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Take a look at our course line-up!

If you’re in the hunt for high-quality acquisition training at a reasonable price, look no further than Georgia Tech.

The courses we offer are in high demand among contracting professionals — both within government and in the private sector.  And all are approved by the Defense Acquisition University and the Federal Acquisition Institute.

Plus, all of our courses are offered in our world-class Global Learning Center on the Georgia Tech campus in midtown Atlanta.  All courses also offer resources and amenities found nowhere else.

Take a look at what’s coming up in just the next few months:

  • Contract Planning in the FAR (CON 090-2) – February 3-7, 2020 – Covers how government agencies conduct market research and rely on businesses to provide information, how the government’s buying needs must be described, and the government’s preference for commercial and non-developmental items.
  • Architect and Engineering Services Contracting (CON 243) – Feb. 10-14, 2020 – Focuses on acquisition planning for A&E services, the slate and selection process, proposal analysis, contract award, the review of government estimates, liability, Title II services, modifications, contract management, and the contracting officer’s technical representative’s responsibilities.
  • Contract Formation in the FAR (CON 090-3) – Mar. 16-20, 2020 – Covers policies and procedures for simplified acquisitions, sealed bidding as well as negotiated acquisitions, cost accounting standards, special contracting methods and emergency acquisitions, and the filing and handling of protests.
  • Construction Contracting (CON 244) – May 4-8, 2020 – Focuses on contracting issues unique to construction, including acquisition planning, contract performance management, funding, environmental concerns, construction contract language, construction contracting in a commercial setting, the Construction Wage Rate Requirements statute, design/build methodology, basic schedule delay analysis, constructive changes, acceleration, construction contract quality management, and more.
Click on the course titles above for complete pricing and registration details.

 

Students attending Georgia Tech’s classes work in teams to tackle real-life contracting problems.
Discover the Georgia Tech Difference!

Benefits of attendance include expert instruction, a printed Student Guide to be used back on the job, valuable handouts, and exclusive electronic resources.  In addition, a complimentary breakfast is served each morning, along with snacks throughout each day.  For groups of 10 or more, Georgia Tech offers discounts.

Explanation of Certification Programs

Each Academy course title that contains the designation “CON” or “COR” is DAU-equivalent and satisfies both the FAC-C and DAWIA certification programs.  Coursework with the “FCN” designation is approved by the Federal Acquisition Institute and satisfies the latest FAC-C certification requirements.  In addition, continuing education units (CEUs) are granted for these courses by the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Courses Available at Your Location

All Academy courses and workshops are available for instructor-led engagements at your location. To discuss arrangements for your group, please contact us at info@ContractingAcademy.gatech.edu.  We’ll be happy to provide you with details.

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Challenged with navigating the FAR? Learn how Jan. 28-31

Georgia Tech’s Contracting Education Academy (The Academy) is presenting a four-day course, beginning on Tuesday, January 28, 2020, covering all of the fundamentals of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), including how to navigate the FAR’s 2,000 pages. 
By attending, you’ll also learn all about each of the federal agencies’ supplements to the FAR.

The course is being conducted at Georgia Tech’s world-class professional education facilities in the Global Learning Center located on campus in midtown Atlanta.

FARThis contracting overview of the FAR, covers Module 1 of the Defense Acquisition University’s CON 090: Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Fundamentals.

The course includes:

  • Identification of the basic principles of contracting by the federal government and how they’re structured in the FAR,
  • Access to and use of relevant on-line resources, including tools developed exclusively by Georgia Tech, and
  • Instruction on how to locate, properly cite, and interpret the FAR, the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS), and other agency FAR supplements.

More information about this course is available at: http://www.pe.gatech.edu/courses/con-090-1-contracting-overview-far.  Complete registration information is located there, too.

Students attending Georgia Tech’s acquisition courses work in teams to tackle real-life contracting problems.

Originally designed exclusively for federal contracting officers, this course’s scope has been expanded by The Academy so that it is relevant to multiple audiences, including contractors seeking to learn more about the federal contracting process, federal officials who need to satisfy job-related continuous education requirements, and anyone seeking more information about the federal acquisition profession.

In all, there are four modules that make-up the complete CON 090 course series.  Information about the entire series can be found at: https://pe.gatech.edu/courses/con-090-1-contracting-overview-far.

The Academy’s complete list of government acquisition courses, and course scheduling, is at: http://contractingacademy.gatech.edu/training.

The Contracting Education Academy at Georgia Tech is an official equivalency training provider of the Defense Acquisition University (DAU) and the Federal Acquisition Institute.

Students attending CON 090 courses at Georgia Tech receive expert instruction, a printed Student Guide, helpful handouts, a deck of FAR Cards, and access to exclusive on-line resources.  Students earn 2.8 CEUs.  In addition, a complimentary breakfast in provided each class day.

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Agencies can start prepping systems for DUNS transition

The government will need to prepare for next year’s transition or risk the federal contracting version of Y2K.

The federal government is transitioning to a new unique entity identifier to track all vendors and organizations doing business with the government. The General Services Administration, which manages the system, released technical specifications for the two central APIs used to access the unique ID databases, kicking off the transition process for the rest of government.

For federal agencies that use the current ID numbers — read: all agencies — that will mean ensuring their systems are able to process the new ID format before the transition is complete at the end of 2020.

The government, through a contract with GSA, has relied on proprietary identifiers maintained by Dun & Bradstreet since 1962. The Data Universal Numbering System, or DUNS, number was officially codified in the Federal Acquisition Regulation in 1998, but last year GSA started the process of bidding the contract for the first time in 20 years.

GSA announced in March that Ernst & Young would be taking over the process and replacing the DUNS number with new Unique Entity ID, with the transition set to take place before the end of 2020.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.nextgov.com/analytics-data/2019/12/agencies-can-start-prepping-systems-duns-transition/161929/

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Federal contracting moves that will ripple beyond 2019

The past year has been long and significant in just about every respect, and government contracting is no exception.

The year was defined by one big, controversial procurement; the ongoing shift to buy more IT products and services through the General Services Administration; that agency’s consolidation of its major contracts on the Multiple Award Schedules; and a new cybersecurity standard that has the defense contracting community holding its breath.

Before 2019 comes to a close, Nextgov spoke with federal contracting experts Chris Cornillie, federal technology market analyst for Bloomberg Government, and analysts at The Pulse of GovCon, a market intelligence firm.

Top of mind for Cornillie was arguably the biggest contract — and upset — of the year.  The Defense Department’s Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure, or JEDI, contract is projected to be worth up to $10 billion over up to 10 years, as a single provider builds a “war cloud” for use across the services.

The Defense Department started the JEDI contract two years ago, a process stretched out further by bid protests and lawsuits. Constant drama surrounded this contract—including a salacious dossier, a last-minute recusal from the secretary of defense and statements from the president—and the award announcement was no exception.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.nextgov.com/cio-briefing/2019/12/federal-contracting-moves-will-ripple-beyond-2019/162025/

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SBA ‘beats the odds’ by finalizing several major contracting regulations

In November 2018, Federal News Network and procurement expert Larry Allen set some odds about whether certain acquisition regulations would be completed sometime in 2019.

For the most part, the odds makers were not optimistic, given the fact that during 2017 and 2018, the number of FAR rules that were either proposed or finalized were scarce.

So here we are a year later, and it’s nice to be able to report that the Small Business Administration, at least, may just have beaten the odds on several important procurement provisions.

Over the last few weeks, SBA finalized rules to improve the HUBZone program, to change the way the government calculates small business sizes based on earnings and a half dozen other rules that have been in the works since the 2015.

Keep reading this article at: https://federalnewsnetwork.com/reporters-notebook-jason-miller/2019/12/sba-beats-the-odds-by-finalizing-several-major-contracting-regulations/

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