New acquisition training tool unveiled

A good government group and the Federal Acquisition Institute previewed a new procurement training tool on Tuesday.

The online "continuous learning module," a product of the Partnership for Public Service's Acquisition Innovation Project, is designed to share contracting research and best practices in a format that is accessible, said Cali Ence, program associate at the nonprofit organization.

Project leaders gathered procurement specialists from the private and public sectors and academia to discuss issues the acquisition community faces. The Partnership then developed a federal contracting handbook based on these discussions.

While agency feedback indicated the information in the guide was valuable, many said it should be organized more clearly and published online so it could be downloaded and modified for daily use.

The resulting online training tool, which will be available on the Federal Acquisition Institute Web site by Wednesday, is divided into four categories: partnering for success, contract kickoff meeting, measuring and evaluating performance, and problem escalation and resolution processes.

"We want this to be something that's going to improve the day-to-day workings of contracting officers, program managers, [contracting officer technical representatives] -- all of those people," Ence said. "It was important to us to hear that this was not only something you can learn from but something you can apply."

The Partnership ran a pilot of the training module for 18 federal employees from eight agencies, ranging from the GS-7 to GS-15 levels. Ence said more than 90 percent of the pilot participants liked the tool enough to recommend it to a colleague.

The module will be available to anyone who would like to use it inside government or in the private sector. Federal employees who participate will earn three credits toward their continuous learning requirement.