by Stefanie Pidgeon
FORT BELVOIR, Va. — Today, the U.S. Army Acquisition Support Center officially renamed its Army Acquisition Center of Excellence (AACoE) to The Army Acquisition School, or TAAS.
The AACoE first opened in January 2011 as a one-stop shop for Army acquisition education. Since then, it has served as the initial entry point for newly assessed military acquisition workforce members, providing them professional military education from Contracting and Acquisition Pre-Command Courses to the training curriculum required to meet Defense Acquisition Workforce Improvement Act (DAWIA) certification.
These diverse training opportunities continue under The Army Acquisition School.
The newly minted name change coincides with the standardization of the Army’s definition of a Center of Excellence (CoE) which states that a CoE should both educate Soldiers and incorporate all elements of DOTMLPF-P, or doctrine, organization, training, materiel, leadership and education, personnel, facilities and policy. As the AACoE’s primary focus is educating the Army Acquisition Workforce, the decision was made to remove “CoE” and reestablish itself as a schoolhouse.
“The Army Acquisition School provides a dynamic learning environment to develop world-class Army acquisition professionals who are equipped to provide and sustain superior acquisition support to the warfighter,” said Craig Gardunia, director of TAAS. “While the name has changed, our commitment to provide superior training has not.”
TAAS is located in Huntsville, Alabama on The University of Alabama’s Huntsville campus. Available courses include:
- Army Acquisition Transition Course.
- Army Contracting Writing Lab.
- FA51 Intermediate Qualification Course.
- Contracting Pre-Command Course.
- Acquisition Pre-Command Course.
In addition to training for military acquisition professionals, TAAS provides professional development opportunities for both military and civilian acquisition professionals. Soft skills, such as Crucial Conversations, and the Director, Acquisition Career Management’s Inspiring and Developing Excellence in Acquisition Leaders (IDEAL) course, are also provided at TAAS.
“The transition to TAAS further emphasizes our mission,” Gardunia said. “We look forward to continuing to serve our Army acquisition professionals with pride under our new name.”
For more information about TAAS, visit https://asc.army.mil/web/taas/.
