFFERINGS Each of the DoD acquisition career fields (ACFs) has a functional leader (FL) who ensures that the training competencies for the ACF are current and aligned with the certification requirements.
The FL’s integrated product team (IPT), comprising representatives from all the services, assesses the competencies of those working in a particular ACF. The IPT conducts a gap assessment of course learning objectives vs. what the team thinks is necessary to keep the content current. Sometimes the IPT may devise new coursework.
DAU balances and manages all of the DoD FLs’ input to deter- mine what classes and continuous learning courses are needed
STUDENT LOAD PROJECTION By early February each year, we give DAU our student load projection for every Army ACF. It is a combination of distance learning, resident seats, and site-specific courses needed at a particular post, camp, or station.
DAU balances the projection against its available resources and then publishes the course list for the following academic year, which includes online courses, resident courses, and DAU instructor availability to travel to site-specific course locations.
The process is very similar to what a major university with mul- tiple regional campuses does to track its classes and to ensure that they are at the required capacity.
MILESTONES TO MEET A DAU class has various milestones to determine if the class is still a “go.”
Ninety days out, DAU checks on each class to determine if it has reached the minimum and if any seats are available. At a certain point, seats are reserved for the service that requested the class.
At 65 days out, for most courses, DAU opens up any remaining seats to all the services’ waiting lists. If the class has not reached its minimum because of the ever-changing nature of the services’ wants
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CAREER CORNER
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