CHOOSE YOUR TOOLS WISELY: The hard work of transitioning the workforce to the new Back-to-Basics model is over, but a lot more is still to come with regards to communication, navigation and training tools. (Photo by Katerina Holmes, Pexels)
How it’s going two years after implementation of Back-to-Basics.
by Scott Greene
With the implementation of Back-to-Basics in February 2022, the acquisition workforce development model moved from a one-size, train everyone within an acquisition functional area using the same standard, to a new model with less prescriptive training—putting the onus on individuals, supervisors and commands to determine which additional training is needed for each specific person. Enter the world of elective learning.
Back-to-Basics redefined the coded acquisition workforce by focusing on coded acquisition workforce positions that develop, acquire and sustain operational capability. One of the main goals of this initiative was to improve the defense acquisition workforce’s agility by streamlining the functional area framework and prioritizing limited training resources. The training, education and experiential requirements for certification were streamlined and supplemented by job-specific credentials and tailored continuous learning opportunities. A Defense Acquisition University (DAU) credential recognizes an individual’s knowledge, skills and abilities to perform a DOD acquisition-related function or set of tasks. Credentials developed and deployed by DAU equip DOD workforce members with required skills through completion of a learning pathway and an assessment to verify correct application of the skills in a DOD context. DAU credentials are essentially a bundle of online classes and a test brought together to improve the skills within an acquisition subject.
The intent of the Back-to-Basics change was to “train to a common set of competencies required across DOD in the certification courses. Reduce the amount of ‘scrap learning,’ which is information that individuals may not need for their current job,” said Aaron Hutson, who serves as the strategy and policy branch chief in the Army Director of Acquisition Career Management (DACM) Office.
The dust has largely settled from the first major change to the Defense Acquisition Workforce Improvement Act (DAWIA) since its inception in the early 1990s. This strategic overhaul of acquisition workforce development really moved away from prescriptive one-size-fits-all training into a leaner, flexible training model. This new model changed many paradigms of DAWIA training, including career fields to functional areas; each career field having three levels of certification to each functional area having between one and two levels of certification, ranging from Foundational or Professional to Practitioner and Advanced; and a reduction in scrap learning—less prescriptive certification training.
The previous acquisition “career field” structure streamlined into six functional areas that represent the “basics” of acquisition: business financial management/cost estimating (BUS-FM/BUS-CE), contracting (CON), engineering and technical management (ETM), life cycle logistics (LCL), program management (PM), and test and evaluation (T&E). The major changes here were multiple prior career fields combining into engineering and technical management and contracting, respectively. With a smaller “bucket” of functional areas and less prescriptive training requirements, the idea was to promote and facilitate more training and assignments across functional areas.
JOINT EFFORT
Employees and supervisors will work together on which courses or credentials the employee needs to pursue. (Graphic by Army DACM Office)
LEVELING UP
Another paradigm shift was moving from the longstanding certification levels of I, II and III to a framework that depended on the acquisition functional areas of the workforce. Acquisition levels moved to Foundational, Professional, Practitioner or Advanced. Where the system previously was ripe for a cookie cutter approach to position certification level coding, now that no longer exists. Human resource professionals and supervisors must look at each position individually within the functional area and determine the appropriate certification level. The DACM Office transitioned or transferred achieved legacy certifications into the new framework for current Army Acquisition Workforce (AAW) members.
Each functional area has a functional integrated team that includes representatives from each of the services, Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) leaders, human capital initiatives, as well as the DAU, that not only decide on the functional area curriculum but also determine the levels appropriate for that specific functional area. The DACM Office played an active role in every functional integrated team, along with a functional Army lead, to sit at the table and provide a unified workforce development and functional expertise voice for the Army.
EXTENDED GRACE PERIODS
A third paradigm shift moved the certification grace period from a standard 24 months for every position to a certification grace period that directly aligns to the functional area tier assigned to that position, now a 3/5/4 model: Those coded as Foundational or Professional now have a three-year grace period; those coded at Practitioner have a five-year grace period; and those coded as Advanced have a four-year grace period. The extended grace periods were given to all current AAW members when Back-to-Basics was implemented, as well as to any new members after that date. The reason grace periods were extended was to facilitate more of a focus on experiential learning and to try to prevent individuals from feeling that they had to rush through training to get certified right away. The Army DACM, Ronald R. Richardson Jr., said that “the new emphasis on experience, and the right training at the right time, better supports our primary objective of providing an agile and adaptive workforce with the acquisition acumen and critical thinking skills we need in support of the Army modernization enterprise.”
Given the new grace periods, the DACM Office changed the applicant criteria on many of its leadership and educational programs to allow those not yet certified, but still within the grace period, to apply for those programs. Additional information on DACM programs may be found on the DACM website at: https://asc.army.mil/web/career-development/programs/civilian.
REDUCED SCRAP LEARNING
Finally, the last paradigm shift is a reduction in scrap learning with a focus on less prescriptive certification training. Scrap learning is an educational term that essentially represents wasted training time—the learning content that will never be applied by the learner. The intent of this Back-to-Basics shift revolved around focusing more on a foundational level of learning. Anyone required to attend mandatory training would be able to apply the content in their job and could expand on that base learning through just-in-time focused training (credentials). This reduction in training time would enable more time for on-the-job training (the experiential component of DAWIA certification) and dramatically increase the emphasis on the supervisor and employee relationship to determine training needs. This reduction in scrap learning resulted in significantly less required classroom time, enabling individuals to be present in their job more. It also enables individuals to seek out additional training specific to their job in the form of credentials.
The Army has transitioned military and civilian positions into the Back-to-Basics framework, reducing the AAW from over 40,000 members down to nearly 33,500 as it removed facilities engineering and adopted tighter restrictions on what constitutes financial management/cost estimating and life cycle logistics positions were adopted through its acquisition functional leaders. Transitioning to the new framework presented the DACM Office with many administrative, talent management and communication challenges, to say the least. Especially given the new responsibility placed on individuals and supervisors to determine what training each person needed beyond the base foundation provided through DAU.
The deliberate reduction in the number of hours for certification training for the workforce should enable workforce members to spend more time learning on the job and earning specialized credentials that will help them be more effective. That was a primary goal from leadership in transitioning to Back-to-Basics. As of the end of October 2023 (20 months after initial implementation of this new framework), just over 4% of the AAW has completed a credential (or bundle of classes). Understanding and embracing the importance of credentials will continue to take some time.
It is especially important for new employees to navigate this along with their supervisors, given they will receive much less base training than their predecessors. The need to supplement that base with specific targeted credentials relevant to their job is crucial. “Less training is required, and this could lead to a workforce that takes less training than in the previous framework,” Hutson said. “From a DACM Office, headquarters perspective, we are emphasizing the importance of elective learning and empowering the workforce in all our briefings and engagements. We are constantly thinking about products and tools that we can develop—or partner with DAU to develop—that will assist the workforce.”
STREAMLINED
Back-to-Basics streamlined the previous acquisition career fields into six functional areas and changed the certification levels to Foundational/Professional, Practitioner or Advanced. (Graphic by Army DACM Office)
EXPLORE CREDENTIALS
Senior leaders, especially direct supervisors, can and should emphasize to their workforce the importance of exploring the credentials that are currently available, in development, and in the initial planning stages. “As opposed to the previous ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach oriented on the lowest common denominator, this approach empowers the supervisors and employees to take full control of employee development,” Richardson said. “The jury is still out, but we think this will create better alignment of employee skills and abilities and help ensure the right individual in the right job at the right time.” DAU maintains a running list of credentials, available at https://asc.army.mil/web/dacm-office/functional-areas/#credentials.
Supervisor engagement in training planning is critical in this new environment. Navigating the available credentials and determining the appropriate ones for an individual can be daunting given it is a new responsibility. Having both the supervisor and the individual do some research and then come together to determine what is needed is what the DACM Office recommends. “The biggest risk,” Richardson said, “is that the mid-level supervisors—and to some degree, their employees—don’t embrace this new empowerment and don’t take advantage of employee counseling and especially the individual development plan [IDP] to do the career mapping and fully develop the training requirements near-, mid- and long-term.”
Various enhancements to the IDP were rolled out with Back-to-Basics to better enable this dialogue and planning. Previously, the IDP only allowed employees to enter courses into the plan and then request approval of the IDP by their supervisor. Now, both employees and supervisors may select various courses or credentials for the AAW member to take. The ideal world would have the employee select what they think is necessary and then the supervisor would approve the selected courses and add in anything they felt was missing. The two would then meet in person (or virtually) and have an actual conversation on the needed training and agree on an appropriate training timeline. The agreement would then be approved in the IDP by the supervisor.
The Army acquisition functional leader (AAFL) and functional adviser (AAFA) roles were reviewed and codified via memorandum by the principal military deputy to the assistant secretary of the Army for acquisition, logistics and technology (ASA(ALT)), who stressed that their involvement in the following areas was critical:
- Be the AAFA subject matter lead with the technical knowledge and insight on functional area-specific training requirements and competencies.
- Provide strategic vision, direction and advice in shaping, developing and retaining the AAW.
- Offer training, continuous learning and credential recommendations.
- Address mission-critical skill set gaps and other human capital challenges through strategic initiatives.
- Attend the OSD functional integrated team or working group meetings along with DACM Office representatives to represent the acquisition functional area (AFA).
A fiscal year 2023 highlight for the DACM Office was that each AAFL published a continuous learning memo that identified functional area-specific continuous learning focus areas including training and credentials. One additional and final IDP enhancement the DACM Office provided was to directly list the acquisition functional area-specific training recommendations. When an individual logs into their IDP, it will list (if they are in program management, for example) the courses suggested by Richardson, the program management Army acquisition functional leader.
DIGITAL UPSKILLING
Many Army acquisition functional leaders embraced the new, exciting and extremely important digital transformation initiative in their fiscal year 2023 memos—some were already published before the need for digital upskilling was realized. Young Bang, principal civilian deputy to the ASA(ALT), directed the DACM Office to “digitally upskill the workforce.” Bang said the digital upskilling “initiative is applicable to the entire acquisition workforce. They might not think they are touching software or data, but all our weapon and business systems have digital transformation components, so at a minimum, they need to have at least a basic understanding.”
Digital foundations training is intended to develop an understanding of topics such as digital transformation; agile software development; development, security and operations (DevSecOps); cloud foundations; data science; machine learning; human-centered design; artificial intelligence and cybersecurity to practically apply those tools as the AAW leads, develops, tests, fields and sustains Army modernization programs. To do this, a digital foundations training pathway with curated foundational-level content was developed through an existing Army partnership with Udemy Business. The digital foundations training pathway includes three courses (approximately 14 hours total): Digital Transformation Masterclass, The Agile Samuri Bootcamp, and Product Management for AI [artificial intelligence] & Data Science.
Digital training and upskilling do not end with the digital foundations training through Udemy. More upskilling opportunities are out there and more will be offered for the workforce. “Our workforce continues to be crucial and instrumental to the success of the multitude of initiatives focused on Army modernization,” said Rosie Bauer, deputy director for the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for Data, Engineering and Software at ASA(ALT). “We have started laying the foundation of a series of training opportunities through Udemy, but we have more to do. The technology and solutions we are implementing exist, as do training material for those solutions. But a true transformation requires cultural change; an understanding that the way we operate, our processes and our tools, need to change and a desire to help lead the way. Change can be hard, that’s just human nature. But through upskilling and hiring, we are achieving digital transformation.”
SAVING GRACE
Certification grace periods were updated to directly align to the functional area tier assigned to each position. (Graphic Army DACM Office)
CONCLUSION
The DACM Office has put significant effort into transforming the workforce from the legacy DAWIA system into the new model established by the Back-to-Basics initiative. The hard work of transitioning is over, but a lot more is still to come with regards to communication, navigation and training tools. According to Richardson, the DACM Office is “working with acquisition leadership to inculcate a culture of continuous learning in the workforce and leveraging relationships with providers to deliver increased point-of-need relevant training and credentials.”
Some of the upcoming initiatives and improvements include:
- An online AAW onboarding training module.
- Updated fiscal year 2024 AAFL continuous learning guidance.
- Establishing an acquisition functional area webpage.
The DACM Office will soon release an AAW onboarding virtual training for our civilians, officers and noncommissioned officers. The training will focus on acquisition as a profession, the requirements to be an acquisition professional and the tangible benefits such as education and leadership development opportunities. This will be accomplished through four learning objectives:
- Have a high-level understanding of the AAW.
- Know what your initial requirements are.
- Be able to use the appropriate career model to help plan your career.
- Know where to find and how to apply for the many career opportunities available to you through the DACM Office.
Expect to also see more tailored credential navigational tools from DAU in fiscal year 2024. The current, ever-evolving tools are located at https://www.dau.edu/credentials. The DACM Office will include any pertinent developments in Hot Topics, which goes out monthly to the AAW.
Finally, the program management acquisition functional area is the first of the AFAs to release a DACM webpage: https://asc.army.mil/web/dacm-office/functional-areas/program-management/. Expect to see the rest of the AFAs follow suit. This will be your one-stop shop for anything related to that functional area—continuous learning guidance, messages from the AAFL, career maps, policy, etc.
The Army DACM is counting on you as an AAW member to take ownership of your learning journey. As they say, with great power comes great responsibility. We’re counting on you to continually evaluate your IDP and seek out learning opportunities.
For more information, go to https://asc.army.mil/web/dacm-office/functional-areas.
SCOTT GREENE is the chief of the strategy and policy division in the DACM Office. He has an M.S. in management from Marymount University and a B.A. in American politics from the University of Virginia. He is DAWIA certified Advanced in program management.
