WHAT’S NEW?
CATALOG OF FISCAL YEAR 2025 PROGRAM ANNOUNCEMENTS
Now that fiscal year 2025 is upon us, newly published program announcements are available! Perhaps you’re interested in getting a degree, paying off a student loan, learning new team and leadership skills, or broadening your experience with a developmental opportunity. To browse through the program descriptions and a calendar timeline, select the DACM PROGRAM TIMELINE and the DACM ANNOUNCEMENTS graphics on https://asc.army.mil/web/career-development/programs/program-timeline.
LATEST DEFENSE ACQUISITION CREDENTIAL OFFERINGS
Reinforce your career, build competencies, confidence, and add value to your organization with a defense acquisition credential. Offered by the Defense Acquisition University (DAU), credentialing allows for a tailored, acquisition-related learning experience suited for your job. Credentials are designed to meet you at the right place and the right time within your functional area, providing critical job-centric associated skills to enhance your specific skills and improve workplace performance. As of Sept. 30, 2024 there are 75 available credentials. For more information and how to register, go to https://www.dau.edu/training/credentials.
OPPORTUNITIES
NOW OPEN FOR GS-14-15 CIVILIANS – DAU SENIOR SERVICE COLLEGE FELLOWSHIP
The DACM Office is now accepting applications for the Defense Acquisition University Senior Service College Fellowship (DAU-SSCF) program through Jan. 24, 2025. The program is a 10-month educational senior leadership development opportunity sponsored by the DACM. DAU-SSCF is conducted under the auspices of the DAU through the Huntsville, Alabama; Picatinny Arsenal, New Jersey; and virtual seminars. The virtual seminar is an excellent SSC/SSCF option for any interested and eligible acquisition workforce member located outside of Huntsville and Picatinny.
DAU-SSCF provides leadership and acquisition training to prepare senior level civilians for leadership roles such as product and project manager, program executive officer and other key acquisition leadership positions to include contracting. The DAU-SSCF program is also approved as a Military Education Level 1 (MEL-1) Senior Service College equivalent. For the O6 and GS-15 centralized selection list (CSL), an MEL-1 is required before assumption of command. DAU-SSCF is the only civilian fellowship approved by the Army. To learn more, go to https://asc.army.mil/web/career-development/programs/defense-acquisition-university-senior-service-college.
NOW OPEN – FISCAL YEAR 2025 LEADERSHIP EXCELLENCE AND ACQUISITION DEVELOPMENT
The Leadership Excellence and Acquisition Development (LEAD) program is open and accepting application submissions now through Dec. 20, 2024. This premier 24–30 month leadership development program offers training through a series of education and assignments to build skills required for positions of greater responsibility. LEAD 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. For more details, go to https://asc.army.mil/web/career-development/programs/lead.
OPEN FOR APPLICATIONS – FISCAL YEAR 2025 DOD PUBLIC PRIVATE TALENT EXPERIENCE PROGRAM
The DOD Public Private Talent Experience (PPTE) program is open for applications through Nov. 15, 2024. PPTE gives mid-career acquisition workforce professionals in the grades of GS-13 through GS-15 (or broadband equivalent) the opportunity to work with an industry partner for up to six months. Think Training With Industry, but for civilians. The program facilitates the sharing of innovative best practices and enables participants to gain a better understanding of industry’s business operations and challenges. For more information, go to https://asc.army.mil/web/career-development/programs/dod-ppte.
ONE DAY LEFT TO APPLY – PAID ACQUISITION INTERNSHIPS FOR COLLEGE STUDENTS!
The DAU Office of Human Capital Initiatives (HCI) will accept applications until Nov. 6, 2024 for the DOD College Acquisition Internship Program (DCAIP). DCAIP is a paid, 12-week internship that exposes students to DOD acquisition workforce career opportunities. The program targets fulltime second- and third-year students currently enrolled in an undergraduate program at an accredited college or university. Selected students will work full-time over 12 weeks, between May and August 2025. There may be opportunities to return during the summer of 2026, determined by DOD component need and student eligibility. After college graduation, the student may be eligible for conversion to a permanent position within the acquisition workforce.
CLOSING SOON – FISCAL YEAR 2025 STUDENT LOAN REPAYMENT PROGRAM
Last call for applications! The Army Director, Acquisition Career Management Office is accepting applications to the fiscal year 2025 Student Loan Repayment Program (SLRP) through Nov. 15. This program is offered as a retention incentive to civilians of the Army Acquisition Workforce (AAW) and is designed to repay up to $10,000 toward federally insured student loans. For details and how to apply, go to https://asc.army.mil/web/career-development/programs/student-loan-repayment-program.
ATTENTION COLLEGE STUDENTS – LAST CALL FOR PROPOSALS
The Defense Civilian Training Corps (DCTC) invites DOD organizations to submit internship proposals outline projects based on complex, real-world challenges that can benefit from an innovative, team-based, multidisciplinary approach. Selected projects will provide scholars with hands-on experience working beside DOD professionals who have a mastery of critical skills and demonstrate the employability skills needed to thrive as a member of a collaborative team. Proposals are due Nov. 7, 2024. For more information, go to https://dctcinternships.acqirc.org.
REMINDERS
NEW HIRES – ARMY ACQUISITION WORKFORCE ONBOARDING COURSE AVAILABLE
If you were recently hired into the Army Acquisition Workforce, you’ll want to sign up for the “Welcome to the Army Acquisition Workforce” course. This course should be completed within the first few months of joining the acquisition workforce as it offers a dynamic overview of:
• The Army Acquisition Workforce
• Training and certification standards
• Tools and resources
• Career models
• Development and leadership opportunities
• Staying connected
To access and begin taking the course, go to the Army Training Information System (ATIS) Learning home page, https://learn.atis.army.mil/moodle (Chrome or Edge browsers recommended).
• Login to EAMS-A-Single Sign-On (CAC login).
• Click the Catalog tab.
• Locate the Welcome to the Army Acquisition Workforce course in the list of published courses or enter the course name in the search field and click the search icon.
• Select the Register & Launch button, to launch the learning assignment(s) required for the course.
There is a downloadable resources guide included with the course. You are highly encouraged to download and save a copy of this resources guide for your records. Once you have closed the course topic, your completion will show up on your ATIS LEARNING MY CERTIFICATES page. Click the certificate file icon to view and download the course certificate of completion.
TIME TO HIRE IMPROVES WITH USE OF ACQUISITION CODING TOOL
The acquisition coding tool is a supervisory tool that can be used by hiring managers and human resources professionals to ensure accurate acquisition coding information is entered into AUTNOA for a position, which will ultimately improve time to hire.
The Army DACM office recently developed an Acquisition Position Coding Tool. The tool is excel based and contains all of the mandatory acquisition fields that must be entered into AUTONOA and DCPDS to code an acquisition position. The coding tool has many benefits to include:
• Career level options that align to each acquisition functional area.
• Critical acquisition position and key leadership position logic based on policy requirements.
• Occupational series, organization, and functional area business rules that are implemented in the Defense Civilian Personnel Development System (DCPDs) built into the tool. If an invalid combination of information is entered then an error message will populate – providing immediate feedback to the user.
For more information on how to determine if a position is to be coded as an acquisition position, see the Acquisition Workforce Desk Guide. To access the coding tool, log into milSuite with your CAC at https://www.milsuite.mil/book/groups/army-acquisition-workforce/pages/supervisors-corner.
JOIN THE ARMY ACQUISITION WORKFORCE
The Army DACM Office has partnered with the Army’s Civilian Human Resource Agency (CHRA) G-3 to establish a new USAJOBS branded search page for acquisition coded positions: https://armyacquisition.usajobs.gov
This page is a one-stop shop for all open AAW coded positions. Take a look and share!
NEW CONTINUOUS LEARNING POINTS EARNING CYCLE HAS BEGUN
FISCAL YEAR 2025-2026 AFA AAFL-RECOMMENDED CLP TRAINING MEMOS
All AAW professionals are required to complete at least 80 Continuous Learning Points (CLPs) by the end of each two-year CLP cycle. We just started a new CLP cycle, which runs from Oct. 1, 2024, through Sept. 30, 2026. Army Acquisition Functional Leaders (AAFL) from each of the six acquisition functional areas have begun issuing their fiscal year 2025-2026 CLP training memos, which include guidance and training recommendations for AAW professionals.
The Army DACM Office developed a glide path that identifies a recommended minimum CLP threshold to be attained by the end of each quarter within the current CLP cycle. We strongly encourage AAW professionals and their supervisors to follow this glide path, setting a goal to meet or exceed the minimum CLP threshold by the given date. This way, you can make steady, measured progress towards attaining at least 80 CLPs, as required, by the end of the two-year CLP cycle. The Army DACM recommends achieving 40 CLPs in the first year of the CLP cycle and earning the remaining 40 CLPs during the cycle’s second year. Refer to the recommended glidepath below for CLP milestones.
The memos can be found on each acquisition functional area webpage, go to https://asc.army.mil/web/dacm-office/functional-areas and to view the CLP Glide Path, go to https://asc.army.mil/web/document/fy25-fy26-continuous-learning-point-clp-glide-path.
