By Jeff Erlichman

The Federal Acquisition Institute and the Defense Acquisition University teach current and future federal acquisition and procurement professionals how to “Be America’s Buyer.”

They have to know the rules and regulations to do their job well – that goes without saying. But they also have to recognize they are carrying out a huge customer service function helping agencies meet their needs. They also must collaborate effectively with various agencies in terms of planning and developing strategies, putting a contract in place and assessing the contractor’s success in meeting the specified agency needs.

They are government’s acquisition and procurement professionals. And who would have thought their business was such a “people business”?

But that’s exactly what it is.


End-to-End Perspective

For Cecilia Davis, director of the Federal Acquisition Institute, the people who are currently in or want to be part of the acquisition workforce are her primary clients.

“FAI has a comprehensive end-to-end perspective on the workforce,” Davis told 1105 Government Information Group Custom Media, “and that FAI advances acquisition workforce recruiting, training and retention.”

Davis said FAI uses research to help understand the workforce challenges facing the community. It also works in the area of competency management to define the knowledge requirements and assess current skill levels in the workforce; and where they exist, identify gaps and target interventions.

“We also do certification management that ensures training support and the knowledge needed at different certification levels,” said Davis. “And we expand agency access to training.”


Be America’s Buyer

“You can do so many things within the acquisition field, be a contracting specialist, a contracting officer or a procurement analyst. The profession has a lot of variety,” said Davis.

Before you make a decision to enter the acquisition workforce, take the time to get a good understanding of the mission and goals of the agency you are interested in joining counseled Davis.

“Learn as much as you can about that agency to ensure that your interests can be satisfied by the type of work you are pursuing,” Davis explained. “When your expectations are met then you have a success, so learn as much as you can about the organization and its mission because we all know that being an acquisition professional has a lot of responsibility associated with it. The work is fast paced and demanding, but satisfying as well.”


So how do you get started? One way can be found in the Federal Acquisition Intern Coalition program (www.fai.gov).

“We continue to develop our federal acquisition intern coalition which enhances visibility for the accessibility to the acquisition career field,” Davis said. At www.fai.gov, you will find the “Be America’s Buyer” program that gives people a better understanding and makes it easier to enter into the federal acquisition arena.”

Davis said that FAI recently expanded the definition of the acquisition workforce to include the Contract Officer’s Technical Representative (COTR) and Project/Program Management. “We have developed certification training (FAC P/PM) to identify all available training for the agencies.”

There are three levels for the P/PM – entry, mid-level and advanced – that FAI is offering throughout the U.S. “We are providing opportunities for our workforce to develop skills and get certified for a higher level,” noted Davis.

Additionally, Davis said you can find more from your agency Acquisition Career Manager who can define what is actually needed and even give you some advice on what’s available within that agency.
Impact Training

FAI is offering training at the June 2009 GSA Expo. “The ones that were in high demand in 2008, we are offering again,” Davis remarked.

“We are also offering training that the workforce told us they would like more of. It’s intended to be a quick snippet, but has enough content where it can help provide insight and information that a person would need in that area.”


One of the reasons FAI provides such a wide variety of courses is because the acquisition career field in growing and professionals are in high demand. “A career in federal acquisition can be a rewarding opportunity where you can have a personal impact on the success of federal government programs and initiatives.”

“It is a very rewarding career path and we have challenges,” added Davis, “but that means the days are never boring; there is always a new challenge going on.”


The Acquisition Corps

At every government department and agency, the opportunities for acquisition professionals will increase by order of magnitude. For example at DOD, earning membership into the Acquisition Corps is a critical step in preparation for acquisition leadership.

Here Corps members prepare for advancement to levels of greater responsibility and authority by demonstrating their exceptional analytical and decision-making capabilities, job performance, and qualifying experience.

An admirer of the Corps is John Johnson, recently retired Assistant Commissioner for GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service, who told 1105 Government Information Group Custom Media in a recent interview what DOD is doing can improve the acquisition workforce in general.

“I believe that the model that DOD exercises is probably the most logical model in my mind as to how acquisition can be improved,” Johnson said.

“The Corps is made up of various skills and abilities that constitute the acquisition program,” said Johnson. “They have program managers and contracting officers and people with IT and technical skills and abilities in the Acquisition Corps. What it does is that it allows the team to produce the output.”

Johnson explained that in today’s GSA environment, a CO actually does the technical and pricing and all the reviews that are necessary to award a contract in the Schedule 70 program.

“What I’m suggesting is if you augment that contracting staff with some technical experts and some pricing experts, while the CO would be the ultimate individual to sign off on the contract, that expertise could alleviate some of the workload that they may have. So in that respect we’d be looking at an Acquisition Corps made of people that bring various skills and abilities to the table to augment the CO’s ability to handle vast quantities of work.”

It’s an idea whose time has come.