professional development | The Contracting Education Academy

May 13, 2016 By AMK

Academy’s program manager appointed to national academic panel

The National Contract Management Association (NCMA) has invited Donna Bertrand, program manager for The Contracting Education Academy at Georgia Tech, to become an inaugural member of the Association’s Academic Advisory Council, spearheaded by NCMA’s Professional Education Committee.

Donna G. Bertrand, The Academy’s program manager, has been appointed a member of the National Contract Management Association’s Academic Advisory Council. — **Donna G. Bertrand, the Academy’s program manager, has been appointed a member of the National Contract Management Association’s Academic Advisory Council.**

NCMA is the world’s leading professional resource for those in the field of contract management. The organization, which has over 20,000 members, is dedicated to the professional growth and educational advancement of procurement and acquisition personnel worldwide. NCMA serves and informs the acquisition profession and offers opportunities for the open exchange of ideas in neutral forums. NCMA provides a robust certification program and sponsors training through two major conferences each year. NCMA’s next educational event is its annual World Congress, to be held in July of this year, which is expected to bring together over 1,800 contract management professionals for three days of education and networking, including keynote speakers who are government and industry leaders in contracting and acquisition, over 100 customized training sessions, and various networking opportunities.

Contract management professionals are well-paid and highly educated, earning an average salary of $103,600 with 46 percent possessing a master’s degree (Source: 2015 NCMA Annual Salary Survey). Typical entry-level personnel have a bachelor’s degree and a minimum of 24 hours of business credit. The almost 40,000 government personnel alone who occupy the contract specialist position are required to achieve and maintain three levels of certification throughout their career and oftentimes satisfy the Office of Management and Budget (OMB)-mandated requirement to earn 80 continuous learning points every two years through higher education. Industry employees seek certification through NCMA as well.

In accepting NCMA’s nomination to join NCMA’s newly formed Academic Advisory Council (AAC), Bertrand will join other representatives from academia interested in the professional growth and education of the contracting community. The AAC will interact with and advise NCMA’s Professional Education Committee as it supports programs and initiatives aimed at the contract management workforce.

AAC’s first meeting is scheduled for July 25, 2016 at NCMA’s World Congress event in Orlando, Florida.

November 19, 2015 By AMK

Academy’s 2016 course schedule set

Training courses — ideal for government contracting officials and contractors alike — are now scheduled for 2016 on the Georgia Tech campus in midtown Atlanta.

Below are the details of professional education courses being presented by The Contracting Education Academy at Georgia Tech in the first three months of 2016. (For a complete calendar of 2016 courses, click here.) To see pricing or to register for any class, click on the course titles below.

January

Jan. 19-21 – CON 260B: Small Business Programs – Covers the intricacies of the government’s Small Business Programs designed to maximize the participation of small businesses in prime contracts and subcontracts, including selection of appropriate acquisition strategies, the SBA’s role in the award decision-making process, subcontracting requirements, and assistance available to small businesses. Includes a review of on-line course CON 260A.

Jan. 26-29 – CON 090-1: Contracting Overview of the FAR – Covers the identification of the basic principles of federal government contracting, including the structure and content of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) and agency supplements. Students learn how to locate, cite, and interpret regulations.

Jan. 25-26 – GSA Schedule Workshop – A 2-day program designed to provide businesses with the hands-on instruction and oversight needed to successfully prepare and submit a GSA Schedule proposal. Appropriate for all business sizes and all GSA Schedule types. Covers all aspects of proposal preparation and includes 4 hours of post-workshop consulting.

February

Feb. 1-5 – COR 206/222: Contracting Officer Representative and the Contingency Contracting Environment – Covers the role and responsibilities of the COR in contract administration, including contract planning support, contract awards, contract changes and modifications, monitoring performance, expenditures and schedules, and ethical situations and cultural differences a COR may experience while deployed in a contingency operation.

Feb. 22-26 – CON 244: Construction Contracting – 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, and construction contract quality management.

March

Mar. 14-25 – CON 170: Fundamentals of Cost & Price Analysis – Conveys fundamental quantitative pricing skills, including seller pricing strategies, the Truth in Negotiations Act and how it mitigates government risk, application of Cost Accounting Standards Board (CASB) rules to negotiated contracts and subcontracts, and contract cost principles and procedures. Covers cost-volume-profit analysis, contribution margin estimates, and cost estimating relationships.

Mar. 14-15 – GSA Schedule Workshop – A 2-day program designed to provide businesses with the hands-on instruction and oversight needed to successfully prepare and submit a GSA Schedule proposal. Appropriate for all business sizes and all GSA Schedule types. Covers all aspects of proposal preparation and includes 4 hours of post-workshop consulting.

(For a complete calendar of 2016 courses, click here.)

January 2, 2014 By AMK

Georgia Tech expands cyber security educational offerings into certificate program

Georgia Tech Professional Education (GTPE), in cooperation with the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI), now offers a Cyber Security Certificate that offers participants a more in-depth approach, including a focus on policy-making, people issues and engineering frameworks for cyber security.

The five-course certificate is composed of one required course and four electives, and applies systems engineering principles to create a holistic approach to cyber security. Choosing from seven courses, participants can customize their certificate to give a unique focus to particular topics.

According to Terrye Schaetzel, director of Educational Outreach with GTRI, this course will help organizations move their cyber security efforts from a reactive approach to a predictive model.

“Cyber Security is not just an information technology (IT) function,” said Schaetzel, who works with GTRI’s Cyber Technology and Information Security Laboratory (CTISL). “It is becoming a core strategic function of any organization. This certificate and courses enable people to take a broader look at the whole picture of cyber security.”

Designed for technical professionals who lead cyber security efforts and aspire to be CISO’s (Chief Information Security Officers), the courses also enable participants to further develop critical thinking skills. Hands-on labs and exercises provide a deeper understanding of solutions to help counter increasing threats to cyber security.

Each course takes roughly three to four days, which allows for a relatively quick turnaround for the certificate. All requirements for the certificate must be completed within six years from the date of completion of the first course.

For more information, please visit: www.pe.gatech.edu/cybersecurity

August 19, 2013 By AMK

Procurement officials should involve themselves in budgeting process

The public procurement profession has historically focused on how money is spent. That’s very logical. Since these folks purchase goods and services that represent 15 to 20 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) in a given year, it only makes sense. We are talking about billions of dollars here.

But it is not enough for today’s procurement professional to know where the money is going; they also need to be aware of where it comes from. Being knowledgeable about the agency budget is an important part of public procurement. In past years, we have tended to wait for program managers to secure the necessary funding and then for the finance office to “bless” the purchase. Only then would we become concerned. Not only did procurement think it was somebody else’s role, so did others in the organization.

Keep reading this article at: http://americancityandcounty.com/fiscal-management/staying-budget