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Applications to IDEAL are being accepted now through July 31.

Designed for civilian GS-12 and GS-13/broadband equivalent Army Acquisition Workforce members that are in the new and emerging supervisor career stage, IDEAL focuses on the development of supervisor and leader skills for participants with clearly documented potential in such positions.

Training and equipping supervisors to lead across the workforce leads to increased retention and higher productivity. The development of Army leaders and supervisors is critical in managing the talents of our personnel. IDEAL is centered on self-development, interpersonal relationships and strategic management to meet our multi-domain operations-capable force objectives.

There will be one fiscal year 2027 cohort that meets in Huntsville, Alabama, for three, one-week resident sessions held over a period of approximately four months. In between sessions, participants will return to their workplaces where they will use newly learned skills and put into practice the concepts and competencies they studied and examined during the resident sessions.

On June 2, the application window opens for the Acquisition Tuition Assistance Program (ATAP).  

Open to both civilian Army Acquisition Workforce (AAW) members and military occupational specialty 51 Contracting noncommissioned officers, ATAP provides tuition assistance, including laboratory and technology fees, to eligible AAW members pursuing acquisition, technical and business-related courses towards a bachelor’s or master’s degree in an acquisition, technical and business-related discipline. ATAP will also fund courses that are acquisition, technical or business related that are not towards a degree or a declared discipline. The ATAP application window will be open until July 14. 

The application window for the Training With Industry (TWI) program will be June 12 – Aug. 7.  

TWI is a year-long work experience program intended to give top-performing AAW officers extended exposure to industry management techniques, best practices and technological innovations. Gain new insights and experience by actively learning and implementing industry practices and procedures within modern corporate America.  

Your prior experience and background will be matched up with the desired and required skills of the program’s host companies. The training you receive is not typically available either through the military school system or civilian university system. Following tenure at the company, TWI participants are placed in a validated utilization assignment.

Starting June 18, Warfighting Acquisition University’s (WarU) fiscal year (FY) 2027 schedule and access to apply for FY27 courses will be available.

As a member of the AAW, part of managing your career is meeting your position’s statutory requirements by being certified at a certain level within your specific functional area. Getting certified means you’ve met the necessary training, experience, and depending on the position, education standards.

Take into consideration that some courses fill up quickly. Get an early start and make your training plan with the help of the WarU iCatalog. Your training decisions should be made well ahead of time, before applying for courses, and with your supervisor’s awareness. This way, when the FY27 schedule is released on June 18, you can apply for training right away and with your supervisor’s full support.  

And for those in Program Management taking WarU courses toward your DAWIA certification, you may need to adapt to recently added new training requirements. This is a significant change, adding approximately 22 and 21 hours of training to the Practitioner and Advanced levels. Changes went into effect on Oct. 1, 2025. To review the memo, click here.

Coming soon! The Public Private Talent Exchange (PPTE) program will open for applications July 13 –Sept. 11, 2026. PPTE gives mid-career civilian acquisition workforce professionals in the grades of GS-12 through GS-15 (or broadband equivalent) an opportunity to work with an industry partner for up to six months. The program facilitates the sharing of innovative best practices and enables participants to gain a better understanding of industry’s business operations and challenges.