NOVEMBER 2020 ARMY DACM HOT TOPICS

Hot Topics

 

 

DACM OFFICE UPDATE

 

ARMY ACQUISITION WORKFORCE (AAW) HUMAN CAPITAL STRATEGIC PLAN (HCSP)

People are a top priority in the Army, and one of the many ways we’re embracing this priority is with the updated AAW HCSP. It focuses on the acquisition workforce’s most valuable assets—its dedication and talent. The purpose of the plan is to institutionalize the human capital planning process for the entire AAW. The plan includes goals that address workforce planning, professional development, leadership development and employee engagement. These four actionable goals spur progress against four new strategic outcomes for the AAW HCSP—that the workforce is ready, professional, diverse and integrated. The AAW HCSP aims to build and maintain an educated, qualified and diverse acquisition workforce in support of the Army’s needs. Read the AAW HCSP memo at https://asc.army.mil/web/aaw-hcsp-policy/. 

 

 

DACM POLICY

 

ARMY ACQUISITION WORKFORCE ANNUAL STANDARDS MEMO

Published at the start of each new fiscal year, this document outlines the standards that the Army Director, Acquisition Career Management sets annually for Army Acquisition Workforce (AAW) professionals and their parent organizations, in order to comply with Defense Acquisition Workforce Improvement Act (DAWIA) statutory requirements and DACM policies. The fiscal year 2021 AAW standards address certification (entire AAW, critical acquisition positions and key leadership positions), individual development plans, continuous learning points and Senior Rater Potential Evaluations. It includes two tables to show how the AAW as a community and each command or organization measured against the standards. Read the memo at https://asc.army.mil/web/fy21-army-acquisition-workforce-standards/.

 

 

 ARMY ACQUISITION FUNCTIONAL LEADER (AAFL) RECOMMENDED CONTINUOUS LEARNING POINT (CLP) MEMORANDUMS

Army Acquisition Workforce members are required to complete 80 CLPs every two years. For the current CLP cycle (Oct. 1, 2020 – Sept. 30, 2022) Army acquisition functional leaders drafted and signed recommended CLP memorandums providing guidance to AAW professionals within each designated Acquisition career field. The memos identify current and emerging critical technical areas within the field and recommend AAW professionals enroll in specific courses or activities as part of the continuous learning requirement.

As of Oct. 26, the following career fields have received their AAFL-recommended CLP training courses:

  • Business cost estimating
  • Business financial management
  • Facilities engineering
  • Life cycle logistics
  • Production, quality and manufacturing
  • Science and technology manager
  • Test and evaluation

Find out what your AAFL’s training suggestions are by logging in to your CAPPMIS account at https://apps.asc.army.mil/camp. Remember to give yourself continuous learning point credit by adding these AAFL-recommended courses as planned training to your individual development plan (IDP) in CAPPMIS . Once logged in, click on the green IDP tab and use the planned training tool. The IDP does not enroll you in the courses. The Army DACM Office CLP and AAFL policies associated with the acquisition career fields can be found at https://asc.army.mil/web/aafl-recommended-clp-memos/.

 

 

 ANNOUNCEMENTS

  

DEFENSE CIVILIAN EMERGING LEADER PROGRAM (DCELP) YEAR GROUP 2021 SELECTEES ANNOUNCED

Congratulations to the ten Army Acquisition Workforce members who were selected for Year Group 2021 of the Defense Civilian Emerging Leader Program (DCELP). DCELP is a DOD leader development program for civilians in grades GS-07 through GS-12 (and broadband equivalent). The four-month program consists of courses on leadership assessment, team development, effective writing and conflict resolution. The selectees for Year Group 2021 are:

Phillip Abbott, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE)
Jesse Casari, Army Communications-Electronics Command
Tyler Cook, Program Executive Office (PEO) for Command, Control, Communications – Tactical
Anthony Giacchina, PEO for Combat Support and Combat Service Support
Jaclyn Harris, Army Contracting Command (ACC)
Devin Hollenbaugh, ACC
Matthew Lynch, ACC
Robert Mathews, Army Futures Command
Holly Sopiak, USACE
Chenita Starks, Army Materiel Command

For additional information about DCELP, please visit https://asc.army.mil/web/career-development/programs/dcelp/.

 

 

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE LATEST SELECTEES OF THE ACQUISITION TUITION ASSISTANCE PROGRAM (ATAP)

Congratulations to the eleven new selectees of the fiscal year 2020 fourth quarter ATAP! The following individuals have been selected:

Sara Louise Coger, Army Tank-Automotive and Armaments Command
Donald S. Gueck II, U.S. Army Pacific
Magdalena G. Hudson-Murray, Army Contracting Command (ACC)
Anthony M. Miller, Joint Munitions Command
Gwendolyn L. Miller, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE)
Rachel M. Phelps, ACC
Todd H. Quintin, ACC
Clare H. Ruprecht, Army Futures Command
Stacey L. Swader, USACE
Dylan Chase Watford, Army Aviation and Missiles Command
Terri Lee Webster, Army Communications-Electronic Command

ATAP provides tuition assistance to eligible Army Acquisition Workforce civilians and military occupational specialty (MOS) 51 Contracting (51C) noncommissioned officers (NCOs). AAW civilians can pursue business credit hours towards bachelor’s degrees, master’s degrees or required business credit hours for Army Acquisition Corps (AAC) membership. MOS 51C NCOs can pursue required business credit hours toward bachelor’s degrees to meet their Defense Acquisition Workforce Improvement Act (DAWIA) certification or education requirement. ATAP is offered nearly year-round, with four quarterly announcements per year. Learn more about ATAP at https://asc.army.mil/web/career-development/programs/acquisition-tuition-assistance-program/.

 

 

REMINDERS

 

SENIOR RATER POTENTIAL EVALUATION

The Senior Rater Potential Evaluation (SRPE) cycle is now upon us. Since 2015, the SRPE has been required annually for GS-12 through GS-15 and pay band equivalent AAW professionals. Evaluations for this fiscal year cover the period Oct. 1, 2019, through Sept. 30, 2020, and senior raters must complete the SRPE by Dec. 31, 2020. Employees, raters and senior raters can find policies and guidance, videos, instructional briefings and a user manual at: https://asc.army.mil/web/senior-rater-potential-evaluation/. If you’re brand new to the process, check out the live training tutorial within the SRPE module at: https://apps.asc.army.mil/camp/.

For supervisors, the DACM Office is hosting a series of virtual Lunch & Learn meetings for supervisors of acquisition workforce personnel (raters and senior raters) who would like some real-time information on how to initiate and complete a SRPE. Sessions will be held October through December. Check with your organizational acquisition point of contact for details. 

 

 

MANDATORY ANNUAL ETHICS TRAINING REMINDER

As members of the AAW, the standards of expertise, experience and ethics are high. Mandatory ethics training instills the importance of conducting ourselves in an ethical manner, and ethics training for the AAW is due by Dec. 31. The list of accepted ethics training modalities that meet the annual requirement has been expanded to include:

All ethics training options for the AAW can be found on the Mandatory Annual Ethics Training memo at: https://asc.army.mil/web/dacm-ethics-rqmnt-memo/. More information on these requirements can be found in the AAW Standards memo: https://asc.army.mil/web/dacm-memo-fy20-army-acq-workforce-stnds/.

 

 

 EVERYTHING YOU MUST KNOW ABOUT YOUR CAREER DEVELOPMENT

Who doesn’t love a quick reference guide? It takes the most important parts from a mass of information and delivers them in easily digestible snippets. We realize that there is a wealth of valuable career development information available to acquisition professionals and that it can be overwhelming. That’s why the DACM Office developed “Managing Your Acquisition Career, a quick reference guide for the Army Acquisition Workforce.” This electronic document provides the most critical information you need to manage your acquisition career, including certification and continuous learning requirements, education and training and leadership development information. It sequentially walks you through the steps you must take to navigate career development, with clear and simple directions. It provides you with direct links to resources to make it easy for you to find what you need. Leverage this document to quickly reference all acquisition career information: https://asc.army.mil/web/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/051719_AAWReferenceGuide_2019.pdf.
It’s also posted to the DACM Office website at: https://asc.army.mil/web/career-development/civilian/career-planning-steps/.

 

 

ACQUISITION EDUCATION, TRAINING AND CAREER DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITIES

 

PLAN THE WORK AND WORK THE PLAN WITH FY21 DACM OFFICE PROGRAMS 

You are your own best career manager; to help you achieve your goals, the DACM Office has released the fiscal year 2021 DACM Office Program. Whether it’s obtaining a degree, paying off a student loan, learning team and leadership skills or broadening your experience with a developmental opportunity, there’s something for everyone. Check out all the upcoming programs here:

https://asc.army.mil/web/career-development/programs/program-timeline/.

 

 

NOW ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS TO LEAD – THE CDG/AAF PROGRAM EVOLVES INTO THE NEW AND IMPROVED LEAD PROGRAM

 The only constant is change, and one of the biggest changes this year was with the DACM Office’s Competitive Development Group/Army Acquisition Fellowship (CDG/AAF) program. Recently revamped and renamed to the Leadership Excellence Acquisition Development (LEAD) program, the former CDG/AAF program was carefully redesigned to better meet the needs of our evolving acquisition workforce and will formally begin in the summer of 2021. LEAD is a highly competitive, premier 24- to 30-month leadership development program offering expanded training through a series of education, leader development and broadening assignments to build skills required for positions of greater responsibility. Managed by the Army DACM Office, the program is designed to enhance the leadership acumen of the Army’s civilian acquisition workforce. Participants are provided centrally funded leadership training and developmental assignments within the acquisition community. While the LEAD program does not guarantee a promotion, it does strengthen desired skills, providing a competitive edge for those who compete for senior acquisition leader positions. Since the first class in 1997, 70% of participants have been promoted to at least GS-14. Program participants are encouraged to seek promotion opportunities during their tenure in the program by applying for vacancies through the competitive process. Some of the program’s changes included:

  • A decrease in program length to more efficiently utilize resources and improve cohort performance.
  • A new research project was added to the syllabus.
  • Senior level command involvement is now part of the application and slating process.
  • Enhanced applicant eligibility requirement of being certified at least Level II in program management, in addition to certification at Level III in their primary career field.
  • New eligibility requirement for completion of the Civilian Education System Distance Learning portion.
  • Former CDG/AAF participants will now be available to mentor current LEAD students.

Applications to the LEAD program are being accepted through Nov. 27. To discover more about this exciting program, go to https://asc.army.mil/web/career-development/lead/.

 

 

 

DAU NEWS

 

DAU COURSES EARN YOU DIGITAL “BADGES”

Digital credential initiatives are swiftly gaining traction within the educational community. These validated indicators of accomplishment, known as badges, provide a concrete way for students to demonstrate evidence of their academic footprint, skills, interests and knowledge gained. You may have received an email from “Defense Acquisition University Badges [mailto:noreply@badges.dau.edu],” making you aware that a DAU course you completed qualifies for a badge. This is because some DAU courses carry college credit recommendations from the American Council on Education’s College Credit Recommendation Service (CREDIT®). The council has partnered with Credly, a leading digital credential provider, to provide you with badges and transcripts on its Acclaim platform. The badges contain information about your completed courses, explaining what you have learned and the recommended college credits. Once you have been issued and have accepted a badge, you can use Credly’s Acclaim platform to send an official academic transcript directly to a college you are attending or interested in attending. See more details about this program here:  https://www.dau.edu/News/Earn-Badges-for-ACE-ing-DAU-Courses.

 

 

DAU TRANSFORMS TO A “PLATFORM FOR KNOWLEDGE”

DAU is undergoing a transformation reflective of the need to support an evolving acquisition community. To better meet the workforce’s changing needs, DAU is adopting a modern learning platform, delivering continuous learning and support tailored to the needs of the acquisition workforce. Acquisition professionals need instant access to training, tools and support and must embrace a mindset that continuous learning is critical to success. DAU’s transformation is designed to support that construct. In support of the transformation, DAU released its new logo, seen below. See details from DAU at:  https://www.dau.edu/News/DAU–A-Platform-for-Knowledge.

 

 

THE LATEST DACM NEWS IS ONLINE NOW!

The Army Acquisition Workforce (AAW) needs to develop strong leaders, even in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. In response, the Army Director, Acquisition Career Management (DACM) Office continues to make significant improvements to its acquisition education, training and leadership development programs, which are outlined in the October 2020 DACM newsletter.

In addition, the Sept. 2 “Back-to-Basics” memorandum from Hon. Ellen M. Lord, the undersecretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment, will restructure and slim down the existing acquisition workforce functional area framework to consist of six consolidated functional areas: program management, contracting, life cycle logistics, engineering, test and evaluation, and business financial management/cost estimating. As details emerge, the DACM Office will keep you informed. Spotlight on Success profiles a test officer with the Army Test and Evaluation Command at Aberdeen, Maryland. Read about his insight and experiences throughout his acquisition career and his participation as a Naval Postgraduate School student; earning a degree in systems and program management. In another Spotlight on Success, read about Matt Maier, a product manager with Network Modernization for Tactical Network, Program Executive Office for Command, Control and Communications – Tactical (PEO C3T). Matt was recently selected as a fiscal year 2021 project director. He shares how his participation in the Defense Acquisition University – Senior Service College Fellowship program served as a springboard in launching his acquisition career to new heights.

All that, plus the latest news on training opportunities, and how the fiscal year 2021 Defense Acquisition University (DAU) training schedule looks much different than years past. Don’t miss out! Find the October 2020 issue at https://asc.army.mil/web/dacm-newsletter/.

 ARMY AL&T MAGAZINE FALL EDITION TALKS INDUSTRY

The Army relies on the industrial base to produce things—like helicopters, tanks and satellites—that it just can’t buy at the local supermarket. The acquisition process can be complex even in the best of times, and it certainly hasn’t gotten any easier during the COVID-19 pandemic. “Earlier this year, the Army and our defense industry colleagues were presented with unique challenges, and we’ve faced (and continue to face) them together,” says Dr. Bruce D. Jette, the Army acquisition executive. “For most people, the U.S. Army doesn’t come readily to mind when they think about the national response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Still, the Army—and the acquisition community in particular—have a critically important role.” The fall issue of Army AL&T magazine takes a closer look at DOD’s relationship with industry, and the Army’s ongoing response to the pandemic.

Also, remember that Army AL&T is built on contributions from you, the Army Acquisition Workforce and our stakeholders. For more information on how to publish an article in Army AL&T magazine, go to https://asc.army.mil/web/publications/army-alt-submissions/ to see our writer’s guidelines, upcoming deadlines and themes.

NEW AAW SUPERVISOR’S CORNER WEBSITE

The Army Acquisition Workforce (AAW) has unique requirements and initiatives that professionalize this elite group of over 40,000 personnel. At the same time, the Army DACM Office understands that it can be challenging for supervisors to stay on top of the requirements for their acquisition-coded employees. That’s why we developed the Supervisor’s Corner website that assists supervisors with managing their acquisition workforce by providing a trove of information on career development requirements, opportunities, tools and resources. The website features valuable knowledge such as a downloadable supervisor guide and informational sheets on various topics, including: certification, position coding, individual development plans, continuous learning, Senior Rater Potential Evaluation, DAU training, the Army Acquisition Corps, academic equivalency and fulfillment, coaching, resources and more. For more details, visit: https://asc.army.mil/web/career-development/supervisors-corner/.

 

 

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