Acquisition Education and Training Corner

The Competitive Development Group – Army Acquisition Fellows (CDG/AAF) announcement will be open from Aug. 27 to Nov. 15 to all eligible personnel in grades GS-12 through GS-13 or broadband/pay equivalent positions who are Level III certified in any career field. The CDG/AAF Program is a three-year developmental program that offers assignments in program executive offices and offices of the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology; Headquarters, U.S. Army Materiel Command; and functional organizations. In addition, the program provides expanded training, leadership, experiential, and other career development opportunities. For more information, visit https://asc.army.mil/web/career-development/programs/competitive-development-group-army-acquisition-fellowship/announcements/.

The Acquisition Leadership Challenge Program (ALCP) is the newest program in the Army’s Acquisition Education and Training Portfolio. Based upon the huge success that our sister service, the U.S. 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. ALCP teaches that self-awareness is the key to both leadership and diversity development, and helps people to create an innovative culture through understanding each individual’s preferences and behaviors, paying close attention not only to how they interact with co-workers, but also to how others view them. This approach includes addressing people’s unconscious biases to help them discover new approaches to doing things, and emphasizes the strength and power in accepting individual differences to produce a stronger “whole.” The ALCP training will ensure that people can communicate with their supervisors through a common language and will help develop leaders who value individual styles and behaviors, creating a leadership corps that is more capable of critical thinking, problem solving, teamwork, collaboration, creativity, and innovation.

ALCP is broken into two separate, 2.5-day courses. ALCP I, for grades GS-12/13, focuses on the following areas:

• Personal leadership strengths and weaknesses.
• Preferred leadership styles.
• Modeling leadership challenges.
• Using power to increase productivity.
• Cultural traits that affect organizational performance.
• Practical solutions to personnel issues.
• Setting and achieving goals.

ALCP II, for GS-14/15, focuses on:

• A comprehensive look at personal leadership strengths, weaknesses, preferences, styles, and behaviors.
• Leadership styles and their effects on individual and team performance.
• Dynamics of conflict: its sources, nature, and techniques to influence outcomes.
• Improving group communication.
• Collaborative teamwork.
• Effective enterprise leadership.
• Supports and barriers to success in the acquisition environment.
• Setting goals and developing practical strategies to reach them.

For more information, visit https://asc.army.mil/web/career-development/programs/acquisition-leadership-challenge-program/.

Look for announcements coming out shortly for early FY13 offerings.

Defense Acquisition University Training

The FY13 Defense Acquisition University (DAU) class schedule has been available for registration since May 17. Students should continue to apply for courses available in FY12 and on the FY13 schedule. Planning and applying early will afford students a better chance of 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 iCatalog at http://icatalog.dau.mil/onlinecatalog/AllPredecessor.aspx to ensure that they meet the prerequisite(s) before applying to a DAU course. Applications cannot be processed by the Army registrar’s office until the supervisor has approved the training.

Apply through the Army Training Requirements (ATRRS) and Resources Internet Training Application System (AITAS) at https://www.atrrs.army.mil/channels/aitas. For more information on DAU training, including systematic instructions, training priority definition, and frequently asked questions, visit https://asc.army.mil/web/career-development/programs/defense-acquisition-university-training/. Once you receive a confirmed reservation in the requested class, ensure that you attend the class as scheduled. Cancellations for a confirmed reservation must be requested at least 30 calendar days before the class starts or by the reservation cutoff date, whichever is earlier, to avoid a “no show.”

DAU revised its student academic and administrative policies and procedures (Directive 704). The document supersedes and consolidates previous DAU student academic policies and procedures. You can view the revised directive at https://myclass.dau.mil/bbcswebdav/institution/Courses/Deployed/01_CurriculumDocumentation/Student%20Info%20and%20Policy/DIR%20704%20Student%20Academic%20Policies.pdf.

The AITAS help inquiry system stood down on June 4. Any workforce-related inquires, such as on DAU training, Individual Development Plans, and Acquisition Career Record Brief issues, should be submitted through the Workforce Management Inquiry system within CAMP/CAPPMIS (https://apps.asc.army.mil/camp/). If you are logged into CAMP, click on “Help Request” for assistance. Otherwise, you may open a ticket without logging into CAMP at https://apps.asc.army.mil/camp/index.cfm?fuseaction=support.helpRequest.

DAU provides a list of equivalencies for all courses it delivers and/or predecessor courses, which are considered acceptable toward meeting current acquisition career field certification requirements. To document equivalencies accepted by DAU that are obtained from non-Army schools, open a help desk ticket at https://apps.asc.army.mil/camp/index.cfm?fuseaction=support.helpRequest and ask that your Acquisition Career Record Brief be updated to reflect completion of DAU equivalent courses.

The end of FY12 is fast approaching. Acquisition workforce members who have not met their Defense Acquisition Workforce Improvement Act position requirements should apply for certification through the Certification Management System at https://apps.asc.army.mil/camp/. Certification requirements can change each fiscal year; changes normally are effective on Oct. 1. For certification requirements, facts, and frequently asked questions, visit http://icatalog.dau.mil/onlinecatalog/CareerLvl.aspx.