FUTURE


Focused on the


Te Army Acquisition Center of Excellence has more than training in mind


by Mr. Steve Stark S


ince its inception in January 2011, the Army Acquisi- tion Center of Excellence (AACoE) has offered courses in conjunction with the Army Logistics University, Fort Lee, VA, and the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine


Command (TRADOC). At the same time, leadership has come from the U.S. Army Acquisition Support Center (USAASC), because of the nature of the training AACoE provides. Tat arrangement has worked, but it has not been flexible enough to keep up with the demands DOD has placed on AACoE, accord- ing to AACoE Director Kevin Zurmuehlen.


Tat is about to change.


“TRADOC serves as the gatekeeper for all Army training pro- grams and requirements and executes a very deliberate training management decision process” that often takes more time than what DOD allows for AACoE to implement new curriculum and required schedule changes, Zurmuehlen said. As a conse- quence, as of the Oct. 1, 2013, beginning of FY14, AACoE will be an independent schoolhouse, thanks to an agreement with TRADOC. With that independence will come the kind of agil- ity and responsiveness that the center needs to fulfill its current and future roles in the complex world of acquisition, logistics, technology and contracting.


178


BUILDING LONG-TERM RELATIONSHIPS AACoE, in Huntsville, AL, is the first stop for any officer or NCO who has been selected to be part of the Army Acquisition Workforce. For eight weeks, officers and NCOs are immersed in the world of acquisition on the campus of the University of Ala- bama in Huntsville. Zurmuehlen sees those who come through the center as the future leaders of the acquisition workforce.


He emphasized, however, that the center isn’t just a place for training required under the Defense Acquisition Workforce Improvement Act (DAWIA), “but a place that they can come back to throughout their careers, not only for training but for research, for consultation. Our staff and faculty field calls daily from former students. Tey’ll get into a situation where they don’t know where to turn next,” he said, and the center pro- vides a “ready resource of experienced personnel who can at least point them in the right direction and do some of the legwork and research” on some of the more difficult questions acqui- sition personnel face. As the center becomes an independent schoolhouse, Zurmuehlen anticipates that it will expand its role as a hub of information for the acquisition workforce.


“Acquisition,” he said, “is a very fluid, dynamic and complex envi- ronment, and if we can be of assistance at all in helping somebody


Army AL&T Magazine July–September 2013


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