Members of the board of directors of the Association of Procurement Technical Assistance Centers (APTAC) met on Saturday, July 13, 2013 to participate in four hours of instruction conducted by The Contracting Education Academy at Georgia Tech (The Academy).
The training topic was the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), and the class focused on the most important parts of the FAR from the standpoint of a PTAC counselor.
PTAC’s are procurement technical assistance centers. PTACs are funded, in part, by the Defense Logistics Agency to provide counseling and assistance to businesses seeking to successfully compete for federal, state and local government contracts. APTAC represents over 90 PTACs located in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Guam and Puerto Rico.
The Academy recently conducted a FAR workshop for 165 PTAC counselors in conjunction with APTAC’s spring training conference, but APTAC board members were not able to attend that session due to a board meeting scheduled at the same time. Because of the positive feedback from attendees at that session, the July 13 training date was scheduled so board members could benefit.

Reaction to the July 13 training session was unanimously positive. In the form of written feedback, here is a sampling of what attendees had to say:
- “I expected hard-to-understand, boring and challenging content. I got comprehensive, easy-to-understand, interesting and challenging content translated into a digestible and manageable format.”
- “I valued the expertise of the presenter and easy to follow course structure.”
- “Superb instruction!”
- “Awesome, fabulous, beyond excellent training! Written materials were far above expectations!”
- “[This class provided] how to use the FAR cradle-to-grave and various resources and tools to assist my clients and my program staff.”
- “Great training class and tools.”
- “I valued the experience of the presenter … the ability to explain a long and difficult topic in a useful way.”
- “A tailored overview — concise and targeted.”
Contact The Academy for help with your next educational workshop. Call 404-894-6109 or email info@ContractingAcademy.gatech.edu.