GOVERNMENT SOLUTIONS

	Training
	Government Advanced Training

Advanced Acquisition Management
- Three-Day Seminar

Program Number: PMAAQM
PDUs: 18

Three-day class on Advanced Acquisition Management Level III

Day 1

Lesson One – Federal Government Acquisition Policy

• Recognize acquisition positions, acquisition career fields, as outlined by the Office of Budget and Management (OMB)
• Recognize the three levels of certification available for federal acquisition professionals as outlined by OMB.
• Exercise: Each student will individually determine at what level they are currently within the OMB professional structure and collectively as a group outline strategies for career development within their agencies. Each group will report on at least one career development strategy

Lesson Two – Introduction to Acquisition Management (Program Perspective)

• Understand how Program Management supports the entire acquisition lifecycle (“cradle to grave support”)
• Recognize the User Needs and / or Technology Opportunities activities and work content portion of the acquisition life cycle. (Recognize the need for a phased acquisition approach, the acquisition activities, milestones, phases, efforts, decision reviews, and their principle products.)
• Recognize the need to tailor and adjust specific project and program acquisition activities to meet unique program needs.
• Recognize the term acquisition strategy. (Recognize the terms: acquisition program baseline and acquisition strategy.)
• Recognize the Sustainment Activity and work content portion of the acquisition life cycle. (Recognize the need for a phased acquisition approach, the acquisition activities, milestones, phases, efforts, decision reviews, and their principle products.)
• Exercise: Within groups students will develop tailored outline acquisition strategies for at least two program scenarios provided during class. Each group will report out on at least one tailored scenario.

• Recognize a WBS as a product-oriented hierarchy and an output of the systems engineering process.
• Recognize the WBS framework.
• Recognize WBS's applicability throughout the acquisition life cycle and across all acquisition management disciplines (e.g., technical/risk management, contracting, financial and business management, and acquisition planning.)
• Recognize the two types of WBS.
• Recognize who is responsible for the development and maintenance of the two types of WBS.
• Recognize the relationship between the two types of WBS.
• Exercise: Within groups, students will develop a program WBS. Each group will report out on at least one program WBS.

Lesson Four – Cost Estimating

• Define the terms:
• Budget Authority
• Commitment
• Obligation
• Expenditure
• Outlay
• Recognize the scope of Life-Cycle Costs (LCCs).
• Identify the four basic cost-estimating techniques.
• Recognize the particular limitations of each of the four cost-estimating techniques and where each roughly "fits" into the life cycle.
• Exercise: Within groups, students will develop a program cost estimate using a project “building block” technique. Each group will report out on their cost estimates.

Lesson Five – Program Budget Execution

• Recognize the process for allocating the Budget Authority granted by the enactment process to the services, product divisions, and program offices.
• Recognize the major provisions of the Misappropriation Act and Anti-Deficiency Act and what they are designed to prevent.
• Exercise: Students will be given scenarios concerning program spending and asked to determine correct action based on the Misappropriation Act and Anti-Deficiency Act

Lesson Six – Contract Management: Solicitation Planning

• Recognize why contracts are needed.
• Recognize the legal nature of a contract.
• Recognize basics of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) and its Supplements as governing the contracting and procurement processes.
• Recognize the differences in background, rules, and responsibilities between the PM and the Contracting Officer.
• Recognize the linkage between acquisition strategy, the contracting process, and program risk.
• Recognize the differences between sealed bidding and the negotiation methods of contracting (Optional).
• Recognize the differences between variants between fixed-price and cost-reimbursable type contracts (Optional).
• Recognize the availability and flexibility of Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity contract types (Optional).
• Exercise: Within groups, students will develop an outline acquisition strategy for a provided needs scenario. Each group will report out on their work.

Lesson Seven – Contract Management: Solicitation, Evaluation, and Award

• Recognize the work required to develop a contract requirements package and the need for coherent solicitation packages.
• Recognize the RFP development sequence, to include the development of source selection criteria before release to industry.
• Recognize the necessity for a well-written Statement of Work (SOW) and the movement towards using performance-based solicitations.
• Recognize the costs of contractor-furnished data and how to request contractor-furnished data in the RFP.
• Recognize the formal source selection procedure from the receipt of the contractor's proposal.
• Recognize the use of cost and price data in the context of determining a fair and reasonable price.
• Exercise: Within groups, students will develop an outline SOW for the effort worked on in the previous lesson. Each group will report out on their work.

Lesson Eight – Contract Management: Post-Award

• Recognize the role of contract administration in the contracting process.
• Recognize the relationship between the Government, prime and subcontractors as defined by the term "privity of contract."

• Understand Earned Value Management (EVM) concepts
• Understand management processes associated with the EVM system guidelines
• Understand limitations of EVM

Lesson Ten – Quality and Manufacturing Management

• Recognize the magnitude of the fiscal commitment to a program in production and beyond.
• Recognize Production, Quality, and Manufacturing as an integrated part of the Systems Engineering Process.
• Recognize the 5M's (Material, Method, Machinery, Manpower, and Measurement) as they relate to designing a production program.
• Recognize  top-level design goals for a producible product.
• Recognize contractor's flexibility in selecting quality products.
• Recognize the basic idea of Statistical Process Control.

Lesson Eleven – Risk Management

• Review of risk definitions.
• Differences between Project, Program, and Portfolio risk management.
• Unique aspects of managing risk at the program level

Lesson Twelve – Summary and PMI Standard for Program Management

• Overview of the PMI certification process.
• Differences between the PMI Project, Program, and Portfolio Standards.
• Unique aspects of Program Management Standard
• PMI’s Government and DOD Supplement to the PMBOK®
• Applicability of the PMI’s standards to government agencies

Lesson A – Systems Engineering (Optional Module)

• Understand the need for thorough systems engineering planning as a prerequisite to successful technical development.
• Summarize the various technical activities that are undertaken while engineering a complex system.
• Identify the management processes used to ensure that the technical activities lead to the desired outcomes.
• Recognize the various visual models that are in common use today to describe and recall the process of engineering systems.

Lesson B – Acquisition Logistics (Optional)

• How supportability affects system life-cycle costs.
• The relationship between logistics and reliability, availability, and maintainability (RAM).
• How accomplishing supportability objectives helps ensure cost-effective support, provide necessary infrastructure, and meet system readiness requirements.

Lesson C – Software Acquisition (Optional Module)

• Recognize the major components of a computer and the languages it uses to interface with itself, and the language we use to interface with it.
• Recognize the recent, rapid growth in software-intensive systems.
• Recognize a software-intensive system.
• Recognize the major provisions of the Information Technology Management Reform Act (ITMRA) contained in the Clinger-Cohen Act of 1996.
• Recognize a software item (SI) and how it functions as a building block of software.
• Recognize the software development model.
• Recognize how solid requirements analysis and comprehensive testing are the marks of an effective software development program.
• Recognize categories of software metrics.
• Recognize the fiscal impact of Software Support.
• Recognize software "best practices" that are the hallmarks of a well-managed software project.