Acquisition Education and Training Corner: April 2012

By April 25, 2012January 31st, 2013Career Development, General

Training with Industry (TWI)

TWI is a 10- to 12-month rotational opportunity for acquisition officers (O-3 to O-5) to work side by side with industry. Current participating companies for Army acquisition in FY12 are: Google Inc., Microsoft Corp., Coca-Cola Co., Cisco Systems Inc., EADS North America Inc., Lockheed Martin Corp., Computer Sciences Corp., Intel Corp., General Dynamics Corp., and Boeing Co.

The U.S. Army Acquisition Corps (AAC) participates in TWI so that our officers can actively experience best practices through one-year assignments with leading industry partners. As a result, they can apply lessons learned and effect positive change in AAC. Increased leadership focus has led to expanded participation in the TWI program, from five acquisition quotas in FY11 to 10 in FY12. AAC expanded the focus of the FY12 program beyond defense companies to include innovative, cutting-edge leaders such as Coca-Cola, Google, Microsoft, Cisco, and Intel in the TWI portfolio. Moving beyond solely traditional defense-based companies such as Boeing, General Dynamics Land Systems, and Lockheed Martin will allow AAC officers to garner insight and implement creative solutions in an environment that is quite different than the traditional Army program management office.

Each officer will submit a final paper to the Director, Acquisition Career Management (DACM) detailing the TWI experience and how he or she will take important lessons from the time spent with industry and use those new skills and best practices to improve acquisition outcomes. On May 17, the DACM will welcome the new FY12 class of 10 officers into the program at our TWI Orientation in Arlington, VA, where outgoing officers, incoming officers, and executives from each company will meet with one another. For more information, contact your assignment officer; contact information is at https://www.hrc.army.mil/site/protect/branches/officer/FS/Acquisition/Acquisition_Contact_Information.htm.

Competitive Development Group/Army Acquisition Fellowship Graduation

The U.S. Army Acquisition Support Center (USAASC) hosted the Competitive Development Group/Army Acquisition Fellowship (CDG/AAF) Program’s 12th annual Orientation, Induction, and Graduation March 22 in Huntsville, AL. The CDG/AAF Program is a three-year leadership opportunity that offers competitively selected candidates in grade GS-12 or -13 (or broad/pay band equivalent) expanded leadership training and experience. The 70-person annual event consists of Year Group (YG) 12 orientation and YG09-12 training sessions, followed by a dinner and a graduation and induction ceremony. The event allows the acquisition community to welcome the incoming YG1) as well as to celebrate the accomplishments of the graduating YG09. Following are the members of each class and where they participated:

INCOMING YG12

Aladrian Crowder (Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD)

Chenxi Dong-O’Malley (Natick)

Timothy Hoy (Aberdeen)

Adam Morse (National Capital Region)

Craig Riedel (Warren)

Stephen Roberts (Huntsville)

Karen Short (Huntsville)

Matthew Whitworth (Huntsville)

GRADUATING YG09

Tamera Balch (Huntsville)

Alvin Bing (Warren)

Jeff Burgess (Huntsville)

Danny Davis (Huntsville)

Peter Degenaar (Huntsville)

Gloria Hemphill (Huntsville)

Jeff Hensley (Huntsville)

Ryan Johnson (Picatinny)

Darold McCloud (Huntsville)

Phillip McDonald (Huntsville)

Joel Price (Huntsville)

Defense Acquisition University Senior Service College Fellowship (DAU-SSCF)

The Defense Acquisition University – Senior Service College Fellowship (DAU-SSCF) Program is a 10-month educational opportunity conducted under the auspices of the DAU in Huntsville, AL; Warren, MI; and Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD. The purpose of the SSCF Program is to provide leadership and acquisition training to prepare senior-level civilians for senior leadership roles such as product and project managers, program executive officers, and other key acquisition positions. DAU will host graduation at the following locations:

Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD: May 16, 11 a.m.

Huntsville, AL: May 23, 2 p.m.

Warren, MI: May 30, 10 a.m.

The graduating class of 2011-12:

ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND

Debra R. Abbruzzese

Ira James Hines II

Patrick J. Layden

Robert C. Lyons

Thomas E. Mikolinis

Stanley M. Niemiec

Undra Robinson

Thomas J. Stadterman

HUNTSVILLE

Willie L. Brazile

Scott C. Dolloff

David J. Hargett

Michael R. Huettel

Joshua S. Kennedy

Peggy Corcoran Maxwell

Cynthia D. McCrary

Martin L. Sargent

Ray K. Sellers Jr.

Michael Robert Switzer

WARREN

Suzanne Archer

Jennifer L. Beffrey

Ronald J. Bokoch

Teresa Gonda

Christopher D. Miles

Nancy L Saxon

Cassandra C. Smith

David W. Marck

School of Choice

The School of Choice announcement is open through May 7 to full-time career civilian Army Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology Workforce members in grades GS-11 through -15 and equivalent pay bands within a demonstration project who have met their position certification requirements. The announcement, at http://usaascinfo.info/career-development/programs/school-of-choice, provides additional information and details on how to apply for this opportunity.

Naval Postgraduate School Master of Science in Program Management

The Naval Postgraduate School – Master of Science in Program Management announcement is open through June 17 to all eligible personnel in grades GS-11 through GS-15 or broadband/pay band equivalent who have met their current position certification requirement. For more information, visit http://usaascinfo.info/career-development/programs/naval-postgraduate-school-master-of-science-in-program-management/accmouncements/.

Federal Executive Institute Leadership for a Democratic Society

The Federal Executive Institute (FEI) Leadership for a Democratic Society announcement is open through June 13. Any interested GS-15s who have met their position certification requirement should read the announcement at http://usaascinfo.info/career-development/programs/federal-executive-institute-leadership-for-a-democractic-society/ for additional information and details on specific offerings and submission requirements. Starting this fiscal year, any applicant for FEI must have either completed the Civilian Education System (CES) Advanced Course or received equivalency or constructive credit before submitting an FEI application. Interested applicants should visit the website on CES course credit at https://www.atrrs.army.mil/channels/chrtas/help/CES_Course_Credit/asp.

Defense Acquisition University Training

The FY13 DAU class schedule will be available for registration on May 17. Students are highly encouraged to plan and apply for DAU training as soon as the schedule opens. Applying early will afford them a better chance of obtaining a class in the timeframe requested. Students should encourage their supervisors to approve training requests as soon as they apply. Applications cannot be processed by the Army registrar office until the training has the supervisor’s approval. Please apply through the Army Training Requirements (ATRRS) and Resources Internet Training Application System (AITAS) at https://www.atrss.army.mil/channels/aitas. For more information on DAU training to include, systematic instructions, training priority definition and frequently asked questions, please see the link at https://asc.army.mil/career/programs/dau/default.cfm. After receiving a confirmed reservation in the requested class, students should ensure that they attend the class as scheduled.

The timeframe for DAU course cancellations is 30 calendar days from the date the student receives a reservation. 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. Cancellations submitted after that deadline must have general officer or Senior Executive Service member approval, per DA DAU Training Policy and Procedures signed Dec. 9, 2011, online at https://asc.army.mil/docs/programs/dau/DAU_Training_Policy_&_Procedures.pdf. Students placed on wait status should revisit their class wait(s) and cancel as necessary. If a student rolls into a reservation from a wait within 30 days from the class start date, the student will be held to the 30-calendar-day cancellation policy.

USAASC has been working with the G-1, ATRRS to transfer DAU equivalent and fulfillment training data from the Acquisition Career Record Brief (ACRB) within CAMP/CAPPMIS into ATRRS and on the DAU transcript. The first batch file was successfully loaded on April 17. This process will recur on a weekly basis to upload new records posted to the ACRB. More than 7,000 training records were added to ATRRS. DAU provides a listing of equivalencies for all courses delivered by DAU 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 ACRB be updated to reflect completion of DAU equivalent courses.

DAU has successfully procured a commercial-off-the-shelf new Student Information System (SIS) to replace the current distinct DAU registration systems for the four services. PORTICO, the official name of this acquisition workforce initiative, is a Web-based system that integrates critical capabilities including career training management, schedule development, course registration, and Defense Acquisition Workforce Improvement Act transcripts and reporting. PORTICO will interface with DAU and sister DoD systems, ATRRS, and CAMP/CAPPMIS. It will standardize functionality and capability for all services. For Army students, the system will completely replace the current AITAS student registration system at https://www.atrrs.army.mil/channels/aitas. It will allow for a better user experience, and more transparency and up-to-date status information for students applying for DAU courses. Army workforce members will be able to authenticate using a DoD common access card. PORTICO is projected to be released in 2nd quarter 2013. For more information on PORTICO and the latest PORTICO newsletter, please visit http://www.dau.mil/sis.

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