Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment (USD(A&S)) Memorandum: Provides an exception to permit hiring of contracting professionals who have not completed at least 24 semester credit hours (or equivalent) of study from an accredited institution of higher education in business-related courses, but who are otherwise qualified. In addition, this document temporarily suspends paragraph 3.3b of the Defense Acquisition Workforce Program Desk Guide (dated 20 July 2017) in its entirety. Please note there are three attachments included in this weblink: (1) Revisions to Table 3 (Contracting Position-Specific Requirements) in paragraph 5.4 of Department of Defense Instruction 5000.66, (2) DOD Qualifications Standards for GS-1102 Contracting Positions, and (3) Contracting Series 1102 Implementation Guidance/Questions and Answers.