Acquisition Education and Training Corner

Education and Training Opportunities

The Army Director of Acquisition Career Management (DACM) office, along with the rest of the Department of Defense, has recently received significant funding cuts. However, our top priority remains ensuring that our civilian and military workforce has multiple opportunities to meet their statutory certification and development requirements. We will continue to fund those already enrolled in any of our tuition assistance, leadership development, or experiential programs. In addition, we are working daily to ensure future opportunities remain viable. That being said, we have had to suspend some programs such as the School of Choice – we had originally planned to have an announcement open mid-FY13, but there will NOT be a School of Choice announcement this year.

Defense Acquisition University – Senior Service College Fellowship (DAU-SSCF)
The 2013-14 announcement is open until March 28, 2013 to all eligible GS-14s and GS-15s who have met their current position certification requirements. This program has recently been endorsed as an Army equivalent Senior Service College by the United States Army War College. For more information, visit https://asc.army.mil/web/career-development/programs/defense-acquisition-university-senior-service-college/. This program, located in Aberdeen, Md., Huntsville, Ala., and Warren, Mich. provides a great opportunity for our civilians to attend a SSC within their local area.

Naval Post Graduate School – Masters of Science in Program Management
The announcement will be open from March 4 –May 13, 2013 to all eligible personnel in GS-11 through GS-15 or broadband/pay band equivalent positions who have met their current position certification requirement. While it is not in Monterey, Calif., this distance learning program will provide required DAU training in Program Management (as well as other career field courses) to graduate with a master’s. For more information, visit https://asc.army.mil/web/career-development/programs/naval-postgraduate-school-master-of-science-in-program-management/.

Excellence in Government Fellowship
The announcement will be open from June 13 – July 15, 2013 to all eligible personnel in GS-13 – GS-15 or broadband/pay band equivalent positions who have met their current position certification requirement. EIGF offers our senior acquisition workforce members the opportunity to network and team with fellow senior leaders from across the government. This program focuses on benchmarking best practices and then returning to your organization to implement. For more information, visit https://asc.army.mil/web/career-development/programs/excellence-in-government-fellows-program/.

Army Acquisition Civilian Leadership Development Plan
The Army DACM office recently published our first leadership development plan for civilians. Unfortunately, there is not one clear path for civilians…that would be too easy! Unlike the military, civilians can/will take hundreds of different routes in their quest for upward mobility. This plan is meant to serve as a guide for all levels of our acquisition workforce. Using this model, each workforce member may see what the training requirements are at each level. In addition, they may also use this Plan to identify desired training opportunities available at upper levels—each opportunity is hyperlinked to an information page for the program. Please take some time to review programs of interest to you and put any on your Individual Development Plan (IDP) and discuss with your Supervisor.
The model is broken into Four Sections (from bottom to top):

1. DAWIA/DAU Training – functional REQUIRED training moving left to right from Level I up through 400 Level courses.
2. CES Courses – Army G-3/5/7 REQUIRED courses moving left to right from Foundation Course->Basic->Intermediate->Advanced->CESL depending on your rank.
3. Leadership Training – includes all the leadership opportunities available in our AETE portfolio as well as a few DOD and AMC programs.
4. Higher Education – Bachelor, Masters Degrees as well as Senior Service Colleges and SSC Fellowships

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Please note that all courses are hyperlinks which will take workforce members to dedicated pages to each course/program where they may find additional information. To the right is an image of the development plan; however, you may view the full version and download a copy here: https://asc.army.mil/career-development/civilian/career-planning-steps/.

The Acquisition Leadership Challenge Program (ALCP) is the newest program to the Acquisition Education and Training Portfolio for the Army. Based upon the huge success the Air Force has had with ALCP, we piloted multiple offerings of the 2.5 day course in FY12. For FY13, we are bringing the course to you. For more information on how to apply, please visit our website: https://asc.army.mil/web/career-development/programs/acquisition-leadership-challenge-program/. Below is the FY13 ALCP training dates (by location):

Defense Acquisition University (DAU) Training

Training required for Army Acquisition Workforce members is a mission critical activity and is exempt from recent cuts stated in a memo from Deputy Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter, dated Jan. 10, 2013. DAU travel for required Defense Acquisition Workforce Improvement Act (DAWIA) certification courses is centrally funded by DAU through the USAASC. Some acquisition workforce members’ travel for DAU acquisition certification training is being cancelled by organizations because of their current interpretation of their budget execution mitigation efforts. The attached memo outlines that DAU central funds is entirely separate from budgetary actions within a Service or agency to mitigate budget execution issues in FY13. Army Acquisition students approved to use DAU central funds to attend training shall not cancel training due to budget constraints. Cancellation requests (from students approved for central travel funds) less than 30 days from class start or reservation cut-off date (with funding constraint as a reason), will be denied. Students shall be deemed a “no show” if they do not attend the scheduled training. USAASC will continue to centrally fund cost effective locations selected by the student. Commands and supervisors should continue to support and send their employees to required DAWIA training. To view the DAU Travel Status memo, please view at: https://asc.army.mil/web/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/DAU-Travel-Status-Memo-2013.pdf.

Course Management
DAU course management has a new process to allow higher priority, specifically priority 1 student’s first preference in the DAU resident courses. As result, students in priority 2 through 5 will be waitlisted for classes showing available seats. When a student is placed in a wait status, if a seat is available 65 days prior to the class start date, they could convert to a reservation. They could still be bumped as close as to five business days prior to class start date, whichever is higher, if a higher priority student applied within the 65 days. The new process minimizes bumping and allows priority 1s to see which courses actually have seats available for them to obtain their required position certification.

Application Process
Applications cannot be processed by the Army registrar office until the training has approved by the supervisor. It is also imperative that the student and supervisor email address be provided correctly on the Army Training Requirements (ATRRS) Internet Training Application System (AITAS) student profile. Please apply through ATRRS and AITAS at https://www.atrrs.army.mil/channels/aitas. For more information on DAU training including, systematic instructions, training priority definition, or FAQs, please visit https://asc.army.mil/web/career-development/programs/defense-acquisition-university-training/. Once you receive a confirmed reservation in the requested class, make sure you attend the class as scheduled. A cancellation request for a confirmed reservation must submitted at least 30 calendar days before the class starts or by the reservation cutoff date, whichever is earlier, to avoid a no show.

FY14 Schedule
The Army DACM office is in the second iteration of the FY14 DAU schedule build. At this stage, we are reviewing the FY14 draft schedule and validating Army onsite submissions. On Thursday, May 16, 2013, the FY14 schedule will be available for students to apply for classes. If students are unable to attend an FY13 course, they need to review and complete the required course prerequisite(s) now for a course they intend to take in the future. Students should continue to apply for FY13 courses available on the schedule. Planning and applying early will afford students better opportunity in obtaining a class in the timeframe requested. Encourage your supervisor to approve your training request as soon as you apply. Students should view the DAU I-catalog at http://icatalog.dau.mil to ensure they meet the prerequisite(s), prior to applying to a DAU course. A weekly low-fill listing is posted weekly at http://icatalog.dau.mil/onlinecatalog/tabnav.aspx to allow students opportunity to attend classes coming up in the next 60 days. Low-fill classes within 60 days from the start date of the class are available on a first come, first served basis.

Equivalencies
DAU provides a listing of equivalencies (http://icatalog.dau.mil/appg.aspx) for all courses delivered by DAU and/or predecessors courses, which are considered acceptable towards meeting current acquisition career field certification requirements. To document equivalencies accepted by DAU that are obtained from other institutions, open a helpdesk ticket at: https://apps.asc.army.mil/camp/index.cfm?fuseaction=support.helpRequest and request your ACRB be updated to reflect DAU equivalent course(s) completion.

Course Update
BCF 211 was split into two courses: BCF 220 (web) and BCF 225 (classroom) effective with classes starting Jan. 7, 2013. BCF 211-Acquisition Business Management transition to BCF 220 & BCF 225 will start for classes starting Jan. 7, 2013. Students with reservations in classes starting Jan.7 and thereafter have been notified directly by DAU of the change and the requirement to complete the prerequisite course, BCF 220 prior to attending the resident portion, BCF 225. Students must successfully complete BCF 220 prior to applying to BCF 225. Students completing BCF 220 far in advanced, must review the course material at a minimum two weeks prior to start of date of the resident, BCF 225 course to ensure successful completion. Taking the time to focus and successfully complete prerequisite course BCF 220 will likely determine the success of the resident portion (BCF 225).

Effective Jan. 14, 2013, CON 115 split into three separate courses (CON 121, CON 124 and CON 127) to improve on the delivery, presentation and test questions in need of significant improvement. Students are required to take CON 121, 124 and CON 127 in sequential order. The total training hours for new courses remain the same as CON 115; there is no increase in the training hours. Student completion of CON 115 is a valid predecessor course to CON 121, CON 124 and CON 127 indefinitely. DAWIA career fields requiring CON 115 as the mandatory functional training is replaced with CON 121, 124 and CON 127. Review course concept cards and certification guides at http://icatalog.dau.mil.

Understanding Industry (Business Acumen)
ACQ 315 is a new 4.5-day course in development by DAU. The course covers a wide range of business knowledge competencies including industry orientation, organization, cost and financial planning, business strategy/development, supplier management, incentives, and negotiating strategies. Students will learn business skills on aligning company strategies, finances, and operations that motivate company decisions, gain fair and reasonable profits, while providing best taxpayer value to the government on defense products. The course is presented from an industry perspective. The target audience is DAWIA, Level III certified acquisition personnel across all DAWIA career fields. DAU will pilot the course for June 24 – 28, 2013 at Huntsville, AL. The pilot offering will be open to all services on a first-come-first-served basis. The projected date for when students can begin registration is no later than the end of February 2013.